Reprint of the Year: Through a Glass, Darkly

  For several years, Kate at Cross Examining Crime has been rounding up the vintage mystery bloggers and having us perpetuate her brilliant brainstorm (one of many that she has had). In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we keep coming back for more.

This week's choice for the 2025 ROY Awards Ceremony is Through a Glass, Darkly by Helen McCloy. This classic from 1950 has been reprinted by Penguin Modern Classics (the cover which our voter is pondering to the right). My copy is a nice vintage Dell Mapback edition (pictured below). 

The story opens with Faustina Crayle being dismissed from her post as an art instructor at an elite girls' school. The headmistress, Mrs. Lightfoot refuses to give a reason beyond the fact that Miss Crayle "does not quite blend with the essential spirit of Brereton." She does, however, give the art instructor six months' pay after only five weeks of work. Evidence indeed that she wishes her gone and spare no expense. 

Faustina confides in her only friend at the school, Gisela von Hohenems, who suggests she consult a lawyer.  When Faustina demurs, Gisela tells her boyfriend, Dr. Basil Willing--famous psychologist and medical assistant to the district attorney, about it. He insists on meeting Faustina and convinces her to allow him to represent her with Mrs. Lightfoot.  His interview with the headmistress is very surprising.  It seems that Faustina has become the center of rumors about a doppelganger. Several maids and a few of the girls have claimed to see Miss Crayle in two places at once.  A few parents have pulled their girls out of the school because of the unhealthy atmosphere. The practical Mrs. Lightfoot could find no plausible explanation for the incidents and rather than investigate or allow the rumors to create even more havoc with her school's reputation she decided to ask Miss Crayle to leave.
 
As Willing investigates, he discovers that this isn't the first time Faustina has been dismissed from a school because of doppelganger rumors.  He will have to sift the supernatural from everyday villainy as he follows a trail littered with superstition and jewels; doubles and demimondaines.  There is a tale that says She who sees her own double is about to die...and despite Willing's efforts and his instructions to stay put in a hotel while he investigates, Faustina insists on making a trip to her beach cottage.  A trip from which she never returns.  Did she truly see her double? Or is there a more solid human agent behind her death?   Willing brings us the answer...but the ending is a bit unsettling nonetheless.

McCloy's powers to create atmosphere are at their strongest in this book.  Even though we're quite sure that there's some human deviltry behind Faustina Crayle's plight, Mccloy still manages to make the idea of a doppelganger seem almost possible.  And the ending leaves us just a little unsure that Dr. Willing has completely explained everything.  Yes, it all hangs together.  And, yes, I do believe that X really did orchestrate the whole thing and for the reasons given...but what if Dr. Willing is wrong?  There's a nice shivery feeling to that thought.  

A nicely done, atmospheric piece that also happens to be an excellent detective novel.  Often thought to be McCloy's masterpiece, Through a Glass, Darkly is certainly the best I've read by McCloy so far. She builds the tension around Faustina in a way that the reader is willing to believe that there just might be a supernatural answer to everything that has happened to her. But she also designs the plot in a way that the acute reader can spot the human agency involved. A fantastic read that is well-deserving of your ROY vote!

First lines: Mrs. Lightfoot was standing by the bay window. "Sit down, Miss Crayle. I'm afraid I have bad news."

Last line: "God knows what's up there anyway!"

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Deaths = 4 (two natural; one hit head; one scared to death)

Reprint of the Year: McKee of Centre Street

  For the last several years, Kate at Cross Examining Crime has been rounding up the vintage mystery bloggers and having us perpetuate her brilliant brainstorm (one of many that she has had). In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we keep coming back for more.

This week's choice for the 2024 ROY Awards Ceremony is McKee of Centre Street (1933) by Helen Reilly. It stands as one of the earliest police procedurals written by a woman and this provides a strong reason for its award nomination. It gives us an up close look at the NYPD of the 1930s--from the radio room, the morgue, the mysterious depths of the fingerprint department--all the varied activities of one of the biggest police departments in the world. She introduces us to Inspector McKee, described in my edition's blurb as a "tight-lipped, cold-eyed, a hunter of men and the most absorbing sleuth since Lieutenant Valcour." And we're with him from the first telephone call summoning him to a high-tone speakeasy.

The story revolves around the murder of dancer Rita Rodriguez, the beautiful main attraction. The murderer takes advantage of the dim lighting, the audience's attention to the silver-clad beauty dancing on the stage, and the spotlight which oh-so-conveniently brings his target into sharp outline. Although the police are called in immediately by the ultra-alert spotlight handler, there are still fish which escape the net and it is McKee's job not only to sift through the statements of everyone still within the establishment, but also to try and discover who is missing.

When he is finished he's left with a small group of suspects. There is the missing waiter; the rich playboy, his wife, and step-son; the wife's very attentive friend, the colonel; the young woman found hiding in the phone booth; and the couple who can't quite decide where they were when the dancer fell to the floor. As he follows up their stories (and amended stories), he soon discovers that there are connections between the characters that lead back to the past....with blackmail and stolen emeralds lurking in the shadows.

What follows is a detailed account of how the police department of the 1930s operated. The reader follows closely on McKee's heels and is given what is described as "real inside information, high-pressure thrills, suspense." Reilly manages to deliver without boring the reader with those details. I had read other (later) mysteries by Reilly and was a bit disconcerted by the description of McKee as a tight-lipped, cold-eyed hunter of men. This didn't really connect with the McKee I had met in these later novels. Granted, this earlier version of McKee is a bit more steely and there is far more procedural detail given, but in the end he is the same detective I recall...showing a good deal of compassion and humanity in the closing scenes. Not quite the cold hunter of men that the blurb served up.

Reilly has constructed a mystery that kept me guessing. I didn't guess the solution, even though there was fair play with the clues. I should have known who the culprit was. But Reilly did a fine job distracting me with several details. Anyone who enjoys a good police procedural and wants to take a look at an early specimen should give Reilly's book a try.

First line: The weather prediction for May twenty-first was "clear and cooler."

Last line: At the moment he had other, pleasanter things to do.

Reprint of the Year: The Desert Moon Mystery

  For the last several years, Kate at Cross Examining Crime has been rounding up the vintage mystery bloggers and having us perpetuate her brilliant brainstorm (one of many that she has had). In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we keep coming back for more.

My first choice for the 2024 ROY Awards Ceremony is The Desert Moon Mystery (1927) by Kay Cleaver Strahan. I first read this in 2013 thanks to John over at Pretty Sinister Books.  He not only brought it to my attention by featuring it on his blog, but also very generously loaned his copy to me.  I had long wanted to read a book by Strahan and I hadn't managed to track down one of her novels for my very own--so borrowing  from a good friend was the next best thing. Since 2013, I did find a vintage copy of my very own and the reprint by Coachwhip this year gives me the perfect chance to revisit it and give it a plug in the ROY nominations.

The scene of the crime in Strahan's novel is the Desert Moon Ranch--home to the wealthy Sam Stanley, his housekeeper Mary Magin, his adopted son and daughter, John and Martha, Martha's caregiver Mrs. Ricker, and hangers-on Chadwick Caufield and Hubert Hand.  Sam just seems to collect folks for his ranch like some people take in stray cats.  The story is told by Mary Magin and the action begins when the twin daughters of Sam's ex-wife show up looking for a place of "rest and relaxation."  

Except they're not really getting any of that....Mrs. Magin notices that the girls, Danielle and Gabrielle, are constantly busy searching everything from the attic to the outlying buildings.  They're certainly up to something, but what?  Before Mrs. Magin can discover what the object of this scavenger hunt is, Gabrielle is found strangled on the attic steps and this first shocking death is followed by the suicide of Chad Caufield.  Caufield believed himself in love with Gabrielle--a vain, mean-spirited girl who wouldn't even give him the time of day.  Has he killed himself out of desperation because the girl he loves is dead...or out of remorse because he killed her after being rejected one too many times?

Sam Stanley firmly believes Caulfield to be innocent and is determined to get to the bottom of things. Mrs. Magin is also taking notes and keeping an eye on everyone.  It doesn't help that the girls' father, a ne'er do well who has just been released from prison shows up.  Stanley gathers everyone together for a session of coerced confessions, but before that little task can be completed Martha is dead.  Grief-stricken and out of options, he decides to hire Lynn MacDonald, a private detective of great repute, who also happens to be a woman.  There will be one more death and a great many clues to be gathered before Miss MacDonald--with the help of Mrs. Magin--can track down the culprit.

As John mentions in his review, this mystery uses one of the moth-eaten tricks of detective fiction, but the story is so well-told and has enough interesting features that the modern reader really doesn't mind. I actually enjoyed reading one of the early instances of the trick.  Lynn MacDonald is a nice take on the female Holmes, keeping facts and observations to herself until Mary can prove to her that she has quite the keen eye for observation herself.  The two make a very good team at the end.

It was also quite interesting to read a vintage mystery with a very country house set-up that takes place in a very western atmosphere.  There's a down-home feel to the story that runs under the build-up of suspense and confusion--made the most real to us through Mary's difficulties in arranging what she knows and what she's heard from various characters. 

First line: I knew that evening in April, when Sam got home from Rattail and came stamping snow into my kitchen, his good old red, white, and blue face stretched long instead of wide in its usual grin, that he had brought bad news with him: a slump in the cattle market; moonshine liquor discovered again, down in the outfit's quarters; a delayed shipment of groceries from Salt Lake.

I see no more credit in keeping on loving a person who has proved unworthy of being loved, than I see in hating a person who has turned out to be blameless or in continuing to do any other unreasonable thing. (Narrator--Mary Magin; p. 5)

"John," he [Sam Stanley] finally said, "is old enough to take care of himself."
With that he turned and wen out of my kitchen, not giving me a chance to say that, though I had lived through fifty-six years, I had never yet seen a man at the age he mentioned. (p. 8)

 

I continue this story in my own way, stating that if any more atmosphere is in it, it got there by mistake. My plan is to turn it out so that, from now on, not more than a page of it can be skipped at one time and the rest of it make sense. (p. 46)

Last line: But I know that it is induced by a mixture of long years of right living, and clean thinking, and sanity, and courage; so I am expecting it to clear away the shadows from the Desert Moon and leave it, riding high as it used to ride, high and proud, a brave, shining thing in our valley.

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Deaths = 5 (one natural; two strangled; one shot; one poisoned)

Blind Man's Bluff

 For the last several years, Kate at Cross Examining Crime has been rounding up the vintage mystery bloggers and having us perpetuate her brilliant brainstorm (one of many that she has had). In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we keep coming back for more.

My second choice for the 2023 Awards is Blind Man's Bluff (1943) by Baynard Kendrick. Synopsis [from the book]: The Miners Title and Trust is typically dead quiet, having gone bankrupt. Then late one evening, the bank's blind president, Blake Hadfield, plummets eight stories to his death in the building's lobby. The only witnesses are the security guard and Blake's estranged wife, who were both on the first floor. Blake's son, Seth, is found drunk and dazed on the eighth floor, making him a suspect if the president's death wasn't suicide. That's when Harold Lawson and Sybella Ford call upon Captain Maclain for help. 

And, yes, I know I say "Vote for..." on every single reprint that I nominate for the ROY Awards. But I really mean it this time. Blind Man's Bluff is the best Kendrick mystery I've read so far* and is absolutely deserving of your vote. If you want an unusual detective, Kendrick's got that. Captain Duncan Maclain was blinded during WWI and has spent years working on methods to help him navigate in a world of darkness and to strengthen his other senses in realistic ways to help compensate for his lack of sight. He also has two dogs to help him--one to serve as a guide and the other to serve as a guard/protector. Drieste is highly trained, is fearless under fire, and will attack anyone who thinks of threatening Maclain. To add to this interesting set-up for a detective, in this mystery, Kendrick has thrown in a bonus. Not only is our detective blind, but so is one of our first victims.

 If you like impossible crimes, then Kendrick's got that too. Here we have a string of deaths that the upper levels of the police have called suicides. Beginning with a man who apparently shot at Blake Hadfield and merely blinded him before turning the pistol upon himself and followed by a string of victims who plunged to their deaths from great heights. With no one around to push them or help them over the balcony or out the window. Even though his superiors believe in suicide, Lieutenant Davis doesn't and he's all set to figure out how Seth Hadfield, Blake's son, managed to kill not only his father, but a shyster lawyer and the nightwatchman at Blake Hadfield's office building. When the friends of Seth's mentioned above call on Maclain to clear the young man and discover the truth, he agrees with Davis that it's murder--but he has a different killer in mind. All he has to do is figure out how someone could "push" men off the edge without being anywhere near the buildings.

"We're dealing with a strange criminal, gentlemen, a murderer who kills for change, fountain pens, and paperweights, a lowerer of blinds on the eighth floor of a building who cuts the lowering cord entirely off so that the Venetian blind can never be raised again."

If you not only like an impossible crime, but an ingenious method for accomplishing it then once again, Kendrick's got you covered. It's both ingenious and terrifying. And he plays fair with the reader. The clues are all there waiting for the observant armchair detective to pick them up and put them together for a clever solution. I'll just go ahead and confess...I wasn't observant or clever enough. I did spot the killer, but that wasn't because I picked up the right clues. It was based on behavior and my impressions of the person from the moment they walked onstage. And I certainly couldn't have told you how they did it. ★★★★

 And if you need more encouragement to vote for Kendrick, then check out Brad's review earlier this year at Ah Sweet Mystery. He may not have Blind Man's Bluff on his nomination list for the ROY, but he certainly did enjoy it!

*Have read Death Knell, The Odor of Violets (twice), Out of Control, and the novella The Murderer Who Wanted More.

First line: Julia Hadfield cleared the dishes away from the drop-leaf table laid for three and stacked her own in the sink against the coming of her part-time maid in the morning.

"We have to break it, Davis. There is no such thing as a perfect crime." Duncan Maclain (p. 89)

Last line: "Why the hell don't you marry me?"

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Deaths = 4 (one shot; three fell from height)

Reprint of the Year 2023: The Big Sleep

  The Big Sleep (1939) by Raymond Chandler [Reprinted by Penguin/Random House]

Introducing...Philip Marlowe. Chandler's first detective novel gives us the educated, streetwise private eye. A man who can handle himself, a gun, and all the dames and tough customers that life throws at him. In his debut on the investigation stage, Marlowe is hired to make the drop on a blackmail payoff for elderly General Guy Sternwood. But the detective is blunt and honest and he can't stand to see the old guy get bitten. 

As honest as you can expect a man to be in a world where it's going out of style.

So Marlowe takes on more than he's paid for and finds himself in the middle of a murder spree that seems to have connections to the disappearance of Sternwood's ex-bootlegger son-in-law, Rusty Regan. He also tangles with the daughters--both of whom alternately seem to hate him and want him in their beds...but for all the wrong reasons.

I don't mind your showing me your legs. They're very swell legs and it's a pleasure to make their acquaintance. I don't mind if you don't like my manners. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter nights.

Marlowe doesn't seem to fall into the mold of the hardboiled detective who jumps into bed with every dame that gives him the glad eye (even if he suspects she might be out for his blood). He keeps his head and his eye on the investigation. He's determined to find out what's really behind the blackmail...and, just maybe, find out what happened to Rusty Regan along the way.

"Hard-boiled, mean streets" detective novels aren't normally my thing. But I picked up this edition of the novel because it was a digest-size paperback (pictured at right) and I love those. And Chandler is kind of a big deal in American detective fiction. I read it this year because I needed a book that "everyone has read" and I chose to interpret that as the most people from my Facebook friends group. I presented them with a listchallenge with all the mysteries on my TBR pile (there are A LOT) and asked them to mark all the ones they had read--whichever book was marked the most would be the one. 

So, as an entry for the Reprint of the Year Award it seems only fitting to nominate The Big Sleep, a classic crime novel that "every one" (or at least the most) of my online friends have read and, as a reprint, we can hope that the novel will be introduced to a whole new generation of detective fiction enthusiasts.

Marlowe is my kind of private eye--honest, courageous, and ready to help out an old man who wants to believe his daughters aren't as naughty as they really are. I enjoyed meeting Philip Marlowe and following him as he tried to get to the bottom of the blackmailing game. The mystery was well done and Chandler certainly knew how to handle language. I was right there on the mean streets with Marlowe and I believed every moment of it. A very good American private eye story that is deserving of your vote.

Each year Kate Jackson rallys the Golden Age troops and asks us to decide on our nomination for the Reprint of the Year. For more information on the ROY Awards, please see our sponsor's webpage: Cross-Examining Crime.

Reprint of the Year: Murder at the College

 In 2018, Kate at Cross Examining Crime came up with brilliant brainstorm. In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we have mande it an annual event.

So, last Saturday and this, I and my illustrious colleagues Aidan, Brad, Hayley, Janet,  Jim, John (Pretty Sinister Books), John (Countdown John), Puzzle Doctor, Karen, and Kate will feature our picks of the 2022 reprint crop and make our best bid for reprint stardom.

Originally, my second pick was supposed to be Peter Cheyney's Dangerous Curves (1937--reprinted this year by Dean Street Press). I had read a couple of Cheyney's work before and enjoyed them, so I thought this would be a good chance to get another of his books off my teetering TBR stacks. Yeah. Not so much. If we were doing Anti-ROY Awards, then this would be my nominee for that. I wasn't expecting a poor example of a hard-boiled detective transplanted to England with lots of derogatory racial tidbits thrown in for good measure. Bottom line--DON'T vote for Dangerous Curves for Reprint of the Year.

Instead, turn your attention to Murder at the College (1932) by Victor L. Whitechurch--reprinted this year by Oleander Press. There is nothing I love more than an academic mystery...unless it is a really good academic mystery with a hint of impossible crime thrown in. While this is not a strict rendering of an impossible crime, it does appear throughout most of the story that it is impossible for any of the suspects to have gotten in and/or out of the room during the critical time period without being seen. Our up-and-coming young Detective Ambrose spends a great deal of his time figuring out who was where when and could they have possibly committed the crime and gotten out of the room in small time fram allowed. 

But what is the book about? you ask. A group of architecture enthusiasts who make up a diocese board meet on Tuesdays in the college rooms of one of their members, Sidney Henlow. There they decide whether renovations and changes fancied by churches throughout the area meet aesthetic standards and should be allowed. They normally break for lunch at one and go out to various pubs and restaurants for their mid-day meal. On this particular Tuesday,  Henlow is away but has arranged for the rooms to be ready as usual. When the morning's business is finished, Francis Hatton breaks with habit and stays behind in the rooms to eat a brown bag lunch and write letters. But when the other members return, they find Hatton stabbed to death in a chair by the fire.

Workmen had been hard at removing flagstones and digging a large hole for drainage right at the bottom of the staircase all morning and were only gone from the site for a short time during the lunch hour. The porter was also away from his post for just a short while. All say that no unknown party came through the college while they were on duty. An office clerk across the street from the college (and who, coincidentally, has a very good view of the windows of the rooms in question) also helps narrow the time in which the murder could have taken place. If "helps" is the word, because the more Detective Ambrose of the Exbridge police learns, the more certain it becomes that none of the likely suspects had time to commit the deed and get in and out of the rooms without being seen. It also doesn't help that there doesn't seem to be a whiff of a motive--unless you count the quarrelsome county squire who wasn't too happy that Francis Hatton came and looked at his proposed design for a new stained glass window for his local church and predicted that the board would turn down the proposal. Would the squire really kill over a stained glass window--even given his volatile temper? Evidence then comes to light that indicates that Hatton fancied himself a bit of an amateur crime-solver. Did his detecting ways lead to his death? Ambrose must decipher cryptic notes left behind in Hatton's notebook titled "Detection Problems" before he will see his way clear to the solution of Hatton's murder.

Okay, sounds interesting. But why should I vote for it as Reprint of the Year? Well, this is just a delightful book. If you like college-settings, then this is a book for you. If you like interesting characters, then you'll find some here. If you like cryptic clues, then Whitechurch has you covered. If you like a surprise ending, then he manages to give you that as well. If you're just looking for a fun, fast-moving read, then here you go. Whitechurch ticked off so many boxes that needed covered for me, that I'm tempted to sit down and read it again just for the pure pleasure of experience. There is a slight disappointment at the end (which is more a "me" thing than a Whitechurch thing), otherwise I would probably give this five stars. That's how much I enjoyed it.

There is one trope that frequent readers of mystery stories may feel is obvious or over-used, but at the time of publication I'm sure it was more surprising for Whitechurch's readers. I can appreciate how much it would have baffled readers of the time. I did spot what had happened before Ambrose did, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment and I hope that it wouldn't detract from yours. Overall, just a really fun mystery reading experience. ★★★★ and 1/2.

First lines: "Hallo! There he is again. First Tuesday in the month, as per usual."

Last line: I congratulate you, however, on the efficiency of your detective officer; and, though, I presume it would be useless to ask you to convey what are my heartfelt regrets to Miss Hatton--regrets which will burden me for the rest of my life, perhaps you will deem it no hypocritical sentiment on my part if I beg you, as one of the friends I had at Exbridge, though you judge me as I deserve to be judged, at least to pray for me. 

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Deaths = 3 (two natural; one stabbed)

2022 Reprint of the Year: The Conjure-Man Dies

In 2018, Kate at Cross Examining Crime came up with brilliant brainstorm. In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we have mande it an annual event.

So, this Saturday and next, I and my illustrious colleagues Aidan, Brad, Hayley, Janet,  Jim, John (Pretty Sinister Books), John (Countdown John), Puzzle Doctor, Karen, and Kate will feature our picks of the 2022 reprint crop and make our best bid for reprint stardom.

My first pick is The Conjure-Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher. It was first published in 1932 (reprinted this year by Library of Congress Crime Classics) and is remarkable for the time period. Fisher was an African American author of the Harlem Renaissance and his mystery features an all African American case of characters--from the victim to the suspects to the doctors and the police offiers. Set in Harlem, Fisher gives us an insider's view of Harlem in the early 1930s. The story centers around 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 well worth your attention. Not only is it important historically to the Golden Age of American mysteries, but 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.  

Though it has seen reprints since its first appearance in 1932--including the copy I read printed by the University of Michigan Press--The Conjure-Man Dies has not yet been included in our annual ROY awards. I hope the judges will give great consideration to this important early mystery. 

Reprint of the Year: It's time to vote!!

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Voting Booths Are Now Open!! Go HERE to cast your votes. You may submit up to three selections. Please make sure at least one of them is for a Reader's Block choice!

If you need a refresher, you may find the Kendrick and Hultman nominations by clicking their names.

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Reprint of the Year: Murder in the French Room

 For the last several years, Kate at Cross Examining Crime has been rounding up the vintage mystery bloggers and having us perpetuate her brilliant brainstorm (one of many that she has had). In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year (ROY). We loved the idea so much that we keep coming back for more.

*******Voting Booths Are Now Open!! Go HERE to cast your votes. You may submit up to three selections. Please make sure at least one of them is for a Reader's Block choice!*******

My second choice is Murder in the French Room by Helen Joan Hultman. This 1931 mystery was reprinted by Coachwhip Publications in an edition which also includes Death at Windward Hill. I own the Mystery League's edition (pictured below)--so I can't tell you anything about that second title. I picked it primarily because it's been sitting on my TBR stacks for a while and the chance to use it for the ROY Award nomination gave me a good reason to read and review it. So, this nomination is more a leap of faith than last week's entry.

It winds up that the French Room is the posh section of the Line and Hollis department store in Buckeye Heights an urban setting in Ohio that seems to be trying to give New York's fashion row a run for its money. One wouldn't expect to find a "Madame" anybody managing a high-class ladies department in a store in a Cincinnati-type town during the 1930s, but Buckeye Heights certainly seems to imply that connection. And the murder that happens takes place in the dressing room. Joyce Terry leaves her customer alone just long enough to retrieve her order book...and be detained by the floor manager. When she returns to dressing room E to finalize the sale, she finds her customer stabbed to death. Madame Nordhoff, the ladieswear manager and buyer, is first on the scene, followed quickly by Jessica Brooke the store detective and then police detective Dan Bratton.

Unfortunately, Joyce didn't get her customer's name before running off for the order book and someone (the murderer or someone else?) has taken the woman's purse. She wasn't a regular customer at Line and Hollis and no one seems to know who she was.

Once the victim is finally identified as Vivian Agnew Thayer, second wife of the wealthy Rupert Thayer, things begin to get interesting. Bratton soon learns that many people with connections to Vivian were in the store that day...it's just a matter of discovering if any of them had motives and, if so, whose was the strongest. There are many false trails and false clues and, to be honest, a few too many characters running around for this reader to keep track of without a scorecard. While there are several things to like about this story from setting to strong female characters in both Jessica Brooke and a reporter named PaulaPringle, it does become a bit difficult to keep all the players straight. 

If you like puzzles that require keeping track of who was where when and could character X have made it to the scene of the crime and back again with nobody noticing, then this is definitely right up your alley and you should vote for Hultman for the ROY Award. If you like mysteries with an interesting setting, then this will also be for you. I'm afraid that if the department store setting makes you think that there will be lots of descriptive bits about ladies' outfits (Moira), then you'll be a bit disappointed, but don't let that deter you from choosing Hultman when it's time to cast your vote. And--you'll be happy to know that fashion does work it's way into the solution of the mystery. But...if you don't think I'm selling Murder in the French Room hard enough as a big ROY contender, then go back to last week's nominee--The Odor of Violets. Baynard Kendrick definitely deserves your vote!

**Note of interest: my Murder League edition contains the second of three Baffle Cases. These were short stories published at the end of three Murder League mysteries and set up as contests. The story was published without a solution and readers were encouraged to solve the crime themselves and submit answers in an effort to win prizes. Solutions to the Baffle Cases were supposed to be published in subsequent volumes--but this happened for only the first case. Murder in the French Room includes the story "The Crime at Laurel Lodge." I think I've figured out the solution, but I guess I'll never know for certain.

First line: Joyce Terry scuttled from the cashier's desk across the taupe-carpetted expanse of the women's ready-to-wear department of Line and Hollis's and into the more secluded quarters of the French Room.

Last lines: "It was a great case, Galway, but, believe me, it's the last time I ever want to have to run down murder in a department store. I'm not that kind of ladies' man..."

************ 

Deaths = 2 (one stabbed; one carbon monoxide poisoning)

Reprint of the Year: Odor of Violets

 For the last several years, Kate at Cross Examining Crime has been rounding up the vintage mystery bloggers and having us perpetuate her brilliant brainstorm (one of many that she has had). In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we keep coming back for more.

The first of my two choices is Odor of Violets (1940) by Baynard Kendrick and reprinted this year by American Mystery Classics. It is the third in his series featuring Captain Duncan Maclain and the first of those books that I ever read. When I saw it on the list of 2021 reprints, I knew I wanted to revisit it. Maclain is a private detective who lost his sight due to gassing in the First World War. He has gone through extensive training to help him enhance his other senses--especially hearing and smell. He also depends on two German Shepherd dogs--one acting as his guide dog in unfamiliar settings and the other serving as protection, having been trained to attack at the sight of weapons or threatening movements on the part of others.

This book finds Maclain working for the US Secret Service in the early days of WWII prior to America's entry into the war. Germany isn't taking the American neutrality for granted and has spies at work preparing to sabotage vital cities. They just need to get their hands on vital information about vulnerable points (the location of the city's power shut-off points, for example)--information that has been delivered to Maclain in a coded Braille message. But that's not all! Nazi spies are also trying to get information on a brand-new bomb sight that has been developed by Gilbert Tredwell. Life gets interesting when an actor-turned Secret Serviceman is killed with a poker (a man who just happened to have been the ex-husband of Mrs. Tredwell); Barbara Tredwell (daughter of the house) disappears--possibly kidnapped; and Bella Slater, the Tredwell's upstairs maid who isn't exactly what she seems, is killed with a very sharp battle axe. Maclain will have to follow the scent of violets if he is going to find the spies responsible for the deaths and who are behind the plot against America's cities.

my copy

Loved this mystery thriller starring a blind private eye the first time I read it (2018). His heightened abilities (other senses) are much more believable than those of Max Carrados (a blind detective who first appeared in 1914) and I like him better. Where Carrados's ability to smell spirit gum and to read newsprint by touch seem more like parlor tricks, Maclain's abilities are explained through careful training and his reliance on his guide dogs. The book is an interesting combination of spy thriller and classic mystery. There are definitely clues to be followed and the sharp reader will spot those that identify the killer. Unlike many classic detective stories, the motive is never an issue--the motive is simply spycraft. The spies are Nazis and out to do their worst. 

This was a great choice for a reread and for my first entry in the reprint award stakes. Maclain is a terrific character and I like the way he interacts with his assistants--both human and canine. And Kendrick absolutely makes the reader believe that Maclain can do all things it says he can do without feeling like she is reading about someone with superpowers.  Please be sure to vote for Kendrick!

First line: The Crags was built high up on an eminence above the little town of Tredwill Village, west of Hartford, in the Connecticut hills.

When a clever killer has started to work the end is never in sight. (Captain Maclain; p. 125)

Last line: Where I heard it, or where I got it, I can't tell you, Colonel, but the odor of violets is that madman's favorite perfume!

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

Deaths = one hit on head; 5 suffocated [Sandy, Slim, Denny, Cupie, & Mac plus others unnamed]; one decapitated

Reprint of the Year: The Dragon Murder Case

 In recent years, Kate at Cross Examining Crime came up with a brilliant brainstorm (as she so often does). In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we're going to do it again.

This year, as Kate notes, we are back bigger than ever, with ten bloggers taking part. So, this Saturday and next, I and my illustrious colleagues Brad, Moira, John, Puzzle Doctor, Laurie, Aidan, JJ, Dead Yesterday, and Kate will feature our picks of the 2019 reprint crop and make our best bid for reprint stardom. Now, I do have a confession to make upfront--I am (as many of my blog followers know) a challenge-aholic and have been madly trying to finish off the last of my challenges. So, I made my choices based purely on what books I had lurking on my TBR shelves that would work for for my Mount TBR Challenge or books I've read in the past.

This week's offering is The Dragon Murder Case (1933) by S. S. Van Dine--reprinted in February 2020 by Felony & Mayhem. It has an opening murder that is sure to intrigue the impossible crime lovers out there. Sanford Montagu, a handsome actor, and a host of others make up a weekend party at the estate of Rudolph Stamm. The Stamm property is known for its dragon pool--the center of various legends, some coming down from the Algonquin and Lenape Indians. It is said that a mysterious water monster (sometimes referred to as dragon) lives in the pool. Matilda Stamm, Rudolph's mother, has a fervent belief in the dragon and claims that it protects her family from those who wish it harm.

When Montagu and the others in the group (Bernice Stamm, Rudolph's sister; Mr. Leland, friend of the household; Alex Greeff, a stock-broker with dealings with Stamm; Kirwin Tatum, a dissipated hanger-on pining for Miss Stamm; Mrs. "Teeny" McAdam, a lady with designs--perhaps on Stamm; and Miss Ruby Steele, a former actress who may still be playing a part)...well, as I say, when the group decides to go for an evening swim, Montagu is the first to change into his suit and head to the pool. He strikes an athletic pose on the diving board, makes a graceful swan dive into the water....and never surfaces. The men (minus their host who had been drinking steadily all evening and was left in the house a sodden state) make diving searches to no avail. Montagu has simply disappeared. 

Mrs. Stamm insists that the dragon got him--that Montagu was threatening the family's well-being by his attentions to Bernice. And when his body is later found exactly where she predicted it would be left by the monster and it has three long gashes on the chest which look remarkably like talon marks...well, what's a respectable police detective like Sergeant Heath to do? Bring in Philo Vance, of course. Vance uses his knowledge of mythological lore, creatures of the deep, and his insights into human psychology to bring a rational conclusion to a very bizarre case.

 Admittedly, Philo Vance can be a bit trying at times. He seems to know everything about everything--in this case everything about Native American mythology to rare species of tropical fish. But his books do tend to offer up very good examples of early crime fiction. Dragon has a slightly weird feel to it with all the mythology and dragon talk, but the mystery's solution is very logical and must have been quite a puzzle for folks reading it for the first time in the 1930s. It is enjoyable to read an early impossible crime and especially an early American example. Most of the well-known (to the general public) Golden Age crime fiction novelists are British or (in the case of John Dickson Carr) use England as their setting, so it is good to see vintage American detective novels in reprints as well.

One thing that I personally love about this (and which I had forgotten about) is Dr. Doremus. He makes few appearances, but when he does it is amusing. I am a Star Trek fan as well as Golden Age detective novel enthusiast and the good doctor reminds me of Dr. McCoy. He tosses off "I'm a doctor, not a..." lines like a true ancestor of the Enterprise's chief medical officer (see examples in quotes below). He pulls off the crusty "country" doctor in a way that several more recent novels have tried and failed.

If you like detectives with esoteric knowledge, if you like impossible crimes, if you like examples of American vintage mysteries...the vote for Van Dine!

First line: That sinister and terrifying crime, which came to be known as the dragon murder case, will always be associated in my mind with one of the hottest summers I have ever experienced in New York.

My dear Markham, you're far too logical. It's your legal training, of course. But the world is not run by logic. I infinitely prefer to be emotional. Think of the masterpieces of poetry that would have been lost to humanity if their creators had been logicians-- (Philo Vance; pp. 44-5)

PV: How did she take this advice, Mr. Greeff?

AG: The way all women take advice--haughtily and contemptuously. No woman ever wants advice. When they ask for it, they're merely looking for agreement with what they've already decided to do. (Philo Vance, Alex Greeff; p. 84)

I can't perform an autopsy on a theory. I'm a doctor--not a philosopher. (Dr. Doremus--sounding like a 1930s version of Dr. McCoy; p. 128)

SH: What do you think made those scratches on his chest, doc?"

DD. How should I know? Haven't I already told you I'm a doctor and not a detective? (Sgt. Heath, Dr. Doremus--still sounding like McCoy; p. 187)

Oh, I say! Must there be hidden meanings in all my observations?...I was merely offering a counter supposition regarding the elusive vehicle. (Philo Vance; p. 212)

RS: Here's an interesting one...The Blow-fish--Tetrodon cucutia. Watch this. He took one of the fish out of the water in the small net, and it inflated itself into the shape of a ball. Curious idea--blowing oneself up to keep from being swallowed.

PV: Oh, quite human, I should say. All our politicians do the same thing. (Rudolph Stamm, Philo Vance; p. 257)

I cling childishly to the trodden paths, for life has a most disappointin' way of proving commonplace and rational when we are hopin' most passionately for the bizarre and supernatural. (Vance; p. 310)

Last line: "I'm not doing so well with my Scatophagus here," he repined. "Not the proper conditions--if you know what I mean, sir."

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

Deaths = 4 (two strangled, one crushed by huge rock, one natural)  ★★★★

Reprint of the Year: Checkmate to Murder

 In recent years, Kate at Cross Examining Crime came up with brilliant brainstorm (as she so often does). In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we're going to do it again.

This year, as Kate notes, we are back bigger than ever, with ten bloggers taking part. So, this Saturday and next, I and my illustrious colleagues Brad, Moira, John, Puzzle Doctor, Laurie, Aidan, JJ, Dead Yesterday, and Kate will feature our picks of the 2019 reprint crop and make our best bid for reprint stardom. Now, I do have a confession to make upfront--I am (as many of my blog followers know) a challenge-aholic and have been madly trying to finish off the last of my challenges. So, I made my choices based purely on what books I had lurking on my TBR shelves that would work for for my Mount TBR Challenge or books I've read in the past.

First up is a Reprint for those of you like your vintage mysteries draped in fog and set during World War II. E. C. R. Lorac's Checkmate to Murder takes place in early 1940s London. A fog-shrouded night with windows shrouded in black-out curtains or painted over to meet the black-out standards. In Bruce Manaton's barn-like studio, the hush of the fog seems to seep in and focus the concentration of the oddly-assorted group gathered for the evening. Bruce, a talented but as of yet unsuccessful artist, is fully focused on his latest painting--a portrait of a man in the scarlet robes of a Cardinal. The model for this work is Andre Delaunier, an equally talented and unsuccessful actor, who holds his pose with the import of Shakespearean drama. At the other end of the room, Robert Cavenish, a thoroughly respectable Home Office man, and Ian MacKellon, a brilliant chemist somehow connected with the war effort, are thoroughly engrossed in a game of chess. Moving in and out from the kitchen just beyond, Rosanne Manaton, the artist's sister, prepares dinner and runs her own artistic eye over the tableau. Outside, muffled by the fog are various warning signals and other noises. Among them a shot?

For next door, the Manatons' miserly landlord, Albert Folliner, is shot to death in his sitting/bedroom and apparently robbed of his miser's stash. The Special Constable who has been on his nightly rounds comes bursting into the Manatons' lodging dragging a young Canadian soldier as prisoner. The soldier is Neil Folliner, the nephew of the slain man, and the Special Constable swears he has caught the man red-handed. But Scotland Yard sends Inspector Macdonald to take over the case and when he has finished taking statements, examining the premises--both the studio and the landlord's rooms, and following up the clues that escaped the constable's nervous eyes, he finds that all may not be as straight forward as it seems. For instance--if the constable came upon Neil Folliner after the crime was committed, why have the former's footprints been overlaid by the latter's? And what happened to the loot? And is Mrs. Tubbs really just the jolly cockney charwoman that she seems to be? And what about those previous tenants of the studio?

As I told John from Pretty Sinister Books when I first read this (and who tried to warn me away from it), I must have a thing for Lorac's fog-shrouded, black-out-centered mysteries, because I thoroughly enjoyed her Checkmate to Murder (1944). Inspector MacDonald is a very thorough yet very human policeman. He is never quick to judge and he has a way of seeing everything--even the things the witnesses and suspects think they've hidden properly. The mystery is fairly clued--maybe too fairly, because I figured this one out. Not absolutely every little detail, but enough that I'm calling it a win for Inspector Bev.  But figuring out the solution fairly early didn't detract from my enjoyment. The characters are well-drawn and Mrs.Tubbs, Folliner's charwoman; Mrs. Stanton, whose garden backs up against the "murder house' and studio; Mrs. Blossum, the owner of the Green Dragon pub; and Bert Brewer, a rheumatic gardener all add a good bit of local period color to the proceedings. It is an atmospheric and highly enjoyable wartime mystery. If you like Lorac, if you like wartime mysteries, and if you like atmosphere--then Vote for Lorac!

Reprinted in the British Library Crime Classics series (August 2020)

Reprint of the Year: The Case of the Second Chance

Last year, Kate at Cross Examining Crime came up with brilliant brainstorm. In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we're going to do it again.

So, this Saturday and last, I and my illustrious colleagues Steve, Brad, Moira, John, Puzzle Doctor, Rehka, and Kate will feature our picks of the 2019 reprint crop and make our best bid for reprint stardom. Now, I do have a confession to make upfront--I am (as many of my blog followers know) a challenge-aholic. That being the case, I made my choices blind--based purely on what books I had lurking on my TBR shelves that would work for challenges as well.

Last week I nominated one for all you Ellery Queen fans out there. But this week...well, this week is my personal choice for Reprint of the Year: Christopher Bush's The Case of the Second Chance (1946; reprinted by Dean Street Press, May 2019). This was the first time I had ever read a book by Bush and I wasn't disappointed with this, the thirtieth in the Ludovic Travers series. I found it to be an interesting introduction to Travers and Wharton. The mystery itself is well done, though it does drag just a bit in the middle while the investigation languishes and the plot uses a couple of well-worn tropes (well-worn even by 1946. These issues didn't dampen my enthusiasm, however. I found our protagonists to be so well-defined and their relationship to be so engaging that I enjoyed myself thoroughly. And--even though the plot devices have been used before, Bush works the trick expertly enough that I didn't mind. Quite good fun! 

Travers has had a semi-official position with the police and developed a relationship with Superintendent George Wharton after assisting with several investigations as a gifted amateur. The current story begins with Travers  on leave from the army when Wharton is called upon to investigate the murder of a well-known actor/producer Charles Manfrey. Manfrey is an unsurprising murder victim--Wharton and Travers soon find that the actor had ruffled feathers in a number of quarters. There is Henry Nevall, the actor who played Brutus to Manfrey's Cassius and whom Manfrey tried to upstage repeatedly. There is Victor Yarnell, a handsome young actor who has had great success in his current play and hopes of taking the part into the movies--but Manfrey has bought the rights with a stipulation that anyone but Yarnell be hired. There is Violet Lancing, the actor's secretary who longs to be on stage and has an eye for the main chance--and may have found the odds too heavily against her. And there is May Clarke, the housekeeper who seems to have a heart of gold but may have had enough of her employer's ill-temper.

The plot has an interesting construction. It is laid out in three parts. We begin with Manfrey's murder in his own library and follow the investigation and interviews only to end part one with Wharton and Travers as puzzled as when they began. There are plenty of suspects, but everyone seems to have rock-solid alibis. Wharton even asks Travers to break one of the alibis and he is unable to find a way to do so. So...the first part ends with an inquest verdict of "Murder by some person or persons unknown."

Travers returns to the war and then a year later is demobilized for health reasons. He returns to his specialized work at the Yard and it seems like the Manfrey murder will never be solved. In 1945 he completes a special assignment and--in preparation for starting up private inquiry business with the soon-to-be retired Wharton--goes to work for the Bond Street Detective Agency. One of the first cases to come along involves blackmail. Bill Ellice (current owner of the agency) agrees to meet the prospective client who has insisted on complete confidentiality but is wary enough of her story to ask Travers to sit in the next room where a conveniently thin door will allow him to hear all. He wants Travers to signal him (through an elaborate buzzing system from the secretary)whether he thinks it sounds fishy enough to decline the job. 

Despite the fact that he is certain the woman is lying all over the place, Travers gives the "go ahead" signal. Why? Because he's recognized the woman's voice as belonging to Violet Lancing. And he's darn curious what she's being blackmailed about. Could it have anything to do with that Manfrey case in her past? There are links...but the answer to both mysteries are going to be a bit more involved than just "Violet killed Manfrey and now X is blackmailing Violet." Travers, Wharton, and Ellice will each contribute to the solution.

I highly recommend this reprint and definitely plan to seek out more of the series myself.

Reprint of the Year: The Dutch Shoe Mystery

Last year, Kate at Cross Examining Crime came up with brilliant brainstorm. In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we're going to do it again.

So, this Saturday and next, I and my illustrious colleagues Steve, Brad, Moira, John, Puzzle Doctor, Rehka, and Kate will feature our picks of the 2019 reprint crop and make our best bid for reprint stardom. Now, I do have a confession to make upfront--I am (as many of my blog followers know) a challenge-aholic. So, I made my choices blind--based purely on what books I had lurking on my TBR shelves that would work for challenges as well.

First up is a Reprint for those of you who are Ellery Queen fans (yes, JJ, I know that's not you), The Dutch Shoe Mystery (1931), which was reprinted by American Mystery Classics in March of 2019. It's a natural choice for those who enjoy a good mystery set in hospital; in this case the Dutch Memorial Hospital of New York City--where comes the nationality for the title. It features not one, but two murders carried out--practically under the nose of Ellery Queen himself (in the first instance) and a whole posse of NYC policemen (in the second). You have to admire a murderer with that much moxie. The initial set-up of the novel is really well done--with Ellery and a small audience on hand to witness the discover of the first murder in the operating theater.

Now, if you look at my full review of the novel (HERE), you might wonder why I would go ahead and offer up what I rated as a middle-of-the-road novel for Reprint of the Year. Well... the longer I've let the Queen nomination simmer, the more I realize how much I enjoyed it. Yes, there are quibbles that I mention--but I did enjoy how engaged I was in the story. I've gotten to the point in my life where it feels like plots and names and clues run straight through my head like water through a sieve and to have been interested enough to question the clues and...several weeks later still be engaged with Queen's handling of the wrap-up, well I think that indicates the quality of the writing and the story-telling. The Dutch Shoe Mystery is definitely worth a GAD fan's attention and worth a nomination for Reprint of the Year.

Reprint of the Year: Weekend at Thrackley

As I mentioned last week, Kate at Cross Examinging Crime has come up with another of her frequent brilliant brainstorms. Various publishing houses have gotten wise to the virtues of Golden Age and more recent vintage crime novels and have been producing reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles in the hopes of getting them into the hands of the mystery-reading public. Kate thought it would a great idea for some of us who love those vintage mysteries to features novels which have been reprinted in 2018 and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. [For Kate's full idea, see her blog link above.]

So once again, I and my illustrious colleagues Aidan, Brad, Curtis, Daniel, JJ, John Kate, Moira, and the Puzzle Doctor will feature titles and make our best bid at Reprint stardom for our choices. Now...to start off, I must make a confession. I made a mistake last week. I told you all to vote for Jonathan Stagge's Death's Old Sweet Song. Not that the Stagge book isn't a fine nomination. It is--I gave you my reasons last Saturday. But, honestly, if you only cast one vote, then please give it to Alan Melville's Weekend at Thrackley.

I'm taking a revolver to Thrackley. You never know with blokes like Carson. A bit potty, but otherwise quite harmless. and I hate these harmless, potty people. They're always up to something. 
~Freddie Usher

As Martin Edwards tells us in his excellent introduction*, Weekend at Thrackley was Melville's mystery debut. And what a debut. Melville gives us that old stand-by of the Golden Age--the country house mystery--with an interesting twist. There is no murder whatsoever until quite near the end and then there is no mystery at all about who did it. That's not the real mystery at all. The real mystery is why on earth did Edwin Carson, infamous jewel collector (some say that his means of acquiring at least a portion of his collection is not exactly...all that it should be), invite Jim Henderson down for a country weekend among a cast of beautiful and wealthy people simply dripping with jewels. Jim's a nice enough fellow. He's reasonably presentable at parties. But wealthy he is not. 

Carson's invitation tells Jim that he was a friend of his father's back in the day and he always wanted to get a chance to know his dear friend's boy. Jim's not sure he wants to get to know Carson, but a man in his position isn't likely to turn down a weekend's free room and board. And when he finds out that his friend Freddie Usher (recent heir to the Usher diamonds, hence Carson's interest) has been invited as well, he's all set to go. Viewing the forbidding exterior of Thrackley and meeting Carson, an ugly man whose eyes one never sees, makes him wonder at the wisdom of his decision.

They were hidden by steel-rimmed spectacles, the lenses of which were so thick and so powerful that they made the eyes behind them almost invisible. Somehow one felt, rather than saw, the eyes of Edwin Carson. Jacobson [the butler] always felt at a cruel disadvantage when talking to him: like a mouse being watched by a cat in the dark, unable to see the thing that was staring at it, conscious all the time that every movement was being watched.

Yes, meeting Carson and the even uglier butler as well as the bruisers who serve as house servants certainly gives Jim pause. As the weekend progresses, Jim discovers hidden microphones, servants who aren't what they seem, and that the guests' jewels are disappearing right and left. And then one of the guests disappears....Jim would love to go for help, but there's just one catch: An electrified fence surrounds the country house and no one can leave until Carson allows it. Will Carson make off with everyone's jewels? Will Jim find out Carson's ulterior motive in inviting him for the weekend? Will justice prevail? You'll just have to read it and see. 

So what's so great about this one that I just shoved Stagge out of the way and said, "No! Don't vote for him. Vote for my guy Melville!"? Well, this debut novel does not read like a debut novel to me. Melville has characterization down pat. His dialogue is funny and charming. And overall this is a downright funny mystery. Martin Edwards mentions the influence of A. A. Milne's The Red House Mystery on this novel (and I can see the connections Martin is making). But even more I see the influence of P. G. Wodehouse. The breezy dialogue (particularly between Jim and Freddie) and characters especially remind me of Wodehouse's Blandings Castle novels. Catherine Lady Stone could have come motoring over from Blandings instead of venturing out of London. The humorous interactions between the characters--from Jim's relationship with his landlady, Mrs. Bertram

"Good-bye, dearie," said Mrs. Bertram. "Take care of yourself, now." (For if half of what you read in the papers were true, you never could tell with these house-parties.)

to his friendship with Freddie Usher

...Freddie Usher and I went to the same school, which can usually be trotted out as an excuse for pinching another man's automobile.

to the scenes between Carson and his servants and the scenes among the dinner guests--these interactions are all worth the price of admission.

One other draw is the character of Carson's daughter. She appears as a light romantic love interest for Jim Henderson, but Melville also makes her more than just the girl to ride off into the sunset with the hero. Mary Carson plays a vital role in the resolution of the story and is far from the helpless female in need of saving. She is a very capable young woman who The Daily Observer, Mrs. Bertram's favorite newspaper, will identify as the "Girl Who Helped Outwit Dangerous Criminal."

I know I have a delightful book in hand when I am jotting down quotes right and left. I had to stop jotting--I would have been copying nearly 80% of the book. And I certainly could load this write up with many more than what I have sprinkled about. I am submitting Weekend at Thrackley for Reprint of the Year based, in large part, upon its sheer readability, Melville's way with characters & dialogue, and the fact that it was just plan good fun. 

Both Kate (HERE) and Aidan (HERE) have given insightful reviews of this title as well. Check them out--and hopefully they will help you choose the right title for Reprint of the Year.


*You seriously need to get hold of this book and read the introduction where Martin does a much better job than I informing the reader about Melville and his work.