The Vanity Case by Carolyn Wells (1925)

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About the author: Carolyn Wells (1862-1942) was married to Hadwin Houghton, the heir of the Houghton-Mifflin publishing empire. Like Mary Roberts Rinehart, being in a publishing family created an easy pipeline for getting her works into print. She wrote a total of more than 170 books, including 61 Fleming Stone detective stories. See this Wikipedia article.

Carolyn Wells

Major characters:

• Myra Heath, 29
• Perry Heath, her husband
• Herrick, their butler, head of the servants
• Lawrence "Larry" Inman, her distant cousin
• Berenice "Bunny" Moore, 21, the cute little blonde
• Mrs. Emily Prentiss, the nosy, insomniac neighbor
• Todhunter "Toddy" Buck, Emily's nephew, self-appointed detective
• Alexander Cunningham, amateur detective appointed by the Country Club
• Sam Anderson, Country Club member
• Detective Mott, of the police
• Steve Truitt, a private detective

Locale: Gaybrook Harbor, A seaside town on Long Island, NY

Synopsis:

Myra Heath runs her Gaybrook Gardens bungalow home in precise and exacting manner. She and her husband, Perry Heath, an artist, have two house guests: Her distant cousin Larry Inman, and little ingenue Bunny Moore. Meanwhile, Larry Inman is in love with Myra; and Perry (knowing this), courts after Bunny - "All were of broad and tolerant views", indeed! Myra also collects old bottles.

One night the Heath marital problems come to a head when Perry catches Myra and Larry together. The next morning, Myra is found dead on the studio floor, struck down with one of her antique bottles. Perry is nowhere to be found. Adding to the mystery: Myra - a non-user of cosmetics - is found quite painted up and decorated, and the vanity box containing the cosmetics missing.

The neighbor, Emily Prentiss, couldn't sleep and while watching the Heath home out her window, had observed lights in the night when the murder occurred. Her nephew, Todhunter Buck, becomes quite taken with Bunny.

Buck decides to solve the crime for himself, and teams up with Alexander Cunningham, appointed by the nosy Country Club who wonder where their member Heath went. Police Detective Mott questions people without result, and Buck brings in his old pal, private detective Steve Truitt.

Review:

The first chapter describes the locale of Gaybrook Harbor, which is clearly divided in two sections: Harbor Park, where the posh uppity old-money live; and Harbor Gardens, a Bohemian artist community in their eclectic bungalow homes. The descriptions sound exactly like so many coastal communities in Maine, and the description of the bungalow home is completely familiar.

There are only three possible suspects: Bunny, Inman, and Heath; and suspicion flips to each many times. When it appears that only one remains viable, a surprise turn explains everything in a satisfying manner. 

The only drawback of the novel is the plethora of detectives (four!): Mott, of the police; Truitt, a P.I.; and the two amateurs Buck and Cunningham.

The Bronze Hand by Carolyn Wells (1925)

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About the author: Carolyn Wells (1862-1942) was married to Hadwin Houghton, the heir of the Houghton-Mifflin publishing empire. Like Mary Roberts Rinehart, being in a publishing family created an easy pipeline for getting her works into print. She wrote a total of more than 170 books, including 61 Fleming Stone detective stories. See this Wikipedia article.

Carolyn Wells

Major characters:

• "Oily" Oscar Cox, oil magnate
• Hudder, his odd butler
• Max Trent, writer of detective stories, the reluctant investigator
• "Polly" Pollard Nash, the reluctant Watson
• Maisie Forman, the reclusive I-want-to-be-alone "princess"
• Harold "Hal" Mallory
• Sherman Mason, lawyer, reprobate, old friend of Maisie's father
• Owen Camper
• Amy Camper, hs wife
• Lily Gibbs
• Captain Van Winkle
• Stanhope, the quiet one
• Fleming Stone, detective

Locale: aboard the S.S. Pinnacle, en route from New York to Liverpool

Synopsis: A handful of well-to-do embark on the liner Pinnacle bound for England. The most remarkable man is "Oily" Oscar Cox, wealthy oil magnate; and Maisie Forman, a reclusive pretty little thing who just wants to be left alone. Cox shows off his prized possession, a life size bronze casting of a hand, which he regards as his lucky charm. The next morning of the voyage, Cox is found murdered on deck, bludgeoned by the bronze hand. The apparent motive is theft of jewelry for his new wife, whom no one can track down, not even knowing if the marriage has happened yet.

Captain Van Winkle is at a loss what to do next, and appoints Max Trent to investigate - being the most qualified by virtue of being a writer of detective stories. Trent enlists the aid of friend Pollard Nash and they proceed to investigate.

Meanwhile Sherman Mason is making moves on Maisie, who is disgusted and because she and Max Trent are now a thing.

Review: Oh, the virtues and complexity of 1920's etiquette! Say person A and person B wish to converse, they must not do so until they are Properly Introduced by a mutual acquaintance C; otherwise all they can do is raise their eyebrow and sniff "Are we acquainted?". If you have no mutual acquaintance, you are out of luck. Since all the passengers are unknown to each other at the beginning of the voyage, this raises an immediate Dilemma and many pages go by before they gradually become Properly Introduced and can Function as a Society by Speaking to Each Other.

Series detective Fleming Stone finally shows up for a cameo appearance on page 270. Where has he been? Didn't people buy this book to read about him and here we are only 50 pages from the end? It is revealed, but I won't spoil it. Good book to bring on your next sea cruise and enjoy in your deck chair.

Inspector Queen's Own Case by Ellery Queen (1956)

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The full title of this book is Inspector Queen's Own Case: November Song. Technically, too late for the "Golden Age" (between WWI and WWII) but Ellery Queen's writing began in that period.

Major characters:

• Inspector Richard Queen, New York Police (retired), widower
• Abe Pearl, Chief of Police, Taugus CT
• Beck Pearl, his wife

The Humffrey household:

• A. Burt Finner, shyster attorney, seller of babies
• Alton K. Humffrey, millionaire resident of Nair Island
• Sarah Humffrey, his wife
• Michael Humffrey, "adopted" (purchased) child of the Humffreys
• Jessie Sherwood, RN, 49 year old nurse for Michael 
• Mrs. Charbedeau, cook
• Mrs. Lenihan, housekeeper
• Rose Healy, upstairs maid
• Marie Tompkins, downstairs maid
• Stallings, gardener
• Henry Cullum, chauffer
• Sadie Smith, laundress
• Ronald Frost, Alton's nephew, ne'er do well with big gambling debts
• Charlie Peterson, guard at the island gatehouse

Locale: Nair Island, off the Connecticut coast; a part of the town of Taugus

Synopsis: The wealthy Humffrey family has a summer home on Nair Island, part of Taugus, CT. There are five other homes on the island, which connects to the mainland by a causeway. Alton and Sarah Humffrey are childless and aging, and arrange a shady purchase of a newborn from shyster attorney A. Burt Finner, whom they name Michael Humffrey. The child is cared for by nurse Jessie Sherwood, 49, single - having lost her fiance at Normandy.

Richard Queen (Ellery's father) has just been forced into retirement, having reached the age of 63. He is somewhat despondent at that, and takes a summer vacation at the home of his friend Abe Pearl, chief of Taugus police.

There is tension from Ronald Frost, Alton's nephew. Ronald runs up gambling debts to which Alton has bailed him out in the past, but no more since Michael has arrived. Ronald had planned to be Alton's only heir, but now that is no longer the case.

One night, someone enters the nursery and smothers Michael with a pillow. Investigation begins by Abe Pearl, along with Richard Queen. Queen and Jessie Sherwood hit it off and a romance blossoms. While searching for a motive, attorney Finner is murdered, and his adoption records stolen.

Review:

Besides the story line, there are two other big themes lurking here. First, the murder of a baby - and children in general - has long been off-limits for mystery writers - but in 1956 that was still happening, so we must overlook the revulsion factor. Second, the theme of persons being seen as outdated and useless to society as they age is ever present in Richard Queen's thoughts; as he considers being pushed out of his organization to make room for younger ones; and collects up his other retired buddies to operate a sub-rosa investigation.

This novel shows the turning point in writing away from the Golden Age style, and into the gritty too-much-detail 1960's style. The Golden Age never discusses things like the appearance of bullet holes, or menstruation! This is what attracts me to the writing of this era. 

The case progresses and is somewhat predictable, with the obvious suspect being eliminated at the last minute. The steady progression of the Queen/Sherwood relationship is handled well and leads to a satisfying conclusion.

The Patient in Room 18 by Mignon Eberhart (1929)

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The Nurse Sarah Keate series:

1. The Patient in Room 18

2. The Mystery of Hunting's End

3. While the Patient Slept 

4. From This Dark Stairway

5. Murder by an Aristocrat (a.p.a. Murder of My Patient)

6. Wolf in Mans Clothing

7. Man Missing

Major characters:

• Nurse Sarah Keate
• Nurse Maida Day
• Dr. Louis Letheny, head doctor, and victim #2
• Corole Lethany, his cousin
• Dr. Balman, assistant to Dr. Letheny
• Dr. Fred Hajek
• Jim Gainsay, visiting civil engineer
• Mr. Jackson, victim #1 
• Higgins, janitor, victim #3
• Lance O'Leary, detective

Locale: St. Ann's Hospital, locale not defined

Synopsis:

St. Ann's hospital is a former large residence which has been converted into a hospital. Dr.  Louis Letheny lives in the "doctor's cottage" on the grounds, with his cousin, Corole Letheny. She hosts a dinner party there one evening where the main topic of conversation is the extravagant spending by the hospital administration. An example is the recent purchase of 1 gram of radium for $65,000. (And this is in 1929, when an entire ambulance costs $8000).

Nurse Sarah Keate returns to the hospital for the midnight shift after the dinner party. A sudden storm rolls in, and she is surprised by seeing some object fly out a window nearby - then the power goes out. By candlelight, she discovers elderly Mr. Jackson dead in Room 18 - he had been receiving a radium treatment (which consists of taping the radium to the skin for a while, a bit cruder than today's radiation treatments). The precious radium is missing. 

Attempts to find Dr. Lethany are unsuccessful, and he is initially suspected - until his body is found in the locked closet of Room 18 - victim #2. Debonair detective Lance O'Leary arrives on scene to head up the investigation.

Everyone is on edge. Janitor Higgins confesses to Sarah Keate that he saw the murderer, but rushes off without naming the person. Then the lights go out again, a shot is heard, and Higgins is found dead .. in Room 18. 

Sarah Keate stumbles across the missing radium, and gives it to O'Leary. Before he can get it to the police station, he is hit on the head and it is stolen again.

Quotes:

"Here is the coffee," she said huskily. "As coffee should be: black as night, hot as hell, and sweet as love."

Review:

The action is page-turning Mignon Eberhart. Storms, fog, people lurking in and out of windows, dark corridors, strange noises. Suspicion points at each person in turn, until Lance O'Leary sets a trap for the murderer with the aid of Nurse Keate. This is the first Nurse Keate novel, and sets the stage for further episodes of the two. A little longing-from-afar from Keate's perspective, but she is much too professional to let anything romantic progress along that line.

The hospital takes us back to an earlier day when nurses wore caps, capes, crisp white uniforms, and stockings - no ugly baggy scrubs here. The facility is certainly laughable by today's standards (open doors, no emergency lighting, loose radium, each nurse has her own personal hypodermic syringe, lots of morphine and ether, one telephone per floor, open unscreened windows) but remember this is 1929.

One thing I like about her books, and this one especially, is the limited cast of characters. Other authors load us up with throwaway 1-dimensional red herrings just to fill out the suspect pool, but not Eberhart. Each character is here for a purpose.

Speaking of red herrings, there are a few and I was convinced they were the real deal; but I was fooled. The denouement reveals the killing/radium theft was a complex shell game - I confess a bit too complex for me to follow without mapping it out - but it comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

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

Orient Express by Graham Greene (1932)

photo: abebooks.com

Major characters:

• Carleton Myatt, a wealthy Jewish businessman
• Coral Musker, a chorus girl
• Richard John, retired doctor, hiding his identity as Dr. Czinner
• Mabel Warren, hard-drinking lesbian journalist
• Janet Pardoe, her girlfriend
• Josef Grunlich, burglar
• Quin Savory, author
• -- Stein, Myatt's business associate, and uncle of Janet Pardoe

Locale: Ostend, Belgium > Cologne, Germany > Vienna, Austria > Subotica, Serbia > Constantinople

Synopsis:

Carleton Myatt boards the Orient Express on a business trip. He gives up his compartment to chorus girl Coral Musker, who falls ill en route. She is attended to, rather unwillingly, by Dr. Richard John. Journalist Mabel Warren boards the train and seeing Dr. John, remembers him from a trial years before; in which he was a witness for the prosecution but disappeared during the trial. His real name is Dr. Czinner, and he is returning home to Belgrade to lead an uprising.

Josef Grunlich is burgling a home near the Vienna station, and is surprised by the owner. He shoots and kills the owner, and escapes by boarding the train which is in the station.

Myatt becomes affectionate for Coral Musker and they become lovers.

At Subotica, troubles begin. The area is under martial law after an uprising, and troops search the train looking for Czinner, who was to be a leader of the uprising. Czinner, Coral, and Grunlich are taken from the train and given a military tribunal trial. They escape, but Czinner is fatally wounded in the attempt. Coral is rescued by Mabel Warren, who dreams of her as her new lover.

Myatt continues to Constantinople - not knowing what happened to Coral. He and Janet Pardoe meet with his business associate Stein, also Pardoe's uncle; and plan their future.


Review:

This book is a bit hard to follow at times, as the author follow's everyone's thoughts, and not always identifying who is doing the thinking. Some of thoughts are fantasies of better days and faraway places, and they tend to distract from the story line.

There are two distinct story lines here. Up until Subotica, the novel is reminiscent of Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (which was based on this book), and we are just follow the characters as they pair up and get to know each other. Once at Subotica, it becomes a grim story of martial law, a token tribunal trial, escape, and death.

After leaving Subotica, the story returns to our main character Carleton Myatt as he pursues both women and his career.

It was surprising that a book written in 1932 would devote so many pages to Mabel Warren and her relationship with her lover Janet, and yet when Myatt and Coral consummate their affair in the sleeper car, it is all over in one sentence.

Let the Tiger Die by Manning Coles (1947)

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Major characters:

• Tommy Hambledon, of British Intelligence
• James Hyde, of British Intelligence
• Johannis, Hambledon's friend in Rotterdam
• William Forgan, modelmaker
• Archibald Henry Campbell, modelmaker

The "Middle Europeans":

• Isidore Skutnas, temporarily called "Brown"
• Lukas Olgar, temporarily called "Jones"
• Moritz Wenezky, temporarily called"Robinson"

The Germans:

• Horaz Kenrade, of the SS (56) aka Kalvag
• Col. Leonhard Torgius of the Afrika Korps, manager of the Hotel Bienvwnida, aka W. Martin

Captain Dirk Gielink of the Melicent Myrdal

Locale: Sweden > the Netherlands

Synopsis:

Tommy Hambledon is in Stockholm, Sweden. He observes a German abducted by three "Middle Europeans" whom he calls Brown, Jones, and Robinson (BJ&R) - not knowing their real names. He follows in a taxi. The German attempts to escape. In the fracas, Brown, Jones, and Robinson shoot the taxi driver, and the German - who hands Tommy a mysterious packet before he dies, whispering the words "Santa Brigida".

BJ&R tell the police it was Tommy who shot the others, and now Tommy is wanted. He boards the boat rented by the trio, which sets out. The ship's engineer attempts to throw Tommy overboard but falls out  himself. The boat becomes disabled, Tommy gets a tow from the Melicent Myrdal to Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

There is great confusion upon arrival. Skutnas gets arrested. 

Hambledon, travels to Paris. He is followed by Olgar and Wenezky, who are after the packet. Hambledon crosses into Spain and winds up in a prison. His old friends William Forgan and Archibald Henry Campbell, track him down and contrive to wind up in the prison as well. The local communists attack the prison and the three of them escape. Finally they arrive at Santa Brigida to find various Nazis taking over a hotel and planning the comeback of the Third Reich. 

Review:

Any Manning Coles novel is a delight. Tommy Hambledon is an adventurous agent, always jumping into conflicts with little planning, hoping that, as his favorite saying goes, "some scheme will doubtless present itself." These schemes always involve impersonations, sketchy border crossings, chases, escapes, making general fools of the enemy, chaos, and explosions.

His friends Forgan and Campbell can always be counted on to jump to his side and assist. The chase across Europe occupies most of the book, with the Nazi encounter not occurring until the end. The Nazi meeting is disrupted in a most satisfying manner with the help of a friendly dog and a not-so-friendly fish.

The Needle's Kiss by Austin J. Small (1929)

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About the author: Austin J. Small (1894-1929), UK adventure and thriller author. In the US he published under his own name, while in the UK his books usually appeared as by Seamark. He wrote three novels of science fiction: The Man They Couldn't Arrest (1925) is a mystery novel incorporating unusual devices and inventions into the plot. In Master Vorst / The Death Maker (1926) the London Secret Society's insane plan to kill off the human race by germ warfare is thwarted in the nick of time. The Avenging Ray (1930), as by Seamark, features a Mad Scientist intent upon destroying the world (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/)

Major characters:

• Gilan Maxick, the body in the river
• Erich Maxick, his brother
• Toby Essex, owner of the Spindrift
• Hilary Kittredge, his girlfriend
• Johnny Kittredge, brother of Hilary
• Sir John Kittridge, their father, newly appointed Police Commissioner
• Grosman, Chinese captain of the Yangtse freighter
• Manning, of the Thames River Police
• Proctor, his assistant
• Chinky the Junk, a junk dealer
• Engleberg, a.k.a. "The Hamburger", a keeper of chickens
• Blind Rudley, a seller of matches
• Graham Lingard, a drug dealer

Locale: the Thames River, London

Synopsis:

Toby Essex and Hilary Kittridge are aboard the Spindrift as they observe the Thames River Police fish a body out of the river, while the Chinaman Grosman watches them and makes threatening gestures from the freighter Yangtse. The body is later identified as Gilan Maxick, and the cause of death is a Chinese dagger tipped with poison. 

Manning and Proctor of the Thames River Police are being pressured to find the source of cocaine being smuggled into London via the river. Grosman is their prime suspect, but they have no evidence.

Hilary Kittridge, daughter of the newly appointed Police Commissioner, visits a local night club with her brother, Johnny Kittridge. She is an adventurer, and decides to board the Yangtse to see if she can find evidence linking Grosman to the murder, but she is caught and held captive aboard ship. Grosman seeks to control her by forcibly addicting her to cocaine. Meanwhile, Manning manages to turn Erich Maxich, brother of the dead man, to provide evidence.

Review:

Dark foggy nights along the Thames River? Perfect setting for a murder mystery, what? As Chapter 1 opens: "Dank river smells, cold and clammy, and as transient as the dawn itself, hung faintly on the air and fused into the sharp tang of the mist wraiths that swirled about likes wisps of torn gossamer above the fast-running tide." Makes "It was a dark and stormy night" look like a Kindergarten exercise.

This is more a police procedural than a mystery - the culprits are known right away, and the action focuses on finding evidence to make an arrest. Hilary Kittridge is a Nancy Drew-like adventurer, lurking around the docks in evening dress and heels with her trusty flashlight, investigating on her own and winding up in big trouble. 

The details of the cocaine trade are detailed and could be taken from today's news. The descriptions of reactions to cocaine, and its withdrawal, are very specific and scary. 

One chapter seems a bit theatrical as a dying stabbing victim repeatedly gets up to argue the entire case with his assailants. After Hilary is kidnapped, she disappears from the narrative for many chapters, leading us to wonder what happened to her. Not to fear, she eventually reappears.

All in all, excellent scenes and descriptions.