So Many Steps to Death

Rating:
Summary: Spy vs. spy intrigue - and mystery as well
Review: The main telltale that this was first published in 1954, during the McCarthy era, is that the House Committee on Un-American Activities is treated by various UK spy establishment characters as though an accusation before the Committee really indicates that someone may be 'tarred with that brush' (only later did McCarthy's blacklisting gain the infamy it retains to this day). I doubt that had much to do with Christie's own opinions; it's just a convenient way to cast a little suspicion in a particular direction - which, of course, may just be Christie's cunning.

One of Christie's non-series efforts, _Destination Unknown_ may be somewhat self-revealing on other counts, in terms of the background of Hilary Craven, who enters the story and takes over the protagonist's role after the prologue establishes that scientists have been vanishing mysteriously all over the world - apparently voluntarily, and with no other common factor than first-class brilliance. Hilary becomes involved only by a chance-meeting with a UK agent, trailing Olive Betterton, the wife of the most recent vanished scientist Tom Betterton, as Olive travels to Morocco - supposedly to recover from strain, quite possibly to vanish herself.

The agent, buying toothpaste, notices Hilary buying far too many sleeping pills, and picks the lock of her hotel room to confront her. She's just lost her only child to meningitis, and her now-ex-husband deserted her for another woman. Like Christie in the wake of her own bitter divorce from her first husband, Hilary left England for bright sunlight and experiences in new places. But Hilary realized upon her arrival that what she really wants to escape will be with her wherever she goes: her own pain.

The agent takes an unusual tack at that point: "Has it *got* to be sleeping pills?" Hilary superficially resembles Olive Betterton, particularly her most noticeable feature: a striking shade of red hair. And Olive Betterton is now dying of injuries sustained in a freak accident, a passenger on a plane that by coincidence, Hilary was supposed to have been on. The agent persuades Hilary that if she's so bent on dying, playing the role of Olive Betterton - gambling that the unknown enemy is using a typical cellular organization with need-to-know - will be nearly as dangerous as the pills, with the benefit of possibly doing some good. The slight chance that she might survive will be her risk - by then, she might have changed her mind about dying.

Hilary, who's worth saving, accepts this with a laugh, and takes it on - helped along by the fact that the French colonial government (then running Morocco) had lost scientists of its own, and was willing to assist in the identity switch.

Rather than just one mystery, one can take the view that this espionage story has one mystery after another, from Hilary's point of view. Who among her fellow-travellers isn't what he or she seems - who is working for the other side? Who will contact her? And those who sent her said she might have some protection at journey's end - is anyone on *her* side?

And gradually, a sea-change takes place for Hilary herself as she plays the part of Olive Betterton, the dead woman she's traded places with, although she knows that what peace of mind she's found is still a precarious, precious thing - even if she'll live to enjoy it.