Sergeant Sir Peter by Edgar Wallace, 1933

 

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About the author: Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was a prolific British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and countless articles in newspapers and journals (Goodreads). In terms of production, by cranking out one novel per month, he was the British equivalent of Erle Stanley Gardner. See this Wikipedia article.

Synopsis: Sergeant Sir Peter is Peter Dunn, Scotland Yard's debonair young aristocrat detective. After the war, Peter Dunn inherited a fortune and a baronetcy. Now he consults for Scotland Yard for modest fees to make the relationship legal. This title consists of eight vignettes (seven short stories, one novella) from his adventures:

Case I: The Four Missing Merchants - Peter Dunn is introduced to the reader. After inheriting a title, he steps back from routine police work to focus on special problem cases of Scotland Yard. He becomes aware of cases where merchants take a holiday, then do not return as expected. He finds they are all intertwined with an Indian doctor, Dr. Lal Singh, who has a history with the police.

Case II: The Desk Breaker: Sir Peter investigates a case of a burglar who breaks into homes, rifles through desks and letters, yet steals nothing.

Case III: The Inheritor: Sir Peter investigates a case of a wealthy man who accuses his butler of stealing a small amount from his desk, then abruptly changes his mind. 

Case IV: Dr. Fifer's Patient: Sir Peter grudgingly accepts an invitation to meet Dr. Cornelius Fifer, a crime expert from America. No sooner does Dr. Fifer arrive, than he is murdered in a locked bathroom.

Case V: The Burglar Alarm: Sir Peter investigates a jewel theft from a heavily protected business. The alarm goes off, but a woman leans out the window to explain to the police she is the secretary and set it off accidentally. Neither is true.

Case VI: Buried Treasure: Some crooks staged a robbery and the loot was never recovered. Now one of them decides to reveal its location.

Case VII: The Principles of Jo Loless: An ex-con gives a sob story to Sir Peter which leads to a car accident, burglary, and murder. 

Case VIII: The Death Watch (novella): Sir Peter meets and falls in love with Patricia Hannay, who lives at Diggins Folly, believed to be haunted by the dreaded Deathwatch Beetle. The house is staffed with a strange assortment of servants, none of whom are what they appear.

Review: The entire book is enjoyable and hilarious, and the highlight is The Death Watch. Every imaginable mystery trope is tossed in: two identical houses side by side - one derelict, the other sumptuous; a damsel in distress, a creepy prowler who is not what he appears, a creepy butler who is not what he appears, a creepy gardener who is not what he appears, a creepy maid who is not what she appears, a creepy professor who is not what he appears, secret passages, ghosts, oiled hinges, a missing fortune, screams in the night, an ominous deathwatch beetle clicking away in the night to mark an upcoming death, and of course a beautiful blonde who has caught Peter's eye but will have nothing to do with him.