Body Blow

 Body Blow (1962) by Kenneth Hopkins

The third (and, unfortunately last) of Hopkins' mysteries featuring Dr. Blow (81 years old!) and Professor Manciple (79 years old!)--two retired academics who have penchant for finding bodies and losing them again. In their last "jaunt" (Dead Against My Principles), they helped investigate a corpse purported to be Blow's old classmate Simon Blunt. A corpse that seemed to play musical chairs between Simon's family castle and little cottage. In this outing, Dr. Blow receives a large packing case which he expects to contain over a hundred volumes of books, some in fancy linen bindings. Even before it's opened, Manciple is questioning the contents...

" It's an awfully big box. Did you say you bought a hundred books?"

And, of course, when it's opened, there are no books to be found--just one very dead woman whom neither gentleman has ever seen before. They hustle off to the police station to report the incident to their friend Superintendent Urry--the phone being so unreliable, don't you know. But he isn't there. And by the time they return to Blow's flat with Constable Poindexter. The packing case is gone. According to Blow's housekeeping, three boy scouts showed up to pick it up--and she didn't think anything of it because Dr. Blow, being the true absent-minded professor, so often forgets to tell her things.

Well, this isn't the first time the two gentleman have been mixed up with dead bodies and they're eager to find out what's going on. Who was the woman in the box? Why was she sent to Dr. Blow? Who took her away again? Was it the same person or someone else? And when the body shows up again minus its stomach, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the stomach appears in Professor Manciple's ice box. I mean, really, where else would it show up? Before they know it, Blow and Manciple are mixed up with secret agents and double-crossers and everybody is on the hunt for a top-secret formula for fantastically strong nylon. 

I have to admit that the mystery plot in this one isn't the greatest. The secret agent business (especially when we find out who one of the players really is) is a bit hard to swallow--but honestly, the story is such great fun, I didn't mind a bit. It's been a while since I read the last Blow and Manciple book and I had forgotten how delightful they are. Blow is a wonderfully stereotypical forgetful academic who will begin a lecture on any one of a dozen topics at the drop of a hat. Manciple tries to keep his friend on the straight and narrow of detective work, but don't mention coins in his hearing or he'll be off an running as well. Between the two of them, they stir up enough nonsensical dust that the villains of the piece don't quite know what to do. And though our academics may not solve the puzzle themselves, their antics help the official police and the MI5 folks get their men. Well...mostly. ★★★

First line: Dr. William low inserted the key of the small satin-wood bureau in which he kept two leaves of unpublished manuscript of Part Four of Butler's Hudibras into the lock of the front door and turned it and pushed--in vain.

"No," admitted Poindexter. The difficulty of police work, he knew, was that murderers looked like anybody else, and forgers and thieves appeared almost abnormally normal. (p. 24)

(about secret double-agents) "They always live in a big, gloomy, decaying mansion on the Essex marshes," said Dr. Blow. (p. 48)

"I'll tell you this," said Hume, "these are grave and complex matters, not even properly the province of the uniformed police. Certain persons whom I must not name, in quarters I shall barely hint at, are vitally interested and concerned." (p. 87)

Last line: The phone rang again and Urry snatched it up, and the voice of the policewoman on the switchboard said sweetly, "Professor Manciple for you sir."

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Deaths =  2 (one suicide; one heart attack)

The Will of the Tribe

 The Will of the Tribe (1962) by Arthur W. Upfield

An unknown man is found dead in the middle of a meteor crater in the Australian desert. None of the homesteads in the area or the the aboriginal encampments admit to the man having passed through their territory--though he must have gone through the land somewhere, somehow, whether alive or dead. He wasn't dropped from a plane because nothing is broken except the back of his head where it made contact with the proverbial blunt instrument. The local police are stumped and so, Inspector Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte is sent to find out two things: 1. How did the man get to the crater without anyone taking notice. 2. What was the motive. The upper level authorities don't want Bony to bother with discovering who the man was...they know and it's all hush-hush. But how is a detective supposed to determine a motive when he knows nothing about the victim? 

Well, if anyone can, then it's Bony, the half-white, half-aboriginal policeman with a perfect record in crime-solving. His dual heritage helps him understand both the tribal customs and the white settlers and he soon realizes that both groups are keeping back knowledge about what happened to the man and how his body arrived where it was found. He'll have to be very clever indeed to get the tribesmen to reveal what he needs to know.

The story highlights the dual loyalties of those who are either of mixed race or who, being black, have been raised or employed by the white settlers. Bony with his own mixed heritage is able to help the tribal people strike a balance that allows the mystery to be unraveled fairly. Upfield makes much of Bony's individualism that allows him to advocate for true justice (rather than a slavish adherence to the letter of the law). It sometimes gets him in trouble with his superiors, but that doesn't bother him much. He knows he's too good at his job for them do much to him. 

The mystery itself isn't really much--since we have no clues about the identity of the man, there isn't any question of motive. The silence around how he got there makes it obvious that those who Bony talks with much know more than they tell and there's not much question about who is covering up. The strength in this story is in Upfield's description of the area and the depiction of the relationship between the black men and the white homesteaders. An interesting look at Australia in the early 1960s. ★★★

First line: Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte gazed upon Lucifer's Couch and marvelled.

Last line: "I shall not fail to bring off this one."

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Deaths = 3 (one hit on head; two car accident)

Death & Chicanery

 Death & Chicanery (1962) by Philip MacDonald

A light collection of short stories from the author of The List of Adrian Messenger and The Rasp. Not heavy on the mystery side, the stories are more psychological and emotionally charged than criminally so. The stories are well-written, but I'd hoped for more mystery than I got. ★★★

"Deed of Mercy": As soon as Hungarian refugee and eminent nuclear scientist Nikolas Bethlen and his wife arrive in the U.S. they promptly disappear. Journalists everywhere are on the lookout--hoping to get the big scoop when they figure out where the couple is. Michael Hackett lucks into a lead, but Bethlen is in an auto accident before Hackett has a chance to interview him. And the news gets even bigger--a teenage hitchhiker whom Bethlen picked up is now accusing him of molesting her...Hackett smells a put-up job. But why?

"Breakfast for the King": Kai-Kon is in love with Pyuk-Lu and according to custom must hunt enough animal furs to buy silver shoes to win her hand. But his luck is bad and he only gets a few pelts before a run-in with a wild boar injures him. When he's found passed out under a tree where another hunter had stashed his furs and the evidence indicates that Kai-Kon has stolen the furs, the council of elders finds him guilty and sentences him to death--by tiger. His love and a single member of the council believe him innocent, but can they prove it in time?

"Moon Flame": Moon Flame is a beautiful thoroughbred horse whose days are numbered unless a journalist and two young people can save him The horse is caught up in a bitter divorce between two actors and the vindictive lady is determined to get back at her ex by destroying his horse. But no horse lover is going let a beautiful animal be killed out of spite....

"The Ticker-Tape": Martin Liengard is a writer who has an odd type of insomnia. When he gets over-tired and can't sleep, a "ticker-tape" starts running in his head, spitting out meaningless phrases. Once he gets married, the tick-tape stops...until a young Mexican boy is murdered. Then it starts up again. But this time the phrases aren't so meaningless....

First line (1st story): Nikolas Bethlen and his wife arrived in the United States late in '56, part of the first plane-load of post-revolution Hungarian refugees.

Last line (last story): "Martin!" she called. "Where are you?"

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Deaths = 3 (one attacked by tiger; one hit on the head; one fell from height)

Hopjoy Was Here

 Hopjoy Was Here (1962) by Colin Watson

The police at Flaxborough receive an anonymous tip. Something nasty has happened at the home of of Gordon Periam. There was some sort of altercation in the bathroom and neither Periam nor his lodger, Brian Hopjoy have been seen since. Inspector Purbright and company find bloodstains in the bathroom, evidence of the use of acid, and something nasty in the drains. It looks like someone was done away with in a very ruthless manner. But who? Is it Hopjoy who has been dissolved? Or is it Periam? They've barely begun the investigation when a couple of MI5 men show up--apparently Hopjoy was one of theirs and they want to make sure that everything "hush-hush" stays hushed. So now Purbright has to figure out not only who (if anyone) has been killed and, if it's Hopyjoy whether his MI5 work resulted in his death or if it was something more prosaic (like jealousy). The trail leads Purbright and the secret agents on a merry chase through gambling dens to a rural farm and from a fancy hotel to the seaside where an interesting item washes up.

Watson infuses his story with humor--most particularly in its send-up of the spy trade. The MI5 fellows see everything through their top-secret lens and so betting slips become secret codes and absolutely everything has a double-meaning. And they tend to think the local police are poor fish who just can't understand all this hush-hush business. But just maybe this time a murder is just a murder and not some sort of end game in a double agent duel. It's amusing to see Purbright and Sergeant Love get the better of the secret agent men.

Purbright is a great character with a very understated intelligence that works away at the everyday details while the MI5 guys run about looking for double agents in haylofts and betting parlors. The plot is well done too. Watson keeps switching things until you're just not sure who died, if anyone died, and if they did where are they? Quite a lot of fun. ★★★ and 1/2

First line: Never before had the inhabitants of Beatrice Avenue seen a bath carefully manoeuvered (sic) through one of their front doors, carried down the path by four policemen, and hoisted into a black van.

Last line: The inspector patted his arm kindly, "Oh, not Karl," he said, "Groucho."

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Deaths = 4 (two natural; one strangled; one poisoned)

1962 Club

 

From October 16-22, Simon at Stuck in a Book is sponsoring a read/blog-athon featuring books published in 1962. All you have to do is read at least one book from 1962 and post about it--that's it. You can submit your posts at the link above.

 

My 1962 Books Read

1. Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery as ed. by Alfred Hitchcock [ed. by Robert Arthur] (10/16/23)

2. Hopjoy Was Here by Colin Watson (10/17/23)

3. Death & Chicanery by Philip MacDonald (10/19/23)

4. The Will of the Tribe by Arthur W. Upfield (10/21/23)

5. Body Blow by Kenneth Hopkins (10/22/23)

Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery

 Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery (1962) as by Alfred Hitchcock (ed)

Our elementary school library had several of these collections which were ostensibly edited by Alfred Hitchcock. I loved them. They were just spooky enough to delight without being too gruesome. [I still worried my mom a bit by being so fixated on them, though.... 😉] So, when I saw this at my hometown used bookstore, nostalgia kicked in and I just had to bring it home with me. I definitely remember some of these from that initial read over 40 years ago ("The Haunted Trailer," the Truth About Pyecraft," and "The Waxwork"), some I've rad in other collections since ("The Upper Berth" and "The Waxwork"), while others I don't remember at all. I enjoyed my journey back to elementary school me--enjoying the shivers from the scary stories and the fun of those that are just a little weird and unusual. ★★★★

"Miss Emmeline Takes Off" by Walter Brooks: When Miss Emmeline is forced to sell her family home, she leaves behind a family heirloom. She has to sneak in to retrieve it and discovers that her heirloom is more valuable than she thought.

"The Valley of the Beasts" by Algernon Blackwood: A cruel hunter and his native American guide set out to track an enormous moose. The tracks lead to a place the guide calls the Valley of the Beasts and he refuses to go further. The hunter is goes on alone. When he is surrounded by the beasts of the valley and finds himself in danger, help arrives in an unexpected form and he returns to civilization a changed man.

"The Haunted Trailer" by Robert Arthur: A man buys a trailer in which to spend his honeymoon little knowing that it comes equipped with a ghostly hobo. [one fell from height; one natural]

"The Upper Berth" by F. Marion Crawford: Brisbane, a young man is crossing the Atlantic on his favorite ship, the Kamtschatka. He stays in Cabin 105 but all is not as it seems and soon Brisbane will have to fight for his life as the secret of the upper berth is revealed. 

"The Wonderful Day" by Robert Arthur: When Danny overhears the grown-ups talking about the folks in town (using idioms and metaphors), he makes a wish on his grandfather's lucky piece (apparently a unicorn horn) that his family's descriptions would be true for a just a day. His wish comes true--causing confusion, but ultimately doing good as folks see what they're really like and changing their behavior accordingly.

"The Truth About Pyecraft" by H. G. Wells: Pyecraft wishes to lose weight and pesters his fellow clubman until our narrator finally shares his grandmother's potion with him. However, the potion doesn't work on weightloss in quite the way Pyecraft expects. [Another story that turns on the meaning of words.]

"Housing Problem" by Henry Kuttner: Eddie and Jackie rent their extra room to Mr. Henchard, a curmudgeonly gentleman who pays his rent promptly and has just one rule: "Don't look under the cover on my birdcage." But, when Henchard goes on vacation, you just know they can't resist....

"In a Dim Room by Lord Dunsany: A lesson in "be careful what you ask for": when a friend's children ask for thrilling tales (and his own don't do the trick), our narrator brings along his friend Jorkens who tells a thrilling tale about a tiger

"Obstinate Uncle Otis" by Robert Arthur: Uncle Otis refuses to believe in things he just doesn't like. Which is his right and hurts no one...until his disbelief causes things to disappear.

"The Waxwork" by A. M. Burrage: A freelance journalist asks to spend the night in Mariner's Waxworks' Murderers' Den--a roomful of the effigies of the nastiest murderers in history. Hewson thinks he'll be just fine--he's not superstitious and he's not a fraidy-cat. But maybe he should have thought twice... [one scared to death]

"The Isle of Voices" by Robert Louis Stevenson: Keola learns that his father-in-law is a wizard who can coin money out of seashells. But he also learns that Kalamake is a man that you shouldn't anger...after it's too late.

First line (1st story): When the old Valiant house on the lake was sold for taxes, Miss Emmeline Valiant went to live at Mrs. Purdy's

Last line (last story): But whether he was slain in the battle by the trees, or whether he is still kicking his heels upon the Isle of Voices, who shall say?