Streaked with Crimson

 Streaked with Crimson (1929) by Charles J. Dutton

This is the first appearance of Harley Manners, professor of abnormal psychology, in Dutton's somewhat short catalog of mysteries (a little less than 20). The first eight feature well-known criminologist, John Bartley, who shares in Professor Manners' adventures here and in whose footsteps Manners tries to follow. We begin the story with Manners motoring his way to spend a month with his old friend George Carter. Carter has promised him a chance to meet Bartley who will also join the two men at Carter's seaside summer place. 

Manners decides to take a "short cut" but soon loses his way when a fog descends on the coastal roads. After many miles of very slow travel, he finds himself at a lonely stone house. A flicker of light in an upper window encourages him to see if someone inside can direct him. But no one answers the door and, after discovering the door is ajar, he wanders inside to discover a macabre scene. An impeccably dressed man is hanging from the high ceiling. He has been killed with a tar-coated rope streaked at intervals with crimson paint. Finding no sign of anyone else, he gets back in his car and, the fog having lifted a bit, manages to find his way to Carter's house. But by the time James Rogan, the chief of police, arrives, the story is told, and they go back to the house, the body has disappeared. The only evidence to support Manners' story is a short length of crimson-streaked rope still tied to the beam in the ceiling. Whoever took the body away was in too much of a hurry to untie the complicated knot.

A brief search reveals that the house is empty, save for a bit of old furniture in the downstairs hallway and one room on an upper floor. This room is furnished in cheap elegance with roses sitting in a vase and it seems apparent that the place has been used as a rendezvous with a woman. While the Chief and Carter search elsewhere, Manners gives the room a closer inspection...until he hears a noise in the attic above. He investigates and follows a figure through a trapdoor and onto the roof. A scuffle ensues, Manners rips off the man's pocket, but is knocked down (nearly falling off the roof), and the man escapes. They decide to revisit the house in the daylight with the hope of finding more clues.

When they return to town, a man by the name of Robb comes to the police station to report that Paul Mason, his employer--and according to Carter (a secret service man) and Rogan a very shady character, has disappeared. Mason was scheduled to meet Robb on the dock for a yachting trip. The next morning's thorough investigation reveals why Mason didn't show up--his body is found (on the roof!) and Manners identifies the corpse as the one last seen hanging from the rope inside.

Before Manners and company can get too deep in the investigation of Mason's murder, another body is found. Mrs. Molly Rand is found dead in her bedroom--hanged with the same type of rope as had been used on Mason. The reason Mrs. Rand is found so soon is thanks to her busybody neighbor, town librarian Abigail Tripp. Miss Tripp did not approve of Molly with her skirts too short and her flirting ways. She observes Molly and her husband having an argument. Robert Rand leaves the house and Molly begins packing a suitcase. She realizes that her shade is up and pulls it down. And that's the last Miss Tripp sees of Molly until the next morning when her curiosity gets the better of her and, when she discovers the door slightly open (that seems to be a trend in this area...) she discovers the body.

Manners and Carter have some adventures with burly strangers (but can't catch any of them) and stumble across clues from a red notebook to a French book about the torture of the saints to a Bible open at a particular verse. Chief Rogan is sure that Robert Rand is the killer--he discovered that Mason was Molly's lover and killed them both out of jealousy. But it isn't until John Bartley arrives that the real motive and real killer are revealed.

Thanks to Rick Mills at The Mystillery for my edition of this book! I was very excited to find that he had sent me that rare thing--an academically-inclined vintage mystery that I'd never heard of. But I must say that I'm a bit disappointed in Professor Harley Manners. I'm no abnormal psychologist, but I did figure out the psychological motive behind the murders and recognized the culprit as soon as they were described to us. I see that Manners is lead in five more books--I hope that he was a quick study under Bartley here and will give me a better showing should I happen to find more of Dutton's books.

A really big deal is made throughout the book about the rope streaked with crimson. Bartley says that Manners (even though he didn't really get it) recognized this important clue--referring to it in the notations he made (and gave Bartley to read). The criminologist gives us half an explanation--he explains that the color red seems to dominate in crimes of this nature (I can't explain what nature precisely without spoiling things), but he doesn't really explain the tar-coated rope. I'm guessing that just as the Bible verse mentioned above has some importance to the psychology of the crime, that the quotation, "He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith," was probably on the culprit's mind. 

photo credit

This is an interesting look at an early example of a mystery where the detective is concerned with the psychology of the crime. It's not just important to find out who did it, but also to find out why. In fact, Bartley looks for why first and then looks at the players in the drama to see if anyone could fit the profile. I enjoyed it--but not quite as much as I hoped. ★★★

First line: Bringing his car to a sudden stop, Harley Manners gazed in perplexity at the crossroads which faced him.

Last line: "Streaked with crimson," was Carter's answer.

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Deaths = 4 (three strangled; one shot)