google-site-verification: googlef64103236b9f4855.html Philly Reader: 2018

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett

This book of greed, corruption, and a truly remarkable amount of violence is the first appearance in a novel of the Continental Op. By some, this book which was published in 1929 is considered to be an American classic.

The Continental Op had come to Personville (called Poisonville by the characters in the book) at the request of Donald Willsson, the editor of the local newspaper, to investigate and clear up the corruption in the city. Donald Willsson was murdered before the Op even had a chance to talk to him. So the Continental Opp went to visit Elihu Willsson, Donald's father. Elihu in the past had controlled the city. He owned the Personville Mining Company, the First National Bank, the newspapers. a US senator, two representatives, the governor and the mayor, and a few other things. When a strike developed at the mine, Elihu called in hired thugs to break it up. They did end the strike and when it was over, they took over the city.

For a payment of ten thousand dollars, the Continental Op told Elihu that he would continue with what Donald wanted him to do. Elihu paid up and the Continental Op took on Pete the Finn, Lou Yard, and Max Thaler who with the help of Noonan, the chief of police, were running the illegal businesses in the city. The Op made friends with Dinah Brand, a rather slovenly woman, who was mixed up in all this in someway or other. She seemed quite willing to tell the Continental Op about the goings on in the city.

So here we have the set up for one man to tackle the crime, corruption, and violence in Poisonville. He would call in two other operatives from the Continental Detective Agency, but he was still in charge of the investigation, and he knew that the boss of the agency would not approve of what he was doing. It is remarkable that a movie was never made of this book, but I see that it is supposed to be the basis for Kurosawa's movie Yojimbo.  There was far too much violence and bloodshed in this book for me. I did enjoy Hammett's writing; he had a wonderful way of turning a phrase.

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham

Albert Campion first encountered Judge Crowdy Lobbett on a ship returning to England from the United States. He learned that Lobbett had narrowly avoided death a number of times in the recent past. Now on this ship, Campion was instrumental in saving Lobbett from  being electrocuted in a magician's act. After the ship landed, Lobbett's son, Marlowe,  came to Campion, and asked for help in protecting his father. It seemed that Lobbett's life was threatened by a man called Simister who seemed to be evil incarnate.

Mystery Mile was a very small village on the coast of Suffolk. It got its name from the cloud of mist which seems to always hang over the village. The manor at Mystery Mile was a very old building dating to the 1500's. The squire was twenty three year old Giles Padgett who lived there with his twin sister Biddy. Campion brought Judge Lobbett, Marlowe, and Lobbett's daughter, Isopel to stay in the manor at Mystery Mile where they would be much safer than in London. Here they met the village rector, Swithin Cush who was a frequent visitor to the manor.

On their first evening, a roaming fortune teller named Anthony Datchett visited the manor and told the fortune of the Padgetts, the Lobbetts and Swithin Cush. The fortune teller left, and Swithin Cush went back to his rectory and shot himself. Cush left short notes to the residents of the manor house, and a red chess knight as clues for them to investigate.

What follows is a story of Campion's efforts to protect Judge Lobbett and to find out the identity of the mysterious Simister. This will result in quite an active battle with the henchmen of Simister and the effort to confront Simister in the dark and fog on a very dangerous part of the English coast.

This is the second Campion book and it was published in 1930. Campion is portrayed as a pale young man with very large glasses. He talks in a remarkably glib manner which is annoying to the people he is talking to as well, I should think, to the reader. I found this book quite an engaging read and Ms. Allingham provided enough suspense to keep the reader going.


Wednesday, September 26, 2018

The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie

In this collection of short stories, a group of friends gather to discuss unusual murders which they have known about in the past. For the first seven stories, the participants are Raymond West who was an author and enjoyed very much visiting his Aunt Jane's house. Joyce Lempriere was an artist. Sir Henry Clithering an ex-commissioner of Scotland Yard. Dr. Pender was an elderly clergyman, and Mr. Petherick was a solicitor. Jane Marple was there, of course. She is described as wearing a black brocade dress with "Mechlin lace arranged in a cascade down the front of the bodice"She was also wearing black lace mittens as she knitted. My, how our vision of Jane Marple has changed over time.For the second set of stories, the participants were Sir Henry Clithering, Jane Helier who was a very attractive actress,  Dr. Lloyd, and Colonel and Dolly Bantry.

Each guest, in turn, told a story, and the other guests were challenged to name the murderer. Remarkable it was Miss Marple with her knowledge of village life who always name the correct person. I believe that I have read some of these stories before, possibly in anthologies or else seen them on television. The Blue Geranium being one of them. I believe that the murder in A Christmas Tragedy would be practically impossible to carry out in the time frame given.

This book was originally published in the United Kingdom in 1932 with the title of The Thirteen Problems. It was published in the United States in 1933 with the title The Tuesday Club Murders. It was the second Miss Marple book. It should be noted that the book is dedicated to Leonard and Katherine Woolley, archaeologists, whom Agatha Christie met in the middle east.

Friday, September 21, 2018

Death at the Medical Board by Josephine Bell

World War II was going on and Ursula Frinton wanted very much to do her duty. It was necessary to pass an examination by the three physicians on the Medical Board before she would be considered healthy enough to participate in one of the women's corps on the home front. Ursula had had scarlet fever as a child and had heart trouble in her later years, but now she felt fine. She had even been to an outstanding heart specialist in London, Dr. Andrew Clegg, who found her perfectly healthy. Her uncle, however, had a Dr. Joseph Coleman write a letter to the board saying that she was unfit because of her heart condition.

Ursula came before the board and had had the examination. Then she went to the dressing room to put her clothes back on, and there she died. She was found on the floor, dead, with blood on her mouth. The police found a tiny cut on her mouth. It was later noticed that she was wearing a shade of lipstick when she died which she had never worn before.

Inspector Staines. of the CID branch of the Shornford Borough Police arrived and started the investigation of the death. It could be assumed that Rachel had died from a heart attack from the excitement of the medical examination. The doctors of the Medical Board suspected foul play, because they believed the findings of Dr. Clegg.

One of the doctors on the Medical Board wrote to her friend, Dr. David Wintringham about the possible murder. Wintringham had solved other mysterious cases for the police and the doctor suggested that he might be able to help with this on. Wintringham had been engaged in war work, but this case was quite intriguing so he managed to get a short vacation from work to go investigate. His investigation would lead to several who would wish Ursula dead, and to a very interesting method of murder. I found this to be a very interesting book, and Dr. David Wintringham to be a likeable detective. I do wish more of Ms. Bell's books were available.

This book was published in 1944, by Josephine Bell which was the pseudonym of Doris Bell Collier. She was a physician and started writing mystery novels in 1938. She wrote 45 mystery novels many of which dealt with medical topics and featured Dr. David Wintringham.

 

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Death in the Tunnel by Miles Burton

The 5 pm train from Cannon Street ran to Stourford which it reached at 6.07. It reached Blackdown Station at 5.29. Just past Blackdown, it entered a tunnel which was two and a half miles long. This evening was unusual in that when the train reached the middle of the tunnel, it started to slow down because the engineer saw a red light, but then the engineer saw the light turn green, and he sped up again, and the train proceeded on its way.

William Turner, the guard on the train, who wondered about the slowdown started walking down the corridor of the train toward the engine. On his way, he noticed that the gentleman in the last compartment  of the first class carriage seemed to be asleep. As the train approached Stourford, Turner walked back down the corridor, noticed that the gentleman was still sleeping, and opened the compartment door to wake him. To his amazement, he found the this man was dead. He had been shot with a gun which now lay on the compartment floor.

Inspector Arnold of the CID came to Stourford to investigate the death of the death of Sir Wilfred Saxonby on the train. Sir Wilfred was semiretired from his business, but he usually went to the office once or twice a week to oversee the business of which he was chairman. On this, his last trip, he had requested of the guard that he have a compartment to himself, and the guard had locked the door to the corridor. The door on the other side of the compartment which led to the tracks was unlocked. Arnold found that the gun had the initials WS on it, but he could not find the permit which Sir Wilfred would have needed to purchase the gun. Also he could not find the ticket which Sir Wilfred used to board the train. The obvious verdict in this case was suicide, but Inspector Arnold was not satisfied with this; something about this did not seem right.

Inspector Arnold enlisted the assistance of his friend Desmond Merrion who was an amateur criminologist. Their investigation began when together, they walked the length of the tunnel to look for a possible light which the engineer might have seen. They continued their investigations until they had unraveled a complicated method of committing a murder for an equally complicated reason.

The main part of this book deals with finding how the murder was done, and who did it. Secondary to this, is the determination of why the murder is committed. There is little development of character, or of setting. It will appeal to the reader who is fascinated with detail and with complex methods of carrying out a murder. If the reader wants more from a mystery, this is not the book for them.

This book was published in 1936. The author is Miles Burton which is one of the pseudonyms used by Cecil John Street. Other pen names he used were John Rhode and Cecil Wayne. He was a founding member of the Detection Club. He was a friend of Dorothy L. Sayers, Lucy Malleson, and John Dickson Carr. This information has been taken from the introduction to this book by Martin Edwards.





Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Linnet Ridgeway was young, rich, and beautiful. In other words, she had everything.Then her oldest friend, Jacqueline de Bellefort, introduced Linnet to her great love, Simon Doyle, and Linnet decided that she wanted Simon too, and she got him too.

Simon and Linnet were going on their honeymoon cruise on the Nile on the boat, The Karnak. Jacqueline de Bellefort had been stalking them through Europe, and now she too was on the Karnak. She followed them and made comments about them which was really terribly upsetting for the young married couple. Also on the Karnak was Hercule Poirot. Linnet came to Poirot and asked if she could hire him to make Jacqueline stop her stalking. Poirot replied that there was nothing legally that he could do. He did, however, talk to Jacqueline about what she was doing and warned her about the evil that might result from her activities.

Anyone who has been on a tour with strangers knows that the beginning of the tour involves chatting and finding out about the other travelers. Poirot was no different and he found out about the rather large group who would become involved in the mysteries that would follow. His old friend Colonel Race boarded the boat and told Poirot that he was on the hunt for a very dangerous spy.

Then there occurred three murders. In addition to this, there was a robbery of a very valuable pearl necklace owned by Linnet. All of this presented quite a puzzle for  Poirot who in his usual way would find the solution.

This book was published in 1937. It was turmed into a movie with a star studded cast in 1978.  Death on the Nile was also in season 9 of the David Suchet Poirot series. I did watch this and found that it stayed faithful to the book with only a few changes. The scenery was very nice. I see that Kenneth Branagh is doing another movie version which will be released in 2019. I do hope he gets rid of that dreadful mustache.







Saturday, September 1, 2018

Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot had always believed that the solution of a murder lay in an examination of the personality of the victim. That is until he undertook to find out who had murdered Mrs. McGinty. Superintendent Spence came to get Poirot's help because he did not believe that the man convicted of murdering Mrs. McGinty was really guilty. Spence was the policeman who found the evidence on which her boarder, shy, retiring James Bentley, had been accused of the crime, and yet something seemed wrong about the conviction.

Hercule Poirot agreed to investigate, and went to the village of Broadhinny where he found absolutely miserable lodgings at a guest house. It seemed that Mrs. McGinty lead a dull and uneventful life. She cleaned houses and went to church, but she had no friends. She had rented out a room to Bentley after her husband's death. She had left a small amount of money to her niece, Bessy Burch, which really did not justify murder. Poirot could find no motive whatsoever in Mrs. McGinty's life for anyone to kill her.

Then Poirot found that Mrs. McGinty had purchased a bottle of ink. This seemed like such a small fact, but it signified that Mrs. McGinty, who never wrote to anybody, had suddenly found a reason to write. Next, Poirot found a newspaper article which she had read which was about 4 notorious crimes which had been committed in the past along with pictures of the women who had committed them. Could Mrs. McGinty have found one of these women while she was snooping in the houses of those people for whom she cleaned? Poirot then attempted to meet Mrs. McGinty's clients and this paid off when when he finally discovered the identity of the murderer.

Along the way, Ariadne Oliver, a detective story writer entered the story. She was in Broadhinny where the young playwrite, Robin Upchurch, was adapting one of her mystery novels into a play. Ariadne had some choice and humorous comments on mystery writing and on the adaption of books into plays. This book was published in 1952, and there is a David Suchet Poirot episode ( Season 11, episode 1).



Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Why Shoot a Butler? by Georgette Heyer

Frank Amberly had gotten lost on his way to Greythorne. As he drove down a strange road, he saw a car parked by the side of the road, and there was a young women standing next to it. He stopped and asked if he could be of assistance. She said no, but then Amberly noticed what looked like a bullet hole in the windshield. He took a closer look in the car, and saw a man's dead body in the driver's seat. The young woman had a gun which had not been fired, but this gun was quite persuasive in getting Amberly to turn his car around and go in the other direction. He stopped at the local police headquarters and told them what he had seen, and then proceeded to Greythorne.

Greythorne was the substantial home of his aunt Marion and uncle, Sir Humphrey, and their daughter, Felicity. The family, the Fountains, at Norton Manor were friends of Frank and Felicity. Joan Fountain was engaged to marry Tony Cockran. Basil Fountain was the current owner of Norton Manor and was a rather glum person.  It turned out that the murdered man, was Dawson, the butler of the Fountains at Norton Manor. This, of course, raised the question of "Why shoot a butler?" This is not the sort of murder which occurs in English mystery novels of this period.

Frank was an amateur detective who had had quite a success in a previous case, and the police asked him to take a look at the problem of the murdered butler. Frank found the woman who had been standing near the car. She was Shirley Brown who was living at Ivy Cottage with her alcoholic brother Mark.  They seemed to have dealings with Collins who was a footman at Norton Manor and who appeared quite suspicious to Frank. Another death would occur before Frank could finally answer the question of Why Shoot a Butler.

This book was published 1933 by Georgette Heyer. Though she was mainly noted for writing Regency romance novels, she wrote quite literate and witty mystery novels. These books make enjoyable reading for fans of Agatha Christie and British county house mysteries.






Thursday, July 26, 2018

The American Gun Mystery by Ellery Queen

The rodeo had come to New York City and had brought murder along with it. Wild Bill Grant was now head of the world's greatest rodeo. Starring in this rodeo was Buck Horne. Buck had been the star of silent movies about the wild west, but now Buck was 60 and his career was on the decline. He hoped to make a comeback with his starring role in the rodeo. He had brought his daughter, Kit, who was a hard riding and fast shooting star of the movies. Wild Bill had a son, Curly Grant, who was also in the show and was in love with Kit Horne.

Ellery Queen and his father Inspector Queen were at the opening performance of the rodeo in the Colosseum. They were in a box with Tony Mars who was a promoter of sports events such as this rodeo and also boxing matches. Also there was Mara Gay, a movie star, and her husband Julian Hunter who owned night clubs.

Then the entertainment began with Wild Bill Grant riding into the center of the Colosseum to announce the beginning of the show. He was followed by Buck Horne riding in followed by 40 men and women riders who were all shooting off their revolvers. Then Buck collapsed in the saddle, died, and fell off of his horse into the dirt. The riders following him could not stop, and their horses ran over his body. Ellery and Inspector ran down to take a look at the body. Examination of the body showed that Buck had been shot. The police soon arrived, and prevented any of the twenty thousand people in the Colosseum from leaving.The murder weapon could not be found even though twenty thousand people and all the members of the show were searched.

The search for the murder weapon as well as the search for the murderer kept Ellery Queen and his father very busy. The search would branch out into the investigation of gambling and the prize fight which was held in the Colosseum after the murder. I found the solution of the crime interesting but a bit improbable. The modern (for the time) technologies used in the solution of the crime such as the microscopic examination of bullets, and the use of a film of the shooting provided added interest to hunt for the murderer.

This book was published in 1933, and was the sixth in the Ellery Queen series which were written by Frederick Dannay and Manfred Lee. It was the fourth in the series which would become the Dell Mapbacks, but the first edition had no map on the back. It was later reissued with a map on the back.




Saturday, July 21, 2018

The Greene Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine

"The house is polluted -- and all of the inmates are rotting with it, disintegrating in spirit and mind and character". This is the opinion which amateur detective Philo Vance held of the occupants of the Greene mansion. District Attorney Markham had asked Philo Vance to assist in  investigating the shooting at the mansion. In the night, someone had entered the bedroom of Julia Greene, and had shot her dead. Then this person had crossed the hall, into the bedroom of her sister Ada Greene and had seriously wounded her with a shot to the back. She was still alive. If this was a burglary, then it failed because nothing was taken.

The other occupants of the house were, indeed, an strange group. The mother of the family, Mrs. Tobias Greene was bed ridden, cranky, and endlessly demanding attention. John Greene, the oldest son was the one who had persuaded Markham to look into the case. The younger son, Rex was a sickly bookish boy who spent most of time in his room with his science experiments. Sibella, the middle daughter, was outspoken and highly resentful of Ada, the youngest daughter, and wished that Ada would leave. Ada, who had been adopted,  seemed to the only one who paid any attention to their mother. They were doomed to stay together in this house due to the terms of their father's will which said that they must remain in the house for 25 years after his death or forfeit receiving any of their inheritance. Visiting frequently was Doctor Von Blom, the family physician, who supposedly was treating Mrs. Tobias Greene, but he seemed to paying a lot of attention to Sibella. Sproot, the butler seemed to very diligent, and Gertrude Manheim, the cook, had been with the family for twenty years. More murders would occur, and the family was being rapidly diminished.

Philo Vance is a very sophisticated and remarkably well educated gentleman, 34 years old. He maintains a very rational outlook while trying to solved the mystery of the deaths in the Greene family. This book, which was published in 1927, is literate and the reader is warned to keep a dictionary handy because there are some unusual words in it. Indeed, this book has footnotes making it a rather academic work. Vance's final method of analysis is so detailed that it puts modern mystery writers to shame.

S. S. Van Dine is the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright. Wright was an author of literary articles and an art critic. Confined to bed by an illness, Wright read hundreds of detective stories, wrote an article about detective fiction, and then turned his hand to writing detective fiction. 
  
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Monday, July 16, 2018

Murder After Hours by Agatha Christie

It was intended to be a pleasant weekend gathering at the Hollow. That was before it became the scene of a murder. Sir Henry and Lady Angkatell had, of course, invited Midge Hardcastle, and Henrietta Savernake who was such a talented sculptor.  John Cristow and his wife Gerda were coming. John was an exceptional doctor, but Gerda was a bit slow and didn't really seem to fit in with the others. Edward Angkatell was coming; he was the heir to the Angkatell estate and a bachelor. On Saturday evening, Veronica Cray, a movie actress, who was renting a nearby cottage, dropped in to borrow some matches, and to say hello to her former lover, John Cristow.  On Sunday, they were going to have lunch with the Belgium detective who was renting the cottage nearby for the summer.

On Sunday morning, John Cristow was found dying from a gun shot wound by the edge of the pool, and his wife Gerda was standing over him with a revolver in her hand. Hercule Poirot, who had come for lunch, arrived in time to see this scene, and, of course, took an immediate interest in the happenings. The police, of course, were called in and investigations showed that the gun that Gerda was holding was not the gun which was used to murder John. Everyone who was there was questioned and an extensive search for the murder weapon was conducted. Poirot finally determined who was the killer in a rather surprising conclusion. This book was published in 1946 under the original title of the Hollow.


What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw! by Agatha Christie

Elspeth McGillicuddy had completed a day of Christmas shopping and was returning home on what was to be a very eventful train ride. On the ride, her train was passed by another train, and when Mrs. McGillicuddy looked out the window she saw what was happening in a compartment on the passing train. A woman whose face was contorted was being strangled by a man who had his back to Mrs. McGillicuddy. Mrs. McGillicuddy told the ticket collector about what happened, and he assumed that this elderly woman was just imagining things. Later she told the station master and sent a letter to the police; both of them paid no attention.

She then told her good friend, Jane Marple, who did believe Mrs. McGillicuddy, and who took action to find the body. Assuming that the woman's body had been thrown from the train, Miss Marple found a place on the train line where it was most likely to have landed. Since Miss Marple was getting a bit too old to carry out investigations her self, she hired the very efficient and intelligent Lucy Eyelesbarrow, an Oxford educated house keeper, to seek employment in the home of the Crackenthorpes which was located near the site where Miss Marple suspected the body would be located. Lucy was carry to out her employment part of the day, and search for the body in the remaining time.

Lucy was successful in her mission to find the body of the woman. Now it became essential to find out who she was as well as who killed her. Miss Marple, of course, succeeds at this even though she is at a distance from the scene of the crime as well as at a distance from all of the suspects.

This book was published in 1957. In 1961, a movie was made of this book. It starred Margaret Rutherford. In 1987, BBC made a version of the book starring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. In 2004, ITV did another version of this book starring Geraldine McEwan in the role of Miss Marple.

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Night at the Mocking Widow by Carter Dickson

Stoke Druid was a very small village in Somerset. It was a very old village, and was mainly noted for a tall group of stones, possibly of Druidic origin, in the northeast meadow near the river. A great problem had developed in the village and had gone unacknowledged for several weeks. That was until Sir Henry Merrivale arrived to visit Mr. Henry Danvers, a book dealer, in the village. It was Mr. Danvers who told Sir Henry about the anonymous letters that the residents of the village were receiving, and asked Sir Henry to find the person who was writing them and signing them "The Widow".  He even offered Sir Henry a very rare book as a reward for finding the writer.

Many of the occupants of the village had received the letters.  This included Joan Bailey and her father Colonel Bailey. Also there was Gordon West, a very successful author, and J. Cadman Hunter, the new, young vicar who was promising to read his letter from the pulpit on the next Sunday. The reading of this letter prompted many more residents to come forward with their letters which were given to Sir Henry Merrivale to analyze. It was very possible that one member of the village had committed suicide after receiving a letter, and a murder eventually occured as a result of attempts to find the author.

The book finally reaches its humorous conclusion at the church bazaar. Rain the previous evening had created a mud puddle down the center of the large hall in which the bazaar was held, but the ladies, in costume,  persisted in setting up their booths on both sides of the puddle. The event was well attended and even the bishop was there. Sir Henry was dressed in costume for the occasion, and somehow the whole thing got out of hand.

This book was published in 1950. I must admit that it is not my favorite Sir Henry Merrivale book. I think that it has a rather thin plot which is fleshed out with humorous scenes at the beginning and end, and some romance between Joan Bailey and the vicar. I have read this book for the 2018 Just the Facts, Ma'am Golden Mystery Challenge and it will be entered in my detective notebook in the category of When - During a special event - church bazaar.





Wednesday, May 30, 2018

A Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate

Today, novels about jury trials focus on the efforts of flashy lawyers who try to persuade jurors that their client is innocent. The jurors always seem to be 12 people who are rather dim witted and have no personalities. In the mystery Verdict of Twelve, Postgate takes a very different approach. The book begins with a look at each one of the jurors, ten men and two women, so that the reader is aware of their personality, their past, and the events in their life which could effect their decisions.

Mrs. Rosalie van Beer is on trial for the murder of her young nephew. Mrs. van Beer disliked her nephew, and he, in turn, hated her.The lawyers are not especially gifted. A very unusual form of poison was used in the crime, and the elderly family physician and a young doctor he called in to assist failed to detect it in time.

The case proceeded in the usual manner. The jury members did have their person thoughts as testimony was heard. Then the jury members retired to the jury room to reach their verdict. I will not provide a spoiler by telling you any more. I enjoyed this book, and I highly recommend it.

Raymond Postgate (1896 - 1971) was from a wealthy family and studied at St. John's college, Oxford. He rebelled against his conservative family and he refused to serve in the army He joined the Communist party but left it later to join the Labour party. This book, Verdict of Twelve, which was published in 1940 has long been considered as a crime classic. Postgate wrote 2 other mysteries which were poorly received, and he quite trying to write mystery novels and, instead, began writing The Good Food Guide.

I have read this book for the 2018 Just the Facts, Ma'am challenge. It will be entered in my detective notebook in the Category Where - Features a courtroom scene. Indeed this novel mainly deals with courtroom scenes.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

The Crimson Clue by George Harmon Coxe

Kent Murdock found that photographing a wedding reception turned out to lead to a hunt for a murderer. Murdock was the chief photographer of the Courier newspaper. The job of photographing the wedding was not for the newspaper. Instead it was a private job for Patricia Canning, a member of high society, and a friend of Murdock. She was going to marry Roger Armington who was also a high ranking member of society.

Murdock arrived at the wedding reception and took all of the expected shots of the wedding preparations, and the expected shots of the reception. Then he found that he was running out of film and needed a quiet place to put new film in his camera. His search for this spot took him to the third floor of this rather palatial house. When he opened a door, he found it was a closet and that the closet held a dead body. Murdock took pictures of the body, and then made a big mistake. He decided to wait to report the murder to the police until it was possible for this to be a big story in the Courier. However the murderer was ahead of him. When Murdock returned to place where he had stored his cameras and film, he found that it had all been stolen. When he returned to the closet with the body, he found that the body had also disappeared.

Murdock set out on a hunt for the dead body,  for the murderer, and for his stolen cameras. The cameras may have been the main reason for this hunt, but Murdock also hoped that his search would lead to a big story in the Courier. Murdock's search would involve the powerful Canning family and their paid detectives, popular musicians, and an attractive young woman named Audrey Wayne. He would also be introduced to the newest technology - the tape recorder.

George Harmon Coxe wrote 63 mystery novels - 23 of these dealing with the adventures of Kent Murdock. Coxe was named a Grand Master of Mystery in 1964. I like Murdock because he is more laid back than the private detectives of this period, and really a nice guy.



Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Bad for Business by Rex Stout


When Amy Duncan woke up, she found that her hand was in something wet. Further examination showed that it was a pool of blood coming from the body of her uncle Arthur Tingley who was very dead.

It all started when two large food corporations stated their wish to buy out Tingley Tidbits which was the company Arthur Tingley headed. Then quinine was found to have been added to some Tidbits products, and Tingley sales went down. Amy was hired to find out what was going, but after an angry dispute with her uncle, Amy furiously ran out of the building, ran blindly across the street, and ran into the car which was being driven by detective Tecumseh Fox. Fox, always a gentleman, took Amy home and learned the whole story of the Tingley Tidbits problems.

Later that day, Amy received a call from Arthur Tingley asking her to come to his office that evening. When she got there, she saw his body on the floor. Then somebody hit her over the head and knocked her out. When she came to, she called Tecumseh Fox to come to this office. He surveyed the body, and sent Amy to a doctor. Amy was suspected of the murder by Inspector Damon of the New York homicide squad, and Tecumseh resolved to get her out of trouble and to find out who murdered Arthur Tingley.

What follows is a very readable story which involves industrial espionage, family problems, and a little love story.

Rex Stout is quite well know for his Nero Wolfe books, but he also wrote three books which feature detective Tecumseh Fox. Fox is much more active physically than Wolfe is, but they seem to operate in the area of New York but never seem to encounter each other. This book was published in 1940.


Monday, May 14, 2018

Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne

Miss Mary Gregor was murdered in her bedroom in Duchlan Castle. The white haired lady was found kneeling by her bed as though in prayer. She had received a dreadful knife wound in her chest. The puzzling thing was that the room was locked. Nobody could have entered because the door was locked on the inside and could not be unlocked from the hall. The windows were closed and could not be opened from the outside. The bedroom did not have secret passages or secret doors.

At first, amateur crime solver, Dr. Eustace Hailey, who was in the neighborhood was called to investigate by Mr. Leod McLeod, the Procurator Fiscal of Mid-Argyll in Scotland. Dr. Hailey's inspection of the room turned up a fish scale in the wound which would mean that the knife used had been in the kitchen or on a local fishing boat.

Dr. Hailey interviewed the members of the family. Miss Gregor's brother, the Laird Duchlan, was extremely upset at her death, but would not talk about her. His son, Eoghan Duclan, had just returned to the castle from his military service. Eoghan had a great enjoyment of gambling and was financially troubled. Eoghan's wife Oonagh was apparently a very unhappy woman. She seemed to be showing an interest in the local doctor, Dr. McDonald. There were also the servants who had been with the family a long time. Christina was now the nurse for Oonagh's son Hamish who was sick, and the butler, Angus, who was also the castle piper.

Then the police arrived in the person of young Inspector Robert Dundas. Dundas took over the investigation and told Dr. Hailey that he did not need his assistance, and that Hailey could leave the castle. Hailey remained in the neighborhood and his talk with the local residents yielded the information that Miss Mary Gregor had been very kind and generous to the poor and the gypsies in the area, but she did not have any friends of her own social class.

Dundas finally has to admit to Dr. Hailey that he getting nowhere in his investigation, and that if he doesn't succeed in finding the murderer he will lose his status in the police department.  He asked Dr. Hailey to help him. Here we find too different approaches to solving a mystery. Dundas follows a fact based approach and seeks for clues. Dr. Hailey believes that the solution of the mystery will be found in learning the characters of the victim and those people who had dealings with her.

The situation in the castle became much more complicated, and two more murders occurred. Christina and Angus believed in local folktales and thought that evil spirits were the murderers.  The family members were reticent about sharing family secrets, and the police called to investigate nominate a family member to arrest, but something always goes wrong with their plans. Dr. Hailey conducts many interrogations of the family, and finally finds the identity of the murderer, and a rather unusual method of conducting a locked room murder.

Anthony Wynne was a pseudonym of Robert McNair Wilson (1882-1963) who was a Glasgow-born physician. Wynne wrote twenty-seven detective novels featuring Eustace Hailey. Wynne wrote a variety of other things which included a medical column in the newspaper and a biography of Napoleon. He wrote some excellent locked room mysteries, but his books have been long out of print. Murder of a Lady was published in 1931, and has been reprinted by Poisoned Pen Press. It has an introduction by Martin Edwards.


Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh

It is rather rare in mystery literature for someone to be shot by a piano, but this does occur when the residents of Pen Cuckoo put on their theatrical performance.

These residents had gathered to plan a dramatic performance to benefit the church youth group. There was Jocelyn Jerningham who proudly surveyed his land holdings in Penn Cuckoo He was the seventh Jocelyn Jerningham to hold his house and lands. His son, Henry, would inherit the land and house. Henry was currently in love with Dinah Copeland who was the daughter of the vicar. Unfortunately she did not have the money which Jocelyn needed to maintain his holdings, so the prospects for Henry and Dinah's wedding did not look good. Diana was at the meeting along with her father, Reverend Copeland.  Dinah was studying theater and had been in several plays so she would be directing the performance.

Also attending were two middle aged village spinsters, Idris Campanula  and Eleanor Prentiss. Both were interested in Reverend Copeland who was now a widower. Both women had developed a strong interest in the church, and both went to confession with the reverend. Doctor Templett was there, and he had brought Miss Ross. Miss Ross was new to the village, and she was not well received by the others at the meeting. She was considered to be socially beneath them, but she dressed well. Dr. Templett showed quite an interest in her even though he was married but his wife was an invalid who never left home.

The first thing this group had to decide was which play to perform. This was a controversial topic but finally the choice of the play advocated by Miss Ross and Dinah was chosen. The rehearsals commenced and they were a disaster. Dinah was reaching her wit's end. The players did not learn their lines, and forget where they were to stand. Things did not at all seem promising for the performance. Then there was a battle over who would play the music for the beginning of the play. Miss Prentiss wanted to play her perpetual piece which she always played, but she had seriously injured her finger. It was decided at the very last moment, that Miss Campanula would play the opening music.

Every thing was ready, the audience was seated. Miss Campanula sat at the piano and started playing. When she pressed the soft pedal, she was shot by the piano which was holding a revolver.

Scotland Yard was called to investigate this murder. The Yard arrived in the person of Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn and his assistant, Inspector-Detective Fox. Soon their favorite journalist, Nigel Bathgate arrived, and the investigative team was complete. They interview all concerned in the performance and examined significant clues such as a child's toy and an onion before they finally could name the murderer.

This book was published in 1939 and was the seventh mystery in Alleyn series which was written by Dame Ngaio Marsh. I have read the book for the 2018 Just the Facts, Ma'am Mystery Challenge. It is entered in my detective notebook in the category of Why - an author who I have read and loved before.




Tuesday, May 1, 2018

The Curved Blades by Caroline Wells

Miss Lucy Carrington was the matriarch of the family, and she was not a very nice woman. She was wealthy and possessed a fortune in jewels yet she had been unhappy all of her life because she was unattractive. She had never married, and she still at age 50 was hoping to find a man. She had two relatives, her niece Pauline Stuart who lived with her, and her nephew, Carrington Loria who was an amateur archaeologist who was currently in Egypt excavating. These two relatives would each receive half of her estate upon her death. Miss Lucy had a secretary, Anita Fayne, whom she treated very poorly, and a business manager, Gray Haviland. Pauline and Anita were both attractive which made Miss Lucy very jealous and which drew constant criticism from her.   Miss Lucy was hoping that she could attract the attention of Count Charlier and lure him to marry her.

Then one evening she had dinner with all the people named above. They played bridge. Miss Lucy was a very temperament bridge played and would get angry and throw her cards around the room when she was losing. Later Pauline and Anita came to her room, and Miss Lucy got angry and told both of them to leave the house the next morning.

The next morning, Miss Lucy was found dead in her rooms. She was sitting facing her mirror with a smile on her face, and she was wearing the most valuable of her jewels. She had a paper snake wrapped around her neck which was very odd because she was terrified of snakes, and she had one of Count Charier's gloves in her hand. She had been hit over the head which appeared to be the way that she was killed. An autopsy revealed, however, that she had been poisoned with aconitine; she had been hit over the head after she was dead from the poison. The local police interviewed everyone and it seemed that several of the people in Miss Lucy's life were in the hall that evening. Anita admitted listening outside of Miss Carington's door and hearing her speaking to someone, but she could not hear the other person's voice.

The police failed to come up with a satisfactory suspect, so it was decided to call in Fleming Stone, a professional investigator. He interviewed the occupants of the house, and examined Miss Lucy's room in detail, and fell in love with one of the suspects which rather clouded his view of the investigation. He did find the murderer, but it must be admitted that the most important clue that he found should have been found by the police but they were rather careless by modern standards.

This book was written in 1915 by Caroline Wells. I found it to be an interesting read. I did guess the identity of the murderer before Fleming Stone did, but I could not have proved it until Stone found the crucial piece of evidence. You may wonder, as I did,  about the title of the book and what curved blades have to do with the story since blades are never mentioned. They will be explained at the very end of the book. This book is currently available in paperback and as an e-book.





Friday, April 20, 2018

An English Murder by Cyril Hare

It was Christmas, and Lord Warbeck had invited friends and family for the holidays. Lord Warbeck was seriously ill and this would probably be his last Christmas gathering. The guest list included Sir Julius Warbeck who was his nephew and the current Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lord Warbeck's son, Robert, was there. Robert was currently the leader of the League of Liberty and Justice, an anti-semitic and fascist group, and his presence would antagonize Sir Julius. Mrs. Carstairs was there. She was the wife of Sir Julius's immediate second at the Exchequer and her husband hoped to replace Sir Julius as Chancellor, but he was currently on a mission to South America. Lady Camilla Pendergast was there. She hoped very much to become the wife of Robert. Also present was  Dr. Bottwink of Heidelberg and the University of Prague who was examining the Warbeck papers for his study of constitutional law. Bottwink, a Jew, disliked Robert Warbeck very strongly, perhaps even more strongly than Sir Julius did. There were also members of the staff such as Briggs, the butler, and his daughter. Rogers, the police sergeant who was assigned to protect Sir Julius, thought that this would be an easy assignment.

These were the people in the 53 room manor house on Christmas eve. Outside the snow was piling up, and cutting them off from the rest of the world. The telephone had also stopped working probably from downed lines. They had Christmas Eve dinner at which the conversation was rather strained. Then they left the table, passed a quiet evening, and were in the process of toasting the arrival of Christmas when the murder occurred. Robert Warbeck stated loudly that he had an important announcement to make and dropped dead.

Sergeant Rogers assumed control of the investigation, and conducted interrogations and searched rooms in the proper manner. Dr. Bottwink offered some helpful suggestions. The trapped people talked among themselves about keeping silent about some things, and some of them feared that suspicion would fall on them. Eventually Dr. Bottwink announced the identity of the murderer, shortly before the thaw when the police would arrive. I will tell the reader that the big clue to the identity of the murderer is in the title of the book.

This book was written in 1951, and definitely shows the fears and prejudices of the period following World War II. Dr. Bottwink especially was suspected because he was an Eastern European (was he a Communist?) and because he was a Jew. It also shows the decaying position of the upper class such as Lord Warbeck who was suffering financially from the taxation of the current government.





Monday, April 16, 2018

Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer

Who was the ghostly figure of the Monk who was haunting the Priory? This is the main question for the family who had just inherited the Priory from an uncle, and were now visiting it. The Priory, part of a medieval monastery, was now the property of  brother and sister Peter  and Margaret Fortescue, and their sister Ceclia Malcolm who was married to Charles Malcolm. They were accompanied on their visit by their Aunt Mrs. Bosanquet. They found that the butler, Bowers,  and the housemaid were terrified of the ghost.

One evening, they heard a bumping noise on the stairs and found that a skull has been rolled down the staircase. Further investigation found that there was priest's hole at the top of the stairs which contained the skeleton of somebody who had been there for a very long time. It was Mrs. Bosanquet, who seemed the most sane and level headed of the party, who encountered the Monk in the night. They decided  to call in the local police in the form of Constable Flinders. They had little faith in the Constable who seemed quite at a loss in the beginning, but did take his investigations quite seriously, and kept a watch on the priory and the neighbors.

They got to know their neighbors. There was Mr. Titmouse who collected moths, and who could be seen wandering through the property in the night. Most striking of all the neighbors was the drunken French artist Monsieur Duval. M. Duval was of the most modern school of French art, and expressed his emotions in his rather awful paintings. He lived in a cottage which was a dreadful mess. Charles visited him and found that Duval seemed to believe that the ghost of the Monk had some unexplained hold over him, and if the hold were broken, Duval could move away his hovel in this small village. Then there were Mr Strange who had wandered onto the Priory property and who took quite an interest in it, and Mr. Fripp, the floor cleaner salesman. Fripp and Strange were seen talking to each other and seemed to be friends.

The whole situation became more and more intense especially after the murder occurred, Then two of the residents of the house stumbled into a maze of hidden passages and found their life threatened. It does come to a very satisfactory climax with everything explained, and just a little hit of romance.

If you are a reader who enjoys the adventures of pleasant people involved in mysterious adventures in very old English houses with secret passages and hauntings, you will like this book. It is Georgette Heyer's first mystery novel, written in 1932. It is lacking some of the wit and detection skills of the later books, but is still an entertaining read.






Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Murder on Paradise Island by Robin Forsythe

Geoffrey Mayne needed a vacation. He had worked hard to pass his bar exams, and then had caught influenza. His Aunt Emily insisted that he needed to take a sea voyage. She suggested on educational trip to Rome, Egypt and the Holy Land. Geoffrey, however, selected to trip to the Pacific islands because he had so enjoyed Treasure Island and similar books when he was a boy.

So he was steaming toward the Marquesas Islands on the Charles James Fox when the bad weather hit. The ship tossed and turned in a manner to upset any traveler. Geoffrey was still able to get about and eat. It was while having dinner that he met the delightful young woman, Freda Shannon, who was in the cabin next to his. Then disaster struck in the night. Something on the ship caught on fire and the passengers were ordered to the lifeboats. Geoffrey got into lifeboat 7, but something caught as they tried to lower the boat, and Geoffrey was thrown from the lifeboat into the sea. He lashed himself to some floating debris and floated until he was tossed up on the shore of an island.

As Geoffrey explored the island and tried to find something to eat, he became very aware that modern man certainly lacked the skills to survive in this situation. Who in the world knew how to make a fire by rubbing two sticks together? Then he came upon a small cabin which had apparently been occupied by someone at some time. The cabin gave him shelter for the night, and the next day he found the passengers of lifeboat 6 who had managed to wash up on the island. There was Freda Shannon, whom he had met before and her maid Violet. There were Mr. Oscar Lingwood, fat-faced and given to drinking, Major Dansie who would turn out to have knowledge of how to survive in the South Pacific, Mr. Hanchett who was the strong silent type, Mr. Haylock who was the "silly ass of the ship" and Walter Wink who was Mr. Lingwood's manservant.

The next day they got organized. Freda and Violet made the most important discovery. As they were cleaning the cabin, they lifted up a mat and found a trap door underneath. The trap door led to underground tunnels which contained canned food and some brandy, and supplies like picks and shovels. Two of the men who were out exploring were shot at by somebody with a rifle, but they did not see who it was. Their lives on this island became much more dangerous.

Then one member of the group was murdered.  Major Dansie announced that he would be the leader of the group, but tensions and hostilities among the members arose. Several of the men were especially upset over who would get the attention of and control over Freda.  There were more activities by the mysterious shooter which the members of the group just could not find. The whole situation led to a very tense climax.

I enjoyed this book, and found it hard to put down. It certainly held my interest as life on the island became more dangerous. It reminded me of the TV series Lost with the exploration of the island and the various discoveries which were made.

This book was published in 1937. Robin Forsythe was born in Pakistan, and returned to the United Kingdom when he was six. When he was 49 and working as a clerk at Somerset House in London, he was arrested for theft and fraud. He was sentenced to 15 months, and while in prison, he started writing his first detective novel Missing or Murdered.






Sunday, April 1, 2018

The Dead can Tell by Helen Reilly

 Christie Lansing and Steven Hazzard are still in love after a three year separation. Three years ago, they decided to end their relationship and to go their separate ways. Steven's way led him to marry Sara who was a beautiful and ruthless woman. Now Steven and Sara were not getting along well, and Christie had come back into his life. Steven wanted a divorce from Sara, but she refused to give it to him.

On the fatal evening in this story, all the main players in this story met at a party given by Margot St. Vrain who was a successful agent for musical bands. Christie and Steven were there along with Sara Hazzard who had brought along her gun. There were notable politicians and people who were members of the New York musical and theater crowds.  When Sara Hazzard left the party, she
returned to her apartment for a short time, left it to get into her car, and drove into East River where she drowned.

This is a rather complex story which involves a group of people who are financially well off, well dressed, and prominent in the city. Inspector McKee who is head of the Manhattan Homicide Squad at first assumed that Sara's death was just an accident when he received an anonymous letter telling him that it was a murder. Then he decided to take another look at the people involved. There are brothers Clifford and Pat Somers who are in the government of New York, There is Mary Dodd who seems to be a friend to everybody, and her niece Kit Blaketon who is engaged to Clifford Somers. Oddly, Sara's maid, Eva Prentice, seemed to have disappeared the day after Sara died.

The prosaic McKee and what seems to me to be a large number of policemen who are always available to tail everybody involved in this story, and who are always at the right place at the right time, do manage to find the solution to the murder of Sara Hazzard

This book was published in 1940. Helen Reilly is noted for writing a number of police procedurals featuring Inspector McKee, and she is one of the earliest mystery novelists to emphasize the police procedural.




Sunday, March 25, 2018

Scarecrow by Eaton K. Goldthwaite


The man limped painfully through the streets of Sudwich. His right leg didn't function properly, and his right shoulder was much too low. His face was dreadfully distorted, and his cold blue eyes did not seem to see around him. This was the scarecrow.This was the man who was calling himself Cotton Kendall, and he had returned to Sudwich from World War II. The plane which he had been piloting has been shot at, set on fire, and then had crashed. William Stanczyk, the gunner, had also survived the crash.

Old Man Kendall was the wealthiest man in Sudwich because he owned the local mill. He was Cotton's father, and Cotton went to him. Old Man Kendall was hopeful that this was his son, but he was also very careful. He had received records from Marine Corps which did not clearly establish that this was Cotton. Old Man Kendall was just not sure.

Cotton went to a noted local artist, Frederick Thorne, but Cotton did not let Thorne see his disfigured face. They had been friends before Cotton left for the war, and Cotton wanted a drawing of himself from this time. Cotton took the drawing to a plastic surgeon, Doctor Julian Martens, who found his case interesting. Martens was not sure that Cotton was who he said he was, and Martens was very careful that he did not do plastic surgery on a criminal. Martens called Lieutenant Joseph Dickerson of the Boston police to look into the past history of this disfigured man. Martens also knew that he could never get the man's face to resemble the drawing which he had brought.

Meanwhile other murderous events were occurring in Sudwich. Ford Sheppard was a wealthy playboy although how much wealth he still had was questionable. Ford was scheming with Henry Heath, who was the manager of the Kendall mills, to take over control of the mills away from Old Man Kendall. Ford was having a romance with Marion Kendall who was the wife of Cotton Kendall. She had married him for his money, and thought that he was dead. Henry Heath was showing a great deal of interest in his secretary Tessie Morgan and was paying for her apartment. Tessie Morgan was showing interest in other men in Sudwich, and was the nude model of the artist Frederick Thorne. Then in one evening, both Ford Sheppard and Tessie Morgan were murdered in separate locations in Sudwich.

Lieutenant Joseph Dickerson came to Sudwich to investigate, and he was a very methodical investigator. His thinking about things was always accompanied by his chewing on his mustache. This is a complicated case, and there are a large number of suspects. Dickerson did manage to get it all solved in the end with his mustache still intact.

This book was written by Eaton Kenneth Goldthwaite and published in 1945.  Little seems to be known about Goldthwaite who lived from 1907 to 1994. He published 10 detective novels and his series character was Lieutenant Joseph Dickerson. I have found some information about Goldthwaite's career as a seargent major in Marine Bombing Squadron 433 which may be found at http://www.vmb433.com/memories.htm.   This article also says that Goldthwaite was the editor and publisher of several newspapers.




Tuesday, March 20, 2018

A Blunt Instrument by Georgette Heyer

Mr. Ernest Fletcher was seated at his desk, and he was quite dead. His head had been bashed in with a blunt instrument. What this blunt instrument is will not be revealed until the end of the book. I will tell the reader that this instrument is present and visible in several episodes of the book, and if the reader can identify the blunt instrument, he or she will also know the identity of the murderer.

Superintendent Hannasyde and Sergeant Hemingway were called in to investigate the murder of Mr. Fletcher. The body had been discovered by police constable Glass who was investigating because he saw a stranger leaving the house. P. C. Glass was a very God fearing man and had a Bible quote ready at all times and for all events.  This ability really got on the nerves of Hannasyde and  Hemmingway as they persisted in trying to find the killer.

Mr. Ernest Fletcher had one nephew, Neville, who was to inherit all of Ernest's rather prosperous estate. Neville appeared to be too vacuous, and too detached to commit a murder. Living nearby were two sisters, one of whom did have reason to kill Ernest. Helen North was fond of gambling, and Ernest held some of the IOU's for her gambling losses. Helen definitely did not want her husband to find out about these losses. Helen's sister, Sally, was an author of mystery novels and wore a monocle. She did not seem to have a motive for killing Ernest. Ernest also had a stockbroker who was cheating him, and there was another man who was very peeved with Ernest about a dalliance which Ernest had had with a young lady. So there were certainly enough people who would want Ernest dead and a very complicated time table for the time of the murder was developed. Alas, they could not find the murder weapon.

This book was published in 1938 by Georgette Heyer who wrote 12 mystery novels. I wish she had written more instead of spending time writing all of those romance novels. Her books are witty, clever, and very entertaining. This book has an introduction by Anthony Boucher who does mention that it will be worthwhile to read this book twice, and I certainly do agree with him.





Sunday, March 11, 2018

The Case of Jennie Brice by Mary Roberts Rinehart

"It had been a long hard winter, with ice gorges in all the upper valley. Then, in early March, there came a thaw. The gorges broke up and began to come down, filling the rivers with crushing, grinding ice."

Elizabeth Pitman was the keeper of a cheap boarding house in the flood district of Pittsburgh. At the time of the flood, her boarders were Mr. Ladley and his wife, Jennie Brice, who was an actress in a local theater company. Mr. Ladley was supposed to be writing a play, but it is questionable whether he was doing anything at all. Also there was Mr. Zachariah Reynolds who worked in the silk department of a large department store.

When Mrs. Pitman got the news of the coming flood, she started moving the furniture to the second floor. While she was doing this, the Ladley's were having a big argument, and his wife would later say that he was a "fiend, a devil". The day went on and by evening the waters in the boarding house had risen half way up the stairs to the second floor. Mrs. Pitman even had a boat tied up to the stair case railing.

The next morning, Jennie Brice had disappeared, and her husband said that he had rowed her to Federal Street. A man came by in a boat and floated it into her house. He, Mr. Holcombe, had been feeding  dogs and cats who were being neglected because of the rising waters. While he was in the kitchen cooking liver for the dog, Mr. Ladley took his boat and left.

Mrs. Pitman and Mr. Holcombe took a look at the room which the Ladley's were using and found that Jenny Brice's clothes were missing, and they also found blood stains. Later they would find a broken knife from the kitchen in the flood waters.  Also Mrs. Pitman's onyx clock was discovered to be missing. It would definitely appear that Jennie Brice had been murdered, but later it was the testimony of a young newpaper reporter, Ellis Howell, that he had seen Jenny Brice very much alive on the day after she was supposed to have been murdered. A headless dead body was found as the flood waters receded, but another witness swore that she had seen Jennie Brice on two days after the murder was supposed to have taken place. This book presents the dilemma of whether or not Jennie Brice was alive, and a jury trial of Mr. Ladley was held even though this question was not answered when the trial began.

Mary Roberts Rinehart was born in and grew up in Pittsburgh in the section of the city described in this book. She wrote her first novel, The Circular Staircase, in 1907. There was a major flood in Pittsburgh in 1907 which she would have witnessed. The Case of Jennie Brice was written in 1913.



Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Cold Poison by Stuart Palmer

Murder at a movie studio provides a challenge for Hildegarde Withers, school teacher and amateur detective. She had left New York hoping that the climate of Los Angeles would help her asthma, but now she was getting a bit bored. She was also across the country from her crime solving friend, Inspector Oscar Piper, of the New York Ciry Police Department. Then she received a visit from Ralph Cusak, a production manager for a movie studio which produced animated movies (sort of like Disney). Mr. Cusak wanted to hire her to find out who was sending threatening valentines to members of the studio staff. She was to pretend to be the keeper of her dog, Talleyrand, who was to pose as the model for a new cartoon movie, The Circus Poodle.

Hildegard wanted to get a good start on her new job so early in the morning of the next day, she went to meet Larry Reed at his home. Larry was a cartoonist and was know for his practical jokes which made him seem to be a likely candidate for the valentine sender. She found Larry Reed dead in his bedroom. He had been poisoned with an extract of poison ivy which is a very unusual material to use for murder. Hilda questioned the members of the studio staff, but felt that she could not solve the crime on her own so she called Oscar Piper to travel to the west coast to help her. I was a bit disappointed in this move. I felt that she could have solved it on her own.

Anyway, Hildegarde and Oscar did investigate, and did find the murderer. The final clue which lead to the identity of the killer was something which we have all observed in our cartoon watching days but have probably never consciously noticed.

This is a fun read, but it is a very light weight mystery novel. There are bits of humor along the way, and it is interesting to watch the workings of a cartoon studio in 1954. I am sure that it has all been changed by now.

Sunday, February 25, 2018

The Dutch Shoe Mystery by Ellery Queen

Abby Doorn was the rich founder of the Dutch Memorial Hospital, and she continued her interest in the hospital, its patients and its doctors. Now she was over seventy, diabetic, and very dead. She had come in in the morning to visit the charity ward, went into a diabetic coma, fell down the steps, and hurt herself seriously. She was to be operated on by Dr. Francis Janney who was believed to be the best surgeon in the hospital. When she was wheeled into the operating room for the surgery,she was already dead because someone had strangled her.

Ellery Queen was visiting the hospital that day with a question about another case for Doctor Minchin, but when it was know that Abby Doorn was dead, Ellery rapidly took over the investigation into her death. I was amazed at the way everybody in the hospital let this amateur investigator go looking around the operating room and questioning the members of the staff. He did not even wait for the police to arrive, but when the police did arrive they were accompanied by Ellery's father, Inspector Richard Queen who got things under control.

Ellery's investigation led him to examine what motives the members of the hospital staff and of Abby's family could lead to her murder. Her large fortune would be divided between her daughter Hulda and a nephew who was off in some remote corner of the world. Abby had a companion, Sarah Fuller, and they were always arguing with each other. Sarah would receive a lifetime income from the will. There would be other bequests to the doctors on the staff. There was a research project conducted by Dr. Kneisel going on at the hospital which would seem to lead a very profitable result, but it seems to me that it had nothing to do with medicine. Abby Doorn had been financing it until just before her death when she had cut off the money.

The problem here was not one of motive, but of opportunity. Who could have murdered Abby Doorn  while she was in the hospital under the surveillance of doctors and nurses. Ellery feel that he is totally stumped in his search for the murderer - especially when another murder by strangulation occurs to a member of the hospital staff. But of course, all is solved in the end and Ellery gives a remarkably long explanation for his solution. I found this book interesting, but Ellery with his pince-nez and his chain smoking and his know-it-all attitude was a bit much. This book was published in 1931 and was the third Ellery Queen novel written by the cousins Frederick Dannay and Manfred Lee.


Saturday, February 17, 2018

Murder in a Hurry by Richard and Francis Lockridge

Liza O'Brien certainly did not suspect that drawing pictures of cats would lead her to finding a murder victim and putting her own life in danger. She had simply started out to draw pictures of cats for a book which she was preparing. She had visited the home of Pam and Jerry North to draw pictures of their cats - Gin, Martini, and Sherry. Jerry North was Liza's publisher, and he and Pam were noted for their crime solving abilities.

Then Liza moved on to draw more cats at a little pet shop on West Kepp street. When she got there the shop was open, and she went in to admire the animals. It seemed that the owner, Mr. J. K. Halder, wasn't around. A very little man came in, and Liza and the little man looked around the shop and found the dead body of J.K. Halder in an animal cage. The little man looked so upset that Liza dashed into the room where Halder lived and got a drink for the little man. When she returned to the shop, the little man had gone, and she was alone in the shop with the dead body. Instead of calling the police, she called her boy friend, Brien Halder, the dead man's son.

This was how it all started. It would all become much more complex. It would turn out that J.K. Halder was a bit more than a simple pet shop owner. Liza met the members of the Halder family who were fighting among themselves. Another murder would occur, and Liza began to wonder if she wouldn't be the next victim because she might know something about the murderer. She even began to suspect that Brien Halder wanted to murder her. Pam and Jerry North came to her assistance along with Bill Weigand of the New York police force. All would be solved, but the reader should be warned that the really important clue comes quite near the end of the book.

I always enjoy the Pam and Jerry North books. The Norths enjoy a good life in New York, make witty comments, and seem to drink a good bit of alcohol while solving crimes. These books are very pleasant cozies, and may be read for enjoyment rather than for the intricacies of the plot.



Monday, February 12, 2018

The Black Curtain by Cornell Woolrich

When Frank Townsend came to, he was laying on the street and people were brushing plaster off of him and trying to help him stand up. He had been hit on the head by a piece of falling plaster. Frank managed to stand up and staggered home. When he got to the house he remembered leaving in the morning, he was told that his wife had moved out. He got his wife's new address, and went to see her. She was amazed to see him since he had been gone for two and half years - from January 30, 1938 to May 10, 1941. He had lost 2 and a half years of his life.

 Frank then set about to resume his old life. Frank's old employer hired him again. Then one day, Frank saw a man on the street who seemed to be watching him. In the following days, Frank was sure that the man was following him.

Frank decided that the time had come to find out what he had been doing during the lost years of his life. He sent his wife to a safer place, and went back to the street where  he had come to after been hit by the falling plaster. He wandered this street until finally he made a connection to this time that he couldn't remember. He discovered that he was accused of a murder, and he found a young woman who was in love with him and would help him in clearing his name.

Cornell Woolrich who was born in 1903, dropped out of college, and started writing novels in 1926. These serious novels of the Jazz Age were failures. It was in the 1940's when he turned to writing detective novels and pulp fiction that his career took off. He is said to have written the story upon which the movie Rear Window was based, although there seems to be some disagreement about this. Although he was earning money from his writing, he lived most of his life with his mother in rather seedy hotels. His health declined after his mother's death in 1957, and he died in 1968. Many movies have been based on his books. Some of his books are being reissued in paper and e-book formats.




Wednesday, January 24, 2018

A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong

Kenneth Gibson was a meek and mild fifty five year old university professor who was unmarried, and who had no plans to change this. That is until he met the daughter of one of his colleagues. Mr. Gibson had the gift of empathy, and when he met Rosemary James at her father's funeral, he felt that this young woman was exhausted from caring from her father. She was thin and tired and had been sheltered from the world. Mr. Gibson felt that he could help her to recover. Indeed, he did. Under his care, Rosemary flourished. They grew fond of each other and finally agreed to marry despite the differences in their ages - she was 32 and he was 55.

They settled down in Gibson's pleasant home, and all went well until they had a traffic accident. Rosemary was driving, and when she swerved to avoid an oncoming car, she instead ran into it. Mr. Gibson was seriously injured with several broken bones in his leg, but Rosemary was not injured. When Mr. Gibson was released from the hospital, his sister Ethel came to help Rosemary take care of him. Ethel was unmarried and had been successful in her career. She was a dominating person, and managed to see the worst in everybody. She saw that Rosemary was quite friendly with Paul Townsend, their next door neighbor. Ethel did not hesitate to tell Mr. Gibson about this. Gibson took her quite seriously and believed that he was losing his wife to the younger, attractive neighbor. He was also depressed about his inability to walk without limping. He was still off from his teaching position which gave him time to brood.

Mr. Gibson decided to commit suicide. He went to the laboratory of a fellow professor, found the poison he would use for his suicide and poured some of it into an olive oil bottle. He put the bottle in a green paper bag, and took the bus home. When Mr. Gibson got home, he realized that he had left the bottle on the bus. He called the police, and he and the police then set out to find out what had happened to the poison. This hunt is remarkably suspenseful.

This book won the Edgar award in 1957, and it was the fourth novel to do so.  It was originally published in 1956. The book was interesting, and the hunt for the bottle keeps the reader's attention. There is also a lot of speculation in the book about the causes of Mr. Gibson's reasons for suicide. An assortment of characters, including a bus driver, a society matron, and an artist, is added to the hunt, and their speculations cause Mr. Gibson to engage in a great degree of soul searching. I could not resist wondering about how a modern mystery writer would  handled this situation.


Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Swan Song by Edmund Crispin

Edwin Shorthouse was a marvelous singer and always received rave reviews for each opera in which he sang. However, Shorthouse was a very annoying person to work with, and his attitude and actions toward women would certainly end his career in 2018. Adam Langley was a tenor who was performing in Die Meistersinger with Shorthouse in Oxford. Adam was married to Elizabeth who was a writer for magazines and was currently working on an article on famous detectives. She was hoping that while they were in Oxford that she would be able to interview Gevaise Fen who was known for his detecting skills. She said that she was hoping to interview "H.M, and Mrs. Bradley, and Albert Campion and all sorts of famous people".


The rehearsals for Meistersinger were not going well. The conductor, George Peacock, was young and not very experienced. Shorthouse set out to get Peacock removed from the conductor's position. Shorthouse interrupted him during rehearsals, made annoying and pointless demands, and Peacock became more and more upset at each rehearsal.  Then one evening, Shorthouse was foung hanging from a hook in the ceiling of his dressing room. Murder or suicide?

The police in the person of Sir Richard Freeman, the Chief Constable arrived at the theatre. He was accompanied by Gervaise Fen, a professor of literature at Oxford. They examined the dressing room in which Shorthouse had been found hanging and determined that to hang him in this room was very difficul. Fen met many people in the cast of the opera. There was no shortage of people who would have like to kill Shorthouse either because of obnoxious personality or his inability to keep his hands off the women in the cast.

Another murder occurred  and an attack was made on Adam Langley. Fen, of course, found the murderer and explained how the murders were committed. These methods are very complicated in the best tradition of Golden Age mysteries.

I think that this book will appeal to fans of opera as well as the reader who enjoys a bit of humor in his mystery novels.  Edmund Crispin writes charming and literate novels which I have always found to be quite enjoyable. This book was published in 1947.