Friday’s Forgotten Book: Evil Intent by John Wainwright (1966)

British author John Wainwright (1921-1995) was a rear-gunner during the second world war. Subsequent to that he joined the police constabulary. In 1965, he published his first crime novel. In all, he published around eighty novels, all of which unfortunately seem to have fallen through the crevices of time. The novel begins with a police …

Three Black Mysteries: Black Corridors (1940), Black Thumb (1942), and Black Curl (1953)

Australian sisters, Constance and Gwenyth (or Conyth, as they were collectively called) are on the list of my favourite authors and it is always wonderful to come across their books. Earlier, this year, I read The Black Dream and here are three more of their mysteries that I read this year (in the order I …

Locked-Room: The Double Turn by Carol Carnac (1956)

Adrian Delafield, once a great-in-demand painter of the Victorian era, now lives a secluded life at Firenze at St. John's Wood, looked after by his devoted maid, Miss Trimming. Trimming who is a religious fanatic keeps him away from 'the evils of the world'; one of those evils apparently being Delafield's own daughter, Virgilia Delafield, …

Post-War: The Writing on the Wall by Herbert Adams (1945)

Sir James Norland, who has risen from a reporter to his present powerful position of a newspaper baron who owns various newspapers and has been knighted for his services is yet not content. What he wants is a title. His grandson would become Marquis of Mellowfont if his son Peter marries Diana who would become …

Boston Brahmins: The House that Died by Josephine Gill (1956)

The Bellamy family is the upper crust of Boston. When Grand Aunt Elizabeth's secretary-companion, Anne Chisholm, loses her footing on the rear-staircase and comes crashing down, the family rings up the hospital to send an ambulance. However, the line being busy, a police ambulance is rather sent to the house. With the ambulance comes the …

Friday’s Forgotten Book: Four-Ply Yarn by Miles Burton (1944)

The British navy is worried. Their ships sailing from Penmouth are being torpedoed at regular frequency especially if they happen to be carrying important cargo. Desmond Merrion of Naval Intelligence is asked to find the spy operating in that area. As Merrion himself cannot go over there, he dispatches one of his men. Meanwhile, Valetta …

Clippings from the Past: Ask a Policeman by E.C.R. Lorac (1955)

Ron Stanforth, a young author, looking around for inspiration, chances to see a woman who seems to have stepped straight out of the Edwardian era. Fascinated by her attire and deportment and carriage, Roy asks the lady if he could help her in any way. The lady informs him that she is one Mary Moffat …

The Elusive Aunt: Always Say Die by Elizabeth Ferrars (1956)

The trouble was that the relationship went back so far and was woven so deeply into both their lives that she did not really believe that it would ever be possible to escape from it entirely. During the blitz, scholarly Laurence Delborne asked his housekeeper Violet Gamlen to bring her niece, Helen, to the relative …

Friday’s Forgotten Book: Desire to Kill by Alice Campbell (1934)

Thomas Rostetter finds himself attending a party thrown by enfant terrible Dodo . The party consists of painters and writers and spiritual gurus and their disciples, all of whom are painted in mostly negative terms except for the American girl, Dinah Blake, a budding painter. The 'saintly' Dinah has been badly hurt by Dodo who …

Murder in a Castle: Stately Homicide by George Milner (1953)

The Matriarch of the castle who eats glass; the diffident son who was physically unfit to take part in the war and is under the thumb of his wife; the wife who is cheating on her husband; the virile, energetic other son who is a war-hero; the daughter-in-law who is capable and smart and plays …