Tag: Dean Street Press

Review 2669: Dean Street December! The Musgraves

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My last selection for Dean Street December is The Musgraves by D. E. Stevenson. It’s a little inconsequential compared to some of her others but makes a pleasant read nonetheless.

Esther Musgrave married a much older man when she was quite young, and her biggest regret of that time was that she was unable to befriend his son Walter, who was only a few years younger than herself. Despite her efforts, he was jealous and sulky, and when Charles tried to call him to order, he left university and disappeared. Charles died years later without hearing from him again.

Now two of Esther’s daughters are grown, and the other one has just finished school. Margaret is happily married to Bernard, a solicitor. Rose is dreamy and affectionate. Only Delia, the oldest daughter, poses a problem. She has very little to do and resents being asked to help out. At Bernard’s suggestion, Esther has moved off the family estate because she can’t afford to keep it up. Now Bernard is trying to sell it. Esther is happy in her small house, but Delia constantly complains about it. Delia’s only interest is in the local drama club, and she has fought for the lead in the upcoming play, but now she’s having trouble learning her lines.

A new resident has moved into the neighborhood, Eulalie Winter. Delia befriends her and becomes jealous of her, so much so that Esther feels she should not call on her. Bernard says he recognizes her as the companion of a wealthy woman who died, leaving her all her money. Her appearance and name are changed, but Bernard thinks she’s the same woman he met on a cruise with the old lady.

Rose, quite naïve, has met a young man in the woods by the abbey. Young, maybe, but a lot older than she is. He has been working on her sympathies and has convinced her not to tell her mother about their meetings.

And Walter comes to call! He has come to England on business from South Africa and says he regrets the pain he caused everyone.

Esther herself is a bit silly and ineffectual, a big worrier. But everyone in the family is going to experience a change.

I liked this one, but I didn’t really get pulled into it or feel affection for any of the characters. Still, I wanted to know what happened.

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Review 2667: Dean Street December! Cecil

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Through about 20 years’ time, Lady Anne Guthrie becomes more and more concerned about the relationship between her husband’s much younger stepbrother, Cecil, and Cecil’s mother, Lady Guthrie. Anne’s husband Charlie was already an adult when his elderly father married Edythe, who was very young. They had only one child, and Lady Guthrie, who plays the invalid card, does everything to keep her son with her, saying he is too nervous to be sent to school, keeping him out of university, and opposing his proposed career as a diplomat. This novel is set in the late 19th century, seemingly for no apparent reason, perhaps because the events later in the novel are more believable then.

Anne, who finds Lady Guthrie tiresome, thinks her decisions are misguided, but Charlie’s cousin Nealie thinks Edythe is more selfish than misguided. As Cecil grows to an adult, it becomes obvious that his mother will do anything to prevent his marriage, but Cecil sees only the sacrifice she has made to live with his frequently ill father and raise him virtually on her own.

Charlie and Anne try to help Cecil, whom they are fond of, but the events of the novel become darker as it proceeds. This is a terrific character study of a “delicate” woman who uses her health and close relationship with her son to manipulate him. I found it very involving.

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Review 2665: Dean Street December! The Coldstone

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Here’s an old-fashioned mystery/suspense novel that has everything—an ancient secret, rumors of buried treasure, a curse, a possible ghost, and a romance. What more could you want?

When Anthony Colstone unexpectedly inherits Stonegate, he is asked to promise never to move or disturb a ring of standing stones (well, just two of them) in one of his fields. But offered no explanation, Anthony refuses to promise, and of course this request makes him curious about the stones.

One of the first things he does when he arrives is to go look at the stones, about which everyone in the village is suspiciously close-mouthed. He has to plunge through a hedge to see them, and while he is there, he notices a stranger staring at him with a hostile expression.

Anthony is referred for information to his benefactor’s elderly daughters, Miss Agatha and Miss Arabel, but they simply hint at dreadful things and refer him to Susan Bowyer, at more than one hundred, the oldest resident of the village. He doesn’t learn much from her, but he meets her great-granddaughter, Susan, down from London for a visit, and is much struck. We like both Susans immediately but know the younger one has some kind of relationship with the strange man Anthony saw in the field.

Anthony’s first night in the house is disturbed by a feeling that someone else besides the servants is in the house, too. He goes down to the library and is knocked over the head but not before he sees what appears to be the portrait of one of his female ancestors moving her arm. We learn that he saw Susan, and her gasp prevented two housebreakers from breaking his leg.

Anthony awakens in a different room with his head in a woman’s lap, but when he regains consciousness, she runs away. He knows it was Susan, though, because he has noticed her resemblance to the portrait. From her, he learns of a secret passageway between Susan Bowyer’s house and his. He also hears confusing rumors of fire and devils under the altar stone of the standing stones.

What is going on? Certainly, a man named Garry has copied a key to the house and is breaking in. But isn’t the secret hidden out in the field?

This novel turns out to be lots of fun, and it doesn’t fall into the cliché of having Anthony doubt Susan when he realizes she knows Garry.

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Review 2661: Dean Street December! Charlotte Fairlie

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When Charlotte Fairlie was a girl her relationship with her widowed father was close. Then he met someone, and she seemed to be nice, but as soon as they were married, she became jealous of Charlotte. In the end, he sent Charlotte to his brother, and she never saw him again. (Oddly, she reflects later that it was the only thing he could do, but I think not.)

Now Charlotte has achieved her goal since she was in school. She has been appointed head of St. Elizabeth’s, her old school. She is young for such a position but has been wearing a stodgy hat to board meetings to disguise that fact. The only thorn in her side is Miss Pinkerton, who thinks she should have had the position and is a real troublemaker.

A new girl starts at the school, Tessa MacRyne. She is an unusual child, self-possessed but homesick for her island home in Western Scotland. Charlotte catches her running away one day and learns that a letter from her mother has informed her that her parents are divorcing and her mother has returned to her parents in the U. S. Tessa feels she must return home to comfort her father. Charlotte’s handling of the situation earns her Tessa’s affection and an invitation to the island of Targ during summer break.

A friendship begins between Charlotte and Lawrence Swayne, the headmaster of the boys’ school. Unexpectedly, her proposes marriage to her, thinking they would make a great partnership.

I found this novel to be deeply touching and involving. I generally think of Stevenson’s books as very light romance, but I felt this book was a little deeper.

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Review 2627: #RIPXX: The Strange Case of Harriet Hall

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Since the beginning of September, I have looked for info about Readers Imbibing Peril, which I have participated in for years, since I couldn’t remember whether it started in September and went through October or started in October and went through November. Since I couldn’t find anything, I assumed it started in October. Well, it’s too bad that it actually started in September, because I missed marking three other mysteries for the challenge. It is usually advertised through Instagram, which I don’t use much.

So, despite this being my fourth book to qualify, it’s going to count as my first.

Well, there certainly are surprises in this book!

Amy Steer is a young woman looking for work, a necessity made worse by the empty state of her pockets and her landlady’s demands to raise her rent. She is looking through the want ads when she spots an ad looking for relatives of her father. She never knew her father, but she answers the ad and makes an appointment.

She meets a disturbing but seemingly kind woman who says she is Harriet Hall, Amy’s aunt. She says she is staying in a house in the country owned by friends and invites Amy to stay. She even gives Amy £100 to spend on nicer clothing.

On Monday, the day she is expected, nicely dressed Amy is on the train to her aunt’s. She meets a pleasant young man named Tony Dene who is getting off at the same station. They are getting along just fine until Amy tells him about Aunt Hall. Then he abruptly leaves the car. No one picks Amy up, so she is forced to walk five miles to Harriet Hall’s cottage, finding no one home. But the door is unlocked, so she stays.

The Denes lived with their uncle until he died the year before. Then Mary Dene, Tony’s mother, inherited everything and bought a property in the country. But soon Harriet Hall appeared. Mary has told her three children that Harriet is an old friend fallen on hard times. She lets Harriet live in the cottage rent-free, but Harriet comes over every day to sponge or take something. Tony and his sister Mollie hate her, but Lavvy, who is engaged to marry Sir Miles Lennor, only cares about her wedding.

Amy stays in the cottage Monday night, but Harriet never appears. Tony, who feels bad about abandoning her, drops by with his sister’s dog, and the dog’s barking at an old well in the back of the house causes Tony to remove the top. Inside the well is a body.

Tony calls the police, but once the body is identified as Harriet Hall and the police understand the relationship between her and the Denes, Tony is a suspect. He has no alibi because instead of driving home from the train station, he drove around aimlessly for hours.

Scotland Yard Inspector Collier is called in fairly quickly. Although more evidence comes out against Tony, Collier is reluctant to charge him. Then there is a shocking discovery followed by another death.

If Amy is supposed to be our heroine, we see remarkably little of her, spending more time with the Denes. However, she does get to be in peril.

There’s a little bit of a cheat here, as a person of interest doesn’t appear until page 150. But overall, we’re having so much fun we don’t care. Dalton’s books are well written and move along at a brisk pace. Some aspects of this one were obvious, but for 1936 the book seems fairly avant-garde.

I received this book from the publishers in exchange for a free and fair review.

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Review 2623: #RIPXX: Knock, Murderer, Knock

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The mostly elderly occupants of the Presteignton Hydro spa resort like nothing better than to gossip about the other guests. Lately, they’ve had fuel for their fire by the arrival of beautiful Miss Blake, who dares to wear makeup, shorts, and backless evening gowns (this is 1938). Their tongues are wagging even more with the advent of Sir Humphrey Chervil, assuming a connection because he is young and handsome, even if they hardly talk to one another.

All the men at the resort like Miss Blake, but none of the women do. Nurse Hawkins has her eye on Admiral Urwin, so she certainly doesn’t like Miss Blake seeking him out. Even Mrs. Napier, who spends a lot of time falling down on purpose to get attention, thinks Miss Blake is a floozy.

On the night of an entertainment, Sir Humphrey spends some time with Miss Blake, staying up late talking in the drawing room. The next day she is found dead in the same room, a knitting needle plunged through her skull.

Inspector Palk locks onto Sir Humphrey when he finds he went into Miss Blake’s room instead of escorting her to the door. His fate is sealed when her jewels are found in his closet.

However, a few days later, after young Winnie Marston was seen canoodling with her father’s chauffeur, she is also found dead of the same cause. Inspector Palk still thinks he has the right man for the first murder and wants to arrest the chauffeur for the second—until he finds out he has actually married Winnie.

Mr. Winkley appears on the scene after Winnie’s death. He says his hobby is murder and talks everyone into staging a re-enactment of the first crime—the one supposedly solved. But who is Mr. Winkley, anyway?

Although I found this novel entertaining enough, it doesn’t spend a lot of time on characterization (which is common for the time)—usually just giving the characters some defining trait—and it wasn’t enough for me. I kept getting the little old ladies mixed up and even confused the Admiral and the Colonel. Plus, in one instance Rutland only brings in a character right before killing him off, even though he’s been there all along. Still, the novel was fun, except the last chapter where everything is explained, which I felt was an anticlimax.

I received this book from the published in exchange for a free and fair review.

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Review 2621: #RIPXX: The Body in the Road

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I saw this book labeled Hermann Glide #1, but he actually appeared in Moray Dalton’s previous novel. Both times, he came in at the end. Or maybe I read them out of order by mistake.

Linda Merle takes a job playing the piano in a tearoom, and performing with her is the beautiful but not very talented Violet Hunter on the violin. The girls become friendly right away, and when Linda learns that Violet hates living with the oppressive friend of her mother, she invites her to move in with her. Miss Coleman has already taken a dislike to Linda and hates her when Violet moves out.

When Linda inherits a small sum, she decides to purchase a cottage in the country and open a tearoom, but she only feels she can do it with Violet’s help.

She and Violet spend a weekend working at the cottage. But Violet doesn’t help much and finally tells her she can do better for herself by going to London. Linda is angry that she didn’t tell her earlier, so they argue. Then on a walk they find a dog that’s been hit by a car. Linda sends Violet up to the main road to get help while she goes the other way, to a large house. Outside the house she meets a small, furtive man who says she’ll get no help at the house, where he works, and another man, David Chant, who is the new Lord Haringdon. Chant goes back with her, but the dog is gone and so is Violet.

Linda assumes Violet got a ride into town, but when she returns to their room, Violet isn’t there and she has taken nothing. Linda wants to go to the police, but Chant advises her to wait while he looks into it. He suspects that Violet’s disappearance may have something to do with the large house Linda went to. It is occupied by a Dr. Saigon, who is rumored to be running a mental hospital there.

While he is looking into that, the police get involved, and they clearly have trouble with Linda’s story. Then they find Violet’s body, buried in back of Linda’s cottage.

I thought that part of this novel was going to go way off the rails, but it didn’t. It becomes suspenseful as things start to stack up against Linda. It also does a good job of misdirection.

I received this book from the publishers in exchange for a free and fair review.

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Review 2587: Luckier Than Most

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Luckier Than Most is an autobiography by David Tomlinson, the stage and screen actor. Although I felt handicapped as an American reading this because I wasn’t familiar with many of the names he mentioned, I found it a pleasant read, and Tomlinson comes across as a good and patient person. Americans are probably most familiar with his comic work for Disney Studios, particularly in Mary Poppins or Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Although often a comic performer, he had serious stage roles as well.

Although some of his theater stories are interesting (and I noted that he rarely said a bad thing about anyone and was just as likely to say nice things about a crew member or understudy as he is about a star), I found most interesting his recollections of his childhood. Although fond of his mother, he and his brothers were terrified of their father, who was not affectionate and had a terrible temper. His father disliked David and told him he wasn’t going to amount to anything. He was hiding a big secret, hinted at from near the beginning of the book but not hard to guess, even though David and his brothers didn’t discover it until they were adults.

Later on, with David’s success and again with his discovery to CST (what the brothers called their father) that they knew his secret, David’s relationship to his father improved. CST even admitted that he had misjudged him.

The book is also interesting because of its light, well-intentioned stories about well-known figures. It was surprising, for example, to learn that Peter Sellers needed people around him all the times because he was an insomniac and had no hobbies or other resources for his spare time. The only person Tomlinson said anything negative about was the actor Jack Lord, who played in the original Hawaii Five-O.

If you want a book that dishes the dirt, this isn’t it, but if you want a nice, light read, it is.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and fair review.

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Review 2563: One by One They Disappeared

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Inspector Collier meets a wealthy American in the lobby of a hotel one evening and begins chatting with him. He is Mr. Pakenham, and he explains that he was a survivor during the war of the sinking of the Coptic. He and eight other men were afloat on a lifeboat for days, and he being ill, the others kept him alive. Ever since then, the men have met once a year to celebrate their survival, and last year, Mr. Pakenham announced that he was leaving his estate to whomever of the group survived him. This year, however, only a couple of men showed up.

In the meantime, Corinna Lacy returns from Europe where she has been working as a companion. She is not well off, but she has a few assets, so she writes her second cousin, who is also her trustee, to ask his advice about selling her property to pay for a secretarial course. She has never met Wilfred Stark, but he invites her to his place to talk about it and turns out to be a friendly, fatherly sort of person. While she is there, she meets his neighbor, Gilbert Freyne, who has a shadow on his past.

Investigating an apparent accident in which a blind man walked into an empty elevator shaft, Inspector Collier recognizes Henry Raymond, a man who was meeting Mr. Pakenham the night of the dinner as one of the prospective heirs. Inspector Collier begins looking into the other heirs. He can’t find some of them, but several of them have died recently, and one of the heirs is Gilbert Freyne, with whom Corinna is falling in love.

Yes, it’s a plot! We find out part of it as early as page 60, but the rest is not clear until the end. I had my suspicions pretty early, though, and they were right. But that didn’t make the book any less fun to read.

True to its 1929 origins, there isn’t a lot of characterization going on here, and Corinna is eventually so much the heroine in peril that she might as well be tied to a railroad track. But there is a bit more of an emphasis on character development than in most mysteries of this time, and at least it’s not a puzzle mystery. It’s more of a mystery/adventure story.

Will innocent lives by saved? Including Mr. Pakenham? Will the murderer or murderers be brought to justice? Has Corinna fallen in love with a villain or victim? And what about Mr. Pakenham’s cat?

I received this book from the publishers in exchange for a free and fair review.

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Review 2329: The Warrielaw Jewel

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I have read a few novels by Winifred Peck, so I was intrigued to learn she had also written some mysteries.

Betty Morrison is the newly married wife of an Edinburgh lawyer, John. She accompanies her husband on a call to the Warrielaws, an old family whose members are constantly feuding. The most recent dispute concerns the fairy jewel, a chunk of amber said to be given to an ancestor by a fairy and subsequently encrusted in jewels. Jessica Warrielaw, the old lady who was left the estate, hadn’t spent a penny on its upkeep but instead has been selling off treasures and giving the money to her nephew Noel. Shis is planning on selling the fairy jewel.

Jessica’s sister Mary as well as the other potential legatees are horrified by this. Mary, who lives with Jessica in shabby rooms divided in half by physical markers, wants the jewel to stay in the family as does niece Cora. Niece Rhoda, on the other hand, would like money to start over in America. She is horribly managing and makes the life of weaker Aunt Mary miserable. Other potential heirs are Neil, of course, and Rhoda’s much younger sister Alison.

First, there is an odd incident at the house that seems like a break-in except nothing is missing. Then Jessica leaves for London, presumably to sell the jewel—and isn’t heard from again. John, as trustee of the estate, finally hires Bob Stuart, an ex-police detective and friend, to find Jessica.

Weeks later Jessica is found dead, not in London but in the estate’s dilapidated stables. The jewel is nowhere to be found. Was Jessica murdered? How did she get back home when Betty herself saw her on the train to London?

As is often the case with mystery novels of the period (1933), this novel is more concerned with the puzzle than characterization. However, several characters do have strong personalities. The plot is rather slow moving, and once or twice just when things were getting exciting, Peck drove me crazy by inserting a several-page description. However, I liked Betty and though the novel was entertaining.

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