google-site-verification: googlef64103236b9f4855.html Philly Reader: January 2017

Monday, January 30, 2017

The Book of the Lion by Elizabeth Daly

Paul Bradlock had been a writer who had lived in Paris during the exciting years of the twenties when the city was the center of literary and artistic achievement. Paul was a writer but not a great one. He had published a volume of poetry, married Vera Larkin, and returned to New York in 1930. He had then written plays but only one had been produced. Paul gave up writing and lapsed into a life of drinking. He had been murdered in a park two years before the story in this book began.

Henry Gamadge,a consultant on old books and autographs, and an amateur detective, was contacted by Avery Bradlock, Paul's brother. Avery wondered if Gamadge would look over Paul's letters because Avery had heard that people would pay for letters of writers. Gamadge told him that he did not purchase letters, but that he would look over the letters to see if they had any value. He joined Avery and his family for dinner that evening. Vera Bradlock, Paul's wife surprised every one by announcing that she had already agreed to sell the letters to a friend of hers, Hilliard Iverson. At dinner that evening, Iverson wrote out the check and presented it to Vera, and took a box containing the letters away with him.

Gamadge suspected that something was suspicious about this whole transaction, and a little investigation would prove him right. He talked to Vera and Iverson and was told that Paul Bradlock had purchased a copy of a missing book by Geoffrey Chaucer in a used book store in Paris, and that they had sold this copy of The Book of the Lion for a large sum of money. Then, it would seem,  the book had been destroyed. Gamage realized that he was dealing with some type of forgery ring, and that he would need to find who and how the forgeries were done.

Elizabeth Daly published this book in 1948. Ms. Daly did not find success as a mystery writer until she was 62 when her book Unexpected Night was published. She wrote fifteen more mystery novels after this. It is said that she was Agatha Christie's favorite mystery author. The Book of the Lion is currently available as a paperback and as an e-book.





Thursday, January 26, 2017

Dr. Priestley's Quest by John Rhode

It all began when Mr. Gerald Heatherdale came to Dr. Priestly's home at Westbourne Terrace with new evidence in the murder of his brother Austin which had occurred a year before. Gerald's brother Austin, had written Gerald asking him to come to see him at his home at White Pelham. Gerald and Austin had not been getting along well, but Gerald decided that he really should go. When he arrived at White Pelham, he found that Austin had not returned from a short trip that he had taken to London to see his solicitor, Mr. Withers. The next morning, Austin's body was found. There were signs of a struggle, and it was decided that his death was brought about by thieves who had then robbed him. The new evidence Gerald had found was a note which had been sent to Austin warning him to stay away from the area in which his body was eventually found.

The will which Gerald and Austin's father, Sir Francis Heathedale,  had left seemed to be quite important in the events which followed.  Sir Francis had been in shipping and had had built a new vessel which was named The Brackenthorpe Manor. In the will, he left this ship to Gerald, Austin, and Captain Murchison, her current skipper. They were responsible for keeping the ship in operation for the next twenty years. If they did not, they would receive nothing from the estate. If one died, the other two would be responsible for the ship, and if two died, one would be left with the cost of this ship which would be aging by that time. In the event of the death of all three, Sir Francis' estate would give some money to Mr. Withers, his house to his housekeeper, and the rest to a distant relative in New Zealand. Gerald and Austin did not really have any interest in the ship and resented the money which they needed to spend on it. With Austin's death, the financial responsiblity of Gerald and Captain Muchison grew.

Dr. Priestly told Gerald that there was nothing that he could do about a crime which was a year old. Shortly after this, Dr. Priestly received an anguished plea from Gerald to come to his home because he had received a warning note which was similar to the one that Austin had received a year earlier. Dr. Priestly and his secretary, Harold Merefield who is the narrator of this story, went immediately to investigate. Gerald was becoming a nervous wreck, and arrangements were made to remove him from harm's way. This did not go as anticipated, and the results were very bad.

Dr. Priestly is a very meticulous investigator. He takes nothing at face value. Every detail is examined from every angle. He does not believe that witnesses can be trusted because they can be too easily influenced by just being associated with a murder case. He believes that the police are extremely incompetent and accept questionable observations too quickly. Dr. Priestly is a scientific investigator, and a great deal of the book is given to exposition of his methods and analysis of his findings which makes the book a bit dry. Readers looking for action and character development will be disappointed.

John Rhode is the pseudonym of  Cecil John Charles Street. He was quite a prolific author and wrote two series, The Dr. Priestly series, and another which featured Desmond Merrion and Inspector Henry Arnold under the pen name of Miles Burton. Dr. Priestley's Quest was written in 1926 which is rather early in his writing career. He would continue to write books under the name of John Rhode until 1961.








Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Where There's Smoke by Stewart Sterling

Ben Pedley is the head Fire Marshall of New York City with the responsibility of investigating and determining the cause of fires in a city with seven million inhabitants. When this story begins, he was called to a fire at the Brockhurst Theater where, on this very cold night, fire men would be battling a blaze with water which would coat them and their equipment with ice.

The fire had started in the dressing room of the lovely radio singing star, Leila Lownes. Ben Pedley rescued Leila from the flames, but it was not until after the fire was put out that firemen discovered the burned body of her brother, Ned Lownes. curled up under a couch. An autopsy would reveal that Ned had had a lot to drink before his death, and inspection of the dressing room indicated that the fire had been deliberately set.

Ned Lownes had been Leila's manager, and he had treated her badly. She had a good motive for wanting his death. There was also Paul Amery, her lawyer, Terry Ross, her press agent,  and Hal Kelsey, a band director, who all  had reasons for wanting Ned dead. Another murder and arson would occur as those in Leila's life struggled to get control of her career and the money that could be made from her performance contracts.

Steward Sterling (1895 - 1976) was the pen name of Prentice Mitchell who also wrote under the pen names of Spencer Dean and Jay deBekker. He wrote about unconventional detectives such as Ben Pedley and Don Cadee, a department store detective. He was also a screen writer and an author of radio scripts. If you are interested in more information on Prentice Mitchell, read the essay by Richard Moore.

I found this book to be interesting, and it was good to have a crime solver who wasn't a traditional detective or policeman. The book does have a lot of slang terms which may have been more comprehensible in 1946 than they are now, but now they just make reading more difficult. The author has great respect for firemen and the difficult job that they do. His writing is best when he is describing the actions of the firemen and their equipment.

This book was published in 1946. I have read it for the 2017 Golden Vintage Scavenger Hunt in the category of a book with a red object on the cover.


Monday, January 9, 2017

A Graveyard to Let by Carter Dickson

Sir Henry Merrivale, crime solver extraordinaire, has left England and has come to an exceptionally hot New York city. He has been invited by Mr. Frederick Manning of the Frederick Manning Foundation to come to Manning's home at Maralarch in Westchester County where Manning will "show him a miracle and challenge him to explain it."

After creating quite a disturbance at Grand Central Station, Sir Henry is driven to Maralarch by Cy Norton who had been a New York correspondent for a British newspaper and who had recently lost this job. At Maralarch, they meet Frederick Manning's three children, Crystal, Jean, and Bob. Crystal, the oldest at age 24 and already married three times,was pretentious and longed for a place in society. Bob, the one in the middle, was not the sharpest member of the family and was mainly interested in baseball. Jean, the youngest at 20, was an attractive and very pleasant young lady who was engaged to Huntington Davis.

At dinner that evening, Manning made some surprising announcements.  He informed his children that he had not really wanted them, and was not really fond of children. He had loved his wife very much, but she had died in a fire many years before. Now Manning had found a new love, Irene Stanley, whom his children referred to a "bubble dancer". He did informed his children that he had provided for their futures. Manning had also been charged with embezzling money from his foundation and he made no secret of this.

The next day, the family and Sir Henry had gathered around the swimming pool. Frederick Manning had been clipping the hedges that morning, but he too was now at the pool. Suddenly they heard the sound of the sirens of police motorcycles. Manning said "I fear that this is rather earlier than I expected" and jumped into the swimming pool fully dressed. Those around the edge of the pool watched as Manning's hat, shoes, coat, and trousers drifted to the top of the water. But Manning did not come up. A search of the water in the pool showed no sign of Manning or of any exit from the pool. Manning had disappeared in the swimming pool.

Sir Henry, of course, set about solving the problem of Manning's disappearance with his usual skill and wit.  He also demonstrates a remarkable skill on the baseball diamond. Carter Dickson is a pen name of John Dickson Carr who is a master of novels of locked rooms and unsolvable crimes. This book was published in 1949, and used copies are available at Amazon.