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.

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.

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.

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.