google-site-verification: googlef64103236b9f4855.html Philly Reader: January 2016

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Speak No Evil by Mignon G. Eberhart

Major Robert Dakin was a drunk. He was a powerful, wealthy man, but he was a drunk. He was married to his second wife, Elizabeth, who was at least 25 years younger than he was. Her friends sincerely wondered why she had married him. She had money of her own so that was not the reason.  She knew that it was on the rebound from her rejection of Robert's cousin's son Dyke Sanderson whom she thought was merely after her money. She still loved Dyke.

Elizabeth and Robert Dakin were in their house in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Also present were Robert's secretary Charlie Hawes, and the servants which included the butler Leech who had been with Robert for many years. Soon, Dyke Sanderson,  who was still managing Robert's business interests, and Ruth Reddington, his business associate, arrived to discuss business matters. They went to a party that evening where Elizabeth met Charmian Daken, Robert's first wife, for the first time. By the time they got home from the party, Robert was drunk, argumentative, and violent. He struck Leech so hard that the man was knocked unconscious. Robert locked Elizabeth in her bedroom which was in their private suite where she could hear him mumbling to himself.

Elizabeth decided to flee the house and was packing her clothes when she heard shots. She found that her bedroom door to the study was now unlocked, and she rushed to Robert's study. She found him dying, shot in the head. The others in the house arrived but could not get in the study because the door to the hall was locked. Elizabeth unlocked the hall door and let them in. By now Robert was dead. They could not find any gun in the room. They called the police, and Inspector Paul Friker arrived. He was an intelligent, but rather cold man, and he immediately assumed that Elizabeth had murdered her husband.

All of the following events are seen through Elizabeth's eyes. More and more evidence seems to indicate that she committed the murder. She is surrounded by people who may or may not be lying to her including two men who say that they love her but who may be lying. More murders follow until Elizabeth learns who the real killer is. I found this book to be an interesting read mainly because the follow up to the murder was seen through the eyes of the major suspect rather than from the viewpoint of the detective.

This book was published in 1940, and there is a subplot about materials for the war. Mignon G. Eberhart wrote over fifty mystery novels. In 1971, she was received the Grand Master of Mystery award from the Mystery Writers of America.



Thursday, January 14, 2016

The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay

What a wonderful time of year Christmas is. Family and friends come together to celebrate the holiday. Maybe this is what Sir Osmond Melbury thought when he invited family and friends to his estate in Flaxmere. There were his four daughters. Hilda the oldest was widowed and was accompanied by her grown daughter Carol. Edith, the second daughter, had married Sir David Evershot. They had no children. Eleanor, the third daughter, was married to Gordon Strickland and had two small children. Lastly, there was the youngest daughter, Jennifer who was still single. There was one son George who was married to Patricia. They had three children.

Also invited were Oliver Witcombe and Philip Cheriton. They were potential suitors for Jennifer who wanted to marry Philip and disliked Oliver. Sir Osmond really did not want her to marry anybody, but who would settle for Oliver. Miss Mildred Melbury was invited. She was Sir Osmond's sister and had raised the children after his wife's death. She no longer lived with Sir Osmond. Lastly, there was Miss Grace Portisham, Sir Osmond's secretary. She was so competent and efficient that the family members worried that she might be after Sir Osmond with marriage in mind. She, however, seemed more interested in the chauffeur Henry Bingham

Christmas day arrived. Oliver Witcombe had agreed to dress up like Santa Klaus and distribute gifts to the young children and to the servants.  After the children received their gifts, Santa Klaus gave them crackers and there was much noise as they pulled their crackers. Santa Klaus then went to give gifts to the servants. After this, Oliver returned to the study to report to Sir Osmond that all was completed, and found Sir Oliver dead with a bullet through the brain.

Colonel Halstock was called to the house. He was the Chief Constable of the area, and a very old friend of the family. He was joined by Detective Inspector Rousdon of the police, and by Kenneth Stour, a successful actor, an amateur psychologist, and an old suitor of Edith. Kenneth felt that he had the skills to investigate the murder along with the others. Of course, Sir Osmund's will was considered as a motive for murder, and nobody knew the contents of the will, but they somehow assumed that Sir Osmund had been fair. The family spent the next few days eyeing each other suspiciously.

This is a classic country house British mystery. It is an enjoyable read and the solution is carefully worked out. The structure of the book is interesting in that the first five chapters detailing events leading up to Christmas day are narrated by five of the characters. Later chapters are written by Colonel Halstock.

Mavis Doriel Hay has been one of the overlooked writers of the Golden age. This book has been republished as one of a recent issue of books by the British Library Crime Classics. It was initially published in 1936.

 It should be noted that the picture on the cover of the book bears no relation to what went on in the book. There was no snow that year, and the Christmas tree was in the library, not in the front yard.




Wednesday, January 13, 2016

The Lost Gallows by John Dickson Carr

If you are a lover of melodramatic detective stories with foggy London streets, old decaying London clubs, and mysterious Egyptians, then this is the book for you.

Henri Bencolin was visiting London to see the opening of a play and was staying at the notorious Brimstone Club with his friend Jeff Marle. Bencolin was the head of the Paris police. This brilliant detective is described as being a Mephisto with a face that was "moody, capricious and cruel". Also staying at the  Brimstone Club was Sir John Landervorne, a retired assistant commissioner of the London Metropolitan police and a very old friend of Bencolin's. A mysterious third guest was the Egyptian Nezam El Moulk who occupied an apartment on the forth floor with his peculiar staff. He employed Smail, a very large black man, as his chaffeur, Jayet as his valet, and most oddly, his secretary, Graffin, who was a drunkard who seemed incabable of doing much of anything.

This novel opens with the story told by a Mr. Dallings who met a mysterious woman and tried to accompany her home in a cab. She took the cab and left Dallings standing on the street. He tried to find his way home on foot in the fog and saw miraculously before him the shadow of a gallows projected on the wall of the building in front of him.

The next mysterious incident occurs when Bencolin, Marle, and Sir John were leaving the theater that evening. Out of the fog, came a car careening through the street outside of the theater. Marle had a brief look at the face of the driver, and realized that the driver was dead. They took a taxi to follow the out of control car as it made its way through the streets until it finally stopped in front of the Brimstone club. When the door was opened, the body of Smail, El Moulk's chaffeur, fell to the pavement. His throat had been cut.

Police inspector Talbot arrived at the Brimstone Club because the police has received a message that Nezam El Moulk had been hanged on the gallows on Ruination Street.  El Moulk had been threatened by someone who called him Jack Ketch, the London hangman. There was however no Ruination Street in London. Bencolin, Marle, Sir John, and Talbot set about to solve the mysteries of the dead chaffeur who drove through London,  and the disappearance of El Moulk

I have always been a fan of John Dickson Carr and have very much enjoyed his Gideon Fell and Henry Merrivale mystery novels. This was the first Bencolin mystery that I have read, and, for my taste, it was too melodramatic, too full of inflated adjectives, and with so much fog about that it is a wonder that anybody could find anything. I will say that everything was neatly tied up and explained at the end in a very satisfactory manner. This book was published in 1931 and was one of Carr's earliest works.







Thursday, January 7, 2016

Hag's Nook by John Dickson Carr

Rats - rats were scurrying about in the darkness of the old Chatterham Prison. The prison had been built around Hag's Nook which is where they used to hang witches. Prisoners were not kept for a long time in the prison. They were soon hanged and their bodies were dropped in the well. The prison was located on the property of the Starberth family and for two generations, the head of the family was the warden of the prison. It was a tradition that the head of the family died of a broken neck. The prison was closed in 1837, but the prison was still on the Starberth land, and it was entailed so they could not sell it. On his 25th birthday, the eldest Starberth son had to go to the Governor's room in the prison, open the safe, and read what was in it. He is not allowed to tell anyone what is in the safe. He is required to remove one object from the safe and present it to the family lawyer to prove that he has opened the safe. Now it was the turn of Martin Starberth to carry out his ritual.

Tad Rampole was just out of college and was visiting England from America. He had been encouraged by one of his professors to visit Dr. Gideon Fell, a lexicographer with a vast store of "obscure, useless, and fascinating information". He was now sitting in Fell's home in Chatterham and Fell told him all about the Starberth tradition which was to take place shortly. Rampole had already met Dorothy Starberth and was quite taken with her.

Martin Starberth was greatly fearful of the trip to the Governor's Room in the tower of the prison. He fortified himself with a bit too much alcohol in the afternoon. His younger brother, Herbert, and Dorothy took him home in hopes of sobering up before the evening. The evening did come and Dr. Fell, Rampole, and Mr. Saunders, the local rector, watched from a distance the progress of Martin's light as he made his way to the prison. They waited for the light to reach the Governor's Room at the top of the tower. Then the light went out. Rampole panicked, and raced toward the prison. When he arrived, he found the body of Martin Starberth at the foot of tower dead with a broken neck.

Dr. Fell believed that his death was murder, and set about finding the murderer. Herbert Starberth had disappeared which made him a prime suspect. The tower room was visited, a cryptogram was decoded, and what seemed to be an impossible crime was solved in this book which is the very first Dr. Gideon Fell mystery. This book was written in 1933 and many more Gideon Fell mysteries would follow. If you prefer to read series in order, this is the place to begin. The book has been reprinted by Mysterious Press.

I really enjoyed this book, and could not put it down until the mystery was solved.