google-site-verification: googlef64103236b9f4855.html Philly Reader: February 2016

Monday, February 22, 2016

The Skeleton in the Clock by Carter Dickson

"What would be the most dangerously haunted place in the world?" This was the topic of conversation of Ruth Callice, an attractive young woman, John Stannard, K. C., an older man, and Martin Drake, a thin young man. The three eventually agreed that it would be the execution shed of a prison. They would go to Pentecost prison and spend the night. Pentecost had been an active prison until 1938 when it was closed and was currently being used for storage purposes. Stannard would use his connections with the prison commission, and get the keys for a night or two. Then Stannard recalled that Pentecost prison was near Fleet House, a Georgian house with a flat roof. Twenty years before, Sir George Fleet fell over from the roof and died on the ground forty feet below. There had been witnesses who swore that there was nobody on the roof at the time of his death. It was suicide or something else.

The next day Martin Drake attended an auction with his jovial, rotund friend Sir Henry Merrivale. Here Drake saw his long lost love, Jenny,  from two years before. They had fallen deeply in love on a short train journey and then had become separated as the train departed. He had been searching for her ever since; a search which was complicated since he didn't know her last name. Jenny in that time period had become engaged to Richard Fleet who was the son of Sir George Fleet, the man who fell from the roof. Chief inspector Masters had asked Sir Henry Merrivale to assist him in reinvestigating the death of Sir Henry because Scotland Yard had received letters implying that the death was not an accident.

Meanwhile at the auction, while the lovers were finding each other, Sir Henry had managed to poke Lady Brayle, Jenny's grandmother, in the rear with a halbard. Sir Henry and Lady Brayle then engaged in a bidding duel for something. Sir Henry was determined to obtain the object, whatever it was, and outbid her. He did succeed and found himself the owner of a grandfather's clock with a skeleton inside.

Thus, after all of these preliminaries, the reader finds all the characters assembled at either at Fleet House or in the pub across the road from Fleet House. Inspector Masters and Sir Henry to investigate a twenty year old crime and Martin Drake, John Stannard, and Ruth Callice to experience the vibrations from the execution shed. The latter trio were joined by Jenny and Richard Fleet because it was an exciting thing to do. The clock with the skeleton was in the pub because Sir Henry had given it the pub owner.

These two strands of the story merge after a scary night in the prison and another death.  Sir Henry Merrivale will discover the method of the old murder, and announce the rather unexpected name of the murderer.

Carter Dickson is one of the pen names of John Dickson Carr, a prolific writer of mystery novels. Especially mystery novels which deal with impossible crimes. Carr intended to add some humor to the Sir Henry Merrivale books, and the battles between Sir Henry and Lady Brayle certainly do this. This book was published in 1948 and does not seem to be in print, but used copies are available.




Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Artists in Crime by Ngaio Marsh

Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn was making his way back by ship to England from a trip that he had made to New Zealand. On this voyage, he encountered the artist Agatha Troy, and their initial encounter did not go well. Privately, both felt rather upset about this.

Once back in England, Alleyn encountered Agatha Troy again; this time a murder was involved. Agatha Troy had been holding a school for budding artists at her home at Tatler's End House in a pleasant rural setting. The students were an assorted bunch. Garcia, a sculptor, was tremendously gifted, rude, and could not keep his hands off the ladies. Valmai Seacliff was was quite beautiful, Basil Pilgrim was upper class and was engaged to Valmai. Watt Hatchett had been discovered by Troy. He was not upper class, had a strong Australian accent, and did not really fit it. Cedric Malmsley had an impressive beard, and possibly a knack for copying works of others.

All the students seemed to agree on one thing. They did not like the professional model Sonia Gluck who did not seem capable of holding the rather difficult pose which Troy had set for her on the first day.  The students began their drawings, and then all took a weekend off. Garcia planned to use this weekend to move two commissioned sculptures to London. When the students returned and were setting up their easels, Sonia resumed her pose with some help from Valmai Seacliff who helped to push her shoulders down. Unfortunately, Sonia went down on a knife which had been inserted in the platform on which she was posing and she died.

Inspector Alleyn was called upon to investigate and his assistant detective-inspector Fox also came along with Nigel Bathgate, a journalist and friend of Alleyn. Everyone who there on the day that Sonia died were interviewed except for Garcia who seemed to have disappeared over the weekend and had not returned. Troy was quite upset about the whole thing, but the relations between Troy and Alleyn improved as the investigation continued.

Garcia seemed to everybody to be the obvious murderer, and the hunt for him widened. Indeed when Garcia was finally located, all the facts were in place to enable Alleyn to definitely name the murderer.

This book was first published in 1938, and introduced Agatha Troy who become a very important character in later Marsh books.  Very much of this story progresses through interviews, and the modern reader will wonder why Alleyn's friend Nigel Bathgate was allowed to listen in on these interviews.  It is an enjoyable read and the budding romance between Alleyn and Troy adds to the story. It will also appeal to readers who like mysteries set in the art world.

I have read this book for the Golden Vintage Cover Scavenger Hunt in the category of a cover with a artist/art equipment. There is an easel on the cover if you look closely. Personally, I think that this is a rather dreadful cover for this book. Once you have read the book, you will understand the cover, but I do not see how it would appeal to the potential reader.




Tuesday, February 2, 2016

The Deadly Truth by Helen McCloy

Doctor Roger Slater was a chemist who was developing a truth drug for the Sutherland Foundation. This drug, novopolamin, was designed to be used by the police and had fewer side effects than other similar drugs on the market. He was working on this when beautiful Claudia Bethune stopped by his lab to invite him to a weekend party at her home. Roger was quite smitten with Claudia and could not resist telling her about his new discovery and showing her the pills. After Claudia had left, Roger discovered that one tube of pills was missing and that Claudia must have taken it. He went chasing after her.

Claudia was noted for her unusual parties. For this weekend, those present were Michael Bethune, her husband, and Phyllis Bethune, Michael's previous wife. Charles Rodney was there. He was the head of a textile mill of which Claudia was a majority shareholder. Young Peggy Titus was also invited. Basil Willing was there for a short time. He was a psychiatrist who was renting a summer cottage, the Hut, on Claudia's property. Basil left before the evening party began.

Roger Slater begged Claudia to give the pills back to him. If the Foundation heard that she had taken the drugs, Roger would lose his job. Claudia denied knowing anything about the pills. When cocktails were served to the guests, Roger knew that they had been drugged. He and Claudia didn't drink anything but the other guests did. The truth serum began to take effect and some really disturbing truths came out over dinner.

Much later that evening, Basil Willing noticed one light on in Claudia's house, worried that something was wrong, and walked over to take a look. When he looked in the window,  he saw Claudia sitting dying at the table. Basil could see nobody else, but heard footsteps in the room. The murderer was still in the room, but when Basil accidently made a noise the murderer fled. Basil entered and saw that Claudia had been strangled with her very valuable necklace.

Basil Willing's position as psychiatric consultant to the Attorney General's office and his proximity to the scene of the murder led to him being closely involved in the hunt for the murderer. It was apparent that the murderer was one of the people at the party, and Basil investigated their present activities and also their pasts. He found that some of the suspects had worked hard to cover up their past activities.

At the end of the book, Basil gathered all the suspects together, and presented his findings, and named the murderer. The reader will see that all of the clues have been given in the course of the book so the author has played fair with the reader.

I found this to be a very enjoyable and well written book. Helen McCloy published this book in 1941. It was the third in the series of 13 books which featured Basil Willing. E-book editions of her books have been published by Orion.