The Mad Hatter Mystery by John Dickson Carr

Lord Bitton had appealed to Chief Inspector Hadley to investigate a theft which had taken place at his home. Lord Bitton was a collector of books and manuscripts so Hadley had invited Gideon Fell, an expert in this subject, to attend this meeting. It seems that Bitton had visited the Edgar Allen Poe house in Philadelphia and observed that a manuscript had been uncovered in a wall by some workmen. Bitton stole the manuscript, returned with it back to England, and would not tell anyone, even his family, what story it was . Now the manuscript had been stolen from its hiding place in his home.

Meanwhile, someone was stealing the hats of Londoners and putting them in unlikely places. The London newspapers were calling the thief The Mad Hatter, a name which had been started by a cub reporter by the name of Philip Driscoll who was the nephew of Lord Bitton. A cabby's horse was seen wearing a barrister's wig. The hat of a member of the stock exchange was found on one of the lions at Nelson's monument in Trafalgar Square.

Lord Bitton's hat had been stolen just an hour and a half before he arrived at the meeting with Hadley and Fell to discuss the matter of the theft of a Poe manuscript. Then they received the news that the body of young Driscoll had been found on the steps of the Traitor's Gate at the Tower of London, and that the body was wearing Lord Bitton's hat. The meeting was immediately moved to the Tower of London. Suspects were interviewed, but very little was learned, and no one had witnessed the murder which had been done with a souvenir blade from France. Curiously, several people who could be involved with the manuscript theft were also sight seeing at the tower that day.

Further investigations would show the involvement of Lord Bitton's brother, Lester and his wife Mary.  They had a daughter, Sheila, who was a rather flighty young lady who planned to marry Mr. Dalrye who had been a very good friend of Driscoll. There was also the American manuscript collector, Mr. Acton, who said little but who knew more about the Poe manuscript that he was letting on. Of course, Gideon Fell solved the whole puzzle, but he seemed to see the solution to all of the problems from the moment that the murder occurred which was rather disconcerting.

Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes

The duke and duchess of Horton were presenting the play Hamlet at their estate, Scamnum Court of which it is said that "Perhaps it is not the stateliest of the stately homes of England. But it is a big place: two counties away it has sort of little brother in Blenheim Palace". The play was to be performed by amateur actors except for Melville Clay who was to be Hamlet, and who had already had great successes in the part in London and New York. The Lord Chancellor of England, Lord Auldearn, was doing the part of Polonius. The duke and duchess had parts as did their children, Noel and Elizabeth. The performance would be attended by Shakespearean scholars and nobility. There were, of course, rehearsals during the two days, before the actual performance. During this period, Lord Auldearn appeared to be troubled and it was suspected that he was considering an important treaty.

Then the evening of the play arrived and all went well until the performance arrived at the scene where Hamlet confronts his mother while Polonius hides  behind the screen. As Hamlet was about to draw the screen aside, a shot rang out. Hamlet found that Lord Auldearn had been fatally shot. The only person who could have seen the shooter was the prompter, Mr. Bose, who would also be murdered later in the day.

Young inspector John Appleby had been at the ballet watching Les Presages. When he arrived at his low cost lodgings, he found the Prime Minister waiting for him. Appleby and the Prime Minister set off rapidly in a fire engine while the Prime Minister explained the situation to Appleby. He also said that Appleby had been selected for this job because he "would not be scared by the high-and-mighty mob" which were assembled there. The PM told him that it was imperative that the murderer be found because there were matters of national security involved.

Thus Appleby arrived at Scamnum Court where he fortunately found Giles Gott, a  friend of his and an author of mystery novels, who could render some assistance in the investigation since he had been at Scamnum in the days preceding the murder. There was, indeed, a document of national importance  involved but it was found. But could it have been copied before it was found? Was the murderer after this document or did he or she kill Lord Auldearn for some other reason. There were many important people to interview and many alibis to examine before Appleby determined the identity of the murderer.

This is a remarkably literate mystery novel, and  it also helps to know your Hamlet. It was published in 1937, and was the second in the Inspector Appleby series. Michael Innes was a pseudonym of J. I. M. Stewart who wrote fiction and nonfiction under his own name as well as the many books which he wrote under the Innes name.

Blood Money by Dashiell Hammett

There was a huge bank heist in San Francisco. Two banks, the Seaman's National Trust and the Golden Gate Trust, were robbed on the same day by a gang of at least 150 crooks who had been imported from all over the United States. The operation was well organized with teams of robbers who were given instructions by team leaders. Who ran the whole thing? Bluepoint Vance was in the car directing operations, but there were also The Shivering Kid, Alphabet Shorty McCoy, Toots Salda and the Dis-and Dat Kid. After the robbery, the police had some of the robbers in custody and more names were given such as Denny Burke, Toby the Lugs, and Paddy the Mex.

Who was going to find the leader of this operation? The Continental Op.  Pushing forty years old  and twenty pounds overweight, he could still hold his own in a battle with the bad guys. All of the thieves involved in the robbery were waiting to get their pay off, and if they didn't San Francisco would become a hot bed of crime as they struggled to find other sources of funds. Some of the thieves were killed after the robbery which apparently was done to make smaller the number of thieves who would need to paid off. Two of the dying thieves wrote on a wall in their own blood the name Big Flora. The Continental Op did indeed find Big Flora, and found that she was a very big blond with muscles, but not the boss of the operation. All of this was described in the first part of the book. In the second part, the Continental Op with another agent Jack Counihan, who is young and eager,  search for the real mastermind of the huge robbery.

This book was not originally written as a novel. It is two short stories which were published in Black Mask magazine in 1927 as " The Big Knockover" and "$106,000 Blood Money" and only later in 1943 were they combined to make a novel. There is quite a difference between the two parts. Part 1 which describes the robbery and the bloody aftermath is quite violent. Part 2 which describes the hunt for the mastermind behind the operation is much quieter and better written.  In both parts, Hammett comes up with great names for his criminals.