Friday’s Forgotten Book: Blackshirt Passes By by Roderic Jeffries

Blackshirt Passes By (Hutchinson, 1953) is the third Blackshirt adventure by Roderic Jeffries in the continuation of his father’s series. Blackshirt has had a long and unusually varied career. Graham Montague Jeffries (1900-1982) under the pen name Bruce Graeme created the character of Richard Verrell, a well-known author whose alter ego Blackshirt dresses completely in black and finds stealing exhilarating. This Blackshirt appeared in stories released between 1925 and 1947, mostly in the 1930s.

Using the name of David Graeme, supposedly Bruce Graeme’s cousin, Jeffries also wrote a series of books about Monsieur Blackshirt, Richard Verrell’s 17th-century French ancestor. They appeared in the 1930s, except for the last one which was released in 1963.

During World War II Jeffries wrote several short stories about the son of Richard Verrell, who used the name Lord Blackshirt. He imagined the son of Blackshirt living in a post-war England and carrying on the family legacy. These stories were also attributed to the authorship of Bruce Graeme.

Super Detective Library featured illustrated Blackshirt adventures during the 1950s.

Jeffries’s son Roderic Jeffries revived the Richard Verrell/Blackshirt character under the name Roderic Graeme, releasing 20 novels about the gentleman burglar between 1952 and 1969. In this particular outing, ruthless thieves target a figurine in a museum display of artifacts on loan from the Middle East. The horse-shaped figurine is made of gold and has a huge ruby for a saddle. Its value is incalculable. The local thug talent drafted for the actual theft are assured that no violence will be involved and consequently are stunned when the ring leader offhandedly shoots the guards who try to stop them.

Richard Verrell, Blackshirt’s alter ego, is walking down the street across from the museum, intent on an innocuous errand, when he sees the gang driving frantically away in his own car, which he housed in a nearby garage. The police question him closely as a witness to the get-away. When an international incident over the theft threatens, the Inspector in charge of the case, desperate to save his career and who knows about Verrell’s hobby of burglary, blackmails him into finding the figurine and identifying the culprits.

The ensuing adventure, full of creative characters and narrow escapes, reminded me of The Saint’s exploits, except that this one is more violent.

The book Literary Afterlife: The Posthumous Continuations of 325 Fictional Characters by Bernard A. Drew (McFarland & Company, 2010) and the invaluable website Stop, You’re Killing Me! (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/) served as my resources for this review.

Friday’s Forgotten Book: Curiosity Killed a Cat by Anne Rowe

Curiosity Killed a Cat (Morrow, 1941) is the third book by Anne Rowe and the first with Inspector Josiah Pettengill in Maine. Kay Wentworth moves with her widowed engineer father to Cliffport, Maine, where he will consult with the Federal government on the upgrade and expansion of what sounds to me like the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as World War II looms forebodingly on the horizon.

She had been keeping house for her father since her mother died and accompanying him was never in question but she had a particular interest in Cliffport. Five years earlier as an impulsive 18-year-old she secretly married Bruce Jollimar, whom she had just met and who abandoned her three weeks later. One of the few bits of information she had about her husband is that he was from Cliffport. Now in love with a more eligible man, she is anxious to find Bruce to end their marriage. She sees him on the street one evening and thinks he enters what is supposed to be an empty house. She later visits the house and finds the body of a visiting professor, bringing Inspector Josiah Pettengill into the story.

Steve Lewis reviewed Too Much Poison by Rowe for Friday’s Forgotten Books several years ago on his Mystery File blog. See his review here: http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=622. It also involves a secret marriage. Rowe must have had a particular unease about them, and the social mores from that time are absorbing. Kay was extremely concerned about the publicity surrounding a divorce, and solicited her aunt’s assistance in keeping the newspapers at bay while she plotted a quiet change to her marital status .

The mystery itself is well planned, I did not suspect the killer at all. What is more interesting is the social setting, with the inherited family servants who tell Kay and her father what they will and won’t do, and the society leader of the town, who never knocks on doors, she simply enters any house she pleases. The reclusive family member who turns out to be a world-famous designer of high-end clothing for women is particularly intriguing.

In his review Steve Lewis included this information about the author taken from Crime Fiction IV by Al Hubin:

ROWE, ANNE (Von Meibom) (1901?-1975?)

  • The Turn of a Wheel (n.) Macaulay 1930
  • Men Are Strange Lovers (n.) King 1935
  • Curiosity Killed a Cat (n.) Morrow 1941 [Insp. Josiah Pettengill; Maine]
  • The Little Dog Barked (n.) Morrow 1942 [Insp. Josiah Pettengill; Maine; Theatre]
  • Too Much Poison (n.) Mill 1944 [Insp. Barry; New York City, NY]
  • Fatal Purchase (n.) Mill 1945 [Maine]
  • The Painted Monster (n.) Gifford-UK 1945 [Insp. Josiah Pettengill]
  • Up to the Hilt (n.) Mill 1945 [Insp. Barry; Connecticut]
  • Deadly Intent (n.) Mill 1946 [Insp. Barry; New York City, NY]

When I included Anne Rowe’s original name in my search, I found entries in WorldCat, Alibris, and this entry in The General Fiction Magazine Index, http://www.philsp.com/homeville/GFI/z54.htm:

“Rowe, Anne (Von Meibom) (1882-1961)  Born in Germany; married Leon Randall Rowe; died in Alameda, California.”

Al Hubin’s list contains one more title than WorldCat does. The WorldCat entries for each title show few holdings, which suggests these books are hard to find.

The local library unearthed a contemporary review of this book. Here is the citation:

“CURIOSITY KILLED A CAT. By Anne Rowe. 282 pp. New York: William Harrow & Co. $2. New York Times (1923-Current file); Jun 1, 1941; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times pg. BR13”

The reviewer states this is Rowe’s first mystery and hopes it is not her last.

Friday’s Forgotten Book: Good Night, Sweet Prince by Carole Berry

Good Night, Sweet Prince (St. Martins, 1990) is the third amateur detective mystery by Carole Berry featuring Bonnie Jean Indermill, an office temporary worker in New York City. Eight titles were released in this series between 1987 and 1999. Like the John Putnam Thatcher mysteries by Emma Lathen before these books and the Dead End Job cozy mysteries by Elaine Viets after them, each story is set in a different industry. Part of the backstory, which stimulated my interest in them, gives insight into the industry’s day-to-day operations and the lives of the people who work in it.

Bonnie is as usual desperate for employment but not so desperate she agrees to work in an accounting firm, where everyone she saw was gray: their clothes, their faces, their personalities. So when the chance to support the fund-raising department of the Gotham Ballet came along, she jumps at it. She knows nothing about fund-raising but she can do data entry and that’s all that’s asked of her, initially. Working late one night, she is the only staff member in the office when Nikolai Koslov, a Russian ballet star who visited the corps of dancers earlier in the day, comes out of his hiding place and tells her he wants to defect. The ensuing uproar puts Bonnie in a spotlight she doesn’t want.

At first Nikolai’s presence in the ballet company delights the management and staff but he soon annoys and offends nearly everyone. When equipment mysteriously fails during a performance, fatally injuring him, there is no shortage of suspects, even though the police believe the KGB is responsible.

The employee infighting, one-upmanship, and backstabbing give the story an all-too-realistic aura of office life as I know it. After one particularly vicious battle Bonnie’s boss quits in a huff, leaving Bonnie responsible for a major donors’ banquet; the ensuing series of catastrophes is a high point of the book.

As usual in amateur detective stories, Bonnie counts a member of the local police force among her suitors. Tony LaMarca urges her to leave the investigation to professionals, and of course she ignores him. However, this particular romance has a twist not generally seen in cozy mysteries.

The additional subplots of cocaine use among the younger dancers and a stage mother who believes in her daughter’s career more than the daughter does lend a gritty sense of veracity. An engaging read.

Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson

The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson (Poisoned Pen Press, 2018) is the latest release in the British Library Crime Classics series. Originally published in 1932, this is the only mystery by the author, who was a Labour Member of Parliament much of her life, one of the first women to serve in that role. I am sure she was an effective representative for her constituents but her efforts could have as easily been directed into a string of well-done mysteries, had she chosen.

Post-war England desperately needs a loan and Georges Oissel, a reclusive multi-millionaire representing a consortium, has agreed in principle to extend the requested money but is making the details awkward. His long-ago friend from Canada, now the Home Secretary, is having dinner with him in one of the private dining rooms of the House of Commons to smooth over arrangements. The Secretary leaves his guest alone for a few minutes to attend the final vote on a matter of importance. Thus, when the Home Secretary’s Parliamentary Private Secretary Robert West and a friend hear a gunshot from within the dining room at the same time that the division bell rings and Big Ben strikes the hour of nine, West, his friend, and a waiter rush in to the room to find the crumpled body of Oissel on the floor and no one else. Windows were locked and suicide appeared to be the only answer. Except the forensic evidence doesn’t add up, setting Scotland Yard a pretty locked room puzzle.

West serves as amateur investigator, helping Inspector Blackitt of the CID and protecting his Secretary, not known for his brains or his ability, from political fallout. Along the way he provides unconscious insight to the political milieu of the time. The financier’s charismatic granddaughter, a political news reporter, and other MPs are all noteworthy characters who contribute to the unfolding of the plot as well as to the sense of time and place.

The introduction by Rachel Reeves MP helped me understand much of the context around this period story, when women in politics were still rare. The author spells out working conditions for women in the House of Common, where female MPs were allowed and where they weren’t. This fascinating commentary makes the book worthwhile reading on its own, with a well-executed mystery on the side.

Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Dreadful Hollow by Nicholas Blake

The Dreadful Hollow by Nicholas Blake (Collins, 1953) is the 10th book featuring Nigel Strangeways, an occasional poet who spends more time looking into things for people than writing verse. In this outing Strangeways is retained by Sir Archibald Blick, a wealthy financier, to investigate the outbreak of anonymous letters in a village, where Blick’s sons live and where Blick has significant business interests. The letters are especially vicious, causing at least one suicide and great distress throughout the small town. Although Strangeways eliminated a number of suspects pretty quickly based on their access, or lack thereof, to the logistics of the local mail system, what puzzled him was how well-informed the anonymous letter writer was. At least one letter contained information that no one in the village could know. Figuring out the source of the inflammatory innuendo was of great concern to him, although his client just wants the letters stopped.  

Among the lives being wrecked by the letters are two sisters, one of which was courted by one of Blick’s sons years ago and the other whom he is courting now. Neither match is acceptable to the mogul, who is a great fan of eugenics and he considers the family of the two sisters to be genetically tainted.

With the entire village on tenterhooks, the ensuing murder was not surprising but the choice of victim was. This story is classic Strangeways in every aspect.

I asked the denizens of Golden Age Detection, a Facebook group whose members know everything and make great reading recommendations, if the poison pen letter writer always targeted a village and they seem to think so. There was less consensus on whether the anonymous letter writer is strictly a Golden Age plot device, although largely it appears to be. They offer the following as examples:

  • Death of a Poison Pen by M. C. Beaton
  • The Bells of Old Bailey by Dorothy Bowers
  • Beware Your Neighbour by Miles Burton
  • The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie
  • The Long Divorce by Edmund Crispin
  • Welcome Death by Glyn Daniel
  • Night at the Mocking Widow by Carter Dickson
  • Close Quarters by Michael Gilbert
  • “The Possibility of Evil” a short story by Shirley Jackson
  • The House of the Arrow by A E Mason
  • The Crimson Madness of Little Doom by Mark McShane
  • Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers
  • Poison in the Pen by Patricia Wentworth
  • Fear Stalks the Village by Ethel Lina White