The Charteris Mystery

 The Charteris Mystery (1925) by A. E. Fielding

Rose Charteris, daughter of Professor Charteris (more on him in a moment), is found dead from a broken neck at the bottom of a sand pit on the estate of Colonel Scarlett. Scarlett has given over one wing of his home to the Charteris family to use whenever they are in England. The professor is off in Italy somewhere in pursuit of backers for his latest project (synthetic emeralds). Rose was engaged to Count di Monti, an Italian with fascist ties. Also on hand is Scarlett's daughter Sibella (who seems jealous of Rose); his housekeeper, Mrs. Lane; Mr. Thornton, a writer and family friend; and Arthur Bond & John Cockburn, who seem to come as a set and are apparently hooked up to the Foreign Office. There's some mystery over a letter Rose received from her father with an enclosure that has disappeared. And, while the local police and doctor seem to think Rose's death an accident, Thornton feels that there's something not quite right about the scene in the sand pit and calls up Scotland Yard off his own bat.

Enter Chief Inspector Pointer. The Yard can't come unless the locals request it (they haven't), but Pointer is currently on leave and can do whatever he likes on his holiday. So, he decides to come down under the name of Brown, posing as a man in the book business so his connection to Thornton won't be questioned. He immediately finds signs that indicate murder. Now all he has to do is figure out who did it and why? Was di Monti jealous of Rose's sittings for a local artist? Was Sibella so jealous of Rose that she'd do away with her? And why was Mrs. Lane behaving so oddly the night of murder--cloaking herself in veils and driving off late into the night? And who was the man who slept in an empty room and left traces in the summer house--and where did he go? Then someone searches Rose's room as well as her father's London apartment. All correspondence from the professor goes missing. Was Rose killed for possession of the professor's enclosure? And what connection is there fascists and the Russians?

Pointer takes off for Italy in a search for the Professor...and hopefully some answers. But the trail leads him into fascist territory and straight to a couple more bodies. And what starts out as a simple whodunit rapidly takes a leap into political intrigue and the spy/thriller adventure story. Our Scotland Yard detective is apparently a James Bond in disguise (who is adept at actually disguise, by the way) with a Q of his own in the background to supply him with all sorts of nifty gadgets to use when in tight spots:

Leisurely he extracted his cigar case. A thick podgy case, looking none too well made. He touched a spot with his thumb and lifted out a shallow tray...Inside was a flat glass bottle, a file not much longer than a nail-file, but of the stoutest steel, a skeleton key, and a few other interesting and equally useful oddments.

Chief Inspector Pointer has everything he needs for a quick jail-break from the evil fascist's dungeon of doom. The only question is...Is the evil fascist responsible for the deaths in the story?

Despite the fact that this plot takes a sharp turn from traditional mystery to spy/thriller with a detective who behaves more like a secret agent or a Sexton Blake hero and I find it rather unbelievable that Pointer has an endless supply of cash to hire as many private detectives as needed to watch all the suspects and to take a tour of Europe and pay off all sorts of people to tell him what he needs to know....despite all that, I found this to be a quite enjoyable read. It's my first mystery by Fielding and I look forward to reading the other title I have waiting on the TBR shelves here on the Block. ★★★ and 1/2

First line: The conversation, judging by what he heard of it as he sauntered to the east lounge, did not threaten any great demands on his brain.

Last lines: "When he discovers the truth, I shouldn't wonder if there was quite a storm scene." And there was.
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Deaths = 5 (one broken neck; one stabbed; one hit by car; one poisoned; one plane crash)