Vicki Finds the Answer

 Vicki Finds the Answer (1947) by Helen Wells

In Vicki's second adventure since becoming an airline stewardess, she befriends a troubled young woman on her latest route between New York and Norfolk, Virginia. Joan Purnell is running away from home--her parents are tense and there's something very wrong and she just can't take it anymore. Vicki talks with her and gets her to agree that facing up to troubles and trying to solve the problem is a better plan than running away from it. But Joan begs Vicki to come home with her and help. Vicki can't resist a mystery and soon she and her friend Dean (a co-pilot with the airline) are learning more about the lumber business than anyone could want to know and helping the Purnells find out why their successful company is suddenly losing money.

These books are normally more career-focused, Vicki behaves here more like the typical girl detective than usual--there's very little airline hostessing going on. The mystery is a solid one for the target age group...nothing too intricate and, of course, no murders. Vicki and Dean are able to see that the bad guy is brought to justice and all ends happily for the Purnell family. A decent, end-of-the-year read--but I didn't find it quite as compelling as my previous trips with Vicki the airline hostess.  ★★★--just barely.

First line: New York glistened in the sun this fine Autumn Sunday.

Last line: The telegram came from Ruth Benson, and it read: "A LITTLE EARLY BUT HERE'S YOUR CHRISTMAS PRESENT, VICKY. YOU'RE GOING TO MEXICO, CONGRATULATIONS!"

The Clue of the Runaway Blonde/The Clue of the Hungry Horse

 The Clue of the Runaway Blonde (1947) by Erle Stanley Gardner

First of two novellas featuring Sheriff Bill Eldon. Eldon is an old-fashioned sheriff who relies more on his knowledge of people and how they behave than on new-fangled ideas such as forensic evidence  and finger-printing--that's what he has his undersheriff George Quinlin for. But the political bigwigs don't think that Eldon is the man for the job anymore and are hoping to show him up for the old fogey he is and get a younger man on the job. 

When a young blonde woman is found stabbed to death in the middle of Sam Beckett's new field with no footprints leading to or from the body, it looks like a real stumper has come along and it should be just what they've been waiting for. Difficulties arise when circumstantial evidence seems to point towards Quinlin's household and so they bring in a "consulting criminologist" to outshine the sheriff. But Eldon isn't out of the hunt and he proves that newer doesn't always mean better.

For a novella-length story, this little mystery packs quite a lot of action and detection into 120 pages. Eldon becomes quite interested in the old Higbee place (in the middle of Beckett's new land) and what he thinks the girl may have been doing there. He follows up clues that the criminologist doesn't even notice and proves that he's still got what it takes to keep law and order. There is also the subtext of politicians trying to manipulate civic appointments to their liking and Gardner certainly shows what he thinks of that.

A fun, quick-paced story with a clever answer to the seemingly impossible crime. ★★★★

First line: Cold afternoon sunlight made a carpet of long shadows back of the eucalyptus trees along the road as Sam Beckett opened the gate of the old Higbee place and drove his tractor into the eighty-acre field.

Last lines: The sheriff chuckled. "This here consulting criminologist didn't know it. If he did he didn't think of it--not until I pointed it out to him."

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Deaths = one (stabbed)

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 The Clue of the Hungry Horse (1947) by Erle Stanley Gardner

Sheriff Eldon's political enemies are still searching for ways to oust him out of office. This time they have a rich, L.A.-based businessman named Calhoun on their side when an unknown woman is found dead in his stable. Things don't start off too good for Eldon when the woman is initially identified as Calhoun's daughter. Eldon's mistake is just the kind of thing those opposed to him are ready to jump on. 

The doctor is ready to call it an unfortunate accident--the poor girl was kicked in the head by a nervous horse. But Eldon insists on murder (grabbing for headlines--in the opinion of the antagonistic District Attorney). When the evidence starts coming in, it begins to look like Eldon assisted the murderer to escape, but when the actual weapon is planted on an unsuspecting innocent witness Eldon knows he's got his murderer and is ready to defend his deductions before the Grand Jury.

Once again, Gardner puts together a quick-paced murder mystery. Though not quite as solidly plotted as Runaway Blonde, it is still a good puzzle mystery. The character of the sheriff is a big draw and it's definitely fun to see him get the better of those who are out to see his downfall. ★★★

First line: It was 7:55 when Lew Turlock answered the phone and was advised that long distance was calling Miss Betty Turlock.

Last line: The sheriff chuckled. "I saw her," he said. And then, a few seconds later, as he was slipping out of his outer garments, added, "first."

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Deaths = one (hit on head)

The Whispering Death

 The Whispering Death (1947; 1st US printing*) by Roy Vickers

The Whisperer holds all of London in a grip of terror--holding innocent victims for ransom and killing whenever his demands are not met. Using the fairly new wireless technology, he has devised a diabolical system that prevents his targets from lining up police help in advance. A bag with a wireless set is delivered to the target, who must don the headset and follow the hoarse whispered instructions exactly as they are given. Only one step is revealed at a time, so they never know where they're going or what they must do. So far, Scotland Yard has been powerless to stop the reign of terror--each time the Whisperer escapes their grasp and too many times a lifeless victim has been left behind.

Then the Whisperer sets his sights on Roland Blatch. Roland wouldn't seem to be an ideal target--he's a lowly secretary pulling a mere six hundred pounds a year--just enough that he and his girl Joyce Merrow can now think about getting married. He rather imprudently (as it happens) tells her not to worry about the Whisperer--he'd never go after people like them who couldn't pay up. But Roland has forgotten that his employer, Sir Henry Glazeborough, had given him the keys to a safe where 80,000 pounds of jewelry was stored....

The next thing he knows, he has received a threatening note telling him that Joyce has been kidnapped and also one of those dreadful wireless boxes. When he dons the headphones, he is told in periodic bursts of instructions to go and remove the jewels from his employer's safe, take a taxi to Liverpool station, which train to take, and then upon seeing a black flag signaling along the tracks to toss the bag with jewels out the window. Even having a Scotland Yard man pick up his trail immediately and accompany him on his little journey doesn't prevent the Whisperer from getting what he wants.

Joyce is released and Roland is happy for that--but he knows he can't face his employer. He's now a thief--even though an unwilling one. When a phone call comes telling him that he can throw his lot in with Whisperer, he decides to play a risky game. He'll join up with the Whisperer all right...but only so he can wreak revenge on the man who dared to threaten his girl and who ruined his career. What follows is a high-octane adventure where Roland does his best to outwit the cleverest criminal in London. He'll endure several hair-raising episodes, including two attempts on his own life--but will our hero win the day? 

Vickers has put together a fine example of the "innocent man pulled into situations beyond his control." Roland is a brave, intrepid hero...willing to beard the lion in his den. The thrills and the ambiance of 1930s London is perfect and keeps the reader turning the pages. The only (small) downside to this exciting action/adventure mystery is that the identity of the Whisperer is all too obvious. But Roland holds up his end of the show so well that we don't mind too much. ★★★★

First line: Nine-thirty to ten-thirty--the slack hour of a London evening. In the lounge of a well-known hotel-restaurant a few late diners were taking their coffee.

Last line: "Oh, by the way, as a temporary detective for a period of five days, you're entitled to six pounds fourteen shillings and expenses."

*1st British printing, 1932

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Deaths = 3 (two poisoned; one shot)

By Hook or By Crook

 By Hook or by Crook* (1947; 1st US publication) by Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Malleson)

Normally Arthur Crook, lawyer-cum-private detective, is in it for the money. But occasionally a case takes his interest and the client is in no position to pay, so he treats it like Robin Hood--allowing his richer customers to pay for those who can't. Such is the case when he receives a plea for help from Miss Janet Martin. Miss Martin is a spinster in reduced circumstances who has befriended a charming little girl, Pamela Smith, and her governess Miss Terry (Teresa) Lawrence. 

Miss Martin, who can no longer see well enough to read, spends her days watching people from her window. She is quite taken by the little girl in the red coat and red tam-o-shanter and is delighted when her little dog chases her landladies cat and gives her and excuse to meet Pamela. They--and Terry Lawrence--have a lovely time chatting over biscuits and then they exchange a couple more visits. Pamela is the ward of a very well-to-do gentleman who has given Miss Martin to understand that the girl will be very well looked after in the event of his death. He even has Miss Martin witness his will. But when Mr. Scott dies from an overdose--possible suicide--there is no such will to be found and his sister, the ominous Mrs. Barnes, whom Terry and Pamela have always referred to as an imposing, interfering woman, has Pamela sent away to an orphanage. Terry is called upon to help, but she soon fades out--she's got a fiance; is she too busy to worry about the little girl? Miss Martin knows that something is not right and asks Crook to investigate. His detective work unearths not only abduction, but fraud and murder as well. But just how many people are in on the plot anyway?

This isn't a usual whodunit in the classic tradition. We pretty much know who the bad guy(s) is (are) from early on. What is up for grabs is how many people are involved and whether Miss Martin and Mr. Crook are going to be able to convince the authorities. What is really interesting is the depiction of the plight of older women in post-war Britain. It's dreadful to have a dwindling pension and to be so dependent on the (hopefully) good will of relations. And then to not have many friends or much of a way to entertain oneself can make for very long days. 

As with so many of Gilbert's books, she brings Crook in quite late. My favorites bring him into the action sooner. But Miss Martin is such an interesting character and the back ground involving her is so important that I didn't miss him quite as much. A good, solid read. ★★★ and a half.

*aka The Spinster's Secret (1946; 1st British publication) Reviewed under this title by Kate at Cross Examining Crime and also by Moira at Clothes in Books.

First line: "Before you set out to commit a murder," said Arthur Crook--who was like certain Cabinet Ministers in that he rejoiced in sweeping statements--"there's one important point to bear in mind, something like a lion in your way. And even a lion-tamer can't be sure of circumnavigating this one: that is, there's no foolproof method of murder."

Last line: "Well, what would you do, chum?"

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Deaths = 4 (three poisoned; one hung)

The Chinese Nightmare

Chinese Nightmare (1947) by Hugh Pentecost

Johnny Curtain, a former POW in WWII and a pretty darn good piano player, wakes up, disoriented in a hospital in Chunking. He starts putting together his memory--traveling by plane and ferry towards a gig playing music for GIs stationed in China, noticing a man in disguise that joins him on each stage of his journey, realizing with a jolt who that man in disguise is, trying to convince Major Hardwick of the American forces just whom it was he saw, and then a drink in a bar that made him feel awful woozy...

Then, after he's gotten himself sorted, he starts listening to the ramblings of the man in the bed next to him. He seems to have lost someone named Lydia. When this man finally comes fully awake, he tells his story--he met this perfectly lovely girl on the plane and he made a date to have dinner with her after the conference he'd come for. But when he went to pick her up at the hotel address she'd given him--they claimed no such person had registered with them. The airline claimed that no such person had flown with them. Lydia has vanished into a puff of smoke. And now he'd had this infernal accident and couldn't follow up on the mystery any more. Would Johnny be willing to check the story just once more for him--to either prove that Lydia really had existed or to convince him that he'd somehow managed to dream her up?

Johnny's game and sets off to look for Lydia. And finds himself even further embedded in the mystery that started with the man in disguise.

Pentecost packs quite a lot into this tiny digest-size story. Mystery, murder, action, Nazis, spies and counter-spies, treachery and double-crosses...and even romance. He manages to set it in China without turning it into a latter-day Yellow Peril story and gives the whole thing a slam-bang (literally) finish. Very enjoyable, fast-paced little novelette. ★★★★

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Deaths=  5 (one poisoned; four shot--and a whole slew more who are nameless and therefore can't count who are blown up)
Vintage Extravaganza Gold: Rule #5 (Chinaman)

First Line: It was like coming back from death.
Last Lines: I hope you weren't kidding when you said you like the piano. You're going to hear an awful lot of it the rest of your life.

Silver Wings for Vicki

People have to dream, darling--dream, and make their dreams come true. Why, that's how the world goes on. (p. 6)

Silver Wings for Vicki (1947) by Helen Wells is the first book in the Vicki Barr Flight Stewardess series and there is a lot going on. It begins with Vicki having just finished two years of college and not being terribly excited at the prospects of going back. She knows her father, Professor Barr, would prefer that she finish her education--but she sees an ad in the newspaper with the headline

To Girls Who Would Like to Travel
To Meet People -- To Adventure

and she just knows that she's one of those girls. What she wouldn't give to go flying around the world in one of those big silver birds.

So, even though she knows she's a little young and doesn't have quite all the experience asked for, she decides to go to the interviews and give it a try anyway. Her father, knowing how much it means to her, is willing to let her go for her dreams.

To her amazement (but not to the reader's--because after all we've been told that this is the "Flight Stewardess" series), she convinces Miss Ruth Benson, the interviewer, to give her a chance. Before she and her family know it, she's on her way to New York City for an intense training session where only girls who score 95-97% (there are no perfect scores) make the grade and earn their silver wings. Vicki is a personable young woman and quickly makes friends. Of course, she and her five closest friends pass the class. They set up house in a shared apartment with a housekeeper-cum-house mother who makes sure they get fed properly, get plenty of sleep, and she sends any male callers home at a reasonable hour. The girls settle down into their flight routines, getting used to managing flights on their own and then Vicki falls headlong into a mystery involving suspicious travelers and ostrich-leather bags. She helps the authorities capture the bad guys and winds up a heroine on the front page of all the papers.

Vicki is another strong, independent character that I would have loved had I discovered her when I was reading Nancy Drew. She is a career woman who wants to be a flight stewardess--not because it's glamorous, but because she loves the idea of flying and helping the people who travel. She is intelligent and notices when passengers are behaving oddly and this leads to many of her adventures. The mysteries aren't terribly intricate, but they are good fun, especially for young readers. Silver Wings was an excellent beginning for the series. ★★★★


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Calendar of Crime: Author DOB
Vintage Mystery: Rule #13 (No Corpse)

First Line: There it was, as big as life, in the Fairview Sunday paper.
Last Line: Give my love to Dean and the girls and tell them I'll be back--soon!

Birth Year Reading Challenge 2020

Well, I did better in 2019 in reading for J.G.'s Birth Year Reading Challenge than the previous year, but I still have a large number of 1947 books (for my mom's birth year) left to read. So, I'm going to keep pressing on and go for another personal challenge goal of six books for the 2020 edition of the challenge. I hope to do more than that, but if I make six then I will be able to claim the challenge as complete.

1. Silver Wings for Vicki by Helen Wells (2/15/20)
2. Chinese Nightmare by Hugh Pentecost (4/18/20)
3. By Hook or by Crook by Anthony Gilbert (11/21/20)
4. The Whispering Death by Roy Vickers (11/23/20)
5. The Clue of the Runaway Blonde/The Clue of the Hungry Horse by Erle Stanley Gardner (12/28/20)
6. Vicki Finds the Answer by Helen Wells (12/28/20)

Commitment Complete!

Books still remaining on the TBR pile from 1947:
Dark Interlude by Peter Cheyney
Crooked House by Agatha Christie
The Rose & the Yew Tree by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)
With Intent to Deceive by Manning Coles
Death Warmed Over by Mary Collins
Murder Has a Motive by Francis Duncan
The Angry Heart by Leslie Edgely
The Velvet Fleece by Lois Eby & John C. Fleming
The Lady Regets by James M. Fox
The Case of the Lazy Lover by Erle Stanley Gardner
The D.A. Calls a Turn by Erle Stanley Gardner
Close Quarters by Michael Gilbert
Fire in the Snow by Hammond Innes
San Francisco Murders by Joseph Henry Jackson
Prelude to a Certain Midnight by Gerald Kersh
Kingsblood Royal by Sinclair Lewis
Bury Me Deep by Harold Q. Masur
Death of a Doll by Marco Page
The Riddles of Miss Withers by Stuart Palmer
Miss Withers Regrets by Stuart Palmer
Cold Bed in the Clay by Ruth Sawtell Wallis

The Restless Corpse

The Restless Corpse (1947) by Alan Pruitt

Don Carson, the Chicago Globe's top crime reporter, is tapped by "Old Man Holiday," the newspaper's publisher, to track down his wayward daughter April. April has run off from the family home in New York City and Holiday is afraid she'll get herself into some kind of trouble that will splash her name across the pages of other people's newspapers. Carson catches up with her twice--only to be outwitted by the bewitching brunette. He finally catches up with her at an apartment in Chicago (which she has taken under the clever pseudonym of April Hall) where she is hosting one stop in a traveling apartment party in the high-class building where she's living. 

April admits defeat and promises to go home like a good girl, but she can't resist one last trick. She doctors Carson's drink and he wakes up hours later in a darkened room with a fresh corpse on the other couch. The murdered man is Archie Hertz, husband of a rather promiscuous woman who may have been looking to inherit the means to let her hook up with a younger man. Carson decides his first duty is to the boss's daughter and he's intent on keeping her out of a murder inquiry. So, they take Archie and station him on a convenient park bench far from the apartment, congratulate themselves on quick thinking (and no observers), and head back to the apartment....only to find that Archie has reappeared. He's the corpse that won't stay put. 

Since the scheme to ditch the body doesn't work, Carson figures he might as well start investigating and solve the murder before the police discover it's been committed--outwitting whoever is trying to pin the rap on April and, incidentally, picking up a huge news scoop along the way. But then another of April's odd friends winds up dead and the cops thinks she's acting mighty suspicious. They arrest her before Carson can solve the case and he manages to get himself fired. To save the day, he has to make his way through all the suspicious characters hanging about the apartment building--including a well-known con man, a few Germans looking for a white jade Buddha (that seems to move about as much as Archie's corpse), a painter with a bohemian lifestyle, and a chess champion. Of course our hero triumphs--finding the murderer, landing a major news story with April cast as the heroine, and getting the girl in the end.

This is a fast-paced mystery with lots of action and a good rapport between Don and April. I liked that she could get the better of him and he didn't resent it. In fact, he admired her for it and decided it would keep their life together interesting. He also has a friend, Butch, that he can call on when he's in a jam. Butch is a "reformed" member of the criminal element who isn't above putting his former talents to use in a good cause. His muscle helps Don get people to talk who might have been just a tad reluctant. 

A great deal of fun is had by all (well...except the victims and the villain who is going to get well-acquainted with the justice system). Very entertaining. ★★★
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Golden Vintage card: "Simon Says"
Deaths 2 (with method given): one hit on head; one shot [one previously killed--but method not given]

The Fate of the Immodest Blonde

The Fate of the Immodest Blonde (aka Puzzle for Pilgrims; 1947) by Patrick Quentin [Hugh Wheeler & Richard Webb]

Peter Duluth's wife Iris has left him after things went sour when he returned from the war. She's run off to Mexico and fallen for a golden boy, genius writer by the name of Martin Haven. Of course, not only is Iris still married to Peter but Martin is married to a rich blonde by the name of Sally. And Sally doesn't want to let him go. She's threatening all sorts of things. So Iris asks Peter come and stand by in case she needs him to file for divorce or any other little thing--like getting her and the boyfriend and the boyfriend's sister out of a muddle that involves a sleazy private detective.

You see, Sally winds up dead. And Jake (the detective) fixes it so the police don't suspect foul play but that he can also blackmail Martin, Marietta (the sister), and Iris--because one of them must have killed Sally. He says that all he wants is a measly little $50,000 out of the cool two million that Martin will inherit...but who ever heard of a blackmailer stopping with one payoff? Jake winds up dead too and Peter is stuck with clean-up. 

What a squalid, sordid little story. I could just leave it at that, but I won't. I have yet to find a book written under the Patrick Quentin pseudonym that I can wholeheartedly endorse. Now granted, I haven't exactly read scads of them (only two others: Puzzle for Fools and  Black Widow), but each of those caused me to believe that the Peter Duluth series just might not be my cup of tea. And yet...my affection for those pocket-size editions of mysteries keeps bringing more of them into my house, so I give him another try. And, guess what? He's still not my cup of tea.

The plot isn't even as straight-forward as I've implied with the synopsis above. Peter winds up involved with Marietta. Marietta has a more-than-sisterly love for her brother. But she also wants to get away from his influence. On top of that, she has a thing for dirty, brawny men (like Jake). But she says she loves Peter because he's not like Martin or the dirty, brawny men. Sally is vindictive--but then she says she's not. Iris is going to run away with Martin and then she's not but now she's not fit to wipe Peter's shoes. Jake killed Sally to get away from the vindictive little blonde and to open up a gold mine of blackmail. No--wait, Martin killed Sally and Jake. No--wait, Marietta killed Sally and Jake. No--wait.... Geez, what a nasty little merry-go-round.

The best thing I can say about this is that Webb and Wheeler do a good job with psychology of these characters. They get the ins and outs of obsessive love and deflection and self-absorption down pat. But that doesn't mean you're going to like any of these people. None of them--not even Peter, our protagonist--elicit an ounce of sympathy, but it's because we do understand them so well. Unfortunately. The plot is twisted tighter than a corkscrew, so there's that as well. Plot is decently well-done. ★★ for plot and psychology.

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Vintage Golden: Where--Capital City
Calendar of Crime: March (author DOB: Hugh Wheeler)
Deaths = two (poisoned--although one looks a fall from a height)

And Hope to Die: Mini-Review

And Hope to Die (1947) by Richard Powell

When his wife Arabella (Arab for short) talks him into a vacation in Florida, all Andy Blake wants to do is loll in sun, drink Planter's Punch, and avoid fishing like the plague. He certainly doesn't want to be the target for a barbed fish spear, bashed over the head, and nearly drowned and fed to the sharks. He's not much interested in lonely houseboats and little girls who are tied up there. He certainly doesn't want to interfere with tough guys who are smuggling people in and out of Cuba. But Arab has a way of nosing out trouble...and landing Andy smack dab in the middle of it. Of course, it is nice to figure out who the little girl is and help her find her dad. But if only he didn't have to deal with so much unpleasantness to get there. 

Honest-to-goodness, this sounded like it would be a fun romp. I'd heard somewhere that Andy and Arab were better than the Abbots (series by Frances Crane), so I looked forward to reading it. The mystery is convoluted. Things move along in a jerky kind of way. And it just doesn't grab me at all. This is supposed to be a funny, bantering couple mystery novel. But Andy and Arab just make me tired. There is too much banter. Andy is too reluctant. Arab is too eager. They spend too much time being fake jealous over the other's supposed interest in various members of the opposite sex sprinkled throughout the story. And seriously, these two couldn't solve their way out of a wet paper bag {Does that metaphor even work? I don't care....}--except when it comes to little girls. If you've read Nick and Nora, the Norths, the Troys, and even the Abbots and are looking for another husband and wife sleuthing team....keep looking. At least, that's my feeling on this one. I've got another Powell book sitting on the shelf. Maybe it will be better. ★

Dr. Fell, Detective & Other Stories

Dr. Fell, Detective & Other Stories (1947) by John Dickson Carr (intro by Ellery Queen) is a collection of eight short stories--five starring Dr. Gideon Fell and three miscellaneous mysteries. One of the three has a very similar premise to the earlier novel Till Death Do Us Part, though the denouement differs. This is a new-to-me collection, but I have read (and enjoyed) many of these stories before or full-length novel by Carr which fleshed out these ideas in more detail. ★★★★

Dr. Fell Stories
"The Proverbial Murder": Dr. Gideon Fell takes on the impossible shooting of a suspected German spy. It all depends on a stuffed wildcat, the use of a gun that couldn't have made the fatal shot, and....Fell's memory of a proverb.

"The Locked Room": This one involves the attempted murder of Francis Seton--apparently hit over the head with a piece of lead-loaded broom handle and his safe robbed while his secretary and librarian sat outside the only door and the window was locked.

"The Wrong Problem": Dr. Fell and Superintendent Hadley are walking near a lake when they come across a man who wants their help with a problem. He tells the story of murders in the past...but the solution isn't what he needs their help with.

"The Hangman Won't Wait": Dr. Fell is convinced that a condemned woman is innocent and finds the proof just in the nick of time.

"A Guest in the House": Harriet Davis thinks her uncle is losing it. Not only has he turned off the burglar alarm that protected his valuable paintings (two Rembrandts and a Van Dyke), but he has moved them from a secure room on the upper floor to a downstairs room with French windows. Then he's killed while burglarizing his own home...It will take Dr. Gideon Fell to discover the rhyme and reason behind it all.

Miscellaneous
"The Devil in the Summer House": In the opening scene two men, Mr. Parker the lawyer of the family that lived her and Captain Burke of the homicide squad, meet on the grounds of a long abandoned home on a dark and stormy night. Twenty-five years earlier, the summer house behind the garden was the scene of the death of the master of the house. It was ruled a suicide...but was it? Parker has come back now because he recently received a letter from someone...who must surely now be dead. But what has brought Burke here?

"Will You Walk Into My Parlor?": A police officer masquerading as a fortune teller warns a rich man that his lovely, innocent-looking, soon-to-be fiancee may be husband-killer in disguise. But others in this story may not be who they seem to be either. 

"Strictly Diplomatic": When Andrew Dermot is sent on holiday for his health, he finds a tonic for his heart in more ways than one--falling in love with Betsy Weatherill, former schoolmistress. But then he watches his lady walk into a closed arbor where she "had vanished like a puff of smoke."


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Finished 8/24/19
Deaths =  6: 3 shot; 3 stabbed

Miss Agatha Doubles for Death

I know I should have had a nice young man handy, and we'd have gone round asking questions and finding clues, and in the last chapter, when we'd trapped Stephen, we'd have fallen in one another's arms. But there was no nice young man, and I don't like detective stories, and even if I could have proved Stephen's guilt, I don't know that I'd have wanted to. It wouldn't help Uncle Richard or Uncle David to have Stephen hanged.

~Ann Hughes
Miss Agatha Doubles for Death (1947) by H. L. V. Fletcher


Miss Ann Hughes, beautiful young heiress to a fortune in Wales, suddenly decides to visit her several-times-removed cousin Agatha Hughes in West Virginia. Miss Agatha is a shrewd, older woman (though how much older we're not told) who quickly realizes there is more than an eagerness to meet a long-lost relative behind Ann's arrival. After a little gentle prodding, Ann reveals that she has left Wales because she fears for her life. She's quite certain that her cousin Stephen has killed their two uncles and that she is next on his list. Stephen is a gambler and not just for money--he likes a good gamble in life as well, giving him the perfect amount of nerve to pit his wits against his victims and any detectives who might get on his trail 

Not that anyone officially suspects him of a crime. Just as Ann is certain that murder has been done, she's also certain that he has cleverly arranged things so no one would ever take an accusation of murder seriously. No one that is except Miss Agatha Hughes. Miss Agatha likes her new-found cousin and sees a lot of herself in Ann. She believes Ann absolutely when she says that Stephen is a murderer who is out to murder again for inheritance. But she's not sure how to help Ann.

The next thing we know Ann has been declared dead after an accident on the West Coast. Ann had always wanted to drive west to see friends in Hollywood. So she bought a car and did just that. But something went wrong and she died in a car accident. Miss Agatha goes west (apparently to identify Ann and bury her--though we're not told so specifically) and, immediately upon her return home, informs her lawyer that she's heading to Wales.

Now, one thing I should explain about Agatha Hughes. She is an invalid. She lost the use of her legs after an emotional shock when she was younger and never regained it. So, she's confined to a chair. She's a determined lady--in more ways than one--and has never let her disability prevent her from doing precisely what she pleased. The lawyer is aghast that she wants to go traipsing off to the British Isles with no one but her life-long companion/maid, but he knows better than to argue with her. She wants money made available for a trip to Wales? She's got it. She wants to buy the Hughes family home in Wales and set up house there for a bit. No problem.

So off she goes. And she meets up with Cousin Stephen. After they have time to get acquainted, she gives him every appearance of being quite taken with her last remaining relative. She even tells him that now that Ann is gone she has made a will in his favor and plans to send it off to her local lawyer immediately. She practically broadcasts her willingness to be his next victim. But Stephen doesn't know what an acute mind his American cousin possesses and he may not be prepared for all she has planned.

This really is quite an interesting mystery from Fletcher--an author who was from Wales himself (thanks to Bill Picard in the Golden Age Facebook group for that tidbit). There is never any question who the criminal is nor what his motive is. The real mystery is whether he will pull off one last murder or if Agatha will manage to turn the tables on him. And if she does just how she will do it. The reader is definitely rooting for Stephen to have a dose of justice served up to him, but it is improbable that any but the most discerning reader will figure out precisely what will happen in the last two chapters. 

A quite satisfying read. Fletcher writes very vividly of the Wales setting and, though not American, also writes the American portion very well. I enjoyed this one very much.★★★★

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All Challenges Fulfilled: Just the Facts, Mount TBR, Calendar of Crime, Craving for Cozies, Cruisin' Thru the Cozies, Cloak & Dagger, 52 Books in 52 Weeks, Adam's TBR Challenge, Outdo Yourself, How Many Books, Medical Examiner, Reading Road Trip
Deaths = one drowned, one poisoned, one dead in a fire
Calendar = December: word starting with "D"
Author from Wales

Murder at the Mardi Gras

Murder at the Mardi Gras (1947) by Elisabet M. Stone

Maggie Slone, a reporter for New Orleans' leading afternoon daily newspaper, is assigned to cover the Mardi Gras festivities for the first carnival since the lifting of Prohibition. It is a wild night--even more so than usual with everyone toasting the end of the long dry spell. Hopping from one night spot to another, she finds herself at the famous Le Coq d'Or cafe and a witness to a grand dust-up among a group at an adjoining table. It is obvious that the trouble revolves around a femme fatale type. Gaston, the cafe's owner, has been sharing a drink with Maggie and he declares the woman to be a bad one.

No, I don't really know them. But I do know her kind. she is bad. Bad through and through. She is evil, M'selle. All evil.... [Maggie protests that the woman is lovely.] Lovely? Not at all, M'selle. To be sure she is of great beauty, but it is a cold hotness of beauty which puts into a man a devil which may drive him mad.

Next day, Maggie is sent out to cover a suicide by gas and Gaston is proven correct for one of the men, who had shown himself madly obsessed with love for Nita, is the dead man. Maggie sees a chance for a scoop and quickly writes up the story with an angle on Nita. Who is this mystery woman? And where has she disappeared to while her lover did away with himself? That last question is answered just a few hours later when Nita is found strangled to death. 

Maggie's nose for news tells her that there is a connection between the two deaths and she sets out to beat the police and rival reporters to the story. She is spurred to even greater efforts when a young girl--who had promised Maggie a secret about Nita's death--is attacked and hospitalized. The reporter's zeal for a good story and her ambition to show up the cops lead her straight into trouble and cause her to jump to a few unhealthy conclusions. Unlike many amateur detective novels, Maggie doesn't wind up showing the police how to do their jobs. She almost gets the right answer...but it's the police who get their man in the end.

Stone plays havoc with the amateur "girl detective" trope of the 30s and 40s. No nicely brought up young lady, she. She fights with her mother, is exasperated with her sisters, and regularly flouts the house rules. Maggie Slone may be a lone girl reporter in a sea of male newshounds, but she's no Beverly Gray*. She's foul-mouthed and fiery-tempered and it's a wonder she ever gets a story out of anyone. She apparently solved a murder in a previous novel--but here she digs up all sorts of clues and manages to put the wrong spin on them. So, she's definitely not infallible. 

I'm in two minds about this one. On the one hand, the mystery is well done. I totally missed a clue displayed for all the world to see early on. It's hidden in plain sight so nicely that I doubt many would catch on. But...I found Maggie to be a distraction as a lead character. Her personality is a little too much and it really detracts from the story itself--especially for the period in which it is set and was written. I don't necessarily want a mousy little girl detective--but Maggie seems to want to out-drink and out-swear the boys without any real reason given for her behavior. It's not as if the men around her are constantly telling her not to try and make it in a man's world. The only blow-back she gets is from her friends (and one man who'd like to be more than a friend) that she's putting herself in too much danger. Which--she is. ★★★ for a good, solid mystery.

*Beverly Gray is a standard girl detective cast in the mold of Nancy Drew and Judy Bolton and others. Middle to upper middle class and with a nice, solid family life. She starts out her detective career in college and later takes on a job as a reporter--solving mysteries along the way.



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All Challenges Fulfilled: Just the Facts, Mount TBR Challenge, Birth Year Challenge, Craving for Cozies, Cruisin' Thru the Cozies, Cloak & Dagger, Print Only, Strictly Print Challenge, 52 Books in 52 Weeks, Outdo Yourself, How Many Books, Medical Examiner, Charity Challenge
Deaths = 4 (one gassed/poisoned; one strangled; one stabbed; one shot)
Calendar = Other February Holiday (Mardi Gras was in February in 1934)

Final Curtain: Review

Final Curtain (1947) by Ngaio Marsh finds Agatha Troy waiting for her husband's return from several years of war work in New Zealand and Australia. Inspector Alleyn is due back any time and Troy worries that the long separation may have spoiled their young relationship. When a request (a near-royal summons) comes from the celebrated actor Sir Henry Ancred for her to paint his portrait--in full actor's regalia as Macbeth--she is, at first, annoyed at the distraction. But when Sir Henry's son Thomas comes in person to plead the case, she is intrigued by his description of the family and decides that the distraction may be just what she needs. After all, Sir Henry's head fairly begs to be painted.

The family lives up to both Thomas's description and the run-down she received from Nigel Bathgate as she was leaving on the train for Ancreton Manor. She witnesses the bitter family dynamics and the jockeying for position as Sir Henry is fairly fickle in his favorites. The current front-runners are Patrica "Panty," his granddaughter, and Cedric, his grandson. But a spanner has been thrown into the works. The old gentleman has taken up with a young chorus girl and it looks like he may be out to prove that the "old man still has some life left in him." The family's fears are realized when Sir Henry announces that he plans to marry Sonia Orrincourt. 

Troy finishes the portrait just in time for a grand unveiling on Sir Henry's birthday. But things go awry when the picture is found to have been vandalized--with a flying green cow dropping bombs on Sir Henry's head. There have been several "practical jokes" in the days leading up to the birthday and nearly everyone (including Sir Henry) assumes that Panty is the culprit. After all, she does have a history of such things. But both her mother and Troy believe that she's telling the truth when she says she hasn't done any of the tricks played on her grandfather. Someone is up to mischief...but who wants the blame to fall on Panty?

Then Sir Henry dies--apparently from natural causes following his most ill-advised over-indulgence during the birthday meal. He's safely buried and the family is weathering the shock of discovering that he had changed his will one final time--leaving Cedric Ancreton Manor, but nearly all his money to Sonia. That's when things get interesting. 

Alleyn finally arrives back home and during their reunion, Troy tells him about her odd experiences at Ancreton Manor. Then anonymous notes start arriving that imply that Sir Henry's death wasn't natural after all. So Alleyn, Fox, and company start investigating. 

Like Colour Scheme and a few of the other novels, this is one where Alleyn shows up rather late in the proceedings. However, unlike Colour Scheme, I don't actually mind it so much this time because get to spend quite a lot of time with Troy and we learn a great deal about her in the process. In some ways she acts as Alleyn's stand-in...observing the family's behavior and being able to give him a trusted, first-hand account of the goings on leading up to the murder. She brings an artist's eye for detail and gives Alleyn (and us) valuable insights on the characters and incidents. It provides a very unique build-up to the investigation.

I think in some ways Marsh has tried to give us another eccentric family like the Lampreys. But here the dark undertones overshadow the pleasant oddities. There is really something a bit distasteful about most of the Ancreds. One thing that struck me about the story was the emphasis on how all the Ancreds were the same--overly-theatrical; they all made that "tuh" noise; etc--all, that is except Thomas. Having made such a point of how Thomas was an exception to the Ancred rule, I almost expected there to be a revelation that Thomas wasn't really an Ancred after all...and that maybe that would figure into the motives somehow. Ah, well--I guess it was a case of the author protesting too much. 

This was another enjoyable entry in the Alleyn chronicles--particularly since we see so much of Troy. Marsh did fool me on the killer...I had latched onto someone else and couldn't quite shake my belief in their guilt. ★★★★ 

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All Challenges Fulfilled: Calendar of Crime, Just the Facts, Mount TBR Challenge, Alphabet Soup, Family Tree Challenge, Ngaio Marsh Challenge, Cloak & Dagger, Print Only, Strictly Print Challenge, Brit Crime Classics, Birth Year Challenge, Outdo Yourself, How Many Books, Six Shooter, Medical Examiner
Calendar of Crime: November--primary action

Birth Year Reading Challenge 2019

Well...I failed miserably at J.G.'s Birth Year Reading Challenge for 2018. I took advantage of the option to read from the birth year of a family member and had high hopes to read 13 books from my mom's birth year (1947). Yeah...that didn't happen. So far I've got four done and might get a fifth (but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you....). So, I'm going to give 1947 another try. I'm going to be a bit more conservative for 2019 and say that my challenge goal will be six books. Hopefully, I'll manage more than that, but if I make six then I will be able to claim the challenge as complete.

Books still remaining on the TBR pile from 1947:

Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh (2/14/19)
Murder at the Mardi Gras by Elisabet M. Stone (4/20/19)
Dr. Fell, Detective & Other Stories by John Dickson Carr (8/24/19)
And Hope to Die by Richard Powell (9/2/19)
The Fate of the Immodest Blonde (aka Puzzle for Pilgrims) by Patrick Quentin (9/22/19)
The Restless Corpse by Alan Pruitt (9/29/19)
The Bells of Old Bailey by Dorothy Bowers (12/22/19)


Dark Interlude by Peter Cheyney
The Rose & the Yew Tree by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)
With Intent to Deceive by Manning Coles
The Angry Heart by Leslie Edgely
The Velvet Fleece by Lois Eby & John C. Fleming
The Lady Regrets by James M. Fox
The Case of the Lazy Lover by Erle Stanley Gardner
The Clue of the Runaway Blonde/The Clue of the Hungry Horse by Erle Stanley Gardner
The Whispering Death by Roy Vickers
By Hook or By Crook by Anthony Gilbert
Close Quarters by Michael Gilbert
He Didn't' Mind Danger by Michael Gilbert
They Never Looked Inside by Michael Gilbert
A Night of Errors by Michael Innes
San Francisco Murders by Joseph Henry Jackson
A Halo for Nobody by Henry Kane
Prelude to a Certain Midnight by Gerald Kersh
Death of a Doll by Hilda Lawrence
The Shadowy Third by Marco Page
The Riddles of Miss Withers by Stuart Palmer
Miss Withers Regrets by Stuart Palmer
Silver Wings for Vicki by Helen Wells
Cold Bed in the Clay by Ruth Sawtell Wallis

What Beckoning Ghost: Review

...Mr. Tuke had gratuitously meddled (to quote the Director again) in conundrums which came his way out of office hours. A taste for meddling was thus perhaps whetted. He himself liked to call it a flair. ~What Beckoning Ghost (1947) by Douglas G. Browne

In March of 1940, a British submarine commanded by Lieutenant Demarest was lost in the North Atlantic. There were no survivors. But months later, Demarest's mother embraces spiritualism and, in an effort to make contact with her heroic son, she begs the medium to prove visitations real. She is rewarded with a chance to talk with her son one night on the edges of Hyde Park. The ghostly seaman is seen by Wally Whichcord, a tramp who often sleeps in the wooded area of the park. 

Now, seven years later, Lady Demarest is dead, but Whichcord has reportedly seen the lieutenant's ghost again in the same place. Two weeks after this sighting, the tramp is found drowned in the shallow waters of the Serpentine. The death is a puzzle--it doesn't look like accident because there's no evidence that he slipped and knocked himself out. And it doesn't look like suicide--he'd bragged to his sister that he expected to come into a bit money to get him back on his feet. So, that leaves only murder. But who would want to murder an old tramp?

That's where Harvey Tuke, the rudest man in the Department of Public Prosecutions" and the man who looks like a modern Mephistopheles, comes in. His wife has dragged him to a dinner paryt given by Corinne Reaveley (ex-fiancee of Demarest and currently married to Clifford Reavely, civil engineer). Tuke fully expects to be bored out of his mind and plied with bad sherry. He's pleasantly surprised to find the bottles on offer to be excellent and a whiff of mystery in the air. Tensions are already high around the dinner table, but one of the guests brings up the death of Whichcord Corinne takes far more exception to the topic than one would expect. This is followed later by his hostess slamming her way out of the house. When Corinne is found drowned as well, Tuke can't resist getting involved even though the case hasn't been referred to his department yet. He soon finds himself caught up in a bizarre case revolving around the tangled family affairs that have led to intrigue and murder--and which leads him on a deadly chase that ends in the gloomy underground sewers of London.

Harvey Tuke, though known as the rudest man in his department, is actually a delightful character. He has quite a way of getting information out of people who don't want to give it--either through being "unaccountably" charming or by being rude and surprising them into saying things they don't intend. Either way, he's fascinating to watch in action. He also has an interesting relationship with his boss, Sir Bruton Kames. Kames, ostensibly deplores Tuke's penchant for meddling, but it is apparent that he secretly approves...especially if it gives him a chance to get in on the action as well. It's worth the price of admission just for the visual of the portly Kames squeezing himself down into the underground tunnels of the London sewer system. 

The solution of the mystery is fairly straightforward, but Browne's style and the vivid portrayal of the London of the time period carries the reader over any possible disappointment resulting from not being properly mystified. A very entertaining, comfortable vintage mystery. ★★★★

[Finished 10/16/18]

Untidy Murder: Review

In Untidy Murder (1947) by Frances & Richard Lockridge, Pam and Jerry North must use all their intuition and sometimes goofy logic to help their friend Lt. Bill Weigand solve the murder of art director Paul Wilming and find Bill's wife--who has been snatched by two sinister yet hopelessly misguided thugs.

Dorian Hunt (aka Mrs. Bill Weigand) is invited to the snazzy offices of Esprit magazine to deliver examples of her fashion drawings. She has high hopes of selling her work to the art director, Paul Wilming, once he has a chance to see what she can do. He never gets that chance. Just moments before Dorian is shown to his office, he is on his way out the very high window of his office. The first policemen on the scene assume he jumped--though why he'd choose to do so right before an important appointment is anybody's guess--and they handle the case as a suicide, soon sending Dorian on her way home.

But when Lt. Bill Weigand arrives home, she's not there. He immediately back tracks over her day...landing at the offices of Esprit magazine and the tail-end of the "suicide" investigation. As soon as Pam North hears about it, she's certain that Dorian must have seen or heard something and the murderer has grabbed Dorian to prevent her from sharing her knowledge with the police. The rest of the story is race against time as Bill gathers evidence that points to murder in the hopes that it will lead him to his wife. The point of view moves back and forth between Bill & the Norths and Dorian & her captors until it leads to a surprising climax which explains exactly who did what with what and to whom.

The vast portions of shifted point of view are a departure for the Lockridges. Other stories find brief passages (usually when Pam finds herself in danger because she's jumped without looking), but this book follows Dorian vs. her captors for much longer periods of time. It really was very nice to get more of her point of view since she so often plays a very minor supporting role to her husband and the Norths.

The Lockridge books--not only the North series, but Heimrich and the others as well--are some of my comfort reading. I pick them up when I want light entertainment and an enjoyable read. Sometimes a very clever twist or plot point is included, but that's definitely not the point of these books for me. If I want clever plots that might mystify me, I'll turn to Christie or Carr...or others. But the Lockridges provide me with comfortable reads with old friends. ★★★ and 1/2.

[Finished on 5/9/18]