Francis Durbridge (1912–1998)

Charm and sophistication, and a pretty good little mystery make this an enjoyable outing for Paul Temple and his wife, Steve. The father of a slain girl doesn’t believe the young man convicted of killing her, actually did the deed, and he comes to Paul for help in proving it.

The unusual premise for a Paul Temple story pulls the mystery element to the forefront in this Coke/Westbury outing. Dead girls and missing shoes, jewels, and of course, the mysterious mystery man make the story a show more delight.

The young man convicted of the crime is not the most likable chap, but he is set to pay the ultimate price very quickly, so Paul must hurry if he’s to solve this one in time! Involving and charming, if with a bit less of the usual Durbridge plot elements — car chases, bombs exploding, etc. The Gilbert Case is very enjoyable for Paul Temple fans however, and was later adapted by Durbridge to print form as a non-Paul Temple story, titled Another Woman’s Shoes. Great fun! show less

I picked this up mainly because of the 12 Paul Temple short stories included in this Francis Durbridge compilation. These particular short stories appeared on successive Fridays in the London Weekly Standard in 1947, and haven’t appeared anywhere for decades.

It was really fun to skip ahead to the back of this thick Durbridge collection and read them all first. That being said however, some were very slight. While these are fun for Paul Temple completists such as myself, they are far too show more gossamer to recommend to those unfamiliar with Temple and his wife Steve. The short stories which have been included with some of the already released novelizations of single Paul Temple stories, or in Paul Temple stories that Durbridge turned into non-Paul Temple stories with the same plot are much better than those included here in my opinion.

While I was initially disappointed at the aforementioned — the Paul temple short stories were the reason I picked up Murder at the Weekend — the one non-Paul Temple novelette, and the three fabulous mystery novellas included here, some of which only found their way into print in Germany, where Paul Temple was almost as beloved as in the UK, more than made up for my slight let-down at the gossamer Paul Temple short stories.

The Nylon Murders, The Yellow Windmill, and most notably, The Face of Carol West, are great mystery fun. The Face of Carol West is Durbridge at his finest in my opinion, and I’ve read a ton of him. What these three novellas highlight is just how terrific and entertaining a mystery writer Durbridge was at his decades-long peak.

Having read Francis Durbridge’s only non-Paul Temple novel, Back Room Girl, and now these snazzy mystery novellas with Paul and Steve nowhere to be found, one can’t help but conclude what a shame it is that Francis Durbridge was so identified with Paul Temple and beloved by millions because of his creation, that he didn’t get a chance to produce more mystery novellas outside of that narrow — but wonderful — character.

There’s a lot of bang for your buck here with Murder at the Weekend, which comes in at just over 400 pages. A soft recommendation for Paul Temple completists, but a rousing recommendation for Francis Durbridge fans, and fans of old-fashioned mystery and crime in general. It took me a while to get through this one, but it was well worth it. I’ll be keeping this one around to have another go somewhere down the line. Fun stuff. show less

Released in 1950, when Francis Durbridge’s Paul Temple was everywhere on BBC radio, Back Room Girl shows the writer at the zenith of his power to entertain. Those who come at this expecting a gripping spy novel in the le Carré vein are best to consider that this charming and entertaining novel has more in common with the kind of romance and spy intrigue of late-1940s films than it does some literary work, and is all the more fun for its lack of pretension or aspirations. It is, in short, show more a blast.

While Durbridge novelized many of his famous radio serials featuring the sophisticated Paul Temple and Steve — martinis and murder, anyone? — on occasion he also rewrote and reworked one of his wildly popular Paul Temple mysteries by replacing Paul Temple and Steve with completely different characters. While both of these are usually quite fun, Back Room Girl is something quite different. It was Durbridge’s first book which didn’t have at its center Paul Temple and his wife, Steve, nor was it based on a Paul Temple story. After reading this, I find that a real shame, because it is tremendously enjoyable on the level of entertainment.

In one minor nod to Paul Temple, crime reporter Roy Benton is a Fleet Street reporter. But that is the only similarity to the Paul Temple stories you’ll find in this novel — outside of it being great fun, just as Paul Temple was. Benton has retired to the coast of Cornwall to write his memoirs. Footprints on the beach suck both Benton and the reader into a tale of spies during the war, and derring-do. Of course there’s a girl, Karen Silvers, and of course there’s going to be some back and forth between her and our hero, which precedes their old-fashioned romance.

Plans for secret weapons, caves, kidnappings and some heroics which in another writer’s hands might have come off as lightweight at best, and cartoonish at worst, instead are brought off with charm and excitement thanks to Durbridge’s skill. His background in radio actually helped give this atmosphere and movement, and made for a quite fun and appealing read, harkening back to the era of radio and films from which it came. That’s about all one could or should ask from this book, and it succeeds in grand fashion.

As long as you don’t think of this as a modern-day novel of spies and intrigue, or even compare it to older and more serious spy novels, you’ll have great fun reading this one at the beach, or out on the terrace with a glass of iced tea. I actually own the paperback version, which has a wonderful bonus in two brief Paul Temple stories. These delightful baubles are like gold nuggets for fans of Paul Temple and his wife, Steve. There is a light and fun air to these two short mysteries which harken back to another era — one with more charm and less vulgarity, which was less crass and had better taste. If you listen carefully, you can almost hear faint strains of Vivian Ellis’ Coronation Scot playing in the background to these two fun confections as you read.

Originally released in 1950 and 1951 in Daily Mail Annual for Boys and Girls they were meant to broaden appeal of the wildly popular radio mystery characters Paul Temple and his wife Steve to a slightly younger adult audience. Read today, they are very fun for all ages of Paul Temple fans.

In A Present for Paul Temple, Paul and Steve uncover smugglers. Paul is aided by a delightfully precocious young boy eager to ditch class, who lends our intrepid hero a hand. The story is quite charming, and one could envision it as a single broadcast entry of the popular and enduring radio show.

In Light-Fingers, Steve and Paul are run off the road by a thief attempting to elude capture. What follows is fun for the reader, because Paul’s deductions come from out of the blue, and are only explained to the reader — not to mention Steve and the Inspector — in the final afterward. While it's the lesser of the two stories, it's still breezy fun.

Extremely short in length, rather gossamer on mystery, but long on nostalgic charm, these baubles will have you chasing after longer Paul Temple stories. These two stories are a sweet bonus to Back Room Girl, which is an entertaining showcase for the talent of Francis Durbridge, who wrote a fun and rip-roaring tale imbued with charm. show less

Francis Durbridge is one of the great names in British crime and mystery. When he finally brought Paul Temple to life in 1938, he had no way of knowing that the name Paul Temple would resonate for decades on radio, in books, and on television. Most famous, however, were the radio escapades of mystery novelist Paul Temple. Beginning with Send for Paul Temple, the stylish world of sports cars, cocktail parties and elegant banter, mingled with intrigue and danger every week. Temple would show more quickly meet Steve in the series, and after marrying, the couple became the Jonathan and Jennifer Hart of their era, always getting involved in intrigue and danger. In fact, had Jonathan and Jennifer Hart been British, and that late 1970s and early ’80s television show set during an earlier time period, it probably would have been similar to the Paul Temple radio adventures.

Durbridge’s mysteries were always entertaining, with swiftly moving plots, unexpected twists, and a smashing ending. They were great fun, and one always knew that a cocktail or two would be had during the proceedings. Steve was often loathe for Paul to help out Sir Graham of Scotland Yard, because she wanted him around more. Once involved, however, she was just as eager — sometimes too eager — to help.

These full cast recreations by BBC-4 of the original radio shows are fabulous, and Paul Temple and Steve is one of the most enjoyable. Using the original music, including Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson make a wonderful Paul Temple and Steve. One of the only drawbacks to this one is that the famous Coronation Scot theme which became synonymous with the program wasn’t being used yet, so you only hear brief snippets when transitioning to a different scene once or twice during the production. Coronation Scot wasn’t used as the main theme for the popular show until 1947’s The Sullivan Mystery (East of Algiers in book form).

Running approximately four hours, it has 4 CDs, each with two episodes:

Disc 1) The Notorious Dr. Belasco — 27A Berkley House Place

Disc 2) Presenting Ed Bellamy — Mrs. Forrester is Surprised

Disc 3) David Nelson Explains — Steve’s Intuition

Disc 4) The Suspects — The Final Curtain

The only annoyance is that between the approximately thirty-minute episodes, it is as though a week has gone by, so if you listen to an entire disc in one go, smack in the middle you get a recap of the prior episode just ended, including the first minute or two that you just listened to. This was so the audience who had waited a week, could catch up on what was happening, and refresh their memories of the ongoing adventure. It’s unnecessary because of the format, but I understand they wanted to remain true to the show as it originally aired. If you’re not in a hurry, you can listen to one of the eight episodes one day or evening, then get a recap when returning to it the next, making it less annoying.

The story itself is breezy fun, with a few exciting moments interlaced with some genuine intrigue. It starts at a party at the Villa Rica on Steve’s birthday, when Paul runs into David Nelson, who seems to know him. But Paul can’t remember ever meeting the man before. Then Graham arrives with Philip Kaufman of the Special Bureau to ask for Paul’s help. Belasco is a notorious international black marketeer expanding into Britain, trying to organize all the crime under his umbrella. No one has any idea who he is, nor what he looks like. He could be anyone, and that’s the rub. There is a train wreck where Belasco’s right-hand man is killed, and Steve’s cigarette lighter has been switched. What can the lighter with the acorn symbol mean?

There is Henry Worth, and Mrs. Forrester, and a man named Harry Marks. Could one of them be the deadly Belasco? What about Bellamy, owner of the Machicha Night Club? A dangerous taxi ride that leads to murder, incriminating documents, false leads, a death which may not be a death at all, and flying bullets — not to mention some fun banter and a few cocktails — make for great fun, as this one rushes toward a very exciting conclusion.

This is a wonderful production by Patrick Rayner. Because he’s kept most of the original trappings, it feels old yet absolutely new again. The cast is terrific, the recording splendid. If you enjoyed Paul Temple back in the day, or just want to see what the fuss was about, Paul Temple and Steve is a marvelous way to find out. Highly recommended! show less