La Boutique - Francis Durbridge

 

Francis Durbridge (1912-98) dominated British detective fiction from the 1930s to the advent of the likes of P D James and Ruth Rendell in the 'Seventies and 'Eighties.  He wrote books but his true dominance was the radio serial and, later, TV.  Paul Temple was his calling card for more than sixty years, originally on radio, then on stage, and finally on TV, where each series was so prestigious it used to be announced as 'Francis Durbridge presents."  His scripts were translated and adapted for broadcast all over Europe.  In 1967 he was commissioned by the European Broadcasting Union to produce a series capable of being broadcast by all member nations.  La Boutique, in five episodes, is the result.

Durbridge here dispenses with Paul Temple.  Our hero instead is Superintendent Robert Bristol of Scotland Yard, summoned back from holiday at his sister's hotel in Venice after his composer brother Lewis is murdered in London.  At the heart of the case is the titular fashion outlet owned by Lewis's ex-wife and run by her oddly possessive female friend.

It must be forty years since I had heard or watched anything by Durbridge.  But these are radio scripts and thus explicitly my bag.  They are very impressive.  Durbridge doesn't waste time on fancy dialogue but he is an absolute master of radiophonic techniques, switching fluently from present time to flashback, from Venice to San Francisco.  And the all-action denouement was genuinely thrilling.

Williams & Whiting Books have scored a major coup getting hold of the Durbridge rights, and Melvyn Barnes provides a useful introduction.  The scripts themselves are unfussily presented and there is a nice collection of contemporary press cuttings at the end.  I will be buying more - the problem is, deciding which next.