June Checkpoint for the TBR Challenge

I am proceeding up Pike's Peak at a very relaxed pace. My goal is 12 books and I have read 6. I do hope to reach the top before it snows.

My two linked books are A talent for War and The Cassandra Project which were both written by Jack McDevitt. The latter book was cowritten by Mike Resnick.  There are current science fiction novels which are so vague and mysterious as to be almost  considered as literary fiction. There are current  science fiction novels which leave one wondering if having a Ph. D. in astrophysics would help to understand them. Then there are Jack McDevitt's books which tell a good story and in which the science is not too complicated to understand. The Cassandra Project tells about an investigation of intriguing hints that the US landed on the moon before the landing with Neil Armstrong, and that the US and Russia kept this a secret from everybody. I found this to be a real page turner. I have read many of Jack McDevitt's books and I highly recommend them.

The book that has been on my TBR pile the longest is The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. I must have bought this book in the 90's. I found it to be a fascinating story of the changes in American life brought about by the automobile.  It is also the story of the decline of the wealthy Amberson dynasty and the unrealistic expectations of George Amberson Minifer, the last of the Ambersons, who cannot seem to see that the world around him is changing. Many years ago, I saw the movie based on this book and directed by Orson Welles, but I was so intrigued by the book that I watched the movie again. Welles stayed quite faithful to the book. Possibly George Amberson Minifer is a bit more likable in the movie than he is in the book where he is a truly obnoxious character. This book was worth the wait.

The After House by Mary Roberts Rinehart: A Review

The yacht Ella left port on a day in July with 5 passengers and 14 crew members. She returned a
month later with 15 people aboard, and three bodies in a life boat which she towed behind her.

This story is narrated by Ralph Leslie who had recently graduated from medical school. He then became ill from typhoid, and spent some time in the hospital. When his hospital stay was over, he was broke because his next medical job would not start until the fall, and he also felt the need for fresh air and exercise. A friend of a friend got him a job on the Ella although he had no experience working on ships of any kind. When he got the job, he did not tell his employer or his fellow sailors about his education and medical training.

The Ella was owned by Marshall Turner who was head of a prosperous shipping line. The Ella was a schooner which had carried cargo for many years. Turner had had it cleaned up, fixed up, and remodeled so that he could use it as a yacht. It had even been fumigated and there were no rats on this vessel. The odor of formaldehyde below decks was so overpowering that the crew members preferred to sleep on the deck.

Ralph Leslie was hired as a deck hand, but his lack  of sailing experience led him to do jobs like swabbing the deck, and assisting Williams, the butler, with the passengers who had rooms in the after house.  There was Marshall Turner and his wife. There was also young and attractive Elsa Lee, sister of Mrs. Turner, and two of their friends, Mr. Vail and Mrs. Johns. In another room in the after house were Karen Hansen, a maid, and Henrietta Sloane, a stewardess. Marshall Turner spent his days drinking, and the others played bridge and shuffleboard.

The cruise started to go wrong almost from the beginning. Turner had an argument with captain Richardson,  and wanted to promote Singleton, the first mate, to the captain's position. Mrs. Johns became very nervous, and asked Leslie to sleep in the storage room in the after house which he did. The second mate, Schwartz disappeared on August 9th - apparently he fell overboard.

The murders occurred during early morning hours of August 13. Mr. Vail was hacked to death with an axe in his room. Karen Hansen, the maid, was murdered in her cabin, and the captain was killed with an axe. The mate Singleton was so distraught and his behavior was so suspicious that the crew suspected that he was the murderer and locked him in a cabin. Marshall Turner was so drunk that he was incapable of doing anything.

The crew seemed to recognize that Ralph Leslie was more than a deck hand and voted him acting captain. A sailor with a little knowledge of navigation set what he hoped was a course back to the United States. The whole yacht was filled with suspicion and terror. Strange events occurred, and strange sightings were made. Eventually, they got to Philadelphia, and the murderer was captured.

The conclusion of this book is a little disappointing, but the story leading up to it is so good that it will keep you reading to the very end. Mary Roberts Rinehart wrote this book in 1914. It is still available, and, at the time of this writing, the kindle edition is free.

Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay: A Review

Miss Euphemia Pongleton was strangled with a dog leash on the stairs at the Belsize Park underground station. Miss Pongleton was a resident of the Frampton private hotel which was a boarding house for "suitable" residents; those who had been approved by its owner Mrs. Bliss. The residents called themselves the Frumps. The question did arise among the Frumps as to why anybody would wish to murder Miss Pongleton. Suspicion immediately fell on Bob Thurlow who was seeing Nellie, an employee of the hotel. Bob had been involved in a robbery, and Miss Pongleton had evidence of his involvement which she was going to take to the police, however it was found that Bob had an alibi for the time of the murder.

It was believed that Miss Pongleton had money. She certainly had evidenced little inclination to spend any of it. She was given to changing her will frequently, but her principal heirs were Basil Pongleton, her nephew,  and Beryl Saunders, her niece. It was agreed between them that, irregardless of how Miss Pongleton changed her will, that Basil would get the money because he was a poor, struggling writer and Beryl had money of her own.

Basil had undergone the misfortune of seeing Miss Pongleton's body on the underground steps before it was discovered by anyone else, but fearing that he would be implicated in her death, he did not report the body to the police but instead set about establishing an alibi for himself. Some of the best parts of this book are Basil's attempts to provide this alibi because Basil is not the brightest or most organized person. He is assisted by his girl friend, Betty Watson, who lives at the Frampton.

There is a police inspector in this book, Inspector Caird, but his investigation amount to very little except asking a lot of questions, and suspecting the wrong person. Most of the important investigations are carried out by Miss Pongleton's family members and a couple of the residents of the Frampton hotel. Their combined investigations lead to finding the murderer of Miss Pongleton.

I found this to be an excellent read. It has some very humorous moments and characters. The character of Basil Pongleton will appeal to fans of P. G. Wodehouse. Do not think that it is only a humorous mystery because the crime elements are quite serious, and the solution is neatly tied up.

Mavis Doriel Hays is an overlooked writer of the Golden Age. She wrote only three mystery novels. Prior to this, she had taken a great interest in rural crafts, and published several books on this topic. She married in 1929. When she wrote this book, she and her husband Archibald were living in Belsize Lane which is a few hundred yards from where the fictional murder took place. This book was published in 1934, and she would go on to write two others. Possibly World War II put an end to her mystery writing though she did publish more on rural crafts.

This book has been published by the British Library in their series of British Library Crime Classics reprints. It is available in both paper and ebook formats.

I read this book for the 2014 Vintage Mystery Bingo challenge in the category of a book set in England.

Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh: A Review

On the stage in the last act of the play The Rat and the Beaver, Felix Gardner is supposed to shoot Arthur Surbonadier. Of course, there is not a real bullet, and the sound of the gun shot is produced off stage. It is all a theatrical illusion. Except on this evening of June 14, the bullet is real and Arthur Subonadier is dead in front of a shocked audience which includes Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn and his friend journalist Nigel Bathgate.

It must be admitted that nobody really mourned the death of Arthur. He was an obnoxious and egotistical person.  His uncle Joseph Saint owned the theater and produced the play. It was suspected that Arthur blackmailed him to get a good part. Felix Gardner was upset that he had fired the fatal shot, but he also suspected that Arthur really wanted his part. The actor J. Barclay Crammer disliked him because Arthur had taken his part, and Crammer now had a less important role. Arthur had had a relationship with leading lady Stephanie Vaughan, but she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Arthur was also disliked by the rest of the cast, the props manager, and the dressers.

This is Ngaio Marsh's second book which was written in 1935. Her writing would improve with time and many more books. The crime and its solution are well presented. Her background in the theater assures that the theater details are accurate. Alleyn is assisted in his investigation by Nigel Bathgate who seems to go where no journalist would really be allowed to go. Inspector Fox assists in a minor role. Alleyn is given to throwing off Shakespearean quotes to demonstrate his education. He is also quite taken with Stephanie Vaughn. Perhaps more so than a police inspector should be.
This is a good book, but Marsh would go on to write better ones.

The Clue of the Judas Tree by Leslie Ford: A review

Louise Cather is a journalist has been employed by wealthy business man Duncan Trent to ghost write his autobiography. As she takes the train from New York to his country house, Ivy Hill, outside of Baltimore, she little guesses that the autobiography will never be written, and that she will be involved in a murder investigation. When she arrives at his gothic estate, she meets the family and friends of Trent. There is his wife who is self-centered, overweight, and given to obsessions. Her latest obsession is handsome  Dr. Victor Sartorius, who has peculiar beliefs about psychology. There is also her brother Perry Bassett who lost two fortunes in the stock market and now creeps quietly around tending the garden. Trent's  daughter Cheryl is twenty years old and positively normal. She is engaged to the estate manager Dick Ellicott who seems to be a nice guy but older than she is. Louise also meets Agnes Hutton, Trent's secretary, who is very good looking and who seems very efficient.

At dinner the first night, they all seem to be upset because Michael Spur is returning to Ivy Hill. Michael is the son of Trent's business partner. Michael was a victim of shell shock (post traumatic stress disorder) in World War I. After the war, he shot and killed his father during a bout of nerves. Since then, he seems to had led an exemplary life while going to university and working as an engineer. Every one at Ivy Hill fears that Michael's return to Ivy Hill will provoke another attack of his mental problems.

During the first night of Louise's visit, Duncan Trent is shot in his study. Immediately, all, except Cheryl, seek to put the blame on Michael Spur believing that what they feared the most has happened. Lieutenant Joseph J. Kelly from the Baltimore Police Department arrives, and forbids any one to leave. Louise, who had hoped to get out of this situation, is thus drawn into the investigation of Trent's murder and the two other murders which will occur.

I found this book to be an interesting read, but I was not entirely satisfied with the way that the identity of the murderer was neatly found and everything settle in the last chapters. Also not enough was said about Michael Spur's murder of his father which was important to the story, but which was given only a couple of sentences. This book was published in 1933, and readers may find the terms used to describe the African American servants to be offensive.

What is a Judas Tree, you ask? It is a small tree with very bright pink blossoms and heart shaped leaves.  Some say that this is the tree which Judas used to hang himself. Others say that the flowers and seed pods dangle from the branches in the manner similar to a hanged person.

The Case of William Smith by Patricia Wentworth: A Review

He knew that his name was not William Smith. He had a head injury during the war, and when he left the German hospital, they had hung a dog tag around his neck which said William Smith. That was 1942. He spent three more years in German prison camps until the war ended, and he could return back to England. He had looked up the real William Smith, and knew that that was not him.

William had been good at drawing silly animals and he had learned to whittle. He had met a prisoner named Tattlecombe who had relative who had a toy shop in London. When William returned, he sought a job with Mr. Tattlecombe, and was now was now employed producing silly animals which were very successful with the customers. Then Mr. Tattlecombe had an accident. He was standing on the curb one evening, and he believed that someone had pushed him into the street in front of a car. Mr. Tattlecombe was now staying with his sister,  Abby Salt, and her rather peculiar sister Emily until his broken leg healed.

Katherine Eversley needed a job. She was a member of the supposedly well-to-do Eversley family. Her cousins Cyril and Brett ran the family business. It had not been doing well since the war, and the amount of money that Katherine received from her dividends had been decreasing. Katherine entered the Tattlecombe Toy Emporium, and asked about a possible position. The clerk, Miss Cole, was dead set against hiring her, but William Smith took one look and knew that she must be hired. After all, they were short one person since Mr. Tattlecombe was laid up with his broken leg.  Katherine was quite happy with her position painting toy animals and with working with William.

Then things started going wrong. Mr. Tattlecombe announced his decision to leave his business to William Smith in his will. Both Abby Salt and Emily heard this. When William left their house, someone attacked him with apparent intention of killing him. This attack was stopped by police inspector Frank Abbott who was passing by. Then someone tried to push William into the street in front of a bus. William was saved by the man standing next to him on the curb. Then William discovered that someone had loosened the tire on his car. It became very apparent that someone was trying to kill him.

Frank Abbott told William about the private enquiry agent, Miss Maud Silver who might be able to help him. It was Katherine Eversley who sought help from Miss Silver, because everything was becoming terribly complicated. Her cousin Brett wanted to marry her, and she did not want to marry him because she wished to marry William. Was Brett a suspect in the attacks on William, or were they carried out by Emily Able who did not want William to inherit the Tattlecombe business? Then, of course, William Smith had had a life before he had amnesia. Was there someone from this life who recognized him, and desired his death. There are more things which the reader and Miss Silver must learn before a decision is reached.

I have always been a great fan of Maud Silver. This sweet elderly lady diligently knits while she listens to people pour out their secrets to her. She always starts a new notebook for each case which is quite organized. She also does not waste her money on new and fancy clothes or on furnishings for her home which is positively Victorian. She always solves every case she undertakes.This book was published in 1948.  It is currently available as an e-book.