Murder at Bratton Grange by John Rhode, 1929

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This title was also published as The Davidson Case. It is Dr. Priestley #6.

About the author: John Rhode is one of the pseudonyms used by Cecil John Charles Street. He also wrote as Miles Burton.

Major characters:

• Guy Davidson
• Sir Hector Davidson, his cousin
• Olga Watkins, Sir Hector's secretary
• Frederick Cannon, Sir Hector's butler/chauffeur
• Philip Lowry, Chief Designer
• Tom White, van driver
• Dr. --- Priestley
• Harold Merefield, Priestley's secretary
• Chief Inspector Hanslet, Scotland Yard

Locale: London and Bratton Grange

Synopsis: Sir Hector Davidson is the president of Davidson's, a London manufacturer of laboratory equipment. His cousin, Guy Davidson, was drummed out of the business so Hector could milk all the profits to himself. Hector gives notice to his chief designer, Philip Lowry, because of a patent condition which gave him 30% of the profits while he is employed.

Hector also has a taste for the ladies, making weekend visits to his country house at Bratton Grange with various women. He also makes unwanted advances to his secretary, Olga Watkins, who is the girlfriend of Lowry.

Hector dismisses Lowry early one afternoon, and once he is out of the way, packs up a crate with the valuable patterns of their product. He takes the box on the train to Bratton Grange. He obtains a ride from the station with Tom White, riding in the back of the van, sitting on the box. When the van arrives at Bratton Grange, Hector is found dead inside of a stab wound.

Guy  Davidson enlists the help of Dr. Priestley and his assistant Harold Merefield to investigate. It is a puzzle, Hector was alive at the start of the ride, but dead at the end - inside a closed van. And the box of valuable patterns is missing.

Review: Oh, this book was a lot of fun! I couldn't put this one down. It has a locked-room type puzzle (the van being the locked room), and a small cast of characters. I had a hunch the box was the key to the puzzle, and what I thought happened wasn't quite it. There were several possible explanations considered throughout the book, of course not of these were the solution.

Dr. Priestley is not too enthusiastic about the issue, and mostly stays at home grumbling while his assistant Harold Merefield runs around and does the leg work - in much the same mold as Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. 

The identity of the killer came as a big surprise with a clever workaround in court at the end. This is an excellent, clever, fast-paced book.

 

Death in the Tunnel by Miles Burton, 1936

About the author: Miles Burton is a pseudonym of Cecil John Charles Street, MC, OBE (3 May 1884 – 8 December 1964), who was known to his colleagues, family and friends as John Street. Here is a Wikipedia article about him. He has one other title in the Mystery League series: The Hardway Diamonds Mystery.

Major characters:

• Sir Wifred Saxonby, chairman of importer Wigland and Bunthorne
• Miss Olivia Saxonby, his niece, a director of the firm
• Richard Saxonby, his son, the other director of the firm
• Irene Wardour, his daughter
• Stephen Wardour, her estranged husband
• Henry Torrance, secretary of the firm
• Malcolm Dredger, retired manager of the firm
• Yates, a mysterious visitor
• Inspector Arnold, C.I.D. Scotland Yard
• Desmond Merrion, amateur criminologist

Locale: London and environs

Synopsis: Sir Wifred Saxonby, chairman of importer Wigland and Bunthorne, is travelling home alone in a first-class train compartment. The corridor door is locked, the outside door unlocked. He is alive and well when the train enters a long tunnel. Midway through the tunnel, the engineer is surprised by a red signal, and begins to stop the train. The signal changes to green, and he resumes speed. After the train exits the tunnel, Sir Wilfred is found shot to death, a pistol close at hand. But is it suicide or murder?

It is quickly determined Sir Wilfred had no cause at all for suicide. It is also discovered he arranged for all his family members - and also his business associates - to be away simultaneously, essentially eliminating their opportunity to do the deed.

Inspector Arnold of the C.I.D., Scotland Yard, investigates this locked-room puzzle. He consults with amateur criminologist Desmond Merrion, and together they work through the possible solutions. The vital question is the significance of the strange railway signals - since there are no signal lamps inside the tunnel, and it can be proven no one was in the tunnel itself.

Review:  I'll save you a lot of mental effort by providing this sketch of the train in the two-track tunnel. A lot of words are used to describe this, when a sketch would have been more valuable.

U.S. readers should note that unlike American railcars, British compartments have two doors: in addition to the usual one opening to a corridor, there is a second door which opens directly to the outside.

The continuing conversation between Arnold and Merrion is essentially a narration of the investigation, and serves well. However, it does get tedious at times as they explore avenues which are later eliminated.

Also please see this review by Bev Hankins on My Reader's Block, and this review by Kate on Crossexaminingcrime.

The Secret of High Eldersham by Miles Burton (1931)

 

 

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About this edition: This edition contains a teaser of the first chapter of the next edition (The Gutenberg Murders by Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning).

collectionimages.npg.org.uk

About the author: Miles Burton is a pseudonym of Cecil John Charles Street, MC, OBE (3 May 1884 – 8 December 1964), who was known to his colleagues, family and friends as John Street. Here is a Wikipedia article about him. He has one other title in the Mystery League series: The Hardway Diamonds Mystery.

Principal characters:

• George Thorold - owner of the Rose and Crown tavern
• Hugh Dunsford - former operator of the tavern
• Samuel Whitehead - new operator of the tavern
• Ned Portch - tavern patron
• Walter Hosier - tavern patron
• Constable Viney - the local constable
• Colonel Bateman - Chief Constable of the County
• Inspector Robert Young of Scotland Yard
• Desmond Merrion, friend of Young, the civilian investigator
• Newport, Merron's manservant
• Sir William Owerton, magistrate and book collector
• Mavis Owerton, his attractive daughter
• Lt. Laurence Hollesley of Elder House
• Thorburn, a.k.a. Gregson, Hollesley's manservant

Locale: The village of High Eldersham, England

Synopsis: Action centers around the Rose and Crown Tavern, a struggling little pub faced with a loss of business due to its isolated location. Hugh Dunsford, operator, can't make a go of it and the owner, George Thorold, finds a new operator: Samuel Whitehead, retired policeman. 

One evening Samuel Whitehead is found stabbed to death in the tavern, after closing hours. The money remains in the till, so what is the motive?

Nearby village High Eldersham has a quiet farming population and the locals don't particularly want anyone new around. 

Constable Viney inquires around the village, and suspicion initially falls on Ned Portch, one of the last to see Whitehead alive. Chief Constable Bateman calls in Scotland Yard, who sends Inspector Young. Young's friend Desmond Merrion does most the the legwork investigating, finding that the locals have taken up witchcraft and go all in for secret ceremonies in the woods, where they use a mommet doll to inflict injury and misery to various persons.

The Hardway Diamonds Mystery by Miles Burton (1930)

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About this edition: This is one of five titles released  simultaneously in a Christmas boxed set. These are the only five titles appearing in the green cloth binding..

collectionimages.npg.org.uk

About the author: Miles Burton is a pseudonym of Cecil John Charles Street, MC, OBE (3 May 1884 – 8 December 1964), who was known to his colleagues, family and friends as John Street. Here is a Wikipedia article about him. He has one other title in the Mystery League series: The Secret of High Eldersham.

Characters:

• Lord Hardway
• Lady Daphne Hardway, his wife, owner of the diamonds
• Dick Penhampton (a.k.a. Captain Blackwood) - Lady Daphne's brother
• Jerry Gould (a.k.a. Sid Evans) - Dick Penhamton's service buddy
• Alison Weatherleigh - Dick's girlfriend
• Dr. Weatherleigh -   Alison's father, of Lestridge Hall
• Thomas "Pussy" Herridge - second story thief
• The "Funny Toff" - legendary master criminal
• Ibbotson, retired money lender, second theft victim
• Detective Inspector Brooks - of the C.I.D.
• Sir Edric Conway - of Scotland Yard

Locale: England

Synopsis: Pussy Herridge breaks into Lord Hardway's home one foggy night and makes off with Lady Daphne Hardway's valuable diamond necklace. On the street, he is immediately nabbed by an apparent plain-clothes man, who handcuffs him and relieves him of the necklace. Pussy manages to escape and flees, still in handcuffs. A local constable grabs him on suspicion, and it turns out the plain-clothes man was likely a fake.

Detective Inspector Brooks investigates his sources at the waterfront, trying to find who the fake was. Shortly after, he turns up dead.

Lady Daphne's brother, Dick Penhamton, decides to investigate on his own. He and his buddy, Jerry Gould, take a room at the waterfront and assume new identities (Dick = Captain Blackwood, Jerry = Sid Evans). Dick gets a lead on the "Funny Toff", the criminal who is rumored to be behind the theft. He gets his name from his maniacal laugh. Dick gets a summons to a night meeting, and arrives to find the only person present is Pussy Herridge - dead.

Next Ibbotson, retired money lender, has jewels stolen from his home. This is followed by a theft from Seccombe & Armitage, diamond merchants.

Review: This is a most enjoyable adventure. The opening episode of Pussy wandering in the fog puts the reader directly into a lonely, mysterious fog-bound night on the back streets of London. His flight while handcuffed is quite hilarious - and reminds me of the similar episode in John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps. The next episode concerning the packing box dumped in the street is audacious and a Leslie Charteris-like adventure.

Speaking of Leslie Charteris, Dick Penhamton is very similar to Simon Templar (The Saint): an immaculate, wealthy, educated amateur who detects on his own to chase down the ungodly. Alison plays the part corresponding to Charteris' Patricia Holm. When Dick heads out to the riverfront appointment, the atmosphere of the decaying house on the mud flats is perfect and quite creepy. 

If you enjoy The Saint, you will enjoy this book. Now I am on the lookout for more Miles Burton titles. Just found that British Library Crime Classics has reprinted his Death in the Tunnel in paperback, and grabbed a copy online.