Murder in MESS: The Crimson Cat by Francis Grierson (1944)

Like Cecil Freeman Gregg whom I read recently, Francis Grierson is another prolific writer who is virtually unknown today. Here is an informative post on him: https://tellersofweirdtales.blogspot.com/2013/11/francis-d-grierson-1888-1972.html Grierson's series character, Superintendent George Muir is at the Ministry of Estimates and Social Service (MESS) when the novel opens. He is there to investigate the leaks that …

Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Old Manor by Cecil Freeman Gregg (1945)

MasterMoreton opened his eyes at this admission and stared up into the inspector's face with renewed interest, suddenly remembering the conversation in the train and his disparagement of the police in general. Bit of a floater really but... Young Augustine Marryon Moreton is in low spirits. Not because of his name or short height or …

Deadly Lilies: Murder in Bermuda by Willoughby Sharp (1933)

"Well," Jack inquired amiably, "been any murders today?" One of the best ways to travel is through books and thus I was delighted to borrow Murder in Bermuda from the library. Though I have heard of the Bermuda triangle and read a book and seen a movie on it, I have no clear-cut idea about …

In Pursuit: The Hunted Man by Walter S. Masterman (1938)

"Here, steady on! we are not in Chicago, you know."..."We are in London and that is far more dangerous because it is safer." Earlier this year I read The Death Coins by an author new to me - Walter S. Masterman. I did not enjoy the book but was also not ready to dismiss the …

The More it Unravells…Death Trap by Harry Carmichael (1970)

Harry Carmichael is one of the pseudonyms employed by British crime writer and journalist, Leopold Horace Ognall (20 June 1908 – 12 April 1979). I was surprised to read that he had published more than 90 novels because before reading this book I had heard of him only vaguely and had no idea that he …

Friday’s Forgotten Book: Time for a Murder by Gilbert Coverack (1941)

Sonia Caffyn is visited one day by an old man, Micah Vickery, who was in love with her grandmother years ago. A lover's tiff had seen the two (Micah and Sonia's grandmother, Margaret) drifting apart and Margaret marrying somebody else. Micah has never forgotten her, however, and now in his old age, he wants all …

Crash: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (2016)

He realizes that everyone else on that plane except he and the boy exist now only in the past tense. David Bateman is a media mogul whose news channel is doing exceptionally well, thanks to a programme hosted by Bill Cunningham, a man who believes that news has to be created rather than simply told. …

Friday’s Forgotten Book: Judy of Bunter’s Buildings by E. Phillips Oppenheim (1936)

Of all the sounds in this gathering darkness that was the one which she had dreaded most. Judy is a dancer at a bar called the Green Man which is frequented by sailors. When the novel opens, Judy is at her room in Bunter's Buildings when she hears another tenant making his way to the …

Police Procedural: Last Seen Wearing by Hillary Waugh (1952)

"She walked out of the dorm and that’s it. She vanished into thin air.” Lowell Mitchell, a young student of a women's college in Massachusetts, disappears one fine day. On that day, she had attended her classes but when the lunch break came refused to go to the Mess claiming that she wasn't feeling well …

The Sark Street Chapel Murder by Thomas Cobb (1930)

"Imagination's a good servant but a bad master." Godfrey Martson, secretary and friend to Ernest Prentice and his wife, Olivia, is distressed when he sees their marriage falling apart. His distress increases when he is informed that Olivia has been seeing a lot of Lord Byron-lookalike-actor Carrington Case. When he talks to Olivia about it, …