Nothing to Declare by Manning Coles, 1960

 

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About the author: Manning Coles is the pseudonym of two British writers, Adelaide Frances Oke Manning (1891–1959) and Cyril Henry Coles (1899–1965), who wrote many spy thrillers from the early 40s through the early 60s. The fictional protagonist in 26 of their books was Thomas Elphinstone Hambledon, who works for the Foreign Office. (wikipedia)

This is billed as "12 short stories" but they are not all independent stories. 1 through 4 comprise one continuing story.

1. The Blue Envelope - Tommy Hambledon and Chief Superintendent Bagshott of Scotland Yard team up to recover a fabulous jewel, The Luck of Kenilworth.
2. It Pays to be Honest - the story continues
3. Set a Thief- the story continues
4. Out of Luck- the story continues
5. An Angel on my Foot - Tommy Hambledon tries to find what is behind a rash of gravestone thefts.
6. Nothing to Declare - A man is found dead in his home, and the only thing missing is his empty suitcase. Meanwhile, police receive reports of other missing empty suitcases around the city.
7. Handcuffs Don't Hold Ghosts - Tommy is listening to a B.B.C. feature of an exploration into a supposedly haunted mansion, when suddenly the radio commentators disappear; leaving the listeners with empty air.
8. The Case of the Six Indignant Footmen - Six footmen are hired to serve a lavish party which turns into a lavish jewel theft.
9. The Dip - Tommy is after a notorious pickpocket, and drops into a Belgian bar he may frequent. Tommy's drink gets drugged, he gets abducted, and his only way out is riding a untamed horse.
10. Here Lies --- The constable is new on the job, and discovers a murdered body in the road one night. The man is dead. The constable is all alone - what to do now? Despite his better judgement, he leaves the body alone to call it in. But when he returns, it is gone!
11. Holiday Romantic - A traveling photographer inadvertently snaps a photo of a wanted thief.
12. Buyer Collects - Diamond smugglers have a bright idea: transport their diamonds in a garish, beat up old suitcase which is held closed with a rope. Not their brightest idea. 

Review: Tommy Hambledon short stories are bite-sized for one sitting, and usually involve stolen documents or diamonds; rather than a murder (which takes more pages to resolve). These are best read in order, as many refer back to previous ones. Stories 1-4 are really one long story. This may be the first Coles book I have read which does not have Tommy uttering his famous sentence: "Some scheme will doubtless present itself".

The Horse You Came In On by Martha Grimes, 1993

 

About the author: This is #12 of 25 books featuring Richard Jury. See this Wikipedia article for biography and list of the 25 Richard Jury books. Click this Martha Grimes label to see all my reviews of this series.

Major characters:

Ellen Taylor, college professor and author

Beverly Brown, her student

Patrick Muldare, college instructor

Vicki Salva, aspiring author

Frances Hamilton, who died in the art gallery

Philip Calvert, Frances Hamilton's nephew

John-Joy, who was blind/deaf

Locale: Baltimore, Maryland

Synopsis: Two deaths occur in London: homeless John-Joy, a man who is blind and deaf, is killed in an alley. Frances Hamilton is sitting on a bench in an art gallery and suddenly just falls over dead.

Inspector Richard Jury meets up with Lady Cray, an acquaintance from a previous book. She suggests he go to Baltimore to look into the death of Philip Calvert, who was Frances Hamilton's nephew. Melrose Plant goes along to see his old friend, professor Ellen Taylor. Along with Sgt. Wiggins they fly to Baltimore.

In Baltimore, the grave of native son Edgar Allan Poe has a mysterious visitor on his birthday each year. Ellen's student, Poe enthusiast Beverly Brown, had gone to observe and was murdered there. Brown had found an unpublished manuscript - possibly Poe's - which led to her death. Ellen now has the manuscript, and it contains Beverly's notation of initials J-J, P.C., and P.M. Jury speculates J-J is John-Joy, P.C. is Philip Calvert, and P.M. may be Ellen's fellow instructor Patrick Muldare. 

Jury and Plant try to find a connection between the three ... and quickly, as two of the three are now dead. 

Review:

This is not a standalone book - many of the characters appeared in earlier books. It got off to a slow start, a quarter of the way in the only action was the usual series characters sitting around in the Jack and Hammer recapping the series. 

Once Jury, Plant, and Wiggins get to Baltimore things get rolling as the Edgar Allan Poe story line develops. A particularly enjoyable interlude is when Melrose Plant visits an antique store and gets into a long discussion with a young girl, Jip, as he makes up a fanciful story as he goes along. It is recurring element that Jury has no ability to talk to young people, while Plant always does. 

I didn't think the series would survive a trip to USA but once they arrive it is business as usual. It is funny when Plant tries to pass himself off as a local in the Baltimore bar, The Horse You Came In On.

The Ticker-Tape Murder by Milton Propper, 1930

 

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About the author: See Mystery Monday: Who was Milton Propper? by Linda Shenton Matchett

Major characters:

• Philip Nixon, president of American Motors
• Eleanor Nixon, his daughter
• Donald Gardiner, his secretary
• Charles Parker, his chauffeur
• -- Bennett, his butler
• Clem, Frank, & Martha Marley, siblings who lived adjacent to the railroad
• Lew Ferris, convicted thief
• Arthur Stahl, one of Ferris' gang
• Ike Morin, one of Ferris' gang
• Ralph Burke, railroad trainman
• Det. Sgt. Daniel Gilmore
• Det. Tommy Rankin

Locale: New Jersey

Synopsis:  Detective Sergeant Daniel Gilmore is riding a late train to Cape May, New Jersey. The train stops suddenly - it has apparently hit and killed a man on the tracks. Gilmore looks at the body and is shocked to find it is millionaire Philip Nixon, who had recently applied to the police for his protection; which was to begin later that night. 

Nixon's fear was a series of threatening letters. At a party for his daughter, Eleanor Nixon, her diamond necklace had been stolen by a gang of four. The leader, Lew Ferris, was caught and convicted. The letters appear to be from the other gang members.

Gilmore teams up with [series detective] Tommy Rankin and they each pursue separate leads throughout the book. Much investigation centers on a farmhouse adjacent to the tracks where the body was found - occupied by siblings Clem, Frank, and Martha Marley.

It is found that Nixon was dead before being placed on the tracks, thus murder. Initial suspicion focuses on his chauffeur, Charles Parker, who had a grudge against him. Gilmore suspects Parker was the fourth gang member.

Review: The book begins with Nixon's body being hit by the train, and then goes into a flashback describing how Sgt. Gilmore met with him previously. The transition to the flashback was a bit confusing, I wasn't sure which time period we were in for a bit. 

There is no ticker-tape in the book. The title refers to the stock market in general, as our victim is highly involved in stock transactions, which begin in great detail on page 2. The various stock values are given in too much detail, leaving the reader a bit lost.

The action focuses on the movements of people on evening trains between Camden and Cape May, NJ. A little timetable would have simplified the presentation of the story a lot, and here is one I created from times given, which will save you a lot of visualization: 

Oh, this book is dense. There are lots of characters, with new ones constantly being introduced; and all with an overload of detail. Everything is described a notch too much. For example, when two handwriting samples are being compared: rather than just giving us the conclusion that they do not match, we are taken letter-by-letter through the comparison.

One final nitpick: we never found out if Lew Ferris actually got away with Eleanor's necklace or not!

Dangerous by Nature by Manning Coles, 1950

 

About the author: Manning Coles is the pseudonym of two British writers, Adelaide Frances Oke Manning (1891–1959) and Cyril Henry Coles (1899–1965), who wrote many spy thrillers from the early 40s through the early 60s. The fictional protagonist in 26 of their books was Thomas Elphinstone Hambledon, who works for the Foreign Office. (wikipedia)

Major characters:

• Tommy Hambledon, British Secret Service
• Mateo Delmonte, Tommy's local guide
• Ernst Busch, a German café owner
• Don Angelo Argo, a collector of antiquities
• John Bartholomew Grant, the British envoy to Esmeralda
• Rodrigo De Silva y Garacia, Esmeraldan army officer
• Wilbur K. Hobkirk, US Intelligence

Locale: (fictional) Republic of Esmeralda, Central America

Synopsis: On a river tributary deep in the jungle of Esmeralda, eight men are observed disembarking from a freighter with much freight, and disappearing up a jungle trail. The observer reports this to the authorities, and Tommy Hambledon of British Secret Service soon arrives on the scene. He reports to British envoy John Bartholomew Grant, and is to await the arrival of US intelligence agent Wilbur K. Hobkirk before proceeding.

Tommy enlists a local guide, Mateo Delmonte. Mateo urges he buy a lottery ticket, which he does. Tommy suspects the lottery is rigged, but somehow wins. In the night, a man breaks into Tommy's room seeking the lottery money, but Mateo dumps him off the veranda, killing him.

The men with the freight are identified as Russians, and they are building something large in the hills. Meanwhile, the Esmeralda military, led by Rodrigo De Silva, is training to oust their president. Tommy and Mateo spy on the Russian project, and Tommy is captured and taken prisoner.

Review: It doesn't matter where Tommy Hambledon is, the adventures always delight. This adventure doesn't disappoint. Mateo is a fun character and a good match. Another good character is the poet Mentov, who shares Tommy's prison cell. The action winds up with a really big bang, which no contemporary book would dare use - but this is 1950 and such things were contemplated back then. The Hambledon stories could use a woman now and then - maybe a femme fatale - but they never seem to get included.

Death in a Sunny Place by Richard Lockridge, 1971

 

About the author: Richard Orson Lockridge (1898 –1982) was an American writer of detective fiction. He began the Captain Heimrich series with his wife Frances (1896-1963), and continued the series following her death.

Major characters:

• Enid Towne, our protagonist
• Martha Towne, her recently-deceased mother
• Albert and Emily Mills, caretakers of the Connecticut house
• "Aunt" Lily Wexford Stanton, co-owner of The Hilltop Club
• Neal Stanton, her husband
• Angela Parkins, housekeeper at The Hilltop Club
• Ted Hadley, a guest
• Tommy Thompson, a guest
• Samuel Thompson, a guest, Tommy's brother - or is he Anthony Rizzo?
• Nathaniel & Betty Clemson, guests, the young lovers

Locale: Connecticut and North Carolina

Synopsis: Enid Towne is tired from dealing with all the responsibility following the death of her widowed mother, Martha Towne. Enid prepares to put their large 17-room Connecticut mansion on the market. The house is so large, there are two live-in caretakers -  Albert Mills and his wife Emily Mills. Martha had tried to keep the estate up to the condition it was kept by her late husband, but this has drained her capital over the years; so now there is lots of property but little cash.

Enid receives an invitation from her former neighbor, "Aunt" Lily Stanton, who now lives in North Carolina. She and her much-younger husband, Neal Stanton, built The Hilltop Club, a private invitation-only vacation club. This allows them to invite the sorts of people they "like", and exclude any (minorities) they don't. Enid accepts and flies to North Carolina to stay at the club for a while.

The first night, Enid's sleep is disturbed by an apparent fight on the terrace below her window. The next day, guest Samuel Thompson is missing. The police are called in, drag the lake, and recover his body - tied up and weighted down with a rock.

Another guest, Ted Hadley, annoys Enid with his persistent questioning about what she saw, and personal details about her background. Enid rebuffs him repeatedly, asking him if he is with the police - which he denies. He mentions the dead man is not really Samuel Thompson, but Anthony Rizzo, a construction company owner from Connecticut.

Review: Anyone who has dealt with settling their parents' estate and liquidating the family home will recognize the deep responsibility in the opening chapter - it is a somber process.

The descriptions of the Hilltop Club are enjoyable, although this book could have benefitted from a sketch map of the place. 

I had expected to action to move back to Connecticut, but everything wrapped in North Carolina; so we don't find out if the Towne property sold or not.

The 1970's show through here, will thinly-disguised racism: the Stantons don't want any Blacks for guests, but they are perfectly fine having them as servants. As in other Lockridge books, constant drinking is featured throughout. And the interstate highway boom is in full swing - which is part of the plot. 

It seems the conservative North Carolina liquor laws about mixed drinks and private clubs described in the book - which were strange to begin with - persisted in some form until 2022 but have now changed substantially. Check the changes before traveling there and drinking.

Also see this review by Bev Hankins on My Reader's Block. 

More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham, 1949

 

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About the author: Margery Louise Allingham (1904 – 1966) was an English novelist from the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", best remembered for her hero, the gentleman sleuth Albert Campion. Initially believed to be a parody of Dorothy L. Sayers's detective Lord Peter Wimsey, Campion formed the basis for 18 novels and many short stories. (from Wikipedia)

Major characters:

• Roxana "Ruth" Palinode, deceased prior to story
• Edward Palinode, deceased prior to story
• Lawrence Palinode
• Jessica Palinode
• Evadne Palinode
• Clytie White, a Palinode niece
• Renee Roper, rooming house owner
• Captain Alastair Seton, a tenant
• Jas. Bowels, undertaker
• Pa Wilde, a chemist (pharmacist)
• Detective Albert Campion
• Magerfontein Lugg, Campion's manservant

Locale: London

Synopsis: Albert Campion learns about the odd Palinode family - classicly educated, once wealthy, now almost destitute due to failed investments. Roxana ("Ruth") and Edward have already passed away, now it appears they had been poisoned - so Campion is investigating the deaths. The three remaining Palinodes (Lawrence, Jessica, and Evadne) and their niece Clytie White live in a rooming house on quiet Apron Street, run by Renee Roper. Another tenant is hard-drinking elderly Captain Alastair Seton.

Meanwhile, suspicious happenings occur at Jas. Bowels' undertaking establishment across the street. Bowels rents the basement of Roper's house to store his coffins. There are instances of unexplained coffin removals from the basement in the dead of night.

The poison that killed Ruth gets traced back to the local chemist, Pa Wilde, who, during questioning,  suddenly takes poison himself  and dies. 

Campion investigates three threads: the poisoning of Ruth, the exhumation of Edward, and the strange coffin shuffling by Jas. Bowels. 

Review: This book reminds me of Martha Grimes' Inspector Richard Jury stories - Campion is mostly an observer, has a comic-relief sidekick Magerfontein Lugg (think of Melrose Plant), and a police officer Charlie Luke, D.D.I. (think of Sgt. Wiggins) who does the legwork. 

An enjoyable episode is the "high speed" chase of the horse-drawn hearse wagon, with the police cars using the newfangled "wireless radios" to full advantage. 

The true story behind the coffin movements is revealed at the end, and it was a surprise; yet totally believable. 

The Palinodes have their own private language, using classical quotations to fit the situation. Distracting, and doesn't add anything to the plot.

I was disappointed that we never learn the results of the exhumation of Edward. That story line got dropped after a brief mention that he was indeed dug up, but we never find out what happened to him.