Murder on Safari

I wouldn't call this a particularly good mystery, but it is an interesting little book. Published in 1938, and set in British East Africa, it is about, well, a murder, several crimes really, during a safari. This was back when the leisure class did leisurely things like take opulent hunting trips for trophy game organized by outfitters like Abercrombie & Fitch.

It is a snapshot of the colonial time and place as well as lives and attitudes of the Europeans and the Africans.

I would say the good was some of the suspense, but that was manufactured by a lot of the bad.

And we had the scenes: "the killer is...." "the killer is...." "ahhh, I'm dying...." "the killer is...." "help me...." "I need some water...." "the killer is...." And then 15 show more minutes later, "I think he's dead sir." So we're left in the dark about who the killer is.

The plot is somewhat strange to begin with as there is an odd assortment of Europeans mixed together who are all at odds with one another from the outset; people seemingly who would not have ever gotten together under any circumstances in the first place, I guess that's what a free trip to Africa gets you. All the characters felt flat to me, no real depth to them whatsoever. Their drama and outrages and being at each other's throats the entire time made it hard for me to keep up my interest; that all held the story together, but just made it all too forced. The police Superintendent Vachell is something of a bumbling fool, but somehow manages to piece together all the bits in the end.

In any case, it might be worth reading just for the historical content and context. Bookended between Out of Africa (1937) and West with the Night (1942). There is a notable exchange in the book regarding hunting in general, and the use of a gun to kill any wild game. In that, Huxley mentions two "great white hunters," Bell and Sutherland.

W. D. M. Bell (Walter Dalrymple Maitland Bell also known as Karamojo Bell), shot 1,011 elephants during his 16-year career.

Not to be outdone, James H. "Jim" Sutherland shot between 1,300 and 1,600 elephants during his 33-year career.

I'd probably heard and read about them in the past, but it made me think about how Denys Finch Hatton had to slaughter a ton of big-game before he realized that there were "no big tuskers left," and became a passionate conservationist. Sad.

Anyway, I though another passage on Nazis was timely as they are a big thing again in 2025; the narcissism being a particularly noticeable trait.

From the story:

"'I'm surprised that you ask that, Chris,' de Mare said. 'It comes over us all at times, you know. Just plain, old-fashioned, elemental love - very elemental, like everything else about Luke. He doesn't go in for subtleties, such as wondering whether Cara would be really happy as a white hunter's wife, for instance. He reminds me of the perfect Nazi: blond, muscular, and moronic; and he 'thinks with the blood,' as good Nazis ought. He wants Cara, and he doesn't see any reason why he shouldn't take her. It's part of the much over - rated nature of the little child – 'momma, buy me that' sort of thing. Very likely he thinks she's lucky to get him. Perhaps she is I don't know." show less

After watching The Flame Trees of Thika on television and Out of Africa in the theater, I became fascinated with Kenya during the time period of 1900-1940. There were some highly interesting people there doing all sorts of things, and I read one book after another about them. One of those interesting people was the author of The Flame Trees of Thika, Elspeth Huxley. The memoir of her childhood in Africa is excellent, so it didn't come as any surprise when I enjoyed Murder on Safari so much. The woman knew how to write.

The setting is absolutely superb. I felt as though I were on safari with the cast of characters, and it was a treat to be on such a swanky one. In addition, it's through this vibrant setting that Huxley often shares her show more opinions of big game hunting, poaching, and Britain's behavior as a colonial power.

Vachell, formerly of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is new to the country and his position as superintendent, and he's not in camp long before it's been proven to him that he's among a bunch of rich, entitled twits. Huxley's sly sense of humor raises her head with Vachell. Lady Baradale insists that he would do a much better job if everyone else didn't know he was a policeman, so he's persuaded to go undercover as a great white hunter. It's an ill-fitting disguise and provides some laughs along the way.

The mystery in Murder on Safari kept me guessing as well as providing a few chills and thrills. There's nothing like trying to search for clues in a tent "...in total dark, knowing [you're] not alone." I normally don't care for crime fiction written in the 1920s and 30s, but Huxley's mystery is certainly an exception to the rule. I'll be looking for more. show less

Elspeth Huxley won her place in my Birthday Book of Underappreciated Lady Authors because she is very well remembered for one book but that she wrote a great deal more is often forgotten.

I remember watching a wonderful television adaptation of ‘The Flame Trees of Thika’, her memoir of her childhood in Africa, many years ago. I read and loved the book – which is still in print, thanks to Slightly Foxed – but I didn’t come across anything else she wrote and I didn’t think to look. It wasn’t very long ago that I learned that she wrote more memoirs, she wrote more books about Africa, and she wrote three mysteries.

I had intended to read a memoir for this birthday celebration, but when I read about the recent death of another show more underappreciated lady author I remembered that I had picked up some green Penguins that came from her collection in my local second-hand book shop bookshop a while ago, and that one of them was by Elspeth Huxley.

Jessica Mann was a novelist, a journalist, a broadcaster and a great deal more. We were members of the same independent library, we were supporters of the local literary festival, and if I put together a second Birthday Book of Underappreciated Lady Authors there is every chance that her name will be on the list.

Now, back to the book.

Superintendent Vachell is a Canadian policeman who has settled East Africa. He is approached by a well-known hunter named Danny La Mere, who has been leading a safari funded by the wealthy Lady Baradale. Her ladyship has brought thirty thousand pounds’ worth of jewels on the trip, the cream of her collection has been stolen from the portable safe in her tent, and the circumstances suggest that the thief is somebody very close to her.

Posing as an extra guide, Vachell observes members of the party closely. There is Lord Baradale, a keen photographer and inventor; his flighty daughter from an earlier marriage, Cara, who has a fiancé but is involved with the Dutch second hunter; the aforementioned fiancé, Sir Gordon Catchpole, a London-based interior designer; a new maid whose background is shrouded in mystery; a chauffeur-mechanic who had been an actor and had a very high opinion of himself; and an aviatrix named Chris Davis, who is clearly based on Beryl Markham.

It’s an interesting cast of characters, but Vachell finds that he is long on suspects, short on clues, and is his lack of knowledge is hunting is leaving him in serious danger of blowing his cover.

There is a death that might have been passed off as a tragic accident, had there not been a policeman on hand to examine the scene. Vachell must reveal that he is an undercover policeman and begin a murder enquiry. Soon he is investigating two murders, the second even more ingenious, more likely to be taken as an accident that the first.

Elspeth Huxley told her story well, bringing her characters and the setting to life. It feels authentic.

I hate the idea of shooting wildlife for fun and for profit, so I appreciated that the descriptions were not gratuitous; and that the author made her protest by presenting her characters and their safari clear-sightedly, by simply shining a light on them to show how ridiculous it all was.

That does make the book feel dated, as does some of the language and some of the attitudes.

The mystery plot is very well constructed, and it plays fair. There are even ‘clue-finder’ footnotes in my book, guiding readers back to the points in the story where Vachell found his evidence. I hadn’t spotted the clues, but I saw that a good policeman would, and I understood how the case against the culprit had been built.

I did guess the identity of that culprit correctly; because the group of suspects was small and because the plot was well built but it was built on classic lines.

This book stands out not because it is innovative or inventive, but because the author has such depth of understanding of her setting and the distinctive possibilities that it presents for a murderer.

That makes it a distinctive and very readable piece of crime fiction. show less

If you like to savor the 'time and place' elements of your mysteries you might enjoy this tale set in the East Africa of the late 1930s. It is set in a Kenya firmly anchored in the Commonwealth, far from the treacherous European currents of the same decade. The complex and tight plot sits comfortably in the Golden Age style. The beautiful descriptions of the Kenyan plains teeming with wildlife that are woven into the narrative are the main feature.

set in 1930's East Africa, with its British expatriots and serious changes - three mysteries plus the Flame Trees of Thika, good companions to White Mischief and Out of Africa