Cats Don't Smile

 If cats could grin. Samantha was probably grinning. ~Cats Don't Smile (1945) by D. B. Olsen

Miss Rachel and Miss Jennifer Murdock's cousin Julia asks them to come stay at her house while she goes away on business. Julia has two boarders and she doesn't want to leave them alone in the house. Miss Rachel reads between the lines and suspects that something has happened to alarm Julia...who knows of Rachel's penchant for investigating mysteries. So all of Rachel's senses are on the alert for oddness when they arrive.

There were to be elements as grotesque as the memory of Father's hymn singing: the Breather, who stood sighing and invisible in the Hurgraves living room; the lotus key which opened no door but Death's; the girl who tore up morning glories and the man who played minuets at midnight.

The first odd thing is that Julia has already left when Rachel and Jennifer get there. This, to Rachel, is a sure sign that something is wrong...Julia never could stand trouble of any sort. The boarders are a couple of odd ducks as well. There's Mr. Somplessis with his oily smile, his knowing air, and his tendency to play a minuet on the harmonica at midnight. And there's Mrs. Parmenter who is an overly made-up, blonde nurse to the patriarch of the neighboring Hurgraves. Mrs. Parmenter is secretly engaged to one member of the family while openly flirting with her patient. 

The real trouble begins when Mrs. Parmenter is found strangled and there seems to be some connection to the missing husband of Mr. Hurgraves's step-daughter Rheba. Rachel suspects that the man is dead and that Mrs. Parmenter was working with her fiancé to prove it. Was Mrs. Parmenter killed to prevent the truth from coming out? If so, then her fiance, Bob Grennel (cousin to the Hurgraves) should be next on the killer's list...but Grennel doesn't seem to be on the hit list. Could Miss Rachel's instincts be leading her astray? 

This is another fun entry in the Rachel Murdock series. Our spry, elderly sleuth is in full swing (if not hitting homers every time) and eventually puts the clues together to spot the killer and their motive. However, she nearly winds up being their final victim. Good thing she had Captain Fuller of the police hiding under the grand piano while she talked to the suspect.... I thoroughly enjoy these mysteries featuring our spunky heroine--her sister Jennifer tries to keep her out of adventure, but Miss Rachel is having none of that sitting at home in our rocking chairs business. She's curious as a cat and is lucky she doesn't meet the fate of curious felines. 

Speaking of felines, the covers of these stories make it seem like Miss Rachel's cat, Samantha, is taking part in the detective work. She does provide some of the action (and is far more involved than, say, the cats in the Mr. & Mrs. North books), but she doesn't detect. She does, in a way, alert Rachel to the first murder and she provides  a distraction that allows Rachel to avoid being discovered when she's detecting where she shouldn't. And...in the grand finale, Samantha jumps on and scratches the killer when they're trying to dispose of Rachel. A fine performance by Samantha...and Miss Rachel. ★★★ and 1/2.

First line: Miss Rachel Murdock, aged seventy, looked at her own nose in the hall mirror.

The double-breasted tweed suit did not make him look like a businessman, but he made the tweed suit look like a disguise. (p. 17)

I have never trumped up anything. I have smelled out some horrors that were already well hatched. I have sicked the police on a few criminals. They were all criminals before I arrived on the scene, or at least potential criminals. You act as though I'd coached them. (Rachel Murdock; p. 23)

Without any twinge of conscience--or, rather, none that she could not ignore--she put the postcard and the cuff link into the pocket of the sprigged dimity. (p. 77)

I discovered a long time ago that the best thing to do about a murdered person is to try and find out who killed him. Or her. It's so much more informative than fainting. (Rachel Murdock; p. 47)

...Miss Rachel felt as though an oversize mental meal had been stuffed into her mind and that it was proving difficult to digest. (p. 126)

I mean that the police are never quite nosy enough about trifles, inconsequential things. They go in for obvious clues like fingerprints and bullets and plaster casts, and they usually get along quite well. But some cases--this one, for instance--need, I feel, the study of stray and seemingly unrelated things like Mr. Somplessis' music and a postcard and--and a link. (Rachel Murdock; p. 148

Last line: "I wouldn't miss them for the world."

*************

Deaths =  5 (two strangled; one stabbed [cat named Silver--important to plot]; one shot; one natural)

The Illusion of Murder

 The Illusion of Murder (2010) by Carol McCleary

From the secret journals of journalist Nellie Bly comes a story of mystery and intrigue that begins in Egypt and ends on a train speeding across the American Midwest. Nellie is on awhirlwind trip around world--determined to beat the 80 days standard set by Phileas Fogg in the Jules Verne novel. When she visits a bazaar in the city of Port Said, just before going through the new Suez Canal, she witnesses the murder of a man--a man in local garb, but with telltale white skin beneath the enveloping robes and a British accent. The man, whom Nellie identifies as a fellow passenger by the name of Cleveland, whispers the name Amelia before dying in her arms. Unknown to Nellie at the time he also slips a scarab into her pocket.

Her fellow passengers, including a British lord who has served in the Foreign Office, insist that Nellie is mistaken and the ship sails without anyone being much concerned about Mr. Cleveland--who supposedly told Lord Warton that he was leaving the ship at Port Said. But Nellie smells a mystery and two attempts on her own life prove (at least to her) that she's right. As she continues to gather clues that point to an international intrigue, she wants to be able to confide in someone, but there doesn't seem to be anyone she can trust. The most likely confidante is Frederick Selous (the hunter who served as a model for H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quartermain) but he continually gives her reason to doubt him. Not to mention he and Warton keep discrediting her observations and experiences.

Despite making several wrong guesses along the way, Nellie manages to unravel the plot and do a great service to the British throne along the way....Oh, and she beats the 80 day travel record as well.

This a meticulously researched historical novel which blends the actual writings of Nellie Bly with fiction to produce an interesting mystery that is firmly grounded in history. Nellie is a vibrant character and McCleary brings her to life and surrounds her with interesting characters--both from actual history and fictional additions. The descriptions of the historical period and the locations along Nellie's journey are beautiful and capture the atmosphere well. An enjoyable historical mystery. ★★★ and 1/2.

First line (Prologue): I discovered that Egypt is a land of both mystery and magic, an exotic place where trees talk and men turn staffs into snakes, so it should not have come as such a surprise that death would also be mysterious in this ancient, haunted land of pyramids, mummies, and the eternal Nile.

First line (Chapter 1): Thirteen days after I left New York, the Victoria, the ship that will see me all the way to Ceylon in the Indian Ocean, anchors in the bay at Port Said, the gateway to the Suez Canal.

Had he asked, I would tell him that he'd have more success keeping his own affairs from public scrutiny if he acted less like a nervous squirrel hiding nuts. (p. 15)

[in reference to a man's enormous handlebar mustache] It always amazes me to what great lengths men go in order to portray a certain look. And they say women are vain. (p. 23)

Not one to live in silence for long, I fill it with words. (p. 135)

The devil oils my tongue and makes me do these things, but it feels good, at least for the moment. (p. 451)

Last line: I have people counting on me to finish the race and that is exactly what I'm going to do.

***************

Deaths  = 5 (one stabbed; four shot)

The Red Right Hand (very spoilerific)

 The Red Right Hand (1945) by Joel Townsley Rogers

From the book's synopsis: After the death of Inis St. Erme, Dr. Henry Riddle retraces the man's final moments, searching for the moment of his fatal misstep. Was it when he and his bride-to-be first set out to elope in Vermont? Or did his deadly error occur later--perhaps when they picked up the terrifying sharp-toothed hitch-hiker, or when the three stopped at "Dead Bridegroom's Pond" for a picnic?

As he searches for answers, Riddle discovers a series of bizarre coincidences that leave him questioning his sanity and his innocence. After all, he too walked those wild, deserted roads the night of the murder, stranded and struggling to get home to New York City. The more he reflects, his own memories become increasingly uncertain, arresting him with nightmarish intensity and veering into the irrational territory of pure terror--that is until an utterly satisfying solution emerges from the depths, logical enough to send the reader back through the narrative to see the clues they missed.

It appears that this is one of those novels that you either really like or you don't. And I am in the latter camp. This is one of the most frustrating books I've ever read. I'm not a fan of non-linear storylines--especially when the whole point of such a method seems to be to mix the reader up even more than the basic plot will do. There is a surreal dreamlike quality to the narrative that doesn't help the reader to keep things straight even if the story had been told in a straightforward manner. Our narrator, an evidently unreliable narrator, is a doctor whose running commentary gives the impression that he has dipped once too often into his medical supplies. He tells us both that he knows what the killer tramp looks like and yet that he never saw him:

I know the look of him as well as I know my own. Perhaps better. I know his height, his weight, his age, the color of his eyes and hair, the number of his teeth. I know the clothes he wore, to the last item....I have never laid eyes on him.

He deliberately says things like this--giving the reader just cause to believe that the doctor is really the killer, mentally deficient, deliberately lying, or doped up. Why wouldn't we? He not only says things like this, but tells us he was camped out with his broken down car right at the place where the killer supposedly turned in a great big car and he (the doctor) never saw him. He wonders if he went into some kind of trance (conveniently) right when it all happened. One has to think that either he and the killer are one and the same OR that, for reasons unknown, he's lying about not seeing the car OR, as I've said, he's on some sort of drugged out trip.

The doctor's whole purpose as a character seems to be to distract, mislead, or downright tell lies (you have to figure out which). I seriously wonder how he ever got to be a doctor and...if his abilities have deteriorated since being licensed...how he maintains his practice. He seems more deficient than Dr. Watson in his worst Nigel Bruce mode until the very end when light suddenly dawns.

And a more personal grumble: Being a participant in the Medical Examiner Reading Challenge, one of my tasks when reading a murder mystery is to keep track of who's been killed and how. With all the body-swapping, it was incredibly difficult to keep track of the real victims and how they were really killed. ★★ and 1/2 (and that may be generous).

First line: There is one thing that is important, in all the dark mystery of tonight, and that is how that ugly little auburn-haired red-eyed man, with his torn ear and his sharp dog-pointed teeth, with his twisted corkscrew legs and his truncated height, and all the other extraordinary details about him, could have got away and vanished so completely from the face of the countryside after killing Inis St. Erme

Last line: Though I shall limp a little when I smell yellow roses and black rich garden earth, all through life.

**************

Deaths = 5 (one strangled, two hit on head; one stabbed; one run over) [Rick, I've gone over it and over it and I think I've got the deaths I'm claiming straight....]

Two-Way Murder

 Two-Way Murder by E. C. R. Lorac (Edith Caroline Rivett; written pre-1959; 1st published 2021)

It is the night of the annual Hunt Ball at The Prince's Hall in Fordings. Nick Brent offers a ride to his friend Ian Macbane, but tells him he'll need to find his own way home from the Ball--as Brent has plans to drive the beautiful Dilys Maine home before midnight. The drive to the dance is uneventful--save for the fog along the way. When Brent's car makes the return trip, the fog is better and he stops just in time to avoid running over a body in the road. Since Dilys has gone to the dance without leave from her strict father, Brent sends her home over the fields while he goes in search of a telephone to report the body to the police.

When Inspector Turner reaches the site, Ian Macbane and his new driver Tom Hudson have discovered Brent's abandoned car and the body--but there is no sign of Brent. The ex-Commando comes stumbling up with blood running down his face and a torn collar. He had gone to Michael Reeves's house (nearest), knocked, and when he received no answer effected an entrance to use the phone. Immediately after ringing off he was attacked in the darkened room and, after a bit of rough house, landed up under a fallen bookcase. He believes--though is not sure--that Reeves had come home, thought he was a burglar, and jumped him. By the time he had gathered his wits, there was no one there. 

There are plenty of mysteries for the police to solve. Who is the dead man? How did he get in the road? Was he killed in a hit and run or is this a more strategically planned crime? If it wasn't Michael Reeves (and he claims not), then who attacked Brent? What was Dilys's father doing roaming around that night and why does he want to make it seem that he got home sooner than he did? The rumor mills are running at full speed in the town and stories connect the incidents to everything from the disappearance in the last year of Michael Reeves's sister Rosemary to the supposed unsavory doings of Hoyle, the local pub owner. Later, Hoyle's daughter Betty is nearly killed along the same run of road--did she see something important and has the murderer attempted to shut her up?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It seems to me that Lorac, with her two detectives Turner and Waring, began by wanting to consider the differences in detection between those who use the intuitive, psychological method and those who are more procedure and time-table based. Or possibly showing how the two work in concert to make an excellent investigation. As Divisional District Inspector Thorn (over both men) says:

Makes you wonder what is the basis of detection, after all...Timetables or human nature? After all, criminals are human and maybe young Waring's getting back to basic detection. They ought to make a good pair. Turner with his conscientious routine. Waring with his awareness of humanity.

But then she winds up leaving the conscientious routine behind. We have one meeting with Turner, Waring, and Thorn and then the two detectives go their separate ways--Turner is off to get times and facts straight (and we really don't see him again) and the reader follows Waring as he interviews various witnesses/suspects, soaking in the atmosphere and becoming acquainted with the personalities. It's as if she considers the two types of detection briefly and then rapidly decides that the psychological approach is the best.

Not that I'm complaining. Waring is the more congenial of the two detectives (Turner has an air of sour grapes about him--feeling as he does that he belongs in the C.I.D. and not stuck out in the country). I enjoyed watching his interactions with the various characters and how quickly he gets each person's measure. 

Lorac provides her usual interesting selection of persons and loads of atmosphere with the foggy roads and byways of Fordings. Even though this manuscript was found under an entirely new pseudonym, it isn't difficult for those previously acquainted with her work to recognize her style and way of conveying the atmosphere of the place. I am very thankful that Martin Edwards and the British Library found a way to bring this long lost novel into print. It is absolutely delightful and I would hate to have missed out on Lorac's final book. ★★★★ and 1/2.

First line: "Jolly decent of you to give me a lift, Nick."

Last line: "I deserved that," replied Ian.

***************

Deaths = 2 (one hit on head; one stabbed)

After the Armistice Ball

 After the Armistice Ball (2005) Catriona McPherson

The first in the Dandy Gilver mystery series set just after the first world war. Dandy, like many women, is finding life a bit dull after doing service work during the war. Taking an entire morning to deal with correspondence just seems like a huge waste of time. So, when her friend Daisy Esslemont invites her to her country estate to lend a hand with a little contretemps over some missing diamonds, she's eager for the chance. Not especially accomplished as an amateur sleuth--but eager. 

It seems that the fabulous Duffy diamonds went missing after the last Armistice Ball held at the Esslemont estate. Now, did Lena Duffy scream down the house when a burglar rustled around with her jewelry case and woke her up that night. No, of course not. She just got up, calmly looked out into the hallway (whence the burglar supposed went), saw nothing, assured herself that there was still jewelry in the case, and went back to bed. Why all the fuss now? Well...the Duffy's youngest daughter is set to be wed and we want the diamonds to be all shiny for the ceremony, so they were taken to a jewelers to be cleaned and polished. And the jeweler pronounced them to be fake. So, now Lena Duffy (who loves these jewels like their her only beloved child) is making a ruckus and demanding that the Duffys make restitution...for a robbery they didn't even know had happened.

Of course, the story has more holes in it than a chunk of swiss cheese, but Lena says some ominous things that makes it seem like she's got something else to hold over the head of Silas Duffy (blackmail?) and Dandy starts asking questions with the aim of finding out what is really behind all Lena's huffing and puffing. But her investigation is derailed when tragedy strikes the Duffy household and an even more sinister mystery appears.

This is a decent debut novel in the Dandy Gilver series. Dandy is a somewhat haphazard amateur sleuth and gets a hefty dose of assistance from Alec, the fiancé in the impending wedding. But it is a fun read with interesting characters and one hopes that Dandy will grow into her detective shoes (after all, there are fourteen or so more books in the series...). A good choice for those who enjoy the Golden Age era and who are looking for a quick read. ★★★

First line (Prologue): Lustre. That was what had been missing and was suddenly back.

First line (Ch. 1): I am not--and I say this with neither pride nor shame--a sensitive soul.

Last line: No, Lena, not so stupid after all.

**************

Deaths = two fell from height

Trixie Belden & the Mystery Off Glen Road

 Trixie Belden & the Mystery Off Glen Road (1956) by Julie Campbell

Trixie and the Bob Whites have just put the finishing touches on their clubhouse when a nasty fall storm hits Sleepyside. It brings strong winds and cold air and downs trees on the Belden and Wheeler properties (as well as the neighboring area). This includes a big spruce that knocks out the rear wall of the clubhouse and makes a hole in the roof. The Bob Whites had spent the last of their club savings on the previous work done to make the old gatehouse into a clubhouse. How will they be able to make the repairs before the predicted next storm?

Brian, Trixie's eldest brother, had been saving up for a car and decides to donate that money to the cause. His friends hate to see him give up the dream of a car, so they ask to work as temporary gamekeeper for the Wheeler's huge estate until Honey and Jim's dad can get a full-time man on the job. While doing their rounds, Honey and Trixie stumble upon evidence of a poacher and the Bob Whites have another little mystery to solve.

I have to emphasize the word "little" from that last sentence. While this is a very pleasant read and it was nice to visit with my childhood friends again, I realize now (as an adult) that this one just doesn't have much of a mystery to it. Trixie makes a mystery out of the possible poacher, but it is more her lack of information and a tendency to make assumptions from what little she does know than the fact that there is a mystery to solve. Some of the stories do have real mysteries and sometimes they have downright villainous characters, but this one...not as much.

But that's okay--it's still a nice adventure and we get a good family and friendship story. It's nice to see the lengths that Trixie will go to in order to make sure her big brother is able to have the used car of his dreams. ★★★

First line: "It's super-glamorous perfect, Honey,: Trixie said with satisfaction.

Last lines: Was another adventure waiting around the corner for them? Trixie sighed happily and sincerely hoped so.

Murder Underground (somewhat haphazard review)

 Murder Underground (1934) by Mavis Doriel Hay

Synopsis (from the back of the book): When Miss Pongleton is found murdered on the stairs of Belsize Park station, her fellow- boarders in the Frampton Hotel are not overwhelmed with grief at the death of a tiresome old woman. but they all have their theories about the identity of the murderer; and help to unravel the mystery of who killed the wealthy "Pongle." Several of her fellow residents--even Tuppy the terrier--have a part to play in the events that lead to a dramatic arrest.

There are several suspects--from her nephew Basil (who seems to go out of his way to appear guilty) to the fiancé of her niece to the young man whom Miss Pongleton found mixed up in a recent robbery. A lot may depend on the lady's most recent will--she had a habit of writing a new one whenever her nephew got in her bad graces. And does anyone know what happened to her pearls?

Thoughts As I Read:

~Trying to figure out why Basil, Miss Pongleton's nephew, goes to Mr. Slocomb for advice. I mean, would you go ask advice from some gent who boards at the same boarding house as your aunt just because she supposedly mentioned his good sense? I wouldn't. I'd go to my own friends and associates.

~Motives are a bit slapdash. The most obvious one is Basil's--but since so far we're following Basil about, I assume his obvious motive isn't the real one. Looks like it will be a case of an innocent who looks decidedly fishy needing to do some amateur sleuthing to keep himself out of jail.

~Basil really is a blithering ass. In the style of a very stupid Wooster without a Jeeves to get him out of trouble.

~I can't say I've really taken to any of the characters. Basil would be okay if there were any sort of steadying influence in his life (like a Jeeves) and I would like things to turn out okay for him and his Betty. But honestly the way these characters go about making muddles, they get on one's nerves. I think perhaps I'm not in the right frame of mind for this type of nonsense at the moment.

~Have already spotted the real culprit. No idea of a motive yet--but (and this is a sign that the story is dragging) have peeked at the end (which I rarely do) and I am right. Now I just have to soldier on through all the daft goings on with Basil until we stumble upon X's motive (and so I can claim the book for a challenge, otherwise I think I'd throw in the towel on this one.).

~Almost at the half-way mark--lots of talk (chatter, chatter, chatter), very little action. Very little actual detection. Inspector who interviewed the residents of the boarding house (off-stage, so we haven't even met him properly yet) has disappeared entirely. Only police presence is the man with big boots who is shadowing Basil. I do like a detective novel to have detecting going on--whether by the official police or amateurs doing their best. 

~Now everybody's getting involved in various antics--none of which are really investigating, mind you. Just hiding pearls and looking for wills and making up stories to replace other stories.

~Finally! We have an amateur rushing off to investigate something. Hurrah! Things are picking up. Still not exactly the finest detective novel I've come across, but inching closer to the okay mark.

I have to say that I much preferred Hay's holiday-themed mystery, The Santa Klaus Murder, and hope that Death on the Cherwell will be a return to standard (and a good academic mystery in the bargain). The entire first half of the book is exasperating. But it goes a fair way to redeeming itself in the last half. There we have plenty of running about and looking for clues. We have several members of the Frampton house digging up and providing clues that the police couldn't find. Of course, it's no surprise that they couldn't find the clues, since the police weren't really there for about two-thirds of the book. The ending is superb and a very nice take-off on a drawing room comedy with actors popping in and out all over the place. Final rating: ★★★

First line: Dozens of people must have passed the door of the Frampton Private Hotel--as the boarding house where Miss Euphemia Pongleton lived was grandly called--on a certain Friday morning in March 1934.

Last line: So we will leave Betty and Basil to their reminiscences as they swing across the Heath in the sunshine.

***********

Deaths = two strangled (one a dog named Dido--which provides an important clue)

Avon Giant Mystery Reader

 Avon Giant Mystery Reader by Various (1951)

The Bride of Newgate by John Dickson Carr (reviewed in separate post--see link)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Murder in a Hurry (1950) by Frances & Richard Lockridge

Pam & Jerry North get mixed up in another "screwy one" (to quote Sergeant Mullins) when the young woman whom Jerry is considering for a job illustrating a book about cats becomes involved in the murder of J. K. Halder, eccentric multi-millionaire who is, incidentally, the father of the man Liza O'Brien loves. Liza is a talented young artist and had been sketching the Norths' Siamese cats, Gin, Sherry & Martini. She also planned to sketch a small black kitten in Holder's small pet shop. But when she arrives at the shop (as previously arranged), it's closed up. She's about to leave when Felix Sneddiger, an elderly friend of Halder's, shows up too, is mystified by the shop's darkness, and lets them in with a spare key. They find Halder dead and bundled up in one of the animal pens.

Sneddiger seems overcome by the sight and Liza goes in search of brandy to help him--when she comes back. He's gone. Not knowing what else to do, she calls Brian Halder (her beau and J. K.'s son). He tries to keep her out of it by sending her home and making an anonymous "squeal" to the police. But it's no good. Liza manages to leave her sketch book behind and Lieutenant Bill Weigand immediate recognizes the Siamese cats on its pages. When Sneddiger turns up dead as well--in one of the closets in Halder's house, it becomes apparent that the killer is one of the family circle...and it all hinges on what happened at the family dinner the night Halder was killed. But according to the family nothing out of the ordinary happened at all. Are they all lying?

This was a reread for me--but since it's included in the Avon Reader (and I need the whole book for a challenge) I went ahead and read it again. I always enjoy the Lockridge books no matter how many times I read them. For more thoughts on the story, see the link above. ★★★★

First line: It is an inconsiderable street neither long nor wide, and it is appropriately modest.

Last line: "The nice thing about an evening with the Norths," Pam said, her voice very low, for Jerry's ear, "is that it's so stimulating."

***********

Deaths = 2 (one poisoned; one strangled)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Short Stories

"Lida" (1947) by Leslie Charteris: Lida Verity was frightened. Frightened enough to ask her friend Patricia and Simon Templar to meet her at the Quarterdeck Club. But the Saint arrives too late to save Lida from whatever--whomever--frightened her and now he must find a murderer...and possibly more.

Deaths = one shot

"The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge" (1925) by Agatha Christie: Poirot is down with la grippe (influenza) when Roger Havering comes to ask him to investigate the murder of his uncle at Hunter's Lodge in Derbyshire. Hasting's goes to act as Poirot's eyes and ears in the case of the mysterious man in a black beard. The beard is probably a disguise, but is it the only one?

Deaths = one shot

"The Gutting of Couffignal" (1924) by Dashiell Hammett: The Continental Op is hired to guard some wedding presents on the small, exclusive island of Couffignal. There is, of course, a robbery. But is the robbery a cover for something else of a far more desperate nature?

Deaths = three shot; on hit on head

"Twenty Dollar Debt" (1940) by Lawrence Treat: A young man who never got any breaks and has only known how to steal, plans one more job. But fate has a way of intervening in the lives of men and he may get more than he bargained for.

Deaths = one hit with axe; one shot

"The Smiling People" (1946) by Ray Bradbury: All Mr. Greppin wanted was a little peace and quiet, and maybe a smile or two from his family. But things get a little weird and are both way too quiet and way too loud...and then there are the bodies.

Deaths = four stabbed

"It Comes Off Sometimes" (1951) by Peter Cheyney: Miss Varne wants to hire a private detective because she's worried about her guardian, but she talks to Callaghan just a little too late--or maybe that should be too early?

Death = one shot

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True Crime

"Hell Benders or The Story of a Wayside Tavern" (1926) by Edmund Pearson: Pearson prefaces his story of a Kansas family who had a nasty way with their guests in the 1870s with a short piece defining two basic types of serial killer long before police profilers every took up the business.

Deaths = four (named) hit on head

"Belle of Indiana" (1941) by Stuart H. Holbrook: Had it not been for an unfortunate hired man and a fire, it might never have been revealed that Belle Gunness had gone on a murder spree for insurance and matrimonial purposes. 

Deaths (with cause named--there were more unproven) = six hit on head

The Bride of Newgate

 The Bride of Newgate (1950) by John Dickson Carr*

Dick Darwent has been tried for and found guilty of murder--having been accused of having the gall to kill a nobleman in a duel. Of course, in the early 1800s dueling was perfectly okay--for the gentry. But for an untitled nobody to kill one of his betters...that can only mean death at the end of a rope. He's due to be hanged in just a day's time. Lady Caroline Ross is a head-strong young woman nearing her 25th birthday. She's used to having her way and has vowed never to become the chattel of some man--she's also due to come into an inheritance from her grandfather. Provided she's legally married before she turns twenty-five. Lady Caroline comes up with a daring plan--to convince the condemned man to marry her before facing the gallows. The letter of the law will be fulfilled and she will never have to submit to a husband's tyranny nor see her inheritance become his under the law. Desperate to leave a something for actress he believes he loves, Darwent agrees to do the deed for 50 pounds (enough to keep the actress for a whole year).

But fate has a different ending in mind. As the war with Napoleon comes to an end, Darwent's uncle, the Marquess of Darwent, suffers died of a heart attack and his two cousins (all that stand between him and the title) were killed in battle--just the day before the supposed duel took place (more on supposed in moment)--which means that Dick's trial was illegal. At the time he was tried, he was in truth a nobleman and should have been tried in the House of Lords--if at all. News reaches Newgate just in time to save him from the scaffold and commute his trial to the House of Lords. Well, needless to say, Lord Darwent is found not guilty and his release finds him to mete out justice to those who put him in Newgate in the first place.

You see...Darwent claims that he never fought a duel, but was set up in an elaborate scheme. He and his lawyer, Mulberry, and a few loyal servants work hard to find out who the "man in the graveyard cloak" was who drove a ghostly carriage that carried Darwent to a house with a dead man in it. Meanwhile there are others who seem out for Darwent's blood--he'll be forced to duel in truth and will have to fight his way out of murderous riot at the opera house. There's also the mystery of the missing room to solve. And all the while he's also trying to determine whom he really loves...his actress Dolly or his current wife, Lady Darwent--a woman who seems to him to care only for the money she has now inherited and yet...there's this attraction between them that he cannot ignore.

I've said in the past that I haven't enjoyed Carr's historical novels nearly as much as I have his Gideon Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale mysteries. And when I first started this one, I was sure that trend was going to continue. But once we got Darwent out of prison and started him off on the hunt for the cloaked coachman, I was hooked. The adventures along the way to the solution are very enjoyable. Mr. Mulberry seems to me to be a somewhat less boisterous combination of Fell and Merrivale. He does have a few quirky exclamations (just as the other gentlemen do) and he does have a way of seeing all the nuances of the mystery that no one else can. The solution to the mystery of missing room was well done and I have to say that Carr played quite fairly. When Mulberry details the clues that were sprinkled along the way (and that he saw and this reader did not), I was forced to admit that I missed a great many of them. The best of the historical mysteries I've read by Carr to date. ★★★★

*read as part of the Avon Giant Mystery Reader--which contains two complete novels, several short stories, and two true crime stories

First line: The hanging of Dick Darwent, outside the debtor's door of Newgate Prison, was to take place on the following morning.

Last line: And with her hand on his arm, their eyes raised and their faces smiling, they went down the front steps into the dawn.

*************

Deaths = 4 (one stabbed; one fell from height; two natural)

The Conjure-Man Dies

 The Conjure-Man Dies (1932) by Rudolph Fisher

Set in Harlem, the story features the death of Frimbo, a conjure-man or fortune teller. But Frimbo was more--he was an African king who came to America, earned a degree from Harvard, studied philosophy and was proficient in science. He had a gift of observation (almost Holmesian) that allowed him to pick up little details about his clients--making his pronouncements about them and their circumstances seem magical. He makes his predictions in a room shrouded in darkness save for a bright light focused on the client. Frimbo is killed while he is in the middle of a consultation with Jinx, a somewhat surly man who refuses to tell the truth about anything on general principle. 

His best pal, Bubber, runs across the street to summon Dr. John Archer who finds the victim with a head wound. But upon close examination he determines that the blow was not the cause the death. By this time the police, with Detective Perry Dart in the lead, have arrived and the first task is to determine exactly how the conjure-man was killed. And then they will have to sift through seven suspects to find the culprit. The plot is full of red herrings and twists. We have everything from the mysterious servant who has vanished, somewhat hidden passageways, a disappearing corpse, a man who comes back from the dead, a possibly not-so side plot with vengeful gamblers, and the burning of evidence in the middle of the night. And--an exciting finish to wrap it all up.

This is an absorbing book and an amazing one for the time period. Written by an African American author of the Harlem Renaissance and featuring an all African American cast of characters--from the victim to the suspects to the doctors and the police officers. Fisher gives us an insider's view of Harlem in the early 1930s. Not to mention that it is a cleverly constructed mystery with enough twists and turns to satisfy mystery readers of all sorts. I figured out part of the twisty plot--but the final reveal was a definite surprise. I've read that, had he not died much too soon after this was published, Fisher planned to write at least two sequels and I believe the mystery field is much poorer for his loss. This is quite a good book for a debut mystery and one can only believe that the follow-up stories would have been even stronger.  ★★★★

my copy

First line: Encountering the bright-lighted gaiety of Harlem's Seventh Avenue, the frigid midwinter night seemed to relent a little.

After all, a gentleman who turns out to be one of the suspects in his own murder case deserves a little personal consideration. [Dr. Archer; p. 208]

Then you couldn't have done it yourself. because if you had, you'd know who did it and it would be a simple matter for you to track yourself down and arrest yourself. Of course you might have done it in your sleep. [Dr. Archer to Detective Dart; p. 210]

Last line: And deep in meditation the two wandered on side by side down Seventh Avenue.

************

Deaths = 2 (one suffocated; one shot)

Road Rage

 Road Rage (1997) by Ruth Rendell focuses on the unrest that takes over the Kingsmarkham area when a beautiful valley is destined to be broken up to make way for a new highway. Environmentalist groups of all sorts descend on Kingsmarkham for protests and some of the groups set up camps in the wooded area and even construct tree houses to live in. In the midst of all this, the body of a young German woman who had gone missing some time ago is discovered in the brambles destined for the bulldozer. She had been raped and strangled and Inspector Mike Burden is convinced that one of the drivers for Contemporary Cars, a new taxi service, is the culprit, but he and Chief Inspector Wexford are unable to find enough evidence to make a charge stick. 

Later that summer, Contemporary Cars is again in the police eye when a group calling themselves the "Sacred Globe" take over the taxi service for a few hours and take five prospective passengers as hostages. Their demands are simple--give them plenty of publicity and stop the construction of the highway. A hostage situation is bad enough, but it's made worse for Wexford because one of the hostages is his wife Dora. Wexford and his team are in a race against time to find out where the hostages are kept before the Sacred Globe makes good on their promise to kill the hostages one by one if their demands are not met.

When the group finally lets Dora go, Wexford's team gets a great deal of information. Since Dora is the wife of a policeman, she was well aware of the type of details she needed to pay attention to. Even though she was prevented from seeing where she was being taken, she tried to glean every bit of detail she could and was able to give a limited description of her captors even though they were hooded. To enhance her memories, she agrees to hypnosis which brings out a few more details about her surroundings. There are also clues found on her clothes and the police have many leads to follow up. But just how clever are the kidnappers? Have they managed to lay a few false trails and, if so, will Wexford's team be able to sift through the red herrings to find true answer?

This is one of the more suspenseful of the Wexford novels. Generally, Rendell's suspense novels are stand-alones, with the Wexford novels following more standard police procedural lines. Of course, a great deal of the suspense is conveyed to the reader through Wexford and his doubled concern for the hostages with his wife being among their number. It has been quite some time since read Rendell on a regular basis, but it's my sense that this one the better novels in her later works. It's a good solid mystery with some clever plotting and it gives a good look at the environmentalist groups and protests of the late 1980s and 1990s. ★★★ and 1/2.

First line: Wexford was walking in Framhurst Great Wood for the last time.

Last lines: She looked at him with a half smile. "If you'll drive me to the station."

************

Deaths = 3 (one strangled; one fell from height; one shot)

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