The Mystery of Hunting's End by Mignon G. Eberhart. 1930

 

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The Nurse Sarah Keate series:

1. The Patient in Room 18

2. The Mystery of Hunting's End

3. While the Patient Slept 

4. From This Dark Stairway

5. Murder by an Aristocrat (a.p.a. Murder of My Patient)

6. Wolf in Mans Clothing

7. Man Missing

About the author: Mignon Good (1899-1996) was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1929 her first crime novel was published featuring 'Sarah Keate', a nurse and 'Lance O'Leary', a police detective. This couple appeared in another four novels. Over the next forty years she wrote a novel nearly every year. In 1971 she won the Grand Master award from the Mystery Writers of America. (from Goodreads)

Major characters:

Huber Kingery, murdered five years prior to story

Matil Kingery, the hostess

Aunt Lucy Kingery, the patient

Miss Sarah Keate, nurse

The guests:

Juilian Barre

Gerald Frawley

Lawrence "Lil" Killian

Newell Morse

Signor José Paggi, opera singer

Signora Helene Paggi, his wife

Terice, Baroness Von Tircum

Lance O'Leary, detective undercover

The staff:

Annette, the cook

Brunker, the manservant

Locale: The Sand Hills, Nebraska

Synopsis: Wealthy socialite Matil Kingery is hosting a strange house party in her "hunting lodge" in desolate Nebraska. Five years ago, the lodge was full and someone shot and killed her father, and the killer never identified. She takes it upon herself to restage the event in the hopes of finding out which one of the guests was the killer, inviting the same assortment of guests and placing them all in the same rooms. 

This time there are two new faces. Nurse Sarah Keate, hired to nurse her now-elderly aunt Lucy Kingery; and Detective Lance O'Leary in an undercover role posing as Sarah's friend.

Once everyone is settled in - with one change, Gerald Frawley taking the late Huber Kingery's room, a days-long snowstorm bears in and isolates the party.

Everyone views each other with suspicion - knowing this is really a plot to reveal a killer. Then Gerald Frawley is shot to death - in the same room Huber met his end five years ago. The killer is still among them.

O'Leary and Keate partially solve (method but not the killer's identity) the first set of murders (Huber and Frawley), and it looks like a wrap is imminent, but wait - another murder occurs and we still don't have the answers. 

Review: I always enjoy a snowbound house party with a killer on the loose. This story has many similarities to another of my favorites, Deep Lay the Dead by Frederick C. Davis (1942) even including a snowstorm, no electricity or phone, a couple of dead bodies, and a famous musician as one of the guests.

I began to be suspicious when Frawley dies in the same room as Huber, even winding up in the same position. Then Frawley's body disappears, which was a plot twist I was not expecting. Usually when the body disappears, the victim is not really dead - but that was not the case.

The setup is excellent, down to the detailed map. Pairs of rooms, all separated by baths. Much is made of the lock arrangement, which is integral to the plot. Please note the terms 'gallery' and 'balcony' ae used interchangeably.

The Paggis are an enjoyable couple, as are bejewelled Terice, and the servants: crusty Brunker from Central Casting and lush Annette the cook. Barre, Killian, and Morse seemed rather two-dimensional throughout; but then again they are investment bankers.

An enjoyable read when a snowstorm is imminent.

See also this review by Bev Hankins on My Reader's Block. 

The Late Monsieur Gallet by Georges Simenon, 1931

 

This is Inspector Maigret #3.

About the author: Georges Joseph Christian Simenon ( 1903 –  1989) was a Belgian writer, most famous for his fictional detective Jules Maigret. One of the most popular authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 novels, 21 volumes of memoirs and many short stories, selling over 500 million copies. (wikipedia) 

Major Characters:

• M. Emile Gallet, the deceased; a.k.a. M. Clement
• Mme. Aurore Gallet, the widow
• M. Henry gallet, the son
• Eleonore Boursand, Henry's girlfriend
• Tiburce de Saint-Hilaire, neighbor to the inn
• M. Tardivon, innkeeper
• M. Jacob, a newspaper seller
• Inspector Jules Maigret
• Joseph Moers, a police technician

Locale: Saint Fargeau and Sancerre, France

Synopsis: Inspector Maigret is called to investigate the death of M. Emile Gallet, who was shot and stabbed in quick succession in an inn. Maigret informs the widow, Mme. Aurore Gallet. 

Maigret finds Gallet had been living a double life. He was pretending to still be employed as a commercial traveler (salesman) for a flatware company, when in fact he had not worked for them for many years. He had arranged for postcards to be sent home from his supposed sales stops to support this story to his wife, when in fact he was staying in a hotel in Sancerre under the name of M. Clement.

Maigret spends time in the crime scene room, trying to put himself into the character of Gallet. He finds the shot came in through the window. He interviews the innkeeper, M. Tardivon, and adjacent property owner, Tiburce de Saint-Hilaire. He calls in a police technician, Joseph Moers, to reconstruct some ashes found in the fireplace; and while he is doing so, two shots come in the window and injure him. 

Review: This was an interesting read as Maigret slowly ponders the character of M. Gallet, and tries to reconstruct his final day. I found it interesting how he arranged the clothes of the deceased on the floor and even stuck the knife into them to try to re-enact the murder. 

There is a long episode dealing with Tiburce de Saint-Hilaire which delves into the history of his name, and it  is not relevant to plot and stalls the story quite a bit.

I did feel cheated at the end. Without giving it away, I will just say a murderer is not brought to justice and the case is 'written off'. The murder method turned out to be a mechnical contrivance like something from John Dickson Carr.

Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham, 1930

 

ABE Books

This is Albert Campion #2. It also was published in the Collier Front Page Mystery series.

About the author: Margery Louise Allingham (1904 – 1966) was an English novelist from the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction". Allingham is 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 matured into a strongly individual character, part-detective, part-adventurer, who formed the basis for 18 novels and many short stories. (wikipedia) 

Major characters:

• Judge Crowdy Lobbett
• Marlowe Lobbett, his son
• Isopel Lobbett, his daughter
• Giles Paget, owner of the Manor on Mystery Mile
• Biddy Paget, his sister
• Ali Fergusson Barber, art dealer
• Anthony Datchett, palm reader
• St. Swithen Cush, rector
• Albert Campion, amateur detective

Locale: Mystery Mile, on an island in the River Orwell, Suffolk, England

Synopsis: Judge Crowdy Lobbett is heading to England on a liner, hoping to avoid assassins who seem to be after him in revenge for his sentencing members of the notorious Simister Gang. He is accompanied by his son Marlowe and daughter Isopel. He arranges to rent a quiet manor, owned by Giles Paget and his sister Biddy, who are anxious to get some rental income from it. 

The Manor is located on Mystery Mile, a the name given to a small village contained on an island, connected to the mainland by a causeway ("The Stroud"). The Lobbetts seek out Albert Campion to detect whether the assassins have followed the Lobbetts to England. All seems quiet until the rector, St. Swithen Cush, commits suicide; leaving behind a note and a red chess piece as a clue. Then Judge Lobbett disappears without a trace when walking through the hedges of the manor's maze, but leaves behind a cryptic note.

Review: I was pleased this paperback edition came with a map of Mystery Mile. I checked my Collier Front Page edition, it has the same map, larger with much clearer notations. I could not read some of them on the paperback version. The map is a piece of art in itself! Notice one cherub has a magnifying glass, the other a gun!

This is an enchanting story with lots of color. There are the Seven Whistlers who watch for comings and goings over The Stroud, a mysterious case full of children's books, a red chess piece, and of course the judge who walked into the maze and was not seen again.

Thoroughly enjoyable, and another Campion under my belt.

The Stargazey by Martha Grimes, 1998

 

About the author: This is #15 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:

• Nancy Pastis, the victim in the herb garden
• Kate McBride, lookalike to Nancy Pastis
• Simeon Pitt, retired art critic
• the Fabricant family, art gallery owners
• Beatrice Slocum, artist
• Mona Dresser, retired actress
• Superintendent Richard Jury, of Scotland Yard
• Melrose Plant, a.k.a. Lord Ardry, his friend

Locale: London

Synopsis: Richard Jury is riding a double-decker bus early one evening and is enthralled with a stylish blonde woman wearing a sable coat. He sees her exit the bus, walk several blocks, reboard, and get off at the next stop. Jury, curious, also deboards and follows her as she turns into historical site Fulham Palace; at which point he turns around for home.

The next day, Jury hears a woman was found shot to death in the herb garden of Fulham Palace, and was  wearing a sable coat. Jury, fearful it was the woman he had seen, inquires to find the woman resembled the woman on the bus, but it was not her. The question is: how did the sable coat get from woman A to woman B? 

The dead woman is identified as Nancy Pastis. Jury tracks down the woman he had seen, who turns out to be Kate McBride. She is arrested on suspicion. Jury insists it was she on the bus, but she denies it.

The trail of the sable coat leads to the art gallery owned by the complicated Fabricant family,  and retired actress Mona Dresser, original owner of the coat.

Review: It was a bit confusing following which blonde-in-the-coat was which, but it did finally settle down to Nancy Pastis being the dead one and Kate McBride being the live one. I guessed the "secret" of  the white paintings right away, when it was stated the artist was painting on sandpaper mounted on the canvas! 

The episodes at the Cripps home is always fun, and a bit disgusting all at once. But that's where Bea Slocum lives, so we had to visit.

I'm beginning to think that every Jury novel has a 10-year-old girl who has a secret clue which only Melrose Plant can pry out. That's OK, every 10-year-old girl has been different except for her age.

The "usuals" only put in a brief appearance in the pub. Overall, an enjoyable read; although I did miss Aunt Agatha in this one. 

Death By Appointment by Francis Bonnamy, 1931

About the author: Francis Bonnamy (1906-1983) was a pseudonym of Audrey Boyers Walz. Peter Utley Shane was her series detective and appeared in at least eight novels, beginning with this one. Here is her obituary.

Major characters:

• Francis Bonnamy, the author, narrator, and professor
• Peter Shane, head of the University of Chicago Criminology Dept.
• Karl Von Frantzius, a German archeologist
• --- Salamo, gang boss
• Rosa "Hippolyte" Bora, Salamo's girlfriend
• Archangelo di Gioia, another gang boss
• Flavio, his bodyguard
• Sfelazza, one of his lackeys
• Mike Macy, another gang boss

Locale: Chicago

Synopsis: Professor Peter Shane is the expert on Chicago's criminal gangs, having written a large dissertation about them. Prohibition gang boss --- Salamo is found dead on the dance floor of the Cotillion Club, his girlfriend Hippolyte Bora posing nearby in a slinky dress. 

The police call in Shane and fellow professor Francis Bonnamy  (in a multiple role as author, narrator, and professor)  to investigate, due to their exhaustive research and knowledge of gang activities. The Medical Examiner is called, and despite there being a stiletto found on the body, finds the wound was made by something much longer - a rapier.

Review: This immediately struck me as being structured like the S. S. Van Dine novels. Like those, the author has inserted himself/herself into the text as the narrator, so Francis Bonnamy is one of the characters - a professor at the University of Chicago. 

We are treated to the world of 1920's prohibition gangsters, always well-dressed and with perfect manners (think of Guys and Dolls); although with obviously limited education. It is amusing how the two professors use "big" words which the gangsters don't understand, and have to resort to dumbing down their vocabulary.