I read several books from the 1930s. They don't all quite
qualify as hardboiled, but I'll slip them in anyway. My '40s
selection is better focussed, and I'm in the middle of Le
petit bleu de la cô´¥ ouest
(Manchette), so I'm not totally off course.
Agatha Christie, The Boomerang Clue (U.S. title)/Why Didn't
They Ask Evans?
(1933) This book was mentioned in the Sayers article Miker
pointed us to. I hadn't read an Agatha Christie in ages, but
she was my first crime writer after Carolyn Keene and
Franklin W. Dixon, so I seized the opportunity to read a new
one.
Murder, attempted murder and kidnapping take place, and
you're not likely to figure out the details until they're
explained at the end. The plot is fairly complicated,
involving a drug ring and ruthless con artists, along with a
sinister Canadian doctor who runs a detox centre for drug
addicts.
The amateur detective duo of Lady Frankie Derwent and vicar's
son Bobby Jones is quite appealing. Frankie fearlessly
insinuates herself into the household of the suspected killer
and lives there for a while.
It was a good bedtime read for a few nights, but you hardcore
exclusively hardboiled fans won't want to bother with
it.
Ellery Queen, Drury Lane's Last Case (1933) Drury Lane,
retired actor, devoted Shakespearean and all-round genius, is
called in to help his friend, a retired New York city
policeman, who runs a detective agency. Inspector Thumm is
pretty thick. Fortunately his daughter, Patience, more than
makes up for his deficiencies.
It all begins when a very strange man with a "Joseph's"
(multicoloured) beard leaves an envelope with the detective
agency, giving orders to open it only if he is not heard from
on a certain day. The plot involves rare Shakespeare editions
that are stolen and replaced. A couple of people get killed
and a lot of intricate reasoning is required to figure out
who did what and why.
Drury Lane plays a very peculiar role in the thing and it is
all really quite ridiculous. The best part about it is that
it is Patience who solves the case.
Dorothy L. Sayers, The Nine Tailors (1934) A classic crime
novel. Sayers plays by the rules, but there are a couple of
very unexpected twists.
Lord Peter Wimsey and his man Bunter are obliged to spend the
night in a village vicarage. The vicar and his team are just
getting ready to break a bell-ringing record and are short a
man. Wimsey just happens to be a perfectly competent bell
ringer.
Then a body is found buried in a village churchyard. The
problem is, it's on top of someone else's coffin and it is
missing its hands. The story really begins about ten years
earlier, when a valuable necklace was stolen and a culprit
was imprisoned. Someone was saying recently that cosies don't
show the way that a crime affects the community, but one of
the themes of the book is that the theft affected many people
in different ways and leads to a number of violent
deaths.
Needless to say Wimsey figures it all out, although it takes
over a year to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
There is much discussion of campanology and even a secret
code that involves a bell-ringing sequence. Sayers did more
research than I would ever want to do into the art of bell
ringing, and the science of water-control structures as well.
Very well written, not hard hitting, but difficult to
solve.
Erle Stanley Gardner, This Is Murder (1935)
"A crackling tale of kidnapping and mystery by the
best-selling mystery writer of all time." Thus saith the
cover. I have a 1949 reprint of a 1935 title originally
published under the name of Charles J. Kenny.
A book with a cast of characters at the front, which I
referred to a few times. Two antagonists are called Moraine
and Morden, so for awhile I had trouble keeping them
straight.
This time our hero is an ad man! Sam Moraine happens to be
playing poker with his friend the DA and his investigator
(note the absence of a defence lawyer) when they are called
out to talk to a woman whose sister is missing--she fears
murdered by her husband. Sam goes along, ostensibly to
provide his expertise in paper and ink. The plot thickens and
before long there are political and financial intrigues, a
kidnapping and a couple of murders.
Guns are drawn but there are no shoot-outs. The time of one
murder is established by the length of a burned-down candle
and the schedule of a passing train.
Sam is tough, yes, but not supertough. The language is
colloquial. So the minimum hb requirements are met.
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