Trademark of a Traitor by Kathleeen Moore Knight, 1943

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 Nick Duane and Martha Cleves are Americans in Panama. They have been talking about getting married, but Martha feels that their opinions on the war are too different. Martha feels that she needs to do something for the war effort and is returning to the States to do so. Nick rather stay out of the war and has been ordered by his father to the bank in Mexico City.

But then they find themselves in the middle of wartime intrigue. There's a mysterious package that they come into possession of and people are getting killed for it. They get cryptic instructions by a dying man on where to take and who to give it to. Martha is determined to take it, so Nick has no choice but to go along with her to keep her safe. They encounter danger at every turn. They can't be sure who to trust. Who is a Nazi agent and who is with the Allies? Will they get the item to the right person before it's too late? (Goodreads description)

The Clue of the Poor Man's Shilling by Kathleen Moore Knight, 1936

 

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Series: This is Elisha Macomber #2 (of 16) 

About the author: Kathleen Moore Knight (1890-1984) is one of my absolute favorite authors. She wrote 34 mystery novels, most set on fictional Penberthy Island off Massachusetts, all published by the Crime Club; with a few under the pseudonym of Alan Amos. See my post All I Know about Kathleen Moore Knight, as well as this Wikipedia article and her booklist  on Fantastic Fiction.   

Locale: fictional Penberthy Island*

Major characters:

• Luella Paige, retired teacher, our narrator
• Dorcas Brothers, her housekeeper
• George & Cora Howland, lighthouse keepers
• Laura May Howland, their daughter
• Hiram Pearse, helper to George Howland
• Evan Ryder, friend of Laura
• Julian Hollister, rich Bostonian
• Lydia Hollister, Julian's (separated) wife
• Elisha Macomber, chairman of selectmen
• Buck Edwards, chief of police

Synopsis: Adjacent to Penbethy Island lies tiny Quantauk Island, not connected but served by a on-demand one-car ferry. Quantauk is the home of retired teacher (and our narrator) Luella Paige. In the summer, she sleeps in a room she has fashioned in her boathouse. She is awakened by a sound, to find the ferry afloat off her dock, with a car on it. She pulls it in to find the dead body of Julian Hollister. He was known as a well-to-do hard-drinking bounder, and his body shows signs of a fight. He is later found to have died from carbon monoxide poisoning, and the exhaust system of the car shows evidence of tampering.

When looking at the body, Luella found a white coin-shaped seed pod (photo) stuck on his sock - the seed pod of the Peter's Pence plant, also called 'The Poor Man's Shilling'. The plant is only known to grow on one location on the island. This leads Luella to begin investigating, teaming up with Board of Selectmen chair Elisha Macomber.

Quite a few people had motive to do away with Holllister. He had been playing up to local girl Laura May Howland, who hoped to marry him; much to dismay of her admirer Evan Ryder. Everyone is shocked when fashionable Lydia Hollister shows up to claim her husband's body - no one knew he was married. 

Review: This second of the series is a good page-turner with excellent atmosphere of foggy, damp, dark island nights. There is a lot of emphasis on how the various boats moved back and forth between the islands but I did not try to keep track of these movements. This one, as all the Macomber series, is good for lots of local color.

* Penberthy and Quantauk Islands are thinly-disguised versions of Knight's home, Martha's Vineyard and adjacent Chappaquiddick; sharing the same general shape, orientation, and general arrangement. Knight is buried on Martha's Vineyard.

Penberthy and Quantauk

Martha's Vineyard and Chappaquiddick (google maps)

Seven Were Veiled by Kathleen Moore Knight, 1937

 

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About the author: Kathleen Moore Knight (1890-1984) is one of my absolute favorite authors. She wrote 34 mystery novels, most set on fictional Penberthy Island off Massachusetts, all published by the Crime Club; with a few under the pseudonym of Alan Amos. See my post All I Know about Kathleen Moore Knight, as well as this Wikipedia article and her booklist  on Fantastic Fiction.   

Major characters:

* Phyllis "Phil" Heath, would-be bride, our protagonist

Christopher Bryan, her fiancé

Marvin Heath, her foster father

Dwight Garrison, wannabe groom

* Francine Drake, young gold-digging widow

Norman Brent, orchestra leader

* Corliss Brent, his wife

Pete Bishop, travel agent

* Anita Templeton-Smith, wedding planner

* Aunt Laurie Ferris, Phyllis' aunt, Marvin's sister-in-law

* Ailsa Breton, writer

Dudley Houghton, Marvin's attorney

Elisha Macomber, chairman of the Board of Selectmen

Bill Deeter, private investigator from Boston

Dr. Larcom Sargent

Dr. Franklin Tolman

Bellows, the Heath's butler

* Hattie Parsons, the Heath's cook

Lisa, the Heath's maid

* The title indicates the seven women known to wear veils, indicated by * in the list above: one wedding veil (worn by both Phyllis Heath and Francine Drake), one allergy veil (Aunt Laurie Ferris), and four fashion veils (four others).

Locale: Penberthy Island, off Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Synopsis: It is the night before the wedding  of Phyllis Heath and Christopher Bryan on Penberthy Island. All is not well - Phyllis' foster father, Marvin Heath, is against the wedding; and wants to substitute Dwight Garrison as the groom, no matter what Phyllis wants. Marvin issues an ultimatum - he will sign a new will if she marries Bryan, leaving his $5M estate to charity instead of to her.

As Phyllis frets about what to do, Marvin takes ill after the rehearsal dinner and dies. First suspicion is poisoning from mushrooms provided for the dinner by Elisha Macomber - yet everyone ate them but only Marvin had ill effects. Then suspicion is directed at a medicine, and word circulates that a woman wearing a veil was seen exiting Marvin's room after the poisoning.

Someone steals Phyllis' veil, and Phyllis sees Francine Drake, a widow who had eyes on Marvin, carry it into the woods. She follows only to find Christopher and a dead body - a man no one recognizes. Francine does not return the house, and a search finds her stranded on a sand bar with the tide rising. 

Christopher is arrested for the murder of the unknown man, and the poisoning of Marvin. Following a newspaper story, the dead man is identified as Franklin Tolman, a Boston doctor.

Elisha Macomber heads up the investigation, competing with a hotshot private investigator from Boston, Bill Deeter.

Review: Lots of possibilities to ponder in this one. There are three possible poisons that took out Marvin, each connected to a different character. Lots of poison information as well, including belladonna/deadly nightshade, a bit concerning to me as this summer we found this growing wild on the fence surrounding our garden! 

The high drama point is the ocean rescue of Francine who is stuck on a sand bar as the tide is coming in. This scene was well done and exciting.

The situation of Phyllis having to choose between grooms - on her wedding night! - seemed farfetched and like something out of the Old Testament - like Jacob, Rachel, and Leah in reverse. 

There are lots of veils to go around, but the wedding veil is the primary one of interest. Hattie wears an "allergy veil" which was prescribed to her to block allergens  - apparently a complicated alternative to a simple mask. My wife is a nurse, and has allergies, but has never heard of such a thing. The fashion veils are mentioned briefly but not pertinent.

The cast of characters is way too large, I left a few out of the list. It could easily have been cut in half without affecting the plot. 

Elisha's ongoing competition with hotshot P.I. Deeter did distract from his investigation. I enjoy in other stories how he goes it alone. This is one of the earliest Elisha stories, and one thing I find distracting is when the author renders his dialect phonetically. It is not always obvious what he is saying, and I had to "sound it out". It seems she did this less and less and the series continued. 

 

 

Terror by Twilight by Kathleen Moore Knight, 1942

 

This is Margot Blair #3 (of 4).

Major characters:

• Benjamin K. Embrie, wealthy patriarch
• Sam Embrie, his brother
• Countess Adelaide von Reisenau, his sister
• Count Hans von Reisenau, his brother-in-law
• Brooke K. Embrie, his disinherited son
• Adele Embrie Bourne, his missing daughter
• Arthur Bourne, Adele's husband
• Judith Maine, Arthur's secretary and in line to be wife #2
• Deborah Bourne, daughter of Arthur and Adele
• Adrian Ambrie, Deborah's second cousin
• Remsen Gray, reclusive neighbor
• Dan Murphy, chauffeur
• Donal Craigie, butler
• Janet Craigie, housekeeper, wife of Donal
• Margot Blair, of Norman and Blair, Public Relations
• Corey Graham, newspaper liaison for Norman and Blair, Public Relations

Locale: The Berkshires of western Massachusetts

Synopsis: Millionaire Benjamin K. Embrie hires public relations outfit Norman and Blair, paying a handsome monthly fee just to keep them ready if needed. He then approaches Margot Blair to serve as a support for his sheltered granddaughter, Deborah Bourne, buying her clothes and other things as needed; as her mother Adele Bourne has been missing for years and is presumed dead. Margot gets invited to his home Thistle Hills in the Berkshires to meet Deborah.  Embrie dies while she is en route.

Margot meets Deborah and finds it is believed she suffers from a periodic violent mania, in which it is believed she was responsible for some pet deaths. Embrie's will benefits his family equally, but it turns out that he was on the verge of signing a new will,  leaving everything to Deborah. When his death is found to be by poison, suspicion rests on the family members; who are all trying to point the finger at Deborah instead. 

Margot teams up with her newspaper liaison, Corey Graham and butler Donal Craigie to investigate who killed Embrie, and whether Deborah really has a mania or not.

Review: This has the standard formula of the victim being murdered just prior to signing a new will. (Moral: Don't tell anyone until after you sign it). 

The story is about the relatives "gaslighting" Deborah - making her think she is insane, in order to  get her found incompetent to inherit under a will.

I didn't care for the two instances of killing pets. This dampened my enjoyment of the story. I have read most of K.M. Knight's stories, this is the only one which has that.

I was not able to figure out Adrian Embrie's relationship until the end. He is identified as Deborah's distant cousin, he wanted to marry Deborah, and his parents are named but not connected up to family until at the end it is mentioned he is Sam's grandson (making him a second cousin to Deborah).

Also note the "twilight" in the title does not reference literal twilight, but rather the medical treatment known as "twilight sleep" which is a plot element. An AI inquiry defined this as: "Twilight sleep, also known as Dämmerschlaf, is an amnesic state characterized by insensitivity to pain, which can occur with or without the loss of consciousness. This technique was primarily developed for use during childbirth and involves the administration of a combination of drugs, specifically morphine and scopolamine. The purpose of twilight sleep is to manage pain during labor while allowing the patient to remain in a semi-conscious state."

 

 

The Robineau Look by Kathleen Moore Knight, 1955

 

About the author:  Kathleen Moore Knight (1890-1984) is one of my absolute favorite authors. She wrote 34 mystery novels, most set on fictional Penberthy Island off Massachusetts, all published by the Crime Club; with a few under the pseudonym of Alan Amos. See my post All I Know about Kathleen Moore Knight, as well as this Wikipedia article and her booklist  on Fantastic Fiction.   

Major characters:

• Cynthia Robineau, our protagonist
• William H. Thorne, her employer
• Bertram "Bert" Robineau, her uncle 
• Florence Robineau, her aunt
• Earle Robineau, her cousin (son of Bert and Florence)

Locale: three locations in rural Alabama: 

• the modest bayou home of Bert, Florence, and Earle
• Avallon Church, a remote, deteriorating chapel and grounds
• Avallon Hall, a plantation-style mansion

Synopsis: New York City-dwelling Cynthia Robineau is executive secretary to Willam H. Thorne, president of Thorne Construction Company. Cynthia is surprised when Thorne expresses his love for her and proposes marriage. Cynthia is taken aback, and realizes she would have to choose between him and her career. Thorne suggests she take some time off to think it over. 

Cynthia receives an invitation from her cousin, Earle Robineau, to a big annual family reunion in Alabama. She accepts, taking advantage of the offer of time off. She has never met any of her family from there. She arrives at the modest bayou home of Uncle Bert and Aunt Florence Robineau (Earle's parents) to find they never sent the invitation and it must be a fake. As the relations gather, others find they also received the fake invitations.

The reunion begins, then murder stalks the family.

Review:

We have a big cast of characters so it is good to take notes as you go along. There are lots of Robineaus. A good read with slowly building suspense. 

I always find the stock "Gothic" cover illustrations (yes, on both editions!) amusing, always having the same trope-y ingredients: a young woman in a somewhat-revealing diaphanous gown, fleeing through unkempt grass at night from a creepy mansion in which only one window (always upstairs) is illuminated, while looking back over her shoulder.

Death Goes to a Reunion by Kathleen Moore Knight, 1952

 

amazon

About the author: Kathleen Moore Knight (1890-1984) is one of my absolute favorite authors. She wrote 34 mystery novels, most set on fictional Penberthy Island off Massachusetts, all published by the Crime Club; with a few under the pseudonym of Alan Amos. See my post All I Know about Kathleen Moore Knight, as well as this Wikipedia article and her booklist  on Fantastic Fiction.   

Major characters:

John "Jocko" and Helena (Roberts) Myrick

Nella, their grandaughter

Peter Clothier, Nella's' fiancé

Lee Halstead, John's friend

Henry Clark, young groundskeeper and handyman

The sorority sisters:

• Miss Frances Furlong
• Ruth (Gale) Grant (married to Fitzhugh Grant)
• Lucy Kenyon (married to Jerome "Jerry" Kenyon)
• Claire (Fielding) Cutler, a widow
• Elinor (Carrington) Mace, a widow

Locale: Penberthy Island, Massachusetts

Synopsis: Helena Myrick has invited five of her sorority sisters to her home on Penberthy Island following their 40th class renion. Her husband John "Jocko" Myrick had, 40 years ago, dated all of them at one time or another. Also living with them is their granddaughter, Nella, who parents are dead. Nella is engaged to local Peter Clothier.

The scene shifts to John's study as an unnamed woman enters and pulls a gun on John, stating she had been waiting forty years for this moment, wants to kill him and Helena, and take Nella for herself; for reasons not quite clear. She shoots him dead, placing the gun in his hand to make it appear a suicide.

Elisha Macomber comes on the scene, and immediately suspects foul play. While he and young Henry Clark are getting the background on the five sorority sister guests, the scene changes to Helena's bathroom, where John's killer confronts her, first attempts poisoning (with DDT!) and ultimately drowns her in the bathtub. Now the motive is becoming clear, and the Myrick estate is now inherited by Nella. Or is it? The plot thickens when Nella's only link to her parents - a framed photograph - disappears. Then Peter Clothier is attacked as well.

Review: This book was quite startling, as on two occasions, we have a play-by-play description of two murders, without revealing the killer's identity - other than that of a woman, and inferred by her conversation that she is known to the victims, and one of the sorority sisters. 

All five of the women are quite catty and vindictive, and had any of them been the killer, that would have been all right. It did get confusing keeping them straight as various movements and motives were explored. 

Elisha did his best, as usual, but the real star of the narrative turned out to be young handyman Henry Clark, who becomes Elisha's enthusiastic operative.

The use of a "DDT bomb" had me cringing, especially when the thing was used indoors for insect control! 

Please also note one instance of the n-word, in a colloquial expression about a woodpile.

Design in Diamonds by Kathleen Moore Knight (1944)

 

fantastic fiction

About the author: Kathleen Moore Knight (1890-1984) is one of my absolute favorite authors. She wrote 34 mystery novels, all published by the Crime Club; with a few under the pseudonym of Alan Amos. See my post All I Know about Kathleen Moore Knight, as well as this Wikipedia article and her booklist  on Fantastic Fiction.   

Major characters:

• Margot Blair, our narrator, a partner in a public relations firm
• Felix Norman, her partner in a public relations firm
• Corey Graham, of Public Relations
• Adrien ter Brock, a Dutch diamond merchant
• Katrien ter Brock, his daughter
• Anselmo Colin, Katrien's fiancé #1
• Dr. Dirck van Ryper, Katrien's fiancé #2
• Piet Maartens, Katrien's old friend from Holland
• Fritz & Ellen Prathers, owners of the Mexican casa
• Anna Gregor, sculptress, a house guest
• Sean O'Shane, opera singer, a house guest
• Dr. Lewers, archeologist, a house guest

Locale: New York City and Mexico

Synopsis: The story opens in 1940's New York. The 1939 World's Fair is still open, and the winds of war are blowing over Europe. Adrien ter Brock is a Dutch diamond merchant who is exhibiting at the fair. He is returning to Holland, but does not want to bring his $3M diamond collection back, fearing confiscation by the Nazis. He arranges to leave it with his public relations firm, comprising Margot Blair and Felix Norman. He arranges a contingency plan in case he is unable to retrieve the gems later - they are to be passed to his daughter Katrien ter Brock, or anyone who possesses a certain marked lapel pin displaying the fair's signature Trylon and Perisphere.

The story then jumps to 1942. Margot and Felix are still holding the diamonds, and the US is deep into the war. They receive a call from Katrien, in Mexico. She reports her father died in a German concentration camp, and she wishes to claim the diamonds. She is unable to travel to the US, but will send her fiancé, Anselmo Colin, to collect the diamonds. Colin shows up but is attacked and hospitalized. Margot is suspicious of the whole setup.

Margot and her assistant Corey Graham go to Mexico to see Katrien. They wind up in a Fritz and Ellen Prather's casa, along with several house guests. All is not well, as Katrien suddenly drops Anselmo and rushes into a marriage with Dr. Dirck van Ryper. Margot tries to figure out who are friends and who are Nazis after the diamonds. Things get confusing when she runs into another Anselmo Colin, and this one claims Katrien is an imposter.

Review: This is an excellent Margot Blair story (the last of four). Margot is in her prime, and assistant Corey is cast as her Archie Goodwin-like assistant who does a lot of the dirty work. 

There is always a certain déjà vu: as in many of Knight's books, settings in Mexico/South/Central America always involve a "standard" two-story open-square flat-roof casa house with balconies all the way around the exterior (perfect for eavesdropping), circular stairs on each outside corner (perfect for sneaking in and out unnoticed), surrounded by dense gardens and hedges (perfect for nighttime lurking), with a patio and pool in the middle. The entire casa is surrounded by a wall with a locked door and a doorkeeper. The casa always has several random house guests in residence who have no apparent connection with the hosts or each other. The casa house is identical no matter in which country it is placed, only the inhabitants change. 

Akin to Murder by Kathleen Moore Knight (1953)

Don't be confused - there is another book of the same title out there by another Knight (Alanna Knight). Different book. Different author!

AbeBooks

About the author: Kathleen Moore Knight (1890-1984) is one of my absolute favorite authors. She wrote 34 mystery novels, all published by the Crime Club; with a few under the pseudonym of Alan Amos. See my post All I Know about Kathleen Moore Knight, as well as this Wikipedia article and her booklist  on Fantastic Fiction.   

Major characters:

• Sylvia Winsted, a widow, our narrator
• Rick Winsted, her son
• Jason Gibbs, her great-uncle, a lawyer; his wife Estelle
• Ambrose Gibbs, her cousin
• Philo (a policeman) and Jennie West, her cousin
• Orin (a druggist), her cousin; his wife Hazel Gibbs; and their son Henry
• Sophronia "Sophie" (her cousin), married to Wylie Brock
• Nikita Roza, a young, attractive artist

Locale: Penberthy Island, off Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Synopsis: Sylvia Gibbs Winsted, our narrator, lived on the mainland with her husband Dick and son Rick. Dick was killed in the Korean conflict. Sylvia owns a three-story home on Penberthy Island, and receives a small rental income from artist Nikita Rosa (top floor), a dentist and his wife (2nd floor), and until recently, Myra Hooper (first floor).  Then Myra Hooper died, leaving the first floor vacant. Sylvia decides to move back to Penberthy Island and occupy the first floor herself.

Sylvia has quite a few relations on the island: Great-uncle Jason Gibbs, her Uncle John and Aunt Mary, and their children Ambrose, Orin, Jennie West, and Sophie Brock. Uncle John had passed away, leaving his wealth to Sophie alone, but with the wish - but not a requirement - she distribute it among the others.

Sophie had always been ungainly and unattractive, but recently discovered love and quick marriage in the form of shifty Wylie Brock. Sophie announces she is transferring all her wealth - except for a token $1000 to each sibling - to Wylie. The siblings are unanimous is refusing the checks, and protesting against the transfer. 

Sylvia's property has a small, secluded summerhouse - and she observes clandestine meetings there between Wylie and Nikita Roza; in which they discuss getting Sophie's wealth away from her.

Review: Surprise #1 was when the obvious victim ... Sophie, who broadcasts her intention to change her will and cut out all the family* ... is not the victim. Surprise #2 was at the end when the denouément produced a (oh, better not reveal it, suffice to say there are some theatricals!)

This Elisha Macomber story is completely confined to the dysfunctional Gibbs family - except for our narrator Sylvia of course. I did miss the usual boating/fishing/beaches/foggy night settings so prominent in the other Macombers. This one could be set completely on the mainland with little change.

Ambrose is a puzzle of a character, he always says exactly what he is thinking, which is not a good thing. I was never quite sure whether he was a scoundrel or a hero.

Rick Winsted was a pleasant character. Only 12 years old, but mature beyond his years.

*Always a bad idea. If you are going to cut someone out of your will, do it before you tell them. If you tell them at all (even better).

Panic in Paradise by Alan Amos (1951)

 

About the author: Alan Amos is a pseudonym of Kathleen Moore Knight.  Kathleen Moore Knight (1890-1984) is one of my absolute favorite authors. She wrote 34 mystery novels, all published by the Crime Club; with a few under the pseudonym of Alan Amos. See my post All I Know about Kathleen Moore Knight, as well as this Wikipedia article and her booklist  on Fantastic Fiction.   

Major characters:

• Julian and Serena Cornish
• Maura and Pam Cornish, their daughters
• Brian and Rita Avaraldo Cornish, their son and his wife
• Watson Gilday, newspaper reporter
• Barry Toland, Canal Zone public relations
• Oliver Bradley
• Lt. Pierce Harding
• Pvt. Lou Garrity, died in a fall 
• Pvt. Alec McVey
• Pvt. Willie Trout, now in an insane asylum

Locale: Panama

Synopsis: This story is told in a series of written accounts by several characters in a diary format.

Julian Cornish, his wife Serena, daughters Pam and Maura, and son Brian live in Casa Paraiso on the edge of the Panamian jungle, near the canal. Newspaper reporter Watson Gilday inquires to Julian about doing an updated story on a search for a buried treasure, which occurred five years earlier, during World War II. Julian is reluctant, as that search ended with the death of soldier Lou Garrity, and he does not want to attract another series of treasure hunters to their paradise home.

The treasure, called the Treasure of San Juan de Salud, was buried by priests in a mule train en route across Panama. They had arranged some stones in the altar of a small chapel in the jungle to point to its location, but over the time the stones have fallen and can no longer be interpreted.

Five years have passed, the war has ended, and some of the former army soldiers gather at the Cornish home to once again search for the treasure. During excavation for a new house for Brian Cornish and his wife Sarita "Rita" Avaraldo, a wooden box is uncovered, containing belongings of one of the priests - including a sketch copy of the altar stone arrangement. Gilday travels to the historical museum to refer to the original drawing showing the arrangement, and while returning is found shot to death by Barry Toland, who becomes the obvious suspect. Toland returns to a cold reception at Casa Paraiso, which begins a night of terror as the house becomes isolated and a killer stalks.

Review: I enjoy Knight's Central American stories (both under her name and Alan Amos), partly due to the lush descriptions of the region, and this one is no exception. These stories always seem to revolve around a large family compound which gets isolated in some manner - and in this one, let's see ... the phone line gets cut, the power gets turned off, and the only bridge gets washed out (but we can't blame the killer for that one). 

The diary format was interesting, and I had not run into that format before in which all the major characters take a turn writing their point-of-view experience; so you essentially have a series of first-person narrations. They all tied together nicely. It is explained that Serena keeps urging everyone to write their experiences and keep it up to date throughout the story.

This story had quite a few unnecessary side characters who only pop in briefly, I stopped making notes at 15. And there were quite a few romantic connections going on also which are beside the plot.

It was not clear to me why, when they had the priest's sketch copy of the altar stones, they still had to go find the original drawing in the museum. Or, if they already knew the original was in the museum, why all the excitement about the copy? This story line could have been thinned down to just one drawing.

This is the only Alan Amos in my collection. I will have to search out the other three: Fatal Harvest, Borderline Murder, Pray for a Miracle (apa Jungle Murder).

The Bass Derby Murder by Kathleen Moore Knight (1949)

 

photo: AbeBooks

About the author: Kathleen Moore Knight (1890-1984) is one of my absolute favorite authors. She wrote 34 mystery novels, all published by the Crime Club; with a few under the pseudonym of Alan Amos. See my post All I Know about Kathleen Moore Knight, as well as this Wikipedia article and her booklist  on Fantastic Fiction.   

Major characters:

Lucius Amsdon, powerful Wall Street bully 

Lucy Amsdon, his high-fashion daughter

The seven on Amsdon's they-want-to-kill-me list:

1. Larry Amsdon, his nephew
2. Henry Thorpe, his embezzling secretary
3. John Forrest, his fired junior partner and next-door neighbor
4. Les Scotland, mystery man from New York
5. Sam Jennings, spiteful neighbor on the other side
6. Whit Belcher, his source for a stolen prize winning bass
7. Will Beardsley, whose daughter he humiliated

Polly Ann Beardsley, Will's daughter

Doug Weatherbee, Polly Ann's boyfriend 

Bart Morrison, sports reporter for the NY Herald

Elisha Macomber, chair of the Board of Selectmen

Locale: Penberthy Island, off Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Synopsis: Bully Lucius Amsdon likes to throw his weight around. He built a mansion summer home on Penberthy Island, and gave an adjoining lot to his junior partner, John Forrest, for a modest home. On the other side is Sam Jenning's property. The only land access to Amsdon's place is through Jenning's woods. Jennings has refused to sell him a right-of-way for access, and tensions escalated from there. The island residents all resent Amsdon.

Several little incidents lead Amsdon to believe he is being targeted for persecution and harassment. He comes to Selectman Elisha Macomber with a list of seven people (1-4 off-islanders, 5-7 islanders) who he claims want to see him dead (see list above).

The annual Bass Derby is getting underway. Contestants arrive, including a mysterious Les Scotland, who obviously is a novice at fishing. Reporters arrive, including Bart Morrison, who has a role organizing Macomber's notes of the affair. Amsdon cooks up his own party to steal the limelight away from local Polly Ann Beardsley, expected winner of Queen of the Derby Ball; and focus the cameras instead upon his own daughter, Lucy Amsdon.

As everyone expects, Amsdon is found dead on his beach.

Review: The sequence of the story is interesting, well explained, and effective. It starts out with Amsdon's body being found, then is told in retrospect. Elisha tasks reporter Bart Morrison with organizing his notes in a Watson-like manner; which is a tool to make the story work out.

The list of seven suspects is alluded to throughout, yet the reader never gets to see the list. The list in the synopsis above is my own. I kept track and got 6 of the 7 easily, I missed Les Scotland.

The book could have benefitted from a sketch map of the Amsdon/Jennings/Forrest places. 

Overall, a nice Elisha Macomber tale from an excellent series.

The Silent Partner by Kathleen Moore Knight (1950)

 

abebooks.co.uk

About the author: Kathleen Moore Knight (1890-1984) is one of my absolute favorite authors. She wrote 34 mystery novels, all published by the Crime Club; with a few under the pseudonym of Alan Amos. See my post All I Know about Kathleen Moore Knight, as well as this Wikipedia article and her booklist  on Fantastic Fiction.   

Major characters:

• Tevan Larrimore Jones, our protagonist, a war widow
• Julia Mandeval Lanning
• Craig Lanning, her no-good husband
• Jeffery and Lorna Duncan, and their daughter Sylvia
• Bill Bagley, Sylvia's boyfriend
• Ralston (attorney) and Zilpha Thayer
• John Parr (banker)
• Philippe LeBrun, a natty man rumored to be with Silver Sands
• Ben Crandall, police chief
• Grady Slemp, employee of Silver Sands

Locale: Florida

Synopsis: Lerida, Florida has seen better days. Old gracious estates are being bought up by the Silver Sands Development Company, who put in tacky tourist traps, amusement parks, and cheap motels. The disgusted locals have a hard time organizing against them, as the company is run by a "silent partner", whose identity is unknown.

Three estates remain on the shore:

• Gray Grove. the old Mandeval estate, occupied by Julia Mandeval Lanning and her irresponsible husband, Craig Lanning.
• Oak Lawn, The Larrimers - and Tevan Larrimore Jones' - former home, now owned by Jeffery and Lorna Duncan, and their daughter Sylvia. The Duncans have renovated the estate into a showplace.
• Riverside, the rundown "Old Bromley" place, former home of the Bromleys, now owned by natty Philippe LeBrun; rumored to be a big wheel in Silver Sands.

Tevan Larrimore Jones, a war widow now living in Wales, has an invitation from old friend and neighbor Julia Mandeval Lanning, to come visit Gray Grove. Tevan arrives to find Julia married to a questionable sort, Craig. 

Craig calls out from the terrace. Julia and Tevan come out to find an injured man staggering over from Riverside, next door. He collapses in front of them, his last words being "Silver Sands". He is later identified as Grady Slemp, an employee of Silver Sands.

Circumstantial evidence points to Craig as being the murderer. Julia and Tevan try to find out who is being Silver Sands, until they are attacked as well.

Review: This is the first Knight novel I have come across set in Florida (the others are mostly Cape Cod or Central America). The setting of the town being developed away is done well, and the three adjoining estates are a great setting. It looks like the head of Silver Sands is the culprit, and suspicion falls on several townspeople in turn. 

There are a few surprises in store on one of the estates, and the developments there are numerous and creepy. Knight always does the heroine foolishly going out into the overgrown estate at night, but it is always entertaining and fresh. This is another great well-rounded offering from an underrated writer. I continue to add to my collection of her writings, still available if you search around a bit.

Beauty is a Beast by Kathleen Moore Knight (1959)

 

About the author: Kathleen Moore Knight (1890-1984) is one of my absolute favorite authors. She wrote 38 mystery novels, all published by the Crime Club; with a few under the pseudonym of Alan Amos. See my post All I Know about Kathleen Moore Knight, as well as this Wikipedia article and her booklist  on Fantastic Fiction.   

Major characters:

• Althea "Altie" Lester, real name Irene Elliott
• Scott Maynard, her suitor
• Hilda McGowen, her maid
• Andrea "Andy" Lester, real name Sarah Jane Sherman
• Dr. Harmon Duane Richards, Althea's doctor
• Rhyce Broderick, pianist
• Otis Hobbs, caretaker for the Lester home on Penberthy Island
• Elisha Macomber, detective/selectman on Penberthy Island

Locale: Westchester County, NY and Penberthy Island, Massachusetts

Synopsis: Althea Lester (Irene Elliott) and Andrea Lester (Sarah Jane Sherman) comprise a successful song/dance team, billed as a sister act, but in reality no relation. Althea is being treated for an obscure, disfiguring disease - acromegaly - by her New York doctor, Harmon Duane Richards. This disease is slowly causing her face to become misshapen, resulting in loss of appearance. Althea seeks to keep her condition sectret, and makes demands on the doctor, and unable to get her way, shoots him; taking her medical file with her. She flees to the family summer home on Penberthy Island with her maid, Hilda McGowen; hoping to keep in isolation to keep her public from learning about her condition.

Caretaker Otis Hobbs visits the house, and following an argument, Althea pushes him off their dock, drowning him. Her pianist Rhyce Broderick arrives unexpectedly, and following an argument, she shoots him. She forces Hilda to help bury him. Next, Andrea arrives, unaware of the dangers.

Selectman/Detective Elisha Macomber becomes suspicious after Hobb's car is found hidden in the woods, nowhere near any water. Scott Maynard, suitor of Althea, arrives to assist Elisha in finding Althea and Andrea.

Review: I have read most of KMK's books, but this is the first one I would classify as a "thriller", using my own personal definition that in a thriller, the murderer is known to the reader all along, the mystery being will he/she get caught?

This is one of the later KMK books and Elisha is right on task, not even derailed by a hospital stay. It is a bit confusing when the two main character names continually flip between their stage names, real names, and nicknames; and it takes a bit of concentration to keep that straight. 

Hilda McGowan reminds of Rebecca's Mrs. Danvers as she gradually exerts her control over Althea.

Overall, a great dark-and-stormy night on the island read.

Acts of Black Night by Kathleen Moore Knight (1938)

 

dustjackets.com

About the author: Kathleen Moore Knight (1890-1984) is one of my absolute favorite authors. She wrote 38 mystery novels, all published by the Crime Club; with a few under the pseudonym of Alan Amos. See my post All I Know about Kathleen Moore Knight, as well as this Wikipedia article and her booklist  on Fantastic Fiction.   

Major characters:

Elisha Macomber, selectmen/detective

Frederick Stowe, the victim hated by everyone

Michael Stowe, their young son

Laban Beardsley, caretaker of Stowaway House

The Parnassus Pictures crew:

• Llewellyn Sondor, director
• Andrea Carstairs, ingenue actress, and Sondor's wife
• Fergus Macrae, their pilot

Aboard The Amnestra:

• Patricia Stowe, ex-wife of Frederick Stowe
• Betty Winship, Patricia Stowe's sister
• Harris Fellowes, owner of The Amnestra, and a lawyer
• Dora Fellowes, his wife
• Jed Hinckley, captain
• Dr. Barry Boynton, the hotheaded admirer of Patricia Stowe
• Laurence "Lon" Preston, the cool-headed admirer of Patricia Stowe

Locale: Stowaway Island, off the New England coast

Synopsis:

Wealthy Frederick Stowe pilots his plane to isolated Stowaway Island off the New England coast, where he has his summer home; inhabited only by caretaker Laban Beardsley.  He lands to find three people from his company, Parnassus Pictures, on the island to begin filming a feature: Llewellyn Sondor, director; Andrea Carstairs, actress; and Fergus Macrae, pilot. Stowe has been hoping for a relationship with Carstairs, which led to his purchasing the company. He finds that Sondor and Carstairs are now married, in a rage, orders them off the island.

Meanwhile, Stowe's ex-wife, Patricia, is aboard The Amnestra on a cruise nearby. A storm comes up and The Amnestra is shipwrecked on the island. The passengers come ashore to Patricia's former home, Stowaway House. While waiting for the storm to abate, Patricia discovers the murdered body of her ex-husband. 

Selectmen-Detective Elisha Macomber arrives from the mainland to investigate. Suspicion falls on each member of the boat's party in turn. Meanwhile, there is evidence that someone else is on the island as well. It then is found that their son, Michael Stowe, is being held by kidnappers - and that the purpose of Frederick's visit to the island was to pay the ransom.

Review:

Elisha Macomber, her series selectmen-detective, is such an enjoyable non-nonsense person. Speaking as a New Englander myself, he is a fully developed character with none of the stereotypical down-easter about him. He speech is rendered slightly phonetically - usually an annoyance - but the gentle treatment fits right in.

I had wound up in a perfect situation to enjoy this novel - a dark, windy, rainy night in a Maine campground; curled up in bed with the book as the rain beat on the roof of the camper. 

The plot moves along in the expected direction with the narrowing down of the possible suspects. Then when the kidnapping subplot is revealed, the story turns in an entirely new direction. Macomber finds the culprit by a careful observation - which I missed in the reading. I thought "Did that really happen?" and then a careful look back showed the event was indeed fairly presented to the reader.

One note for modern readers: one key element is the repeated sound of a lawn mower. It should be understood this refers to an old style manual non-powered reel mower, which makes a distinctive whirring sound whenever it is moved. It does not refer to a gasoline-powered mower with which we are more familiar.