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Karen Pelletier in
Quieter Than Sleep
by Joanne Dobson
(Published 1997)
SPOILER ALERTS

Academic institutions always provide fertile ground for murder mysteries, and Enfield College in New England is no exception. This elite college is home to a heady mix of colourful characters, big egos, sexual passions and dalliances, intellectual passions, professional rivalries and illicit relationships which are played out against the background of the fight to be the one to find a missing letter written by the 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson, a document which would lob a literary bombshell into the academic world.

And who better to lead us on this entertaining and engaging journey than one of swanky Enfield College’s own, Dr Karen Pelletier, Professor of the English Department and Emily Dickinson scholar?

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The 1963 Burt Bacharach and Hal David song Wives and Lovers melodically captures the mid-20th Century stereotype of a housewife. The ‘little girl’ is warned that to keep her husband’s interest she should take out her curlers before seeing him off in the morning, put on a pretty, city-type dress and slap on some make-up for his return, then dim the lights and pour the wine… The song doesn’t specify that she should keep the home immaculate, but that’s kind of assumed. And watch out, there are girls at the office just lying in wait…

Would this advice have helped the wife in the 1957 film Woman in a Dressing Gown?

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In a world of personal branding and image cultivation, your book is an accessory and it says as much about you as your choice of clothing or footwear or bag. Cue for pearl-clutching cries of is this what literature’s come to? Not in the slightest. Because, dear friends, many who painfully came of age in the decade in which there were only three television channels will recognise this phenomenon. Yup, we too had Performative Reading!

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Piccadilly Third Stop (1960)

Not every furniture range has star billing in a film, so hats off to the British company G Plan which is prominently featured in the opening credits of Wolf Rilla’s 1960 film Piccadilly Third Stop. The company began producing the particular style of modern furniture for which it is renowned in the 1950s, and the range continues to be sought after for its distinctive design, characterised as being stylish, innovative and adventurous.

It’s probably fair to say that the film doesn’t exhibit such qualities, but it’s a decent movie, interesting and engaging in its depiction of the shady way of life of a section of London society, which consists of unpleasant characters scraping a criminal living with the threat of violence ever present.

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Oh those madcap 1960s! Bliss it was to be young and alive in the decade that swung, with all the opportunities available to everyone, regardless of class and social and economic circumstances. Pity the older generation, stuck in its fuddy-duddy ways, born too soon to enjoy the brave new world of sexual liberation and easy affluence, not to mention groovy clothes.

On the face of it, this is the world presented in the 1963 film What A Crazy World, written by Alan Klein and produced and directed by Michael Carreras.

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I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason, by Susan Kandel

This is the first in a series of five mystery novels featuring the beguilingly named Cece Caruso. Cece is a 39-year-old resident of Los Angeles, a biographer of classic crime writers and an aficionado of vintage fashion. Now that’s a pie full of juicy plums if ever there was one. And there are more.

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The 1959 film Serious Charge, directed by Terence Young, may well have slipped beneath the radar of youth audiences then and later. It was promoted as being the debut movie role of Cliff Richard, a draw for some but by no means all of the teenage demographic.

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The recent death of the inestimable Glenda Jackson has prompted much discussion about her work in film and theatre (not to mention her political activities), much of which focuses on the diverse range and stunning impact of her stage appearances. In a retrospective which offers so much choice, John Schlesinger’s 1971 movie Sunday Bloody Sunday may be overlooked.

The film superbly evokes its time, the cusp of the 1960s/70s, and convincingly and in some cases excruciatingly presents the lives of London liberal, professional middle classes, a section of society which nowadays might be called the metropolitan elite.

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The theme of rural or provincial innocents abroad in the wicked city is a familiar source of comedy and satire.

In the 1967 British film Smashing Time, starring Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave, the innocents are Northern girls Brenda and Yvonne, and the city is London in the latter throes of its Swinging Sixties’ phase.

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There might not be a better time to become acquainted with the world of Isabel Dalhousie, the amateur sleuth who is the main character in Alexander McCall Smith’s Sunday Philosophy Club series.

The series follows Isabel’s life in Edinburgh, a privileged life which is lived at a gentle pace, in which personal and social problems are tackled with thoughtfulness and consideration of moral and ethical issues. Wow. Sitting up straighter?

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