Anne Morice

• Born: February 18, 1918
• Birthplace: Kent, England
• Died: 1989
• Place of death: Unknown

Types of Plot: Amateur sleuth; cozy

Principal Series: Tessa Crichton Price, 1970-1988

Contribution

Anne Morice’s twenty-one novels featuring amateur sleuth Tessa Crichton Price, the loquacious narrator, have been described as offering “sneaky endings, civilized middles and comfortable beginnings, which tell you in a page or two that you’re in the company of a classic detective-story writer.” Following in the tradition of Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh, Morice placed her characters in confined settings and examined the reality of psychological turmoil hovering beneath a facade of social harmony. Misled by skillfully placed red herrings, the reader can verify in reflection that the author faithfully provided the clues necessary to successful detection. Morice expanded the “puzzle” technique to include commentary on writing itself, creating, in essence, the metamystery. Her style simulates conversation, conveying essential information in skillful dialogue that reveals her interest in the theater. Her mysteries lend credence to the genre as a medium of social, psychological, and literary commentary.

Biography

Anne Morice was born Felicity Wolthington in 1918, in Kent, England, the daughter of Harry Wolthington and Morice Wolthington. She attended Francis Holland School, in London, and schools in Paris and Munich. In 1939, she married Alexander Shaw, a film director, with whom she had two daughters and one son. Several members of her family have had theatrical ties: father, a playwright; sister, an actress; brother-in-law, a theatrical producer; and two nephews, Edward Fox and James Fox, actors.

She began writing mysteries when she and her husband were living in Paris. On frequent trips to see her son, who was in school in England, she purchased the latest mysteries, eagerly sharing them with her husband on her return home. Between 1970 and 1988, she published twenty-two mysteries, only one of which did not feature Tessa, Design for Dying (1988). Although her husband’s work with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank enabled her to travel widely, she selected England as the setting for most of her works. She died in 1989.

Analysis

Anne Morice began her mystery-writing career with Death in the Grand Manor (1970), and she wrote eight more novels in which Tessa’s acting career remains a mere device to explain her insight into character. In Nursery Tea and Poison (1975), Tessa visits her godmother, Serena Hargrave, at her cottage in Herefordshire and discovers the murderess of Nannie to be Serena’s “truculent” daughter Primrose. A particularly vivid scene, indicative of Morice’s knowledge of set design, depicts Serena clutching a carving knife, Tessa listening to a Bob Newhart monologue on the gramophone, and Primrose vanishing. For Death of a Wedding Guest (1976), Roakes Common, her cousin Toby’s home, becomes the setting for the wedding of Toby’s daughter Ellen. Her mother, Irene, who deserted her and Toby years before, returns for the wedding, only to be murdered because she has witnessed a hit-and-run accident committed by the mother-dominated Phillip, once Ellen’s boyfriend. Portraying Tessa between acting assignments and in the midst of friends and relatives, these early mysteries establish Morice as an author of mysteries of manners.

Murder in Mimicry

With Murder in Mimicry (1977), Morice moves the theater to center stage, using a theatrical milieu for this novel set in Washington, D.C. In it, she introduces two characters who will appear in several mysteries: Lorraine Beasely, an assertive and untidy friend with whom Tessa stays in Georgetown, and Henry Thurloe, a successful lawyer who will become Lorraine’s fifth husband. Beginning before Tessa departs from England for the United States, the novel opens with Tessa and Robin having just finished a celebration lunch in honor of their fifth wedding anniversary and his promotion to chief detective inspector. At the conclusion, Robin joins Tessa and Toby at dinner as they discuss highlights of the solved case. Morice maintains this pattern, in which the mysteries begin and end with conversations between Tessa and at least one of the men in her life.

This narrative style emphasizing conversation reveals Morice’s indebtedness to Rex Stout, whom she identified as her favorite author. Tessa shares Archie Goodwin’s narrative facility, attention to detail, and psychological expertise. Morice particularly admired Stout’s realistic description. She explained, “I still believe if I walk down 35th Street, I’ll find Wolfe’s townhouse, and if I look up, I’ll see his orchids growing on the roof.” In addition, she paid homage to Nero Wolfe by transferring many of his qualities to Toby: his reclusive nature, fondness for food, and abrasive manner. Even her decision to write mysteries of manners might have been influenced by Stout, who declared Jane Austen the greatest writer and Emma (1815) a masterpiece.

With the setting of Murder in Mimicry in the United States, Tessa begins to interject comments on the writing process itself. She and Toby speculate on creating a traditional detective story using her cohorts in the theatrical company as characters. Engaging in banter, the cousins create motives for murdering Gilbert, the supercilious star of Toby’s comedy, Host of Pleasures, currently appearing in Washington, D.C. Speaking of the “anti-Gilbert motif,” Tessa and Toby discuss the “classic pattern,” inserting names of her fellow thespians.

Death in the Round

Death in the Round (1980) contains more reflective commentary. Tessa evaluates the plays of Jamie Crowther, the author of the work in which she comes to the Rotunda Theatre to appear: “They neither were nor aimed to be in any way memorable or profound, but the formula was unbeatable: tautly constructed plots, sharp characterization, an innate sense of the theatre and the magic gift of being able to make people laugh.” Such a formula might well be the one to which Morice subscribed in creating her mysteries. Tessa argues, “In my experience, nearly all playwrights are martyrs to neurosis in one form or another.” The nervous Crowther attempts to control his fears by doing petit point to re-cover his dining-room chairs. In her later works, Morice has continued to depict the fictional author’s concern for both the created work and the audience’s response. Even fellow characters become involved in naming the mysteries. Tessa asks Robin, “If this had been fiction, instead of merely truth, what would you have called it?” He responds, “How about Death in the Round?”

The Men in Her Death

To provide a sense of continuity, Morice allows Tessa to interact with the same friends in more than one book. In each case, the friendship itself reveals a growth. The Men in Her Death (1981) finds Lorraine and Henry Thurloe married since they last saw Tessa. Lorraine arrives in England to stay with Tessa and Robin as she looks for Sandy Thurloe, the daughter of Henry’s sister-in-law. Roakes Common again provides the setting for much of the action. Tessa first encounters Kim Enolls, the poet who proves to be the murderer, clipping Toby’s hedges. Mr. Parkes, the temperamental gardener who refuses to perform this task, appears with his iron-willed housekeeper-wife in most of the later novels. Robin saves Tessa from being killed by Enolls, who murdered Sandy because she did not sufficiently appreciate his literary talent. Authors frequently serve as suspects or victims in Morice’s mysteries.

Hollow Vengeance

Elsa Carrington and her two children, Millie and Marcus, first appear in Hollow Vengeance (1982). Here the reader receives one clue about Tessa’s age. She baby-sat Millie, now sixteen, and her brother when not too much older than her charges are now. Astounded at Elsa’s naïveté, Toby argues that if he should turn the events of this mystery into a play, he must drop Elsa, because no audience would ever believe in her trusting nature. Thus, Morice continues to manipulate illusion and reality.

Getting Away with Murder?

Elsa and her children, who have aged two years, reappear in Getting Away with Murder? (1984). Once again Tessa is invited to visit them at their home, Sowerly Grange, near Storhampton, Oxfordshire. Gregory Laycock proves to be one of Morice’s least sympathetic murderers. His daughter, Andrea, seems initially to be an insensitive friend of Marcus, but actually, she suffers from emotional abuse perpetrated by her father. Realizing that his guilt has been discovered, he commits suicide, a typical response for Morice’s murderers. They seldom remain at the conclusion to be judged, reflecting Morice’s opinion that the repeal of capital punishment has taken “the bite” from crime stories.

Dead on Cue

Dead on Cue (1985) typifies the distinctive quality of Morice’s work. As Robin and Tessa are returning home from “one of the most disastrous first nights in theatrical history,” he informs her of his invitation to speak at the Alibi Club, a group of outstanding mystery writers. Thus begins a metamystery in which linguistic peculiarities identify the murderer. The members of the club revel in their eccentricity. Tessa describes red-haired Myrtle Sprygge: “Had she been auditioning for the part of Cleopatra’s grandmother during a stormy period of her life, she would have got it without opening her mouth.” Before her murder, Myrtle reveals that she has sent a script to a fellow Alibi Club member, the now-deceased William Montgomerie, a playwright whom Tessa has admired. The script has not been seen, according to Montgomerie’s second wife, Gwen, and his longtime secretary, Joyce Harmon. When Tessa receives a play entitled Loopholes to consider, she recognizes it as Myrtle’s.

Part of the plot concerns the study of a text to identify authorship. Nigel Banks, the president of the Alibi Club, exhibits that eccentricity Morice bestows on her author characters. When Tessa encounters him in a bookstore furtively rearranging his books to display them better to the buying public, he dispels her opinion that he is either an indignant or a furious fox. He reveals psychological insight with his description of Joyce:

“She picks up things most people wouldn’t notice. Trouble with Joyce, though, is that she’s gone through life with blinkers on. Hasn’t much awareness of what’s going on in the world outside. It sometimes leads her into false conclusions.”

Nigel’s comment causes Tessa to reevaluate the seemingly shy and ineffectual secretary. Such an analysis applies to many of Morice’s murderers, who display an arrested emotional development.

Joyce, who admits that she is a liar, exhibits an unusual speech style. Tessa realizes that Joyce begins a conversation by using words that convey the opposite of her intention. When she lies, she articulates fluently. With an actress’s sensitivity to speech patterns, Tessa suspects Joyce’s duplicity. Moreover, Joyce’s habit of tapping her fingers as “a sort of offering to the jealous gods” does seem suspicious. A chance reading of a women’s magazine article on making ice sculptures provides Tessa with another clue. Her skill in synthesizing various clues to solve the mystery is foreshadowed by her admission that she is “a dedicated student of psychology” and a reader of mysteries. Although she attempts to poison Tessa, Joyce remains a poignant murderess, less a hypocrite than those who have committed no legal crime.

Throughout the series Tessa comments on the relationship between the author and the created work. She evinces surprise that Bockmer, the new member being inducted into the Alibi Club, is an “insignificant, comically shy man.” Perhaps she speaks for Morice when she suggests that “the profession he had so wisely chosen enabled him to act out his secret fantasies during every minute of his working life and thereby earn enough money to carry on doing so.”

Principal Series Characters:

• Tessa Crichton Price , an amateur sleuth and actress, is the wife of Scotland Yard Detective Robin Price. Although her age and appearance remain undefined, clues suggest that Tessa is youthful and attractive. Seldom performing in a long-running play, she travels in England, visiting friends and relatives who require her detective expertise. A talkative narrator, she displays exuberance, curiosity, and perceptiveness.
• Toby Crichton is Tessa’s curmudgeonly, reclusive playwright cousin, with whom she enjoys discussing solutions to the murderous events around her.

Bibliography

Alderson, Martha, and Neysa Chouteau. “Anne Morice.” In And Then There Were Nine: More Women of Mystery, edited by Jane S. Bakerman. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1985. Study of the life and work of Morice, who is discussed alongside Patricia Highsmith and Daphne du Maurier, among other famous “women of mystery.”

Klein, Kathleen Gregory, ed. Great Women Mystery Writers: Classic to Contemporary. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994. Contains an essay on Morice detailing her life and works.

Library Journal. Review of Getting Away with Murder? by Anne Morice. 110, no. 1 (January 1, 1985): 105. Reviewer finds this Tessa Crichton series novel about a two-year-old murder to be well-written but somewhat slow.

Library Journal. Review of Murder in Mimicry, by Anne Morice. 102, no. 9 (May 1, 1977): 1047. Review of a Tess Crichton series novel that finds the actress in Washington, D.C., is described as entertaining and fun.

Morice, Anne. Interview. The Mystery FANcier 6 (November/December, 1982): 5-8. Brief but revealing interview with the author, discussing her mysteries and her approach to writing.