It is always a special treat to come across a novel that is both a fantastic read and virtually unknown to modern audiences. Such a story is Murder Most Familiar, first published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1953. Initially, the setting seems like relatively standard fare for English crime fiction: a country house, a murder, the family as suspects. What sets the book apart are the political overtones (covering a range from Communism to Fascism) and the sure touch author Marjorie Bremner brings to her characters. Told from the perspective of niece–secretary Christina, the challenges of dealing with a tough political tycoon in the family are evident from the first sentence: “My Uncle Hugh was the kind of man it was very easy to hate, if you were not susceptible to his particular kind of charm.” The “uneasy relations between relations” and the ensuing internecine conflicts make Inspector Burgess’ job all the harder. In their monumental compendium A Catalogue of Crime (1971), reviewers Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor described Murder Most Familiar as “top-notch”, “subtly done” and “extraordinarily adroit”.
Marjorie Bremner was born on 13 June 1916 in Chicago, the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants. Her father was a dentist and education was clearly valued: she received a BA in psychology from the University of Chicago, and a master’s from Columbia University. Bremner worked as a psychologist in the women’s branch of the United States Naval Reserve (known as the WAVES) during the Second World War and went to London in 1946 to work on a PhD in political science. She became a researcher for the Hansard Society, published articles on social and political problems, reviewed books and wrote the occasional light-hearted article in the newspapers (such as a tongue-in-cheek piece from 1956 that discussed the merits of encouraging children to watch TV as punishment).
Bremner’s background in psychology, societal issues and politics came together in Murder Most Familiar, where the hidden tensions in a political family and the growth of a neo-fascist party are very well drawn. The novel garnered good reviews and a second, Murder amid Proofs, followed in 1955, but after these brief adventures in crime, Bremner returned to social and political commentary. In 1959, she married economist David Graham Hutton, and became his partner in work, a vivacious hostess to his wide international network, and stepmother to his three daughters. Bremner’s retirement from the publishing world was sufficiently complete that by 1977 Hodder & Stoughton were forced to place an advert in the (London) Times asking for information regarding her whereabouts.
Without giving away any secrets, the cause of death in Murder Most Familiar is eventually explained in some clinical detail. For interested readers, a Google (Scholar) search will reveal a pharmacological review article that traces the history of the substance in question … and in it a reference to Marjorie Bremner!