The Luminaries Eleanor Catton

[Fran]

@DATo
"dadecomposing, dead muskrat" ... (I can always count on you for a laugh of the day)
Totally second your recommendation of The Thousand Autumns, brilliant book.

Am I the only one to put Alistair Lauderback in the frame for the murder of Crosbie Wells? Maybe I just instinctively think the worst of would-be politicians but he did have means, motive and opportunity

Fran, I was going to say ... "a pair of fetid dingo's kidneys" until I remembered that Douglas Adams had already beat me to it.

Lauderback may have had the motive and the opportunity but how did he get Wells to die in the manner he did? That is my main reason to think Wells died willingly ... maybe ... perhaps ... possibly ... *Shrugs*

Yea, but why did he take such a circuitous route that just happened to take him close to Wells cabin?
It doesn't seem to have been a problem for any of them to get their hands on laudanum or opium for that matter & it would seem easy enough to me to convince Wells to share a drink with his "half-brother".
I think I'm obsessing

[Gannon]

Hmmm...DATo. I really don't think Crosbie Wells took his own life. Firstly after all he had been through he seems to be a man of character who soldiers on. Secondly he seemed to be very happy with his friendship with Tauwhare and looked forward to his visits, a genuine friendship was formed between the two of them. Thirdly I think he was looking forward to building his timber mill. Also he did not know about the laudanum in the spirits, so he would have known that simply drinking what he thought was just a simple bottle of spirits would not have taken his life. If he wanted to take his life he would have had to have found some other means.

I am now leaning towards Carver forcing Crosbie to drink the poisoned spirits. Remembering back, did not Tauwhare see Carver entering Crosbies cottage before Lauderback's arrival. Crosbie was not long dead according to Lauderback, and his man, Jock, said that there was still sweat on his collar and believed that he had not been dead for more than half an hour.

What do you think?

[DATo]

Gannon,

I agree that Wells' taking his own life seems a bit of a stretch but so does Carver forcing him to drink the laudanum. The picture of Wells quaking before Carver and complying with him to drink the laudanum seems to clash with the scene in which he slaps Lydia. His anger in that scene is wrathful and, if anything, it would appear to me that Wells would be forcing Carver to drink it. I was thinking possibly something Carver SAID to Wells caused him to drink the potion. Your facts do seem to support the opposite view however, but it just doesn't seem to ring true with the nature of Wells ... but now that I think of it neither does the tone of his letters to Lauderback. Could Catton be implying a dual nature to Wells - a sort of yin yang to his personality? This is why I mentioned earlier that someone else, possibly Lydia, wrote the letters. The tone of his letters does not sound like the Crosbie Wells we have come to know.

Fran's view is also worthy of consideration: Lauderbeck killed Crosbie. Motive: It seems Lauderbeck was concerned about the possibility of being found out to be Wells' brother. But this would clash with the idea of Tauwhare killing Carver as retribution for Carver killing his friend. Tauwhare seen as an avenging angel seems the most compelling solution to the demise of Carver mystery. I don't think Catton would have had Tauwhare kill Carver if he had not been responsible.

1) Carver is in some way responsible for Wells' death because Catton has Tauwhare effect justice.

2) Carver does not seem (in my mind) capable of forcing Crosbie to drink the laudanum.

3) Carver intentionally or otherwise talks Wells into ending his own life ???

Catton is such a sweet young lady that it makes me feel guilty when thoughts of Tauwhare clonking her on the head with his green club enter my mind.

[Gannon]

I too believe that Tauwhare killed Carver. I think that he holds himself responsible for Crosbie's death by giving Carver his address, and this leaves him wracked with guilt.

I still think that Carver forced Crosbie to drink the spirits. I think he would have gone there with a pistol and persuaded Crosbie to drink the spirits. Remember that Crosbie did not know that the spirits were poisoned. He may have forced Crosbie to drink at gunpoint or he may have lulled his fears telling him to relax and have a drink and he was not there to kill him.

Because we know that Carver visited Crosbie before Lauderback's party it seems impossible for Crosbie's death to have been an accident. For this to have happened it means that Carver would of had to have left Crosbie untouched and healthy before leaving. Looking back at the bad blood between the two characters, and Carver's anger and thirst for revenge I can't see this happening.

I suppose that Carver may have given Crosbie an ultimatum or struck some sort of deal with him, and Crosbie decided to have a large drink after he left to calm his nerves. However for the moment I am still going to stick (not with a lot of confidence ) with Carver killing him by somehow making him drink the laudanum.

-- Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:25 pm --

@DATo
"dadecomposing, dead muskrat" ... (I can always count on you for a laugh of the day)
Totally second your recommendation of The Thousand Autumns, brilliant book.

Am I the only one to put Alistair Lauderback in the frame for the murder of Crosbie Wells? Maybe I just instinctively think the worst of would-be politicians but he did have means, motive and opportunity

Fran, I was going to say ... "a pair of fetid dingo's kidneys" until I remembered that Douglas Adams had already beat me to it.

Lauderback may have had the motive and the opportunity but how did he get Wells to die in the manner he did? That is my main reason to think Wells died willingly ... maybe ... perhaps ... possibly ... *Shrugs*

Yea, but why did he take such a circuitous route that just happened to take him close to Wells cabin?
It doesn't seem to have been a problem for any of them to get their hands on laudanum or opium for that matter & it would seem easy enough to me to convince Wells to share a drink with his "half-brother".
I think I'm obsessing

Fran, I have thought hard about Lauderback as well. But if we agree that it was the laudanum that killed Crosbie than this method of murder pretty much rules Lauderback out. The laudanum was purchased from Pritchard's store. Lauderback was coming from the wrong side. There was no way that he would have been able to purchase the Laudanum.

This passage from pg 126, is a conversation between Pritchard and Nilssen

"...Furthermore, the phial of laudanum that had been discovered in close proximity to the man's dead body suggested that somebody- perhaps the same somebody- had been present in the cottage either just prior to or just after the hermit's death, presumably with some intention of harm. The phial was Pritchard's purchased from his emporiam and bearing a label signed in his hand: its bearer must therefore have been a Hokitika man, travelling northward, not a stranger, travelling south. This ruled out the dignitaries who had first discovered Crosbie' body, and had brought the news of his death to town.

Maybe I am being completely sucked in by Catton, and she is "setting" me up and misdirecting me to Carver, but I just can't see how Lauderback could have poisoned Crosbie with the Laudanum.

HELP?????