google-site-verification: googlef64103236b9f4855.html Philly Reader: September 2015

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Patrick Butler for the Defense by John Dickson Carr

Hugh Prentice, a junior partner in the law firm of Prentice, Prentice and Vaughn, was having an argument in his office with Helen Dean, his serious romantic interest. She had accused him of not being serious enough and of spending too much time reading detective stories and wishing that something like these stories would occur in his life. She said that he was wishing that a mysterious character named Omar of Ispaham would come to his office with a mysterious mission. Hugh denied this and said he must be going because he had an appointment to deliver some papers to the barrister Patrick Butler.

The clock struck five and there was a knocking on the door. A short, dark man wearing a fez entered the office and said that he was Abu of Ispaham, and that he needed a private word with Mister Prentice. Helen took that as her cue to leave. Abu said that his brother's life was in danger, and he told Hugh that all of the dangers in his life were due to Hugh's gloves. Hugh left Abu in his office and went to the office of his fellow junior partner, Jim Vaughn, and asked him to keep and eye on Abu while Hugh delivered the papers to Patrick Butler. They had this conversation in the small space in the hall between their  office doors. When Hugh turned to look in his office again, Abu had died of a stab wound. It was impossible for any one to enter the office without the lawyers seeing them. There was no place for any one to hide in Jim's office. This was essentially a locked room murder.

Hugh left to seek help leaving Jim with the body. This was the beginning of Hugh's mad cap adventure. He sought the help of Patrick Butler, an extremely effective defense lawyer and an extreme egotist. These two  would be joined along the way by Helen and by Lady Pamela de Saxe, a dumb blond, who was apparently Butler's current romantic interest. The beautiful Lady Pamela seemed to be much more interested in Hugh than Butler.

Hugh's adventures would take him through a very foggy London to some very unexpected places before the solution of the puzzle would be reached. He went to the police museum at Scotland Yard, an antique shop at Seven Dials selling historical gloves, a theater with a magic show, and a hotel which was hosting a convention of the Society of Ancient Sins.

This is a fun book which I enjoyed very much. It does deal with murder and other crimes, but Hugh's  jolly trip around London in the fog  makes it quite enjoyable.

This book was written in 1956 by John Dickson Carr, the master of the locked room mystery. It is apparently no longer in print, but used copies are available online.





Friday, September 25, 2015

The Long Farewell by Michael Innes

Lewis Packford was a Shakespearean scholar, and he was noted for finding obscure and hidden documents which he brought to the attention of other scholars with great theatrical gestures which did not endear himself to these scholars.  Sir John Appleby, who was Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, had met him several years before when Appleby had recovered some documents which had been stolen from Packford. When Appleby visited Packford in Italy in the summer, Appleby got the definite feeling that Packford was on the trail of another important document.

In the fall, Lewis Packford committed suicide at his English home of Urchins. Packford had apparently shot himself, and left a note on a postcard which said "A Long Farewell". Appleby was quite puzzled as to why Packford, who seemed to be on the brink of such a great success, should end his life. A chance encounter with Mr. Room who was Packford's solicitor, encouraged Appleby to look into the suicide because Mr. Room believed that Packford had been murdered.

Appleby traveled to Urchins, and met the very strange collection of people who had been there at the time of Packford's death. There were Packford's two wives. Yes, this was a surprise to many people who had not even known that Packford was married. It was also a surprise to Packford when they showed up at Urchins at the same time.  One was Ruth, a university professor, and the other was Alice, a very attractive bar maid. There was also Edward, the brother of Lewis, and Mrs. Husbands, the very serious housekeeper. Also there were several eccentric Shakespearean scholars and two collectors of rare books who were very anxious to get their hands on Packford's collection of books and other documents.

I enjoyed this book very much, but I am a great fan of Michael Innes. Readers who demand stark realism and believable characters may not be so pleased. The characters in the book may be a bit unrealistic, but they are fun. The writing is witty and includes some enjoyable comments on those who are dedicated to the serious study of literary fiction and on those who collect rare books. I especially enjoyed Alice, the bar maid, who seems to have a limited intelligence and just did not understand what all these scholarly types were talking about.This book was written in 1958, and is still in print.


Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Case with 4 Clowns by Leo Bruce

This book tells of the investigation of a murder which has not yet been committed. The nephew of Sargent Beef's wife had taken a job with a traveling circus. The nephew, Albert Stiles, had written to Mrs. Beef that he had had his fortune told by a old fortune teller who traveled with the circus. She had told him there would be a murder in the circus, and that that would be the end of the circus. Albert had suggested that she tell this to Beef because he was "interested in murders". Beef was indeed interested and intended to go and visit the circus. Mr. Townsend, who chronicles Beef's cases, tried to convince Beef that he was just wasting his time, but they went anyway.

Beef and Townsend were given an old trailer so that they could travel along. They saw how everything was set up for the performances, and how the animals were handled. They got to know all the people of the circus, and the connections and hostilities among them. They found that the circus was a world of its own with it own slang and its own conventions of behavior. Some people had grown up in the circus world and it was the only way of life that they knew. Others had wandered into working for the circus. Beef, with his friendly air and convivial personality, adapted easily to the performers. Townsend was a little stiffer and felt a bit excluded. He did develop a romantic interest in one of the performers.

The murder in this book does not occur until the very end. Beef, with all of his observations of the circus performers, does solve it. If you enjoy a thorough knowledge of the motivations of all the people who could possibly commit a crime, you will find this a very enjoyable read. It is also a fascinating look at the world of the traveling circuses in the 1930's.

This book was published in 1939, and is in print both on paper and as an ebook.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie

Lord Edgware was found murdered in his study. His wife, the noted actress Jane Wilkinson, had entered the house that evening at about the time the murder must have occurred according to the testimony of the remarkably handsome butler. The problem was that Jane Wilkinson had been at a dinner with several other people at the same time as she was seen entering Edgware's house.

There was really no shortage of people who would wish for Edgware's death. Jane Wilkinson who was a self absorbed, amoral actress had publicly said that she would kill him. She wanted a divorce so that she could marry the very wealthy but reclusive Lord Merton, but Lord Edgware had refused to give her a divorce.  Jane had engaged Poirot to go to Lord Edgware and to negotiate a divorce. Poirot had seen Lord Edgware on the morning of the day he died, and Edgware agree to divorce Jane much to surprise of Poirot and the joy of Jane. Edgware had a nephew who was in need of money and who would become the new Lord Edgware following the murder. Edgware had a daughter, Geraldine, who hated him.

Poirot undertakes an investigation on his own without being hired by anybody because he is fascinated by the case. Inspector Japp believes that he, Japp, has found a solution, but Poirot does not believe that he is correct. Other deaths will occur before the solution is reached.

I was very impressed with Christie's use of conversation in this book. Almost the whole story is told in the form of conversation with only a few narrative asides from Captain Hastings. Mainly Hastings expresses his thoughts that Poirot is becoming too old to actively handle investigations, and that he spends too much time sitting in a chair using "the little grey cells".  The reader should also use his little grey cells because Poirot hits upon a solution early, and Christie had me so convinced that Poirot is right that both he and I failed to think about another possible solution along the same lines.

This book was published in 1933 and, of course, is still in print. This book also had the American title Thirteen at Dinner.

Do not judge a book by its cover. The cover of this edition has a gun and a Bible which is open to the Book of Nehemiah. Nobody in this book is killed by a gun. Nobody in this book seems to own a gun, and I do not believe the word gun appears in the book. There is one character in the book who is more than usually religious, but I am not sure how this relates to Nehemiah.




Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Nine - And Death Makes Ten by Carter Dickson

It is 1940 and the ocean liner Edwardic is leaving New York for "a British port".  It is carrying half a million pounds of high explosives and has four Lockheed bombers on her top deck. It is also carrying nine passengers. The ship is taking the shorter, more dangerous route to England rather the safer southern route so each of these nine passengers must have a very important reason for traveling on this ship.

One of these passengers is Max Matthews who is going to England to get a job as a reporter. He is the brother of the captain of the ship, Commander Francis Matthews, who did not know that Max was coming on this dangerous trip. It is through Max's eyes that we view what is going on on the ship. At the dinner the first night only six passengers appeared in the dining room. Miss Valerie Chatworth and the Honorable Jerome Kenworthy sent word that they were too seasick to eat. This was only accounted for eight, and Max assumed that Edward Lathrop, the passenger who said that there were nine had made a mistake. Indeed, the passenger list which he received only had eight names. The most striking person on board was Mrs. Estelle Zia Bey, a woman of remarkable presence, and remarkable clothes. Lathrop said that she was on her way to get a divorce from her second husband.

On the second night of the voyage, Max encountered Estelle Zia Bey in the lounge, and she was very drunk. Max suggested  that they go on deck for some air. When they got there, Estelle said that she was going to her cabin to get a wrap. Max waited for quite a while, and when she did not return he went to her cabin which was across from his. He found that Zia had been murdered; her throat had been cut. On her clothes were very distinct fingerprints in blood. It seems that Mr. Lathrop and the ship's purser were knowledgeable  in analyzing fingerprints so all of the passengers and crew were fingerprinted. The results were that the fingerprints belonged to nobody on the ship.

So I am going to leave you there on a ship loaded with explosives in waters which could hide German submarines. One of the passengers has been murdered by a person who is not on the ship. Where is the mysterious passenger number nine? Could one of these passengers be a German spy? This book is a great read. You can almost hear the throb of the engines and the occasional screams of the passengers.

This book was written by Carter Dickson which is a pen name of the great golden age author John Dickson Carr. The book has two other titles Murder in the Submarine Zone and Murder in the Atlantic.  In a short introduction, the author dedicates the book to his fellow passengers on the Georgic  which crossed the Atlantic in 1939 by the same route as the Edwardic took in the book. The blackout conditions and life jacket  drill were as described in the novel, however there were no munitions and no murders.






Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh

It is the season in London when the debutantes "come out". Parties, luncheons, and other events abound. Even Lady Alleyn has agreed to "bring out" her grand daughter Sarah. Meanwhile, her son Roderick, an inspector at Scotland Yard, has a case of blackmail involving the London elite brought to his attention. It seems that someone is trying to blackmail Lady Halcut-Hackett who has a secret which she desperately wants kept from her husband. Roderick Alleyn calls upon Lord Robert Gospell for assistance. Lord Robert, "Bunchy",  has been of assistance to the Yard before because he has good sleuthing skills. He is a charming man, much appreciated by the upper class set, and a good friend of Alleyn. Lord Robert agrees, and goes to a concert where Lady Halcut-Hackett leaves the money for the blackmailer. Lord Robert sees the hand of the blackmailer and believes that it belongs to Dimitri who is the caterer for many of the big society events of the social season.

Lord Robert then goes to the ball which Lady Carrados was giving for the coming out of her daughter Bridget O'Brien. This ball, catered by Dimitri, is a rousing success. The champagne flowed, the dancers danced, and everyone was highly satisfied with the event. Lord Robert kept his eye on Dimitri and the guests. When he made a phone call to the Yard to report on his progress, his call was interrupted by someone coming into the room who may have heard what he was saying. Lord Robert was one of the last to leave the ball. He left the house into the foggy night and he and another man got a taxi. The other man left the cab first, and the driver drove on to Lord Robert's house and when they arrived, the driver discovered that Lord Robert was dead. He had a blow to the head and had been suffocated.

Roderick Alleyn was quite upset by the death of his friend, and vowed to find the murderer. The cab driver could not identify the other man in  the cab. Alleyn and Fox undertook a series of interviews with those who had attended the ball. It seems that Lord Robert's nephew Donald had gotten in with a bad crowd and was deeply in debt. Lord Robert had agreed to pay some of his bills if he straightened himself out, but Donald still needed more money and he was one of Lord Robert's heirs. In his interviews, Alleyn finds another case of blackmail, an illegal gambling house, and eventually the solution of crime.. It should be noted that one of the attendees at the ball was Agatha Troy, the artist who would in the future, would play an inportant role in Alleyn's life.

I am a great fan of Ngaio Marsh, and enjoyed this book even though the interviewing process does seem to go on a bit long. This book was published in 1938, and is still available in print and as an e-book.




Wednesday, September 2, 2015

What Happened at Hazelwood by Michael Innes

"Nobody could have predicted just what has happened at Hazelwood, and at the moment it appears as if nobody can elucidate it either" These are the opening lines of the first section of this book which is being written by Nicolette, Lady Simney. Nicolette had been a successful actress before she married George Simney who was twenty year older than she. The local cleric, Mr. Deamer, believed that George Simmey was totally evil and believed that he had sold his soul to the devil. Nicolette found him to be abusive.  Simney had gone to Australia when he was young, engaged in some kind of illegal dealings and returned accompanied by Owden, who had one eye and looked like a pirate, and who was now the butler.

There are others in the Simney family. There is George's brother,  Bevis,  and Bevis' son Willoughby who is twenty and seems to be trying to be an artist. There are George's sisters, Lucy and Grace. Lucy is widowed and has a son Mervyn who is nineteen and an outspoken pest. Grace is unmarried, but seems to her eye on Mr. Deamer. Then there is Timmy who is supposed to be Owden's son. Teenage Timmy bears a very stong resemblence to the Simneys, and it is supposed that Owden fathered the boy with one of the Simney sisters. George uses Timmy as a footman.

If this were not enough Simneys, more arrive from Australia in a very unexpected visit. There is cousin Hippias Simney, his son Gerard, and Gerard's wife Joyleen. They seem to be there to settle some business dealing about the Dismal Swamp. An argument occurs between members of the family and a whiskey bottle is thrown. On the second day of the visit, George appears to have a romantic encounter with Joyleen and Nicolette is kissed by Gerard.

Late in the evening of the second day, George was murdered in his study by being struck over the back of his head with a heavy object. Looking away from his body collapsed on the study table, you would see that George had decorated his study walls by alternating paintings of his illustrious ancestors with paintings of nude women. These nude paintings have been done by artists such as Caravaggio, Titian, and Bordone and are not to be taken too lightly.

The second section of the book is narrated by Harold who is a young policeman helping Inspector Cadover in his investigation. This narration takes the form of letters to his father with some side comments directed to his Aunt Flo. They have arrived at Hazelwood in Appleby's Bentley. Cadover asks himself what Appleby would have done? Harold thinks that Appleby would have "Talked Greek and swopped tags out of Shakespeare". Cadover and Harold do conduct an investigation which Appleby would have approved of. All is revealed in the third section of the book which is narrated by Nicolette again.

If you are the type of mystery reader who likes a logical, believable solution of a crime, this is possibly not the book for you.  If you, however, like wit and humor in your story, you will enjoy this novel. Both Nicolette and Harold are delightful writers, and I enjoyed their accounts very much. For me, it was this type of book which made the Golden Age golden.

This book was published in 1946, and fortunately still in print. If you are wondering who Appleby is, then you should dash out and acquire some of the novels which Michael Innes wrote about the detective exploits of Appleby.