Wild goose chase
I picked up Julian Symons?s The Man Who Lost His Wife expecting to find another first-rate British parlor room mystery after the manner of Agatha Christie. What I found instead was a lighter version of the black comedies/social satires written by Waugh and Huxley.
The title character, Gilbert Welton, is the head of a faltering publishing firm that needs an influx of capital and one or two bestselling authors as clients. Nonetheless, the middle-aged Gilbert believes that he is happy ? after all, he has kept his good looks, he has a beautiful and much younger wife and a surprisingly well-adjusted adult son from a previous marriage. Then his wife announces offhand that she needs to take a break to figure out what she wants out of life. Gilbert starts to pay attention and notices a number of disturbing things. His wife has changed her appearance and perfume, she is flushed and breathless in the presence of Gilbert?s talented junior partner, Max, and, most disturbing of all, she has a red mark on her shoulder that was likely left there by some other man?s mouth.
Soon his wife takes off for a vacation in Dubrovnik. The already anxious and suspicious Gilbert receives a telegram from Max, who is supposed to be on business in Italy, advising that Max is on his way to Yugoslavia. Gilbert takes the next flight to Yugoslavia and goes chasing after his wild goose of a wife. Gilbert is so singularly inept at wife-finding that I found myself repeatedly laughing out loud. The head of the Sarajevo police sums up Gilbert nicely, ?you assume too many things, you feel too much and think too little.?
In this novel, Symons pokes fun at the psychosexual confusion of middle-aged males, social stereotypes and cultural norms. There is more than a passing nod at Evelyn Waugh. As usual, Symons demonstrates his insight into psychology. I was particularly pleased to see male mid-life crisis from perspective of a middle-aged male.
Although Symons is best known for his mysteries and detective fiction, he was a remarkably versatile writer, producing historical studies, literary criticism, and true crime novels as well. With The Man Who Lost His Wife, satire is added to his list of genres. This is one of Symons?s best books.
