The Odd Flamingo

by Nina Bawden

Genres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 256
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Rating:

Synopsis:

Rose has news for Celia – she is due to have a baby by Celia’s husband, Humphrey. Soon after, the seeds of scandal bear a criminal fruit when a body is discovered in Little Venice along with Rose’s handbag. Celia drafts in an old flame, Will, to root out the truth from suspicions of murder and blackmail, as the evidence starts to converge on the patrons and strange goings-on of the seedy Chelsea club, ‘The Odd Flamingo’. First published in 1954, this was one of two gritty and atmospheric crime novels written by the accomplished children’s author Nina Bawden.

I knew of Nina Bawden because I read Carrie’s War in university — I think for the children’s literature class I took? I hadn’t expected to see a book by her from the British Library Crime Classics series, that’s for sure.

The Odd Flamingo turns out to be a noir-ish and rather grubby story, in which few (if any) people are genuine or trustworthy. Bawden carefully gives us the hero worship the main character has for his friend Humphrey, and his idealisation of a young girl, Rose, who seems fresh and innocent… and then carefully spends the whole book tearing it down.

It’s pretty weird as a mystery/crime novel, because the main character doesn’t really get very far in solving anything, and the interest (depending on your tastes) is more on the character studies. I found it overall pretty unpleasant, and while I could admire the craft, it wasn’t what I usually hope for in classic crime. (Which is fair enough for the series, to be clear: even “classic crime” as a concept contains multitudes!)

It’s an interesting read, but not one I enjoyed in and of itself.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)