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.