Max Collins: The London Blitz Murders

Agatha, feeling ashamed of herself, said, “I behaved wretchedly… selfishly. Poor woman. Her death is a tragedy, not just… research for some silly writer. Do forgive me.”

“Then you’ll give up this foolish idea?”

“Certainly not. It’s perfect. And I would say that your assumption is correct, Bernard. This fiend will strike again.”

He shook his head. “We’re not even sure the two murders are in fact the work of one assailant.”

“If it is the same man, you have to find him… and stop him. Because he isn’t finished, you know.”

A waiter stopped by to fill their coffee cups.

“I wish,” Sir Bernard said, “I could say I disagree with you…. So what would you have me do, then? Call you if our Ripper strikes again? Take you along to the scene of the crime?”

She sipped her coffee; it was bitter, but there was no cream.

“Yes,” Agatha said.

Ten minutes later, Agatha was leading James down the pavement with an obedient Sir Bernard at her side.

“You’re certain you want to do this?” the pathologist asked.

“Quite.”

“Aren’t you busy working on this play of yours- Ten Little Something-or-Others ?”

“Just finishing touches, darling,” she said, the latter word an archly theatrical touch. “But you’re right, I am busy. In fact, I’m not working at the hospital this afternoon-I’ll be at the theater. The St. James? You can call me there, should anything arise.”

They were clipping along, the terrier setting a quick pace, despite the crowded pavement (which ran past an all-but-deserted street).

Sir Bernard asked, “Doesn’t the play open soon?”

“Yes. Friday. I’ve offered you tickets, several times. I could use the company-first nights are such agony for me.”

“Perhaps we should wait until after Friday, for you to accompany me to any crime scene….”

She smiled innocently at him. “Do you think the Ripper will wait?”

He frowned. “Agatha, I have grave misgivings.”

“Is that a pun?”

“How often do you have an opening night, my dear?”

“Bernard,” she said with mild exasperation. “Every time you perform an autopsy, it’s opening night.”

And after that, apparently, Sir Bernard Spilsbury could think of nothing else to say on the subject.

The St. James Theatre, on King Street, was its usual majestic self, though the building next door, Willis Sale Rooms, was in a sorry state. This noted home of public dinners, meetings and cotillions had been severely damaged in the 1940 air raids; the sumptuous site, with its spacious supper room with gallery and ballroom, still tempted after-hours looters. The St. James was nonetheless structurally sound, despite its shambles of a next-door neighbor; and the pub on the other side of the theater, the Golden Lion, remained healthy, even if Christie’s Auction House, across the way, was vacant due to bombing, as well. That the theater district resembled a war zone… in fact, was a war zone… did not deter the production of another Christie work.

Right now the St. James bore a massive angled marquee adorned with both the author’s name and that of the new play-a controversial title, it would seem… much to Agatha Christie Mallowan’s chagrined annoyance.

After all, what on earth could be more innocent than a nursery rhyme? She enjoyed the irony of using a children’s chant in an adult tale of murder-some time ago she’d done a short story called “Sing a Song of Sixpence,” and was even now noodling with a plot for a Poirot to be called Five Little Pigs . That anyone might take offense at a play named after an old English counting rhyme-in which ten little boys, one by one, disappear-seemed utterly absurd to Agatha.

She had been forced to change the title to Ten Little Indians for publication of the source novel and production of the play in the United States, where the final word of her own title was considered offensive to the Negro race-so much so, that the movie the Americans were planning was to be christened with the last line of the rhyme-in-question: And Then There Were None . Apparently, dating all the way back to their Civil War, in America the term “nigger” referred exclusively, and in a derogatory fashion, to Negroes (whereas in England, of course, it might refer to any member of any darker-skinned race).

Surprisingly, according to her producer, there had even been complaints here at home. These related to the large influx of American Negro soldiers, who suffered prejudicial treatment from their own fellow soldiers, the white ones, that is.

Londoners like Agatha found this confusing and disturbing, and minor scandals had erupted all over town as restaurants catering to the well-moneyed American soldiers refused service not only to Negro soldiers but coloured Britons as well. Shockingly, Learie Constantine, the renowned West Indian cricketeer, had been turned away from the Imperial Hotel because American guests had threatened to cancel their reservations.

These Americans were strange ducks-fighting a war against Hitler and his Master Race and his concentration-camp hatred of the Jews, and yet displaying a deep-seated hateful bigotry both primitive and tasteless.

Of course, some considered Agatha herself tasteless, in her insistence that her nursery-rhyme title remain; her view: the rhyme was innocent and so was her use of it, free of the hatefulness the Americans read into mere words. She meant no offense and would not be responsible if offense was taken.

Still, Agatha had capitulated about her title where the American market was concerned; but this was England, and her title would stand (besides, the American “Indian” title seemed to refer to a stateside counting rhyme of banal simplicity… one little, two little, three little Indians… ugh!).

But these were strange times, indeed. That a play should be mounted in Blitz-torn London would have been unthinkable, just two years ago. At first there had been a ban on entertainment; soon, for purposes of morale, the ban was lifted. Younger actors could even seek dispensation from military service, providing they were not out of work for more than two weeks at a time. Few took advantage of this, however-such stars as Lawrence Olivier and Ralph Richardson had answered the call, and set a fine example.

Only at the height of the bombings did the theaters close, and the cinemas never did. And by the end of last year, twenty-four West End theaters were again flourishing. True, the fare tended to be light-revues, revivals, and comedies like the American imports The Man Who Came to Dinner and Arsenic and Old Lace , and Noel Coward’s wonderful Blithe Spirit .

She hoped a murder thriller-one with darkly comic overtones-could find audiences willing to suspend their disbelief in these dark times.

And the moment did seem right for Agatha to get back in the theatrical swing. She adored the theater-going to it, and writing for it; she treasured the respect the playwright was given, and loved being around the larger-than-life characters who flocked to the bright lights of the West End.

Theater was a bug she had caught back in the early twenties, when her sister Madge’s play, The Claimant , was produced in London, and Agatha had attended rehearsals with Madge, thoroughly enjoying this glimpse at the theatrical life. As her work at the hospital allowed, Agatha had attended rehearsals of this new play-she would not admit it to a living soul, but hearing her words spoken aloud, seeing her story brought to life, thrilled her in a way that quite outdistanced the printed page.

And she much preferred adapting her own work to the stage, rather than leaving it to someone else. The compromises that had been required to bring The Murder of Roger Ackroyd to the stage (as Alibi in 1928) troubled her even now-namely, the spinster village gossip who had been youthened into a love interest… for the elderly Poirot, no less!