google-site-verification: googlef64103236b9f4855.html Philly Reader: August 2014

Friday, August 29, 2014

There's Trouble Brewing by Nicholas Blake: A Review

It was a dreadful shame about the death of Truffles. Someone had thrown the poor dog into the copper brewing kettle at the local brewery, and Truffles was cooked. Truffles was the pet dog of the brewery owner, Eustace Bunnett.

Erudite author and amateur detective Nigel Strangeways had been invited to address the Maiden Astbury Literary Society something that he would normally avoid at all costs. He had, however, been invited by Sophie Cammison who was married to Dr. Herbert Cammison who had been a friend of Nigel's at Oxford. Nigel's talk went well, and at the discussion afterwards, he met Eustace Bunnett . Eustace wished to employ Nigel to find the murderer of Truffles, and Nigel agreed to accept the case.

Nigel took an instant dislike to Bunnett. As his investigation continued, he found many others who did not like Bunnett.  Bunnett had been mean to his employees, and had fired them for incidents which were really Bunnett's fault. He had even been mean to Truffles. The employees at the brewery much preferred Eustace's brother Joseph who was more pleasant and friendlier. Joseph worked at the brewery as a representative to the pubs. Eustace had also refused to update the brewery and to use more modern brewing methods, and the employees believed that Joseph would modernize the brewery. Sophie and Herbert Cammison seemed to be afraid of Bunnett.

Somebody acted to murder Bunnett. Most of Bunnett's body was found in the copper brewing kettle, and  boiling in the kettle had removed most of the identifying marks on the body.  Bunnett was identified by his false teeth.

His brother Joseph, who would inherit the brewery, was away sailing so he was cleared of suspicion.  Miss Mellors, the head of the literary society, and Gabriel Sorn, a budding poet who had been condemmed to writing advertising jingles for the brewery, seem to hold a lot of hostility toward Bunnett. Dr. Herbert Cammison had a strong reason to murder Bunnett, but Nigel could not believe that his friend was guilty.

Nigel Strangeways conducted his investigation in a through manner and eventually discovered the murderers of both Truffles and his master, Eustace Bunnett, in this entertaining and well plotted mystery.

Nicholas Blake was the pen name of English Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. Blake wrote 20 mystery novels. All but four featured Strangeways as the detective. There's Trouble Brewing was published in 1937, and is currently available as an e-book.







Thursday, August 28, 2014

The Benson Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine: A Review

Alvin H. Benson, a well-known Wall Street broker and man about town, was murdered in his home. He had been seated in a chair and had been shot through the head. Oddly enough, this vain man was not wearing his toupee or his false teeth. John F. X. Markham, district attorney of New York, started an investigation of this crime along with the city police. Markham brought along his friends, Philo Vance and S. S. VanDine. Van Dine was along as a sort of Watson to record Vance's exploits.

A large part of this book is devoted to presenting Philo Vance and his philosophies of crime detection and the psychology of murderers. Vance "was an aristocrat by birth" and a "man of unusual culture and brilliance"  He was good looking, well-dressed, and a member of the best clubs.  Vance was quite knowledgeable about art and very well educated. "The great majority of those with whom he came in contact regarded him as a snob." I did find him a bit overbearing.

During the initial visit to the crime scene, Vance was able to deduce the height of the murderer, and identified two cigarettes by their tobacco. At the crime scene were found the gloves and handbag of Muriel St. Clair who apparently had visited the house that day. She was engaged to Captain Philip Leacock who had recently had a public argument with Benson. Further investigation would reveal others who had an interest in the fate of Benson including his brother and business partner,  Major Anthony Benson, and Alvin's housekeeper, Mrs. Platz.

During the whole book, Vance states that he has know from the beginning who the murderer is. He observes the fumbling efforts of Markam and the police to solve this murder. At the end, he details how each person who was involved with Benson could have committed the crime and how he (Vance) eliminates them from consideration. Finally he reveals who the real murderer is and how the crime was committed.

This book, which was published in 1926,  is the first of the series of Philo Vance mysteries which all have a 6 letter word in the title except for The Gracie Allen Murder Case. S. S. Van Dine is the pseudonym of American art critic Willard Huntington Wright. The book is currently available in paper and e-book form.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Fatal Venture by Freeman Wills Crofts: A Review

Harry Morrison first met Charles Bristow on the Calais boat train. Morrison, at the time, was an agent for the Boscomb Travel Agency, and Bristow was a lawyer. The two men entered into a conversation about travel and they came up with a scheme to buy an older ocean liner, the Helenique, and run her around the British Isles. This would enable people with limited means to enjoy a holiday trip on a ship which they could afford. The two men agreed to look into the financial aspect of this business and get back to discuss it. Sharing the train compartment with them was a man who appeared to be asleep. Morrison noticed from his luggage tag that his name was A. N. Malthus.

Their financial investigations showed that the scheme would work, but they would need a backer with money in order to buy the ship.  Harry Morrison had had dealings though his travel agency with John M. Stott who was a wealthy man. Stott enjoyed traveling, but he had been just about everywhere, and Morrison thought that he might be interested in the venture and would enjoy having a ship in which he was a part owner, and could have his own deck. Stott became very enthusiastic about it, and agree to put up the money for the ship. Malthus had not been sleeping on the train, and he tried to get the ship first, but Stott figured out a clever way to get the ship for himself, Morrison, and Bristow.

Now that Stott was a major partner, he decided on a new purpose for this venture. Instead of a lower price cruise for the middle class, he wanted the ship to be used for a floating casino for the upper classes. The cabins would be refitted to be luxurious. Since British law did not permit such a gambling venture, the gambling rooms would only be open when the ship was outside the three mile limit, and Stott had the ship registered as a French vessel. The ship would now feature both gambling and day trips to scenic spots on the islands, England, and Ireland. Morrison was hired to arrange travel for the customers to and from the ship and was given ten percent of the profits. When the ship had been refitted, the cruises began, and did very, very well.

Many people in England did not approve of this gambling venture, and neither did the British government. The government wanted someone on board this ship who would look out to see that  everything was done properly, and to look for some way that this venture could be ended. For this purpose, Inspector French was enlisted. He would take a two week cruise on the ship under the name of John Forrester, and he could bring his wife Em along.

John Forrester and his wife would arrive on the ship along others who were very important to the story. There was a group which was made up of Major Wyndham Stott, Mrs. Stott who was Wyndham's second wife,  Miss Majorie Stott, his daughter, and Mr. Percy Luff, who Mrs Stott's son. The members of this group were very important people since they were relatives of John M. Stott and they would receive VIP treatment. Also on this day, Alex N. Malthus and Clarence Mason arrived. They were the ones who had tried to start this venture before Stott beat them to the punch.

John  Stott had a strong interest in archaeology and when the ship visited the islands, he either went or sent someone to take photographs of historical sites. When the ship was the neighborhood of the Giant's Causeway,  Stott himself went to take photographs, and after he did this, someone murdered him.

Now Inspector French had two problems. Scotland Yard wanted him to reveal his true identity and find the murderer, and he still had the task of finding something illegal about the activities of the gambling ship. Inspector French is a man who would not be daunted by difficulty.  He is incredibly methodical, and I somehow picture him with an ordnance map in one hand and a schedule of some sort in the other. He will overcame the problem of finding a motive for the crime (nobody seemed to have a good one), and finding someone who did not have an alibi for the time of the murder (all of the suspects seemed to have one).

This is an enjoyable book if you like puzzle mysteries with difficult solutions. French is an upright and hardworking policeman which does not make him a very exciting detective. I do wish that his wife had been given a bit more to do in the book since she was along on the trip.

This book was published in 1939. It has been reissued by the Langtail Press in print and as an e-book.







Sunday, August 3, 2014

The Vanishing of Betty Varian by Carolyn Wells: A Review

To appreciate the crime in this book, you must visualize the setting. Headland Harbor was a summer vacation spot on the Maine coast for artists and other generally pleasant people. The Headland was a gigantic cliff which was 300 feet high and which jutted out into the ocean. It had an overhang and was unscalable. The ocean waves crashed into the base of the cliff. The top of the cliff was narrow and had enough room for a house with room for small gardens on either side. The only way to reach the house at the top was to walk up a narrow path with steps. Headland House was an old house with a few towers and turrets and it had been rented for the summer by the Varian family.

Fred Varian had money - possibly from Wall Street. His wife Minna was considered to be a clinging vine who was spoiled by her husband. Their daughter Betty was pretty and charming and spoiled. Betty and her father did argue a lot. It seemed that whenever Betty seemed to be interested in a young man, that her father did everything he could to break off the relationship. Currently Betty's interest was Ron Graniss, and Ron was staying in Headland Harbor.

Mrs. Varian decided to have a picnic to get to meet some of the residents of Headland Harbor. She invited Fred's brother, Herbert, and his wife and daughter. She also invited Mrs. Clare Blackwood and instructed her to bring two suitable young men (but not Rod Graniss). These three climbed up to the house and then they and the Varian families started walking down to a spot for the picnic. They were loaded with picnic baskets which the staff had prepared before they left for a day off in the small town. Part of the way down, Betty announced that she had forgotten her camera and that she would run back to the house to get it. The party waited and when it seemed that she had been gone a long time, her father said that he would go back to the house to see what was keeping her. When the father had been gone a long time, they all returned to the house. There they found Fred Varian murdered, and Betty Varian had vanished.

They searched the whole house for Betty. There did not appear to be any secret rooms or passages where Betty or her body could be hidden. It was impossible to get down from the house without being seen. If Betty had been murdered where was her body? Or did Betty murder her father and, if so, where did she go afterwards?

Enter the detective, Pennington Wise. He is undoubtedly a great detective, and he brings his assistant, Zizi. She is the strangest character in the book. Her relationship with Pennington is not clear. She is a small woman who is intelligent, kind, sympathetic, understanding, and full of praise for Pennington. She does not hesitate in dangerous situations. She is so perfect that I found her rather disturbing.  The police in this small community are not very effective.

Eventually everything is explained. The mastermind behind these crimes is exposed, and dispatched in a very brutal way. I found this to be a very interesting book. It was published in 1923, and it was good to see a crime scene very thoroughly investigated by interested people without all of the modern methods: without the crime scene technicians, DNA experts, and photographers. Carolyn Wells plays fair with the reader, and there are clues given in the book for the careful reader.

This book has been reissued by Resurrected Press and is available in paper and as an e-book.