Francis Durbridge - Design For Murder - Based on ‘Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair’

Rather strangely, there have been two versions of this novel published in Germany. Schöne Grüße von Mister Brix appeared in 1961–62 as a serial in the magazine Bild und Funk , with yet another change of names as Inspector Richard Grant and his wife Margaret pursue Mr Brix! The slightly later version, Mr Rossiter empfiehlt sich , was a direct translation of Design for Murder with the Wyatts pursuing Mr Rossiter.

After Design for Murder Durbridge went on to produce many more novels. Apart from his standalone title The Pig-Tail Murder (1969), they consisted of two series that could always be assured of a devoted readership: the Paul Temple mysteries and novelisations of his phenomenally popular television serials. Paul Temple books continued to appear from 1957 to 1988, of which three were original novels and five were based on his radio serials, and sixteen of his television serials were also novelised between 1958 and 1982. There were two more books that showed Durbridge to have retained the art of recycling long after the 1950s, because Another Woman’s Shoes (1965) and Dead to the World (1967) were both originally Paul Temple radio serials ( Paul Temple and the Gilbert Case and Paul Temple and the Jonathan Mystery respectively) that became non-Temple novels with new characters.

So there can be no doubt that this reprint of Design for Murder , a title that like Back Room Girl and Beware of Johnny Washington has been out of print for more than sixty-five years, is something of an event for Durbridge fans. Similarly, the bonus short story ‘Paul Temple’s White Christmas’ has not been reprinted since its publication in Radio Times on 20 December 1946 – the day after the final broadcast episode of Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair , which is mentioned in the story.

MELVYN BARNES

June 2017

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