Nothing Can Rescue Me by Elizabeth Daly

Wealthy Florence Mason had decided to write a novel and work on it  had progressed until it appeared that some one or some thing was inserting sentences into her draft of the novel. These were ominous sayings such as THOU ART BUT DEAD; IF THOU HAVE ANY GRACE, PRAY and WHATSOEVER NOISE YE HEAR, COME NOT UNTO ME, FOR NOTHING CAN RESCUE ME.

Florence's nephew, Sylvanus Hutter, came to Henry Gamage, bibliophile and amateur detective, asking for help in finding who was doing this. He asked Gamage to come to Florence's estate, Underhill, to meet the people in Florence's life. Gamage agreed to come for a weekend, but he could not spare more time because he was doing war work.

Gamage had already met Florence's husband, Tim Mason. They had recently married. Florence was 51 and Mason was quite a bit younger. At Underhill, Gamage met Miss Wing who was Florence's secretary and the most likely person to have inserted the strange bits into the text of the novel which she was typing, but Florence seemed to trust her implicitly. Also present were Sally Deeds and Susie Burt who had failed in the secretary job and had been replaced by Miss Wing. Also there was a young man, Percy, who was quite good looking, a reader, and who did something in advertising.

Money, of course, is the cause of a great many murders. Nahum Hutter had made millions and he left his money to Florence and Sylvanus to be used during their lifetime. Presumably they were receiving the income from the principle. When one of them died, the other would receive the principal to spend as they wished. Florence had made a will with bequests to Sally Deeds, Susie Burt, and her husband, with the rest of the millions and Underhill to go to her secretary, Miss Wing whom she said was the only person who had really liked her. Corinne Hutter, the local librarian, was at Underhill that day. She was distant relative who would not benefit from the will, because she said that she did not want anything.

Gamage arrived at Underhill and scanned the contents of the library. He identified the quotes which had been added to the rough draft of the novel. These quotes were all from books in the library, so that anyone at Underhill could have added them. He interviewed all of the residents. Then the whole affair took a new turn when Sylvanus Hutter was murdered in the library. He had been struck over the head with a statue. Now Florence Mason was in control of millions of dollars. Gamage saw that Florence was now in great danger from all the people at Underhill who would benefit from her will. Another murder will follow before Gamage determines who was committing the crimes.

This book was published in 1943. It is currently available as a paperback and as an e-book.

Antidote to Venom by Freeman Wills Crofts

George Surridge was the highly respected director of the Birmington Zoo. In this position, he had a good social position in the city, a good salary, and a comfortable house to live in. Unfortunately George and his wife Clarissa did not get along very well. George believed that she wanted more money than it was possible for him to provide. George was a member of a gambling club, and George sometimes lost more money than he could afford, but he would sometimes recoup his losses. Then one day at the zoo, George met a charming woman, Nancy Weymore, who was a widow. She and George developed a friendship, and George gave up his golfing afternoon to be with Nancy.

Meanwhile at the zoo,  George had to deal with some difficulties. An  employee, the night watchman John Cochrane, needed to leave the zoo for a short time to give his sick wife her medicine. George encountered Cochrane on his way back, and insisted the Cochrane should be fired. Also, professor Burnaby, a retired professor, who was still conducting his research on the effect of snake venom on cancer cells with resources of the snake house at the zoo, caused zoo employees to worry about the possibility that he was becoming somewhat senile, and George found it necessary to restrict Burnaby's access to the snake collection.

George and Nancy conceived the idea of purchasing a charming cottage where she could live, and where George could easily come and visit. George's hope for money rested on the belief that his elderly aunt would shortly die. Her doctor had told George that she had not long to live. George was her only heir. His aunt did indeed die, but George found out there would be quite a while until he could get access to her money. He had promised the realtor that they would purchase the cottage and he needed money. Then George was approached by Capper, who was the solicitor responsible for settling his aunt's estate and a nephew of Burnaby. He was also Burnaby's only heir. Capper proposed to George that they cooperate in a very complicated plot to murder Burnaby by a method which would be impossible to detect. This plan would give George the money much more rapidly than he was getting it from his aunt's will.

The reader will find out about George's part in this plan as he carries out the necessary steps George does not know, however, how Capper carried out his part in the murder.  Burnaby does die, and an inquest is held. and his death is ruled an accident. A casual conversation brings this death to the attention of Chief Inspector  Joseph French of New Scotland Yard. French reads the evidence and a transcript of the coroner's trial, and finds something which he thinks has been overlooked. He goes to Birmington to look into Burnaby's death, and unravels a remarkably complex method of committing a murder.

This book was published by Freeman Wills Crofts in 1938. At this time, he had already become a well known and popular mystery novelist. In this novel, he tried to combine the inverted detective story in which the reader knows who and how the murderer committed the crime, and the direct story in which the detective determines who the murderer was and how the crime was committed. This book is quite detailed, and the character of George Surridge is much more developed than is done in mystery novels of this period.