The Fear Sign by Margery Allingham, 1933

 

This is Albert Campion #5.

Also published as Sweet Danger (UK) and Kingdom of Death (USA)

Major characters:

• Albert Campion
• Magersfontein Lugg, Campion's butler/valet
• Augustus "Guffy" Randall
• Jonathan Eager-Wright, a mountaineer
• Dicky Farquharson, a mining engineer
• M. Etienne Fleurey, hotel manager
• Sniffy Edwards, a rat-faced crook
• Peaky Doyle, crook with the pronounced widow's peak
• Brett Savanake, financier
• Amanda Fitton, a Huntingforest heiress

Locale: Village of Pontisbright, Suffolk, England

Synopsis: Averna is a tiny principality in the Balkans, deeded centuries ago to the Huntingforest family. Long forgotten and abandoned until an earthquake rearranges things, it suddenly has an enviable seaport. The British government enlists Albert Campion to investigate and reclaim ownership. Campion and friends Guffy Randall, Jonathan Eager-Wright, and Dicky Farquharson pose as the Hereditary Paladin and his entourage, and journey - not to Averna, but to the tiny Suffolk village of Pontisbright; wherein are the only remaining Huntingforest heirs. Campion seeks the three proofs of ownership: a crown, a charter, and a receipt. 

The meet charming young Amanda Fitton, who operates a mill with an attached dynamo; which she uses to recharge batteries for the villagers. She also has an electric car (and this is 1933!). While Campion seeks the three proofs, he has competition from an evil financier Brett Savanake, who wants them for his own ends.

Review: This story, while written in 1933, reminds me of the Superintendent Richard Jury series (by Martha Grimes) with a titled hero and an sidekick who works the amusing locals, combined with the all-hell-breaks-loose adventures of the Tommy Hambledon stories (by Manning Coles). If you enjoy either of those authors, you will like this one. It also has overtones of the tiny principality comedies (The Mouse That Roared, for one).

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

The Glass Village by Ellery Queen, 1954

 

AbeBooks

About the author: Ellery Queen is a crime fiction pseudonym created in 1929 by Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, and later used by other authors under Dannay and Lee's supervision. Dannay and Lee's main fictional character, whom they also named Ellery Queen, is a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve baffling murders. (from Wikipedia - full article). 

Major characters:

• Judge Lewis Shinn
• Johnny Shinn,  the Judge's distant cousin
• Laban Hemus, a local farm hand, killed in a fight Joe Gonzoli
• Joe Gonzoli, itinerant farm worker who killed Laban
• "Aunt" Fanny Adams, elderly artist
• Ferriss Adams, her grand-nephew
• Josef Kowalczyk, itinerant 
• Judge Andrew Webster
• Roger Casavant, art expert

Locale: Shinn Corners, somewhere in rural New England

Synopsis: New Yorker Johnny Shinn comes to visit his distant cousin, Judge Lewis Shinn. The Judge is the local 'head' of rural Shinn Corner, a small village slowly fading away in the shadow of two larger nearby towns (Comfort and Cudbury). He is preparing to give his traditional Fourth of July oration on the town square.

The Judge tells Johnny of the long-standing animosity between the dwindling local 'Puritans' and outsiders. Years ago, the situation escalated when farm hand Laban Hemus found his girlfriend, Adaline Greave, lying with itinerant farm worker Joe Gonzoli in the hay loft. Enraged, Laban went for Joe with a pitchfork. Joe replied with a knife, killing Laban. The townsfolk wanted vengeance on Joe for killing their native son, but it went to trial and he was acquitted on self-defense.

Now an itinerant farm worker, Josef Kowalczyk, has visited artist "Aunt" Fanny Adams, spillting her firewood in exchange for a meal. When he leaves, she is found dead; and the outrage against outsiders grows. Kowalczyk is brought to a sham trial (intended to calm the locals). The underlying fear is that if he is innocent, one of their own imust be guilty.

Review: The opening is a poignant story of a fading small town, and Ellery Queen describes small town life like no other. My edition has a sketch map of the town and the writer takes us through each street and building introducing the characters.

There is no Ellery Queen, detective in the story. That role is played by Judge Shinn and Johnny Shinn. Their plan to calm the locals and find the killer is clever, although frought with danger. The process of elimination to find the killer is suspenseful, even though it ultimately fails to do so. The answer is found when an outside art expert arrives on the scene.

The Case of the Baited Hook by Erle Stanley Gardner, 1940

 

Babylon Revisited Rare Books

About the author: Erle Stanley Gardner (1889 – 1970) was an American lawyer and author. He is best known for the Perry Mason series of detective stories. The best-selling American author of the 20th century at the time of his death, Gardner also published under numerous pseudonyms, including A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray and Robert Parr. (wikipedia)

Major characters:

• Robert Peltham, architect and hospital trustee
• Abigail E. Tump
• Byrl Gailord, adoptee from Russia
• Albert Tidings, hospital trustee
• Nadine Holmes, Albert's estranged wife, actress
• Parker C. Stell, hospital trustee
• Adelle Hastings, who endowed Hastings Memorial Hospital
• Carl Mattern, Tiding's secretary

Locale: Los Angeles

Synopsis: Act 1: Robert Peltham, architect, hires Perry Mason to protect the interests of a mystery woman, who comes to his office masked. He cannot explain why, only that he expects to be exposed in something scandalous. He pays a retainer and then cuts a $10,000 bill in half, giving Mason half and the woman half; so that she can prove her identity to Mason in the future if need be.

Act 2: Abigial Tump seeks to hire Mason. She had brought a refugee girl out of Russia, and through an agency the child (Byrl) was placed with Frank and Marjorie Gailord. Byrl took the Gailord name as her own. Frank and Marjorie have passed away, and Byrl, now of age, has income from a trust they established. The trustee is Albert Tidings. Abigail claims Tidings is a crook, and wants Mason to have the courts replace him with a different trustee.

Act 3: A financial scandal erupts at Hastings Memorial Hospital. An audit is ordered, and the three trustees appear to mixed up in the trouble. The trustees are Robert Peltham, Albert Tidings, and Parker C. Stell. The hospital is endowed by wealthy Adelle Hastings, who tells Mason that Stell is the only honest one of the trustees. Mason already knows Peltham. He goes to find Tidings, and walks into his estranged wife's house to find him dead.

Review: Being one of the early Mason titles, this is back when he was directly descended from the pulps - not hesitating to rough people up, perform illegal searches, and manufacture and manipulate 'evidence'. 

There is no Lt. Tragg, but Sgt. Holcomb provides a lot of conflict for Mason.

It was a bit involved following the Gailord family line. Here is the sequence:

1. Frank and Marjorie Gailord were the original adoptive parents of Byrl Gailord
2. Frank died.
3. Marjorie remarried (her second) to Albert Tidings
4. Marjorie died.
5. Tidings remarried (his second) to Nadine Holmes
6. They became separated.
7. Tidings found dead in Nadine's home.

The big surprise of the book was the lack of a courtroom scene! The only thing remotely like it is a brief meeting in the D.A.'s office. 

If you like tough-guy Mason, this is him before he got more desk-bound and mellow.

The Case Has Altered by Martha Grimes, 1997

 

About the author: This is #14 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:

• Max Owen, master of Fengate
• Grace Owen, his wife
• Jack Price, their nephew; a sculptor
• Verna Dunn, Max's first wife, an actress, victim #1
• Dorcas Reese, the Owens' maid, victim #2
• Lady Jennifer Kennington, Verna;'s cousin and the prime suspect in her death 
• Annie Suggins, the Owens' cook
• Burt Suggins, the Owen's handyman, husband of Annie
• Major Linus Parker, the Owens' neighbor
• Peter Emery, Parker's groundskeeper
• Zel, Emery;s 10-year old niece
• Inspector Arthur Bannen, Lincolnshire police
• Superintendent Richard Jury, of Scotland Yard
• Melrose Plant, his friend

Locale: the Lincolnshire Fens

Synopsis: Inspector Arthur Bannen of the Lincolnshire police has two murders on his hands. The first was Verna Dunn, actress, who was shot while visiting her ex-husband Max Owen. She was last seen alive arguing with her cousin, Lady Jennifer Kennington. The second was the Owen's maid and cook's assistant, young Dorcas Reese; found floating in the waters of the nearby visitor's center for the Lincolnshire fens. 

Superintendent Richard Jury is interested as widowed Lady Kennington is a friend of his (and possible love interest). Lady Kennington is the prime suspect in Verna's death. Jury gets friend Melrose Plant to visit the Owens in the guise of an antiques appraiser, of which Plant knows nothing - but is coached by antique dealer Marshall Trueblood. 

Melrose circulates among the locals, and his most promising lead is Zel, a 10-year old girl who seems to know more than she reveals. She is the niece of Peter Emery, the blind groundskeeper for the Owen's neighbor, Major Linus Parker.

Review: This is one of the best Jury novels thus far. The two deaths have occurred just prior to the story, and the tension builds throughout. The murderer was a complete mystery to me - although Grimes plays strictly fair with the reader. The actual reveal only occurs in the final pages which left me wondering how could I not have seen it?

The characters are quite believable, and as usual, there is a young girl (Zel) who has a starring role. The only dud character is Lady Jenny Kennington herself, who has minimal involvement and is usually offstage. She is a cardboard cutout propped up here and there when needed. 

There is a lot of comic relief in two subplots:

1. Aunt Agatha taking local Ada Crisp to court over a chamber pot incident. We get to see two parallel court cases progress in alternating chapters: Lady Kennington for murder (serious), and Ada Crisp for leaving a chamber pot on the sidewalk where Aunt Agatha would step in it (amusing). We get to see flamboyant Marshall Trueblood in a new role, as an amateur defense attorney.

2. Melrose Plant gets talked into pretending to be an antiques appraiser in order to infiltrate the Owen household. He gets a crash course in antiques from Marshall Trueblood, and the fun begins when he enters the house and finds his knowledge quite inadequate.

As usual, reading the series in order is recommended, as various past incidents, like victims, are always floating to the surface.