The House with the Blue Door by Hulbert Footner (1942)

 

dustjackets.com

About the author: See this Wikipedia article.

Major characters:

• Sandra Cassells, wealthy social reformer
• Agnes Delaplaine. her housekeeper
• Sieg Ammon, ex-Sing Sing prison
• Letty Ammon, his wife
• Richard "Blondy" Farren, ex-Sing Sing prison
• Queenie Deane, night club singer
• "Handbag Hattie" Oliver, a thief 35
• "Spanish Jack" D'Acosta, 44, croupier
• Soup and Mary Kennedy, cooks
• Amos Lee Mappin, investigator

Locale: New York City

Synopsis: Wealthy social reformer Sandra Cassells always has to have a Project. Her latest is buying a shabby house in lower Manhattan, and renovating it into a hostel for just-released convicts. She is quite selective about her guests: they have to be on the younger side, and have potential for rehabiliation.

Sandra invites her friend, investigator Amos Lee Mappin, to dinner to meet her first three residents: Sieg and Letty Ammon, and Richard "Blondy" Farren. She names the place "Hope House" and looks to the Ammons to be the hosts at the home (which had its front door repainted blue as part of the spruce-up), along with Soup and Mary Kennedy as cooks/housekeepers. Mappin cautions her that this plan could lead to all sorts of trouble if she is not careful.

It becomes apparent that Blondy has his eyes on Letty, so she arranges for him to get a job in distant Cleveland instead. She recruits a third boarder, "Spanish Jack" D'Acosta, an out-of-work croupier. Letty sneaks out one night to meet someone - could it be Blondy? - and she winds up dead.

Review: Amos Lee Mappin is a great unofficial investigator - he is tight with the authorities, and he has the plodding, detail oriented work ethic of the detective. You can feel the tension build at the home as it becomes populated with the ex-cons. When Letty is killed, Mappin looks for the smallest details to build a version of what happened. Much of the chase is for a mystery man who has been seen but not identified. This is one of the better Footners I have read, and I am keeping my eye out for more.

The Mystery of the Folded Paper by Hulbert Footner (1930)

 

dustjackets.com

Also published as "The Folded Paper Mystery"

About the author: See this Wikipedia article

Major characters:

• Finlay Corveth, news feature writer
• Nick Peters, watchmaker
• Henny Friend, owner of Boloney Bar
• Nick Casino, a hit man
• Kid River, small time hoodlum
• General Diamond, a mercenary, a.k.a "The American"
• Nipperg, a.k.a. "Robespierre"
• Milly, Kid River's girlfriend
• Mariula Peters, a.k.a. Mary Dare
• Amos Lee Mappin, crime writer

Locale: Manhattan NY and Hoboken NJ (on opposite sides of the Hudson River)

Synopsis: Finlay Corveth, freelance feature writer, visits his old friend Nick Peters in his tiny Manhattan watch repair shop after hearing he had been burglarized. Peters had been hit on the head by a brass ball removed from his bedpost, and the shop ransacked; apparently by someone looking for something they could not find - but they took the brass ball away with them. Peters reveals he has a precious emerald locket hidden away somewhere safe, and says it is intended to be security for a young girl, Mariula Peters, who is away at school.  

Finlay suspects the emerald locket may be in the brass ball, and follows the trail of the ball as it passes through several hands, including a couple of small time thieves Nick Casino and Kid River. He recovers the ball at a scrap metal dealer. Finlay goes to Peter's shop to return it, but finds him strangled to death.

With the help of his friend, crime writer Amos Lee Mappin, they open the ball to find the emerald locket, and inside it a folded up piece of blank paper. They suspect General Diamond is behind the crooks trying to steal it, and strike up a friendship with him.

Mariula Peters, now kicked out of boarding school, is brought to Hoboken and gets an acting part in the theatre, under the stage name Mary Dare. Finlay and Mappin decode the blank paper, and seek out an unknown treasure.

Review:

This story is fast-paced and is fascinating for its look at 1930's Manhattan/New Jersey. It gets a bit dizzying with the constant trips through the Lincoln Tunnel to go back and forth. I am familiar with some of the neighborhoods in which the story is set (Inwood, Kingsbridge, Riverdale); and a map such as on a Dell Mapback would have been helpful. You may wish to get out a map of Manhattan to help you enjoy the story.

I had expected the two-bit hoodlums from the first part (Nick Casino, Kid River and Milly) to reappear, but they never did. Instead we get a couple of arch-criminals which Finlay and Mappin identify by nicknames (The American and Robespierre) as they do not know their real names. We eventually get the real names (General Diamond and Nipperg, respectively). 

Two especially good characters are young Mariula Peters, who gets a surprise ending; and Nipperg's wife, Diasy; who enjoys flirting with with Finlay.

A most amusing scene is when Finlay and Mappin throw General Diamond off the track to the treasure, by substituting a map with fake directions. 

The ending is a satisfying, surprise turn of events.

Murder Runs in the Family by Hulbert Footner (1934)

 

mysteryfile.com

You can read this book online here: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0801401.txt

About the author: See this Wikipedia article.

Major characters:

• Lance McCrea, our protagonist
• Jim Beardmore, mill owner
• Freda Rollin, Jim Beardmore's secretary, Lance's love interest
• Tony Beardmore, Jim's son
• Clinton Beardmore, Jim's half-brother
• Rainer Stanley, Jim's son-in-law
• Peter Bearemore, Jim's late father, a murder victim
• Timothy Wilson, Jim's gardener
• Professor Sempill, Lance's fellow boarder and friend
• Bob Fassett, company gardener

Locale: Connecticut

Synopsis: Lance McCrea has fallen in love at first sight with Freda Rollin, who boards in the same house. Jim's overtures to Freda are rebuffed, as she says she is not free. She appears to have a relationship already with wealthy mill owner Jim Beardmore. Lance and Jim mix it up over Freda.

Lance follows Jim as he picks up a picnic-for-two and goes to his closed-up mansion, Fairfield. Jim enters the library to find Jim dead - but still warm. To his horror, he turns to see a hand reach around the door, grab the key, and shut the door - locking him in with the dead man.

Lance panics as the police approach and runs away, but encounters the murderer in the woods. Police pursue, there is a scuffle, and the murderer kills a policeman, Sgt. Doty. A long chase ensues as Lance evades the police. He is finally caught, but then escapes from the jail. He teams up with company gardener Bob Fassett to infiltrate the Beardmore Linen Mills. The rest of the Beardmore family are running the show with heavy hands; and Lance escapes a murder attempt of being thrown into a vat of acid.

Review: There are a couple of head-scratchers here which linger throughout the book. First, why does Lance run away from the authorities in the first place, as he is innocent? Second, why does he bother to break out of jail - which is, it itself, a crime? 

The murder mystery turns into a chase thriller for most of the book. The title hints at the killer, or at least narrows it down. There is a surprise at the end, unrelated to the murder; which gives a satisfying conclusion to the story. 

One drawback is the high character count. Everyone who pops into the story is named, thus (in my mind) becoming a suspect, and I had to keep a written list of who is who in case they reappeared later.

The Whip-Poor-Will Mystery by Hulbert Footner (1935)

 

dustjackets.com

About the author: See this Wikipedia article.

Major characters:

• Weir Lambert, newspaper editor
• Tasker Teeple, local busybody
• Peter Birkett, state's attorney
• Frank Baker, sheriff
• Leila Cowdin, the girl on the hill
• Lee Cowdin, her father, deceased
• Saul Cowdin, the caretaker
• Ralph Manners, a.k.a. The Whip-Poor-Will

Locale: Maryland

Synopsis: Weir Lambert publishes a small local newspaper in rural, coastal Kentville, Maryland. Kentville is inhabited by a few families, and also several slave-descendant families who live in shacks. Weir runs a personal ad from "The Girl on the Hill" which asks for her lover (the Whip-Poor-Will) to come to her quickly, as the "man" is gone away. This results in an uproar among the locals, for running such a obviously sinful ad from a shameless hussy in their paper. The locals try to find out who she is, but only Weir and sheriff Frank Baker figure it out with the use of some topographical maps.

Weir goes to the house to find it guarded by Saul Cowdin, a large Black caretaker. Weir sneaks around him to get to the main house, and finds a 17-year old girl, Leila Cowdin, living in squalor. Weir brings her some food and finds her putting a coffin together, with the dead body of her father, Lee Cowdin, in the house. She had found him outside, dead from a bullet wound. Weir urges her to contact the authories, but she refuses. Relucantly, Weir helps her bury Lee in a shallow grave.

The authorities discover this. Leila is arrested for murder, Weir arrested for being an accessory. They manage to break out of the town's simple jailhouse and flee together, with Weir confessing his love for Leila. Weir then searches for the murderer.

Review: At one-third of the way through I came to a screeching halt. The use of racist language pertaining to Black Americans is awful. The n-word is used, and various stereotypes are used against Black persons. I could not figure out if this comes from the author's prejudices, or if the author was trying to write realistically for characters in 1930's Maryland. In any event, it was unnecessary. I was disgusted and almost tossed it aside and crossed this author off my list, but I will give it a chance as the mystery is unusual and I am looking to see how it resolves.

Later: The racist talk was pretty much confined to one chapter. After that, we have a straight mystery story; which is pretty good given the earlier language. I can only rate this one star as the racist language sinks the entire book.

The Deaves Affair by Hulbert Footner (1922)

image: Roy Glashan's Library

You can read this book online here.  

About the author: See this Wikipedia article.

 Major characters:

• Evan Weir, a "gig economy" artist
• Charley Straiker, his roommate
• Carmen Sisson, their landlady
• Corinna Playfair, haunting young lady pianist staying in the same house
• Leonard Anway, Corinna's boyfriend
• Simeon Deaves, rascally old man who enjoys arguing with the public
• George Deaves, his son

Locale: New York City

Synopsis: New York artist Evan Weir is out and encounters an old, apparently destitute gentleman, Simeon Deaves, arguing with a vendor, and intervenes to save him from injury. Accompanying him to his home, he meets his son, George Deaves. George explains that his father enjoys going out for walks, but usually winds up having arguments with people and generally getting into mischief. George hires Evan to accompany Simeon on his walks, and generally look out for him.

Now, a complication. The Deaves begin receiving polite (and amusing) blackmail letters. The blackmailer offers to sell them little stories about Simeon's embarassing adventures - and if they do not buy, they will release them to The Clarion newspaper. Now the Deaves expand Evan's job description to include finding the blackmailers, known as The Ikunahkatsi.

Evan works at finding the blackmailers, even making one of the payoffs in the reading room of the New York Public Library. 

Evan, meanwhile, has become enchanted with a pianist, Corinna Playfair, lodging in the same building. Despite his approaches, she remains distant. She moves out suddenly. Evan traces her to an organization called The Ozone Association, which provides activities and meals for poor children aboard a boat The Ernestina as it cruises around New York harbor. Corinna and rival Leonard Anway work providing meals, and Evan steps in to assist by telling adventure stories to the children. Evan works on the boat but is unable to get Corinna to warm up to him.

Review:  The blackmailers are quite polite and amusing, even providing receipts (!) for the blackmail payments. The concept of paying to purchase an embarassing story is not unique - this is the same catch-and-kill routine used by Donald Trump and The National Enquirer to quash stories about his affair with playmate Karen McDougal). 

The first half of the book deals with the Deaves and the blackmailers. The second half takes a sudden turn, with Evan leaving the Deaves to focus on Corinna's activities aboard The Ernestina. I had doubts that the story line would return to the Deaves, as the two story lines had been completely separate; and there was no apparent connection. However, a connection does occur and Evan gets in trouble with the blackmailers at their hideout.

This 1922 story is notable for its lush descriptions of New York City of that era, and especially the ways of getting around the city. I wanted to get out a map and follow his adventures, that much detail is provided.

The blackmail payoff scene in the New York Public Library reading room is quite amusing - I have been in that room and it certainly has not changed in appearance or protocol since 1922.

This is a good read with considerate blackmailers, Manning Coles style humor, and a love story intertwined.

The Under Dogs by Hulbert Footner (1925)

About the author: See this Wikipedia article.

Major characters:

• Madame Rosika Storey, a.k.a. Jessie Seipp
• Bella Brickley, a.k.a. Canada Annie Watkin; her secretary
• Melanie Soupert, jewel thief and prison escapee
• George Mullen, her husband
• Jim Shryock, her attorney
• John McDaniel, private detective
• Mother Simonds, a.k.a. Kate Pullen, Black Kate; emissary for the criminal organization

Locale: New York City

Synopsis:

Madame Rosika Storey is a beautiful, wealthy investigator, sort of a female version of Leslie Charteris' The Saint. Her secretary, Bella Brickley, is our narrator. Mme. Storey receives a plea for help from Melanie Soupert, imprisoned for a jewel theft while working as a domestic. A criminal organization helps her escape, then holds her prisoner for their own purposes - that is, committing crimes for their own benefit. Mme. Storey, with some nod-nod-wink-wink from the police, seeks to track down the organization by masquerading as a thief herself under the assumed identity of Jessie Seipp. She manages to get imprisoned in the same facility and awaits the organization to take an interest in her. She is approached by Mother Simonds who recruits her and assists her to escape; which allows her to infiltrate the gang.

Review:

An excellent thriller. A couple of deaths occur but they are not part of the plot. It is always refreshing to find a detective story from this era with a female narrator and protagonist, other than in the stories of Mary Roberts Rinehart. In fact, all the major characters are female. One must pay attention, as some characters take on other names.