Death in Vineyard Waters by Philip R. Craig (#2 - 1991)

originally published as The Woman Who Walked Into the Sea

About the author: Philip R. Craig (1933 –2007) was a writer known for his Martha's Vineyard mysteries. He was born in Santa Monica and raised on a cattle ranch near Durango, Colorado. In 1951 he attended Boston University intending to become a minister, and got a degree in 1957. He taught English and Journalism at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts from 1962 to 1965, and at Wheelock College in Boston until 1999, at which point he retired to become a full-time writer. (Wikipedia)

Major Characters:

• Dr. Marjorie Summerharp, who walked into the water
• Dr. John Skye, professor at Weststock College
• Jen and Jill Skye, John’s twin teen daughters
• Dr. Ian McGregor, who ‘collects women as honey collects insects’. 
• Dr. Helen Barstone
• Dr. Bill Hooperman
• Tristan Cooper, caretaker of mystical stones
• Hans and Marie Van Dam, owners of Sanctuary
• J. W. Jackson, ex-Boston cop
• Zeolinda "Zee" Madieras, J.W.’s girlfriend

Locale: Martha’s Vineyard, island off Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Synopsis: Ex-cop J. W. Jackson, retired after an injury, is now a year-round resident of Martha’s Vineyard. He meets up with a collection of academics, centered around aging Marjorie Summerharp and her protégé, young Ian McGregor. They are collaborating on an article about a purported new work of Shakespeare which has been found; which they posit is genuine. Summerharp goes for her usual early morning swim and does not return, until her body is caught up in a fishing net. Ian McGregor seeks J.W.’s help in finding if there was foul play, perhaps from someone in the tight-knit Shakespearean academic community, who could be threatened by their work. This alliance proves to be troublesome, as J.W.’s girlfriend, Zee, now takes up with Ian.

Besides the academics, others include the Van Dams, who operate a semi-religious retreat called Sanctuary, on land leased from Tristan Cooper. There are rumors of illicit happenings at Sanctuary. Cooper serves as caretaker of ancient stones on his property, which he maintains have sacred/astrological significance. 

Review:

Craig obviously knows Martha's Vineyard. His character of J.W. strikes me as a male version of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone: both are ex-cop private eyes, living a simple and solitary life. I will be seeking out the other titles of the series. I was saddened to find Craig has passed away. The writing is warm and real. The repartee with the twins is amusing and serves as a relief to the drama.

The ancient stones story line is interesting, and the stones described are similar to those found in Mystery Hill in New Hampshire.

A map of Martha’s Vineyard would have been helpful to the reader, perhaps it was included in the original hardcover version. I did find one in his Vineyard Enigma.

A couple of peeves: Craig uses the terms ‘thesis’ and ‘dissertation’ interchangeably, which they are not: A thesis is generally written in  attaining a master’s degree, while a dissertation is a more complex form written in attaining a doctorate. Second, he repeatedly uses the term ‘final draft’, which is an oxymoron. A draft is, by definition, a preliminary version of a document and cannot be a final version.

The Feathered Serpent by Edgar Wallace (1927)

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About the author: (Goodreads): Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was a prolific British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and countless articles in newspapers and journals.

Edgar Wallace

Major characters:

• Peter Dewin, crime reporter
• William Lane, is he dead or isn't he?
• Ella Creed, self-absorbed actress
• Joe Farmer, boxing promotor; estranged husband of Ella Creed
• Leicester "Bobby" Crewe, stockbroker
• Gregory Beale, archeologist/explorer
• Daphne Olroyd, secretary first to Leicester Crewe, then to Gregory Beale
• Harry Hugg, an ex-con
• Paula Staines, an artist
• Chief Inspector Clarke

Locale: London

Synopsis:  Reporter Peter Dewin is assigned to cover the story of actress Ella Creed, who has received a warning card, with a drawing of a Feathered Serpent on it. As soon as he contacts Ella, her estranged husband - boxing promoter Joe Farmer - receives one also, followed by stockbroker Leicester Crewe. Everyone is mystified.

Joe Farmer calls Dewin, saying he knows who the Feathered Serpent is, and on his way to reveal the identity is shot dead.

The warnings are thought to come from ex-con William Lane, however, his prison mate Harry Hugg insists Lane is dead; and produces the death certificate showing he was hit by a car and killed.

Review: 

Peter Dewin is a likable and believable reporter, he would have made a good series character. Love interest Daphne Olroyd is a good character also. Ella Creed is the girl-you-love-to-hate. 

The motley collection of ex-cons (Harry Hugg, Harry the Barman, and Harry the Lug are three different people) is amusing although a few less Harry's would have made this clearer. 

The victim, Joe Farmer, turns out to have died by an unusual weapon - skirting Knox's Commandment #4: (No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.) The Commandments weren't written until 1929 so I will give Wallace a pass on this one. 

An interesting dénouement: the last chapter is presented as a news story written by Dewin for his paper, and explains everything; which was quite involved with multiple identities. The murderer was a surprise, I had not seen that coming at all; nor did I see the truth about is-he-dead-or-not William Lane.

This was one of the better Wallaces I have read thus far.

The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon (1932)

About the author: J. Jefferson Farjeon worked for Amalgamated Press in London before going freelance. One of Farjeon's best known works was a 1925 play, Number 17, which was made into a number of films, including Number Seventeen (1932) directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and joined the UK Penguin Crime series as a novel in 1939. He also wrote the screenplay for Michael Powell's My Friend the King (1932) and provided the story for Bernard Vorhaus's The Ghost Camera (1933). Farjeon's crime novels were admired by Dorothy L. Sayers, who called him "unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures." (from a Wikipedia article). 

Major characters:

• Richard Temperley, the train traveller
• Winifred Mostyn, his sister
• John Amble, the snoring man (victim #1)
• Sylvia Wynne
• Ledlow, Sylvia's grandfather
• Martha, a gypsy (victim #2)
• Albert Bowes, a taxi driver (victim #3)
• The Countryman
• The Man with No Arms
• Detective-Inspector James
• Policeman Dutton

Locale: England

Synopsis: Richard Temperley is travelling on a slow night train and is annoyed by a fellow passenger, John Amble, who snores constantly. They arrive at Euston Station at 5 AM, much too early for anything to be open. They are directed to the local hotel's public smoking room, where they can rest for a few hours. Temperley has a passing encounter with an enchanting woman, Sylvia Wynne. She leaves the smoking room. Temperley becomes concerned that Amble has ceased snoring - checks on him - to find he is dead; with a enamelled letter Z left behind. Detective-Inspector James arrives to determine Amble had been shot from the room's window, but unsure if the shot originated inside or outside.

Temperley finds Sylvia's purse. He does not report it, but decides to take matters into his own hands. He traces her back to her studio apartment. All the time, policeman Dutton is lurking, watching Temperley in order to find Sylvia.

A second death occurs - Martha, a gypsy woman, in a field in Charlton. Temperley believes Sylvia has gone there. A long chase ensues as Sylvia is chased by Temperley, who is in turn chased by Dutton as their path crosses England. Always lurking in the background is The Countryman, apparently a farmer.

Review:

This is a mystery and chase thriller rolled into one. An unknown murderer is on the loose, leaving enamelled "Z"s behind as a signature device. As we near the end of the chase, it is explained why the unconnected victims were chosen as far distant locations. The bizarre criminal with the fascination of "Z" reminds me of the early Ellery Queens with the country names in the titles (Greek Coffin, Chinese Orange, etc.)

Many of the particulars of the action are described in roundabout ways, leaving the reader to fill in the details. For example, the accounts of the deaths are vague and I was not really sure if a death had indeed occurred, until it was confirmed in later accounts. 

On the last leg of the chase, the killer is revealed to the reader, and the story turns thriller.*

Farjeon has a couple oddities: many people - even major characters - are given descriptive names instead of specific ones (The Countryman, The Man with the Monocle, The Man with No Arms, etc). The other aspect which grates a little is the plethora of Exclamation Points even to unimportant sentences! It gives the writing a Hardy Boys feel! ('It's a telegram!' He exclaimed!)

This is a good page-turner, and my third Farjeon. The first (Mystery in White) was excellent, the second (Seven Dead) was so-so, and this one almost as good as Mystery in White. I will seek out more Farjeons from the British Library Crime Classics series (Amazon), many also available for Kindle.

An aside: You have heard of the old stereotype of the detective standing on the street, leaning against a lamppost, holding a newspaper, and watching someone through a round hole cut in the paper - but this is the first time I have seen it as a serious part of a story (p.70)! Perhaps this is where the trope originated.

*I define a thriller as one where the killer is known to the reader, the mystery becoming will he get caught?

They Tell No Tales by Manning Coles (1942)

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About the author (wikipedia): Manning Coles is the pseudonym of two British writers, Adelaide Frances Oke Manning (1891–1959) and Cyril Henry Coles (1899–1965), who wrote many spy thrillers from the early 40s through the early 60s. The fictional protagonist in 26 of their books was Thomas Elphinstone  Hambledon, who works for the Foreign Office.

Major characters:

• Donald Macgregor, shipyard worker, his information got him killed
• Mrs. Elsie Roberts, a.k.a. "The Wax Doll", sister of Macgregor
• Rodney Siddall, a hairdresser
• Doris Baker, Siddall's girlfriend
• Bettine Gascon, a governess
• Stafford Wilkins, her boyfriend
• Molly & Eileen Trotter, twins
• Tommy Hambledon, British Intelligence
• James Bellair, British Intelligence
• Franz von Krug, Tommy's former manservant
• Reck, Tommy's current manservant

Locale: England

Synopsis: Tommy Hambledon and James Bellair are assigned to find out how and why certain outbound ships from a certain naval yard are exploding as soon as they depart. Shipyard worker Donald Macgregor has some information for them. When Macgregor enters a local pub (Cafe d'Albertini) to meet Hambledon and Bellair, he is shot in the back from outside.

The other patrons of the pub become the focus of the investigation, as well as several people associated with the local theatre. An incident at the theatre wounds Bellair, and puts Hambledon on the trail of the unknown bomber.

Review: Manning Coles books are always good for spectacular explosions, and we have three right away, beginning on page five: a "swill lorry" (ewwww), a house holding poor Macgregor's coffin for services, and a ship exiting the shipyard.

Amusing incidents always creep in causing this reader to laugh out loud. Hambledon and Bellair are trying to enter Siddall's apartment which is above a high-ceilinged garage. There is a trap door in the floor of the apartment by which they can sneak in. They attempt to push the trap door open from below by use of a broom handle - unfortunately, unknown to them, the trap door is covered above by 1). a carpet, upon which is 2). a table, upon which is 3). a large vase full of water and cut flowers.

This is the 3rd Hambledon novel, and he is getting his stride now as the series continues.

Note: One occurrence of racist term for persons of Chinese ancestry.

Also please see this review by Bev Hankins on My Reader's Block.

The D.A. Breaks an Egg by Erle Stanley Gardner (1949)

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Final book in the Doug Selby series. The full series is:

1. The D.A. Calls It Murder (1937) 
2. The D.A. Holds a Candle (1938)
3. The D.A. Draws a Circle (1939)
4. The D.A. Goes to Trial (1940)
5. The D.A. Cooks a Goose (1942)
6. The D.A. Calls a Turn (1944)
7. The D.A. Breaks a Seal (1946)
8. The D.A. Takes a Chance (1948)
9. The D.A. Breaks an Egg (1949)

Major Characters:

• Daphne Arcola, from Montana
• Rose Furman, a private detective
• Alphonse Baker Carr, "Old A.B.C.", a shifty lawyer
• Eleanor "Babe" Carr, his wife of convenience
• Lorraine Lennox, a highly respectable type
• Moana Lennox, her daughter
• Steve Lennox, her son
• Horace Lennox, her son
• Dorothy Clifton, Horace's fiancée
• Doug Selby, District Attorney
• Rex Brandon, Sheriff
• Sylvia Martin, reporter for The Clarion

Locale: Madison City, California

Synopsis: Dorothy Clifton is driving to Madison City to meet her fiancé's family (The Lennox's), and is apprehensive since they seem so high-society. While there, someone borrows her car - and returns it - but there is a purse in the back seat belonging to a Daphne Arcola.

That night, a woman's body is found stabbed in a park - but no purse. She is traced back to her hotel room, and appears she is Daphne Arcola. While D.A. Doug Selby and Sheriff Rex Brandon are looking around the room, lawyer A. B. Carr shows up; looking for Daphne, who he says is a friend of his wife Eleanor Carr.

About the same time, a burglar enters the Lennox home and makes off with some jewelry.

Later, Doug Selby returns to the hotel room for another look, and find an indignant woman in the room who claims she is Daphne Arcola, and what are they doing in her room anyway? No good answer for that one. Looks like the I.D. on the body wasn't too good. Turns out the deceased is a private detective, Rose Furman, who bears a superficial resemblance to Daphne Arcola.

Review: Well, this concludes my trip through the nine Doug Selbys, and it is sad there are no more. They are more satisfying than the Perry Masons. Next I am going to read some of the other non-Perry Masons, there are a few.

As this series progressed, attorney A. B. Carr gets more and more respectable (and more believable). The plot got a bit confusing when trying to follow who-what-when with the two redheads (Daphne Arcola and Rose Furman). The final chapters introduced some new characters who may have had a passing mention earlier but I did not remember them. I did find myself wondering if I was in the same book for a while. Other than that, a good read from Madison City.

The Double by Edgar Wallace (1932)

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About the author: (Goodreads): Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was a prolific British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and countless articles in newspapers and journals.

Edgar Wallace

Major characters:

• Detective Inspector Dick Staines
• Lord "Tommy" Weald, his friend
• Mr. Minns, Tommy's butler
• Walter Derrick, Tommy's amusing, carefree neighbor
• Larkin, Derrick's caretaker
• Mary Dane, a nurse with grey eyes
• Mr. Cornfort, her patient, an invalid
• Henry, her "chairman" (he pushes Mr. Cornfort's chair)
• Lordy Brown, an ex-con

Locale: London and Brighton

Synopsis: Detective Inspector Dick Staines and his friend Lord "Tommy" Weald are in Brighton on holiday, and Weald describes a beautiful woman he has seen in town - nurse Mary Dane. They run into Tommy's neighbor, Walter Derrick. Staines meets Mary Dane and is enchanted.

Staines has to head back to London. Tommy suggests Staines is welcome to stay in his Lowndes Square, London house. The house is strange - formerly owned by an obscure Religious Order who enjoyed building staircases, chapels, tunnels, and what-not. Staines settles in, but manages to lock himself out on the balcony. The neighbor's balcony is within reach. Staines remembers the adjacent balcony is Walter Derrick's house, and since he is an acquaintance anyway, he may as well try to cross to that balcony, enter Derrick's house, and get out to the street, then return to Tommy's.

Staines jumps over to the adjacent balcony, enters Derrick's house, and is trying to find his way downstairs and out when he encounters a man drugged and tied on the floor, with a woman bending over him - apparently Mary Dane. She and an unseen accomplice escape. The tied man is Derrick's caretaker, Larkin. A fingerprint is found on the glass which had the drugged beer - and is traced back to an unsolved murder.

Derrick reveals this is the third burglary in his home. It is found that his late father left an inheritance which was never found, and it is thought concealed in the home somewhere.

Staines is walking with Mary Dane when she is accosted by Lordy Brown, just off a ship, who claims she is really Mary de Villiers.

Now there are two - maybe three - Mary Danes: the nurse, the burglar, and Mary de Villiers. Or are there?

Review:

We are set up quickly with various mysteries: Who is masquerading as Mary Dane, and why? Why is everyone interested in Walter Derrick's architecturally-strange house? Who is Lordy Brown and why is he lurking around?

This is a long book (320 pages) and longer than most Wallaces, which were probably intended for Britons to read while on the Tube going to the Office. The entire middle of the book eats up a lot of pages with a love triangle: both Staines and Tommy have their eyes on Mary Dane, who consents to marry each (simultaneously!)

An amusing episode occurs in a department store when Mary gives Staines the slip (pardon the pun), by insisting she visit the Ladies' Undergarments section where men are simply Not Appropriate Shoppers.

Wallace did manage to fool me - I thought I had the killer pegged from the opening - but was wrong. The denouément did get complex, and I gave up trying to follow the shell game.

The reader may wish to have a copy of Knox's 10 Commandments (1928) handy, this story skirts several:

• All supernatural ... agencies are ruled out as a matter of course. We have a ghost inhabiting Wallace's house.
• Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable. Lost count. Secret passages are explained by renovations which walled-in staircases. Secret doors swing in and out. 
• No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end. The appliance appears on schedule: a vacuum pump with a long needle in the center; but relax - it is not the murder weapon. Scientific explanation is provided at the end.
• Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them. Doubles abound! Mary's double is duly prepared for, but wait, there's more!

Seven Dead by J. Jefferson Farjeon (1939)

About the author: J. Jefferson Farjeon worked for Amalgamated Press in London before going freelance. One of Farjeon's best known works was a 1925 play, Number 17, which was made into a number of films, including Number Seventeen (1932) directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and joined the UK Penguin Crime series as a novel in 1939. He also wrote the screenplay for Michael Powell's My Friend the King (1932) and provided the story for Bernard Vorhaus's The Ghost Camera (1933). Farjeon's crime novels were admired by Dorothy L. Sayers, who called him "unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures." (from a Wikipedia article). 

Major characters:

• Ted Lyte, amateur thief
• Detective Inspector Kendall
• Thomas Hazeldean, freelance news writer/yachtsman
• John Fenner, house owner
• Dora Fenner, his niece
• Madame Paula, host of the French pension (boarding house)
• Dr. Jones, Madame Paula's husband
• Gustav, the mysterious silks seller

Synopsis: Ted Lyte, amateur thief, chose the wrong house for his first burglary. After entering the isolated house, Ted stumbles upon a locked room containing seven dead bodies. Detective Inspector Kendall takes on the case with the help of passing freelance news correspondent/yachtsman Thomas Hazeldean. They find some odd things: an ancient cricket ball on the mantle, a dead cat in the back yard, and a cryptic note referencing a "suicide club" with a coded reference to where they can find "the particulars". The search for the house's owners, John Fenner and his niece Dora Fenner, leads Hazeldean to Boulogne, France; where he catches up to them. They are unaware of the tragedy which occurred after their departure. The Fenners are staying at a "pension" (boarding house) run by Madame Paula, who husband, Dr. Jones, is promptly killed in an airplane crash. A mysterious "dark-skinned silks seller" (later identified as Gustav) follows the Fenners around. 

Review: Creepy happenings and atmosphere abound. The scenes in Boulogne have a Casablanca atmosphere, where shady peddlers lurking around and peeking in windows.

The questioning of Dora by Hazeldean runs way too long, and stretches believability - who would respond to persistent questioning by a stranger who does not reveal why he wants to know?

The questioning of  French maid Maria also runs way too long - and is rendered in "Frenglish" which seems to be a little of both, alternating between confounding and amusing:

"Mais non! And I tell 'im! But when I go to ze door 'e get in my way, and when I slap 'is face, oui, 'e bite me; zen I bite 'im, and we 'ave, qu'est-ce que c'est? - le fisticuff!"

There are loads of loose starts and ends. By loose starts, I mean something just appears in the story which has not been mentioned previously. By loose ends, some events are just not explained. A dead man is found with the silks seller, but it never explained who it was. It was assumed to be a certain person, yet that person shows up alive and well later in the story. The writer could have used a "continuity person" to match up starts and ends.

Some aspects stretch credibility: a dead man in England has half a red pencil clutched in his hand, and the other half is found later on a desert island in the South Atlantic.

Overall, a bit cluttered and haphazard; not as good as the other title I have read (Mystery in White). 

One little annoyance: This British Library Crime Classic edition, being on metric sized paper, is larger than US paperbacks, and is perfect bound (individual pages glued into the binding) rather than signature bound and my pages kept detaching from the binding glue and coming loose as they are turned. Perhaps just an issue with my copy, but it made one-handed reading pretty much impossible.

Also please see this review by Bev Hankins on My Reader's Block.