Reading Number TWELVE – a classic murder story

I have been much taken by the British Library’s reprints of older crime fiction. Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate is one of those. It was originally published in 1940 and has been republished in a beautiful edition which I think I bought new at some point.

The story is in three parts. The first section of the book is about the twelve jurors who have been chosen for a murder trial. The author introduces us to them all and gives us the story of their lives and situations, as well as how they feel about being asked to undertake jury service. Obviously, there can’t be full details about all twelve, but there is enough to give us a view of the whole jury and a more in-depth understanding of more than half of the number. The little stories are fascinating and filled with information about how these people think, how they live, their class, and what secrets they have.

The second part of the book is about the murder. The victim is a young boy who lives with his aunt – she is the person on trial. He has died of poisoning. The story gives the background to the murder and what may, or may not, have led up to the events which resulted in the death.

The third part of the book is the trial and the jury’s consideration of the evidence. In this part we can see how their stories are relevant and why they come to the verdict that they end up with. This section is the shortest of the three and I wish that it had been a bit longer because we have had such a build up to the decision making. There’s a very brief postscript where what really happened is revealed and this introduces an interesting, but in my view not particularly surprising, twist.

The idea for this book is great, and the writing is clever and often quite witty. Despite dealing with so many characters the author helps us remember who everyone is and why they think the way that they do – and he does it without the reader always realising it. This was an excellent read and I shall pop this book on my shelf with others in the same series that I have collected recently.