The Lost Gallows by John Dickson Carr (1931)

dustjackets.com

About the author:

Major characters:

• M. Henri Bencolin, a French police official
• Sir John Landervorne, retired from Scotland Yard
• Jeff Marle, our narrator
• Sharon Grey
• Nezam el Moulk, an Egyptian
• Richard Smail, his chauffeur
• Lt. Graffin, his secretary
• Teddy, a man of small stature
• George Dallings
• Detective-Inspector Talbot
• --- Bronson, a policeman
• Colette Laverne
• Jack Ketch, an alias assumed by the unknown suspect

Locale: London

Synopsis: Old friends M. Henri Bencolin and Sir John Landervorne discover a small model of a gallows while in the lounge at the Hellfire Club, where they live along with our narrator, Jeff Marle. They meet another friend George Dallings, who was lost in the fog one night and was startled by a vision of a shadow of a gallows.

The model turns out to have been sent to Egyptian Nezam el Moulk, also a resident of the club. While outside, they see el Moulk's limosine careening through the city, stopping in front of the club, apparently driven by a dead chauffeur Richard Smail. 

El Moulk and his secretary, drunkard Lt. Graffin, are being harassed by someone using the name of Jack Ketch, the name of a former hangman. El Moulk disappears and is believed to be his victim.

Review: This is not the usual Carr locked-room mystery. I struggled through it. I find Carr a bit hard to follow, as his writing tends to follow the random, unrelated thoughts of the narrator and focus is lost. What is he talking about, anyway? It is unclear what relationship Jeff Marle, the narrator, has with the characters other than describing events; and he is not even identified by name until well into the book. The Jack Ketch character drops tidbits about hangings having occurred in Ruination Street, which confounds the investigators as there is no such street. An explanation is provided at the end but it is extremely obscure. Sharon Grey and Colette Laverne are one-dimensional characters perhaps brought in just to have some women in the cast. A rule of fair play is violated in the identity of the mysterious Jack Ketch, and the ending requires a bit of explanation to the reader. Most, but not all, of the loose ends are tied up at the end. Caution: Use of the n-word to describe persons of African-American ancestry.

Face Cards by Carolyn Wells (1925)

dustjackets.com

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:

• Stephen Clearman, "King of Clubs"
• Carlotta Clearman, "Queen of Diamonds"
• Miss Phoebe Clearman, Stephen's spinster sister
• Lulie Clearman, Stephen's daughter, "Queen of Hearts"
• Nan Loftis, Lulie's friend
• Jack Raynor, architect, "Jack of Hearts"
• Nicky Goring, Raynor's friend
• Gallagher "Galley" West, butlet/valet
• Violet, Carlotta's maid
• Duk Duk, a fierce mask, holder of a curse
• Tony Barron, detective
• Madame Murray, a.k.a. Martigny, a mysterious woman
• Tadousac, a.k.a. De Vries, a mysterious henchman

Locale: Connecticut

Synopsis: This story is about Stephen Clearman, whose hobby is collecting - and wearing - exotic masks. He has the nickname "King of Clubs" as he has formed/joined many social clubs. His wife, Carlotta Clearman has the nickname "Queen of Diamonds" because of her great love for ... well, you guessed it. Stephen has a daughter, Lulie Clearman, from a previous marriage - and a spinster sister Miss Phoebe Clearman.

The Clearmans have just completed renovations on their home, Clearman Court, with the assistance of architect friend Jack Raynor - a ladykiller who has the nickname "Jack of Hearts". This was done in defiance of a legendary curse by "Duk-Duk", a fierce mask which lives on their mantle. The curse is that anyone who renovates the ancestral home will meet death, which has happened two times previously; but Stephen claims he overcomes the curse with his habit of wearing other masks each day.

The curse, however, wins out. Stephen is found dead - in a locked room - wearing one of his masks. His daughter Lulie disappears at the same time, immediately attracting suspicion. Detective Tony Barron is brought in to investigate, while Jack Raynor concentrates on finding his love, Lulie.

Review:

"Face Cards" refers to the Clearman family's tradition of assigning names of playing cards to family members and friends, which has nothing to do with the plot. This is a locked-room mystery, with plenty of creepy supernatural events thrown in, relating to exotic masks. 

The primary mystery is the disappearance of Lulie and the search for her. Friend Jack Raynor deduces some clues which lead to her discovery. Lulie's escape from her captors is well done but leaves a big question mark - why, upon attaining freedom, does she reject a policeman's offer of assistance, and instead seek out a lawyer? A bit thin here. The reason for her disappearance only comes out at the end, and the reader realizes plenty of clues have been dropped along the way. The motive for her disappearance comes as a suprise with a few shocking twists at the end.

Detracting from the book is the stereotyped portrayal of Violet, the maid, with her speech rendered in phonetics. This practice, unacceptable today, was the norm in the 1920's.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1939)

dustjackets.com

Major characters:

• Justice Wargrave, the retired "hanging judge"
• Vera Clayborne, an ex-governess
• Captain Philip Lombard, soldier of fortune
• Emily Brent, religious spinster
• General Macarthur, a tired old veteran
• Dr. Armstrong, physician
• Anthony Marston, likes fast cars and fast women
• Mr. Blore, a.k.a. Davis, ex-CID investigator
• Rogers, the butler
• Mrs. Rogers, the cook
• Isaac Morris, an arranger

Locale: Indian Island, Devon, England

Synopsis: Ten strangers are invited - by trickery - to Indian Island; to discover they are alone on the island. Their "host", U. N. Owen (get it?) does not appear, but leaves a photograph record accusing each of them of a murder to which they avoided prosecution.

Each of their rooms has a framed copy of the "Ten Little Indians" poem (which describes the Indians perishing one by one), and the dining room table has ten china Indian figures as a centerpiece.

One by one the guests are killed in accordance with the poem, each time of the china figures is taken from the table.

The diminishing guests determine there is no one else on the island, so the killer must be one of them.

Review: This classic Christie is a page turner, and the reader is challenged to figure out who is the killer, and how it is done. The use of a written confession, found later, clears up the mystery. This book should be left at home during your island vacation.

Note: There is use of the n-word in the text.

The Fox Prowls by Valentine Williams (1937)

www.yesterdaysgallery.com

About the author: Valentine Williams (1883–1946) was an English journalist and writer of popular fiction. Williams was awarded the Military Cross as a soldier and wrote two autobiographical books about his war-time experiences. In the aftermath of war, he travelled widely as a reporter.  It was during this period that he began writing thrillers and around 1926 he gave up his post at the Daily Mail to pursue a full-time career as an author. (Wikipedia)

Major characters:

• Major Geoffrey Armitage, British Secret Service agent
• Boulton, British Secret Service agent
• Ferdinand Vermulven, British Secret Service contact in Bucharest
• Amenescu, an informer
• Stephen Selmar, automobile executive
• Melissa Selmar, his daughter
• "The Fox", Baron De Bahl
• Guido Miklas, architect, trigger man for The Fox

Locale: Romania

Synopsis: The British Secret Service are keeping their eye on "The Fox", Baron De Bahl. Their Bucharest contact, Ferdinand Vermulven, spots him on the street and alerts them. Major Geoffrey Armitage is assigned to follow him, but turns up drowned in the river.

Automobile executive Stephen Selmar receives word he has inherited a castle in Romania. He and daughter Melissa Selmar look it over and arrange for some renovations with The Fox and his architect henchman Guido Miklas. 

Informer Amenescu has information about The Fox for the secret service, and on his way to meet with agent Boulton, is stabbed.

The Selmars take up residence in the castle but become prisoners of The Fox as he turns it into a headquarters for gun-running into the Ukraine. Agent Boulton is on site as a manager and tries to save the Selmars and keep his own identity secret.

Review: This is a thriller (not a murder mystery) - while murders occur, they are described in real time with the killer known. It includes a bit of everything needed for an action thriller: a castle, the heroine imprisoned in its tower, a buried treasure, a border crisis, and even a German with a monocle. 

I was taken with the parallels with the James Bond novels: the hero is a British Secret Service agent, and the book begins and ends with him in his office exchanging risqué repartee with the secretary (Moneypenny style); and the somewhat cheesy ending with the heroine.

William's real-life experience in foreign affairs provides insight into the looming border skirmish which builds throughout. An exciting read.

Feathers Left Around by Carolyn Wells (1922)

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:

• Ned Knox, a writer of short stories
• "Little Anna" Knox, his vixen wife
• Valentine Loft, lawyer, architect, financier; host of the gathering
• Pauline Fuller, Valentine's fiancée
• "Angel" Bob Baldwin, rare book dealer
• Hugh Curran, (real name Hugh Dwyer), author of detective stories
• Hetty Dwyer, Curran's sister
• Miss Fitzgerald, Curran's fiancée
• Stella Lawrence, psychic
• Jack Meredith
• -- Meredith, his wife
• Countess Galaski, a Russian
• Roly Mears, the amateur detective
• Binns, the butler
• Detective Kinney, of the police
• Fleming Stone, private detective
• Terence McGuire ("Fibsy") his urchin assistant

Locale: Westchester County, New York; and Springfield, Massachusetts

Synopsis: Writer Ned Knox and Valentine Loft have a discussion on how to best write detective stories. As a result of this discussion, Loft hosts a dinner party with Hugh Curran, succesful writer of detective stories, as guest of honor; at which he will lead a discussion on the topic. The discussion focuses on methods, motives, and locked-room mysteries.

The next morning, Curran fails to show for breakfast. He is discovered - dead - locked in his bedroom. He has been poisoned.

Detective Kinney arrives to investigate. With his permission, Angel Bob Baldwin, Val Loft, Ned Knox, and Roly Mears look for clues on their own; yet spend much time accusing each other. The one significant clue is that Curran's pocket watch has been taken, and it is known to contain a woman's photo.

Review: When a group gets together to discuss the best method of performing an undetectable murder in a story, you just know what is going to happen.

This follows a standard Wells pattern: the amateur detective (Roly Mears) flails around for most of the book exploring different motive theories, and near the end, Fleming Stone arrives on the scene with an assistant ("Fibsy") who runs down the vital clues; allowing Stone to pull off the denouement.

The plot is well made, with the fiancée disappearing immediately to become suspect #1. The middle part of running down various theories gets a bit tedious, but the arrival of Stone and Fibsy perk it up again. Fibsy is a character, a bit rough around the edges; and creates some amusing repartee when he winds up seated next to a countess at dinner. Nevertheless, he figures out how to flush out the missing fiancée all by himself. Stone and Fisby remind me of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.

Note: Contains one use of pejorative slang term (d****) for persons of African-American ancestry; as well as their imagined dialog rendered in stereotyped phonetics. Distasteful to today's readers, but an indication of norms of the time.

Murder R.F.D. by Herman Petersen (1942)

This is Doc Miller #2 (of 4). Doc Miller, the country coroner, is the series detective and local Ben Wayne is the narrator.

About the author: Herman Petersen (1893-1973) sold his first story, “ The Seven Gilded Balls, ” to Black Mask in 1922. He worked for Utica (NY) newspapers and was the postmaster for Poolville, New York. All his mysteries were set in this area.  

The Toronto Star, 1957

Bibliography (full length titles):

• 1940 Murder in the Making (Doc Miller #1)
• 1942 Murder R.F.D. (Doc Miller #2)
• 1943 Old Bones (Doc Miller #3)
• 1943 The D.A.'s Daughter (Hank Wilbur)
• 1945 Country Chronicle (autobiography)
• 1948 Night on Castle Hill (serial)
• 1950 The Covered Bridge (historical novel)
• 1950 The Road (romance)
• 1957 The House in the Wilderness (Doc Miller #4, published as a serial)

Correction: The blurb for this title on the inside cover states that Charlie Russell (killed by a bull) was also found to have a bullet in his head. This is incorrect, the character killed by a bullet is someone else: Tom Wykeham.

Major characters:

• Ben Wayne, our narrator
• Marian Wayne
• Willie Wales, son of the Wayne's housekeeper; a simple man who enjoys tracking 
• Louis Telford, a neighbor
• Mrs. Hudson, Telford's housekeeper
• Charlie Russell, killed by Deuel's bull
• "Doc" Miller, county coroner
• Orville Deuel
• Agatha Deuel, his wife
• Cristine Nelson, Agatha Deuel's niece
• Pat Gordon, Deuel's farm hand
• Jimmy Kinney, Deuel's farm hand
• Tom Wykeham, a loner
• Paul Burns, D.A.

Locale: not specified, but likely rural upstate New York

Synopsis: Narrator Ben Wayne and his wife Marian live in Dark House. They hear Orville Deuel's bull has gored a man (Charlie Russell) to death and run off. Wayne and neighbor Louis Telford track down the bull with the help of Willie Wales; and return him to Deuel's farm. Suspicion mounts against farm hand Jimmy Kinney, who had been heard threatening to turn the bull on Russell earlier.

No sooner had this happened, when Tom Wykeham is found dead on his property. Rumors abound of a love affair between him and Agatha Deuel.

Jimmy Kinney and fellow farm hand Pat Gordon have disappeared. In the search for them, Agatha is also found murdered.

Review:  Herman Petersen is a pleasure to read, and I wish he had more titles. He captures the peaceful rural countryside perfectly. He is a master of language, as well. 

Our narrator, Ben Wayne, is cut from the same cloth as Hank Wilbur in The D.A.'s Daughter. We follow his thoughts in detail as he works his way through the mystery of Tom Wykeham's death. Many of the themes are similar to The D.A.'s Daughter.  There is the illicit December-May romance, and the climax of searching underwater for a murder weapon. Observations of nature lead to an important clue when Ben Wayne casually observes the activities of some ants. Simple Willie Wales is a fascinating character, with his Indian-like insights. 

Modern readers may need some help understanding the world of the 1940's with party-line telephones (a shared system where each subscriber has a unique ring signal, and the ability to eavesdrop on others' conversations) and the R.F.D. (Rural Free Delivery) mail system.

You may also enjoy this review by J F Norris on Pretty Sinister Books.

Trouble in Triplicate by Rex Stout (1949)

dustjackets.com

This book consists of three novellas:

---

Before I Die

• Dazy Perrit, a mobster
• Archie, Perrit's strong-arm man (not to be confused with Archie Goodwin)
• Thumbs Meeker, a hoodlum
• Fabian, another hoodlum
• Angelina Murphy, a.k.a. Violet Angelina Sally, a.k.a. Violet Perrit - the stand-in daughter
• Beulah Page, Perrit's real daughter
• Morton Schane, Beulah's fiancé

Mobster Dazy Perrit hires Nero Wolfe to help him with a blackmailer. Perrit has a daughter at Columbia, Beulah Page, he wants to keep secret for her own protection. He hires a standin, Violet Angelina Sally, to live with him, posing as his daughter. Violet wants to sweeten the deal by blackmailing Perrit. Archie Goodwin suggests a way she can increase her income and give up the blackmail racket.

---

Help Wanted, Male

• Ben Jensen, a publisher whose life is threatened
• -- Doyle, a private detective
• Captain Peter Root, in military prison (good alibi!)
• Thomas Root, his father
• Jane Geer

Publisher Ben Jensen approached Wolfe for protection - he has received a threat in the mail. Wolfe turns him down - he doesn't do that work - and refers him to another agency. While walking home with -- Doyle, an operative from that agency; they are both gunned down on the sidewalk. Then Wolfe gets an identical threat. What connects them to Wolfe? They had worked prosecuting Captain Peter Root (in prison) for violating military secrecy.

---

Instead of Evidence

• Eugene Poor, convinced he will be killed
• Martha Poor, née Davis, his wife
• Conroy Blaney, partner in Blaney & Poor Novelties
• Helen Vardis, employee of Blaney & Poor Novelties
• Joe Groll, forman at Blaney & Poor Novelties

Eugene Poor is convinced his partner, Conroy Blaney, is out to kill him in order to take over their business - manufacturing novelties. He hires Wolfe not to prevent it, but rather to see he doesn't get away with it. Sure enough, within 24 hours Poor is killed by an exploding cigar.

---

Review:

Before I Die is a bit low on believability with mobsters from Central Casting, and it gets a bit confusing with a real daughter and a stand-in. Why didn't Wolfe come up with the simple solution that Archie did? 

Help Wanted, Male is the best of the three. Stout is fond of stand-in tricks, and this stand-in for Wolfe is done well and is quite amusing. A murder mystery is tough with such a small cast (no space for red herrings), but this one turns into a standoff between two suspects, and left me guessing until the end. 

Instead of Evidence is what you get when a Groucho Marx character (Conroy Blaney) enters the refined Wolfe residence. Wolfe can't wait to get rid of him and neither could I. This is only serious mystery I know of which uses an exploding cigar as a murder weapon! This could be a satire of a Nero Wolfe, but it turns out to be a serious mystery after all.