`The Big Bow Mystery' by Israel Zangwill certainly lives up to its name. The novel reeks of Victorian atmosphere as it produces right from the start the `closed room' mystery. A landlady cannot arouse a lodger so she summons a neighbour, a retired detective called Grodman, to help. They burst in to find Arthur Constant, throat cut while asleep, with the door locked and bolted, windows closed and no weapon in sight (so not suicide).
The novella is packed with interesting characters that are vividly drawn. I should have realised that Zangwill was a noted humourist by the way these characters are handled. The saintly agitator (Arthur Constant) aka the victim; the steadfast but innocent landlady (Mrs. Dragdump) supplying much of the extensive humour, especially at the legal proceedings; the retired detective (George Grodman) guiding the reader through the forensics but obsessed by rivalry with his successor (Wimp) at the Yard; the blinkered, arrogant detective (Edward Wimp) who EXPLOITS the law rather than acts as its servant; the odious and deceitful scrounger (Denzil Cantercot), a self-styled poet and clear suspect; the ambitious rabble-rouser (Tom Mortlake) who performs the role of chief suspect - perhaps unjustly; the forthright radical (Peter Crowl), so keen to lead others but so hen-pecked by his wife; and the `femme fatale' (Jessie Dymond), basically off-stage but the answer to the mystery.
The background is that of the social unrest (e.g. 1889 Dockers Strike) which led to excessive anti-union legislation and so to the creation of the Labour Party (1900). It was the era of not just Socialism but also Communism and even Anarchism. Some of the characters are part of that world. It was also the world when police faced growing public expectation and not always successfully (e.g. Jack the Ripper in 1888).
The story goes at a great pace and is well-written, complete with twists and false-starts. Near the end the tension rises until the final twist / denouement.
Why do I give it four stars? Because Zangwill cheats by the sin of omission - and I've repeated the offence in this review, so there's your clue. Also the motivation for the murder provided in the solution I would consider rather scanty.
One final word. I followed the advice of another reviewer & used Project Gutenburg.
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