Edgar Jepson (1863–1938)

A young man moves into an apartment on a street with lots of vacant housing. There's something not quite right about the adjacent property. The garden is silent-- no chirping birds, not even crickets.

Perhaps because I've lived in cities where you can hear your neighbor sneeze, you know the music that they like, their pacing the floor habits, this one, while not scary, seeped into my psyche and has taken up residence.

You just never know what your neighbors are up to exactly, do you? And what if they are summoning evil? This story was brought up in a classic ghost story group and someone commented that Aleister Crowley loved this story and gave out copies to his friends. Hmmm...

It's a bit long, simple--or, if there is depth, subplot or wink wink symbolism I totally missed it. The narrator's naivete at the end is annoying. I really liked it though, for all that. Were I a film-maker, I'd be figuring out how to work the ending and looking for the perfect location to start filming. This could be a terrific short film. It's very visual.

The number 19 will, going forward, summon images of dread in a sinister garden for me.
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Originally published in 1920, I thoroughly enjoyed The Loudwater Mystery by Edgar Jepson. The murder of the highly unlikable Lord Loudwater gave the police plenty of suspects but timing, alibis and evidence slowly eliminated each one. Also with all the witness lying to protect one another, the police have a lot of checking and re-checking to do. During the course of the book, the reader becomes acquainted with each suspect and find themselves hoping that the case is never solved as everyone in the book is much a much better person than the departed Lord Loudwater.

I wasn’t a big fan of the twist at the end of the book but realize that this was a nod to the morality of the day but overall I did find The Loudwater Mystery to be a satisfying read.… (más)

The Murder in Romney Marsh was originally published in 1929 and author Edgar Jepson takes a straight forward murder mystery and turns it into a diverting and lively story about catching drug smugglers. When Detective Inspector James Carthew of Scotland Yard is sent to the tiny village of St. Joseph’s on Romney Marsh he soon realizes that the victim was a scoundrel who was involved in bringing cocaine into England. He is planning on leaving the police force soon to open his own detective agency and decides that capturing the drug smugglers is far more apt to bring him the kind of publicity he is seeking.

Young, clever and ambitious, Carthew manages to also help a young woman and an old army acquaintance and along the way makes judgments and decisions that may not necessarily be in the best interest of the law. He comes across rather smug and has a superior attitude, but I liked him and enjoyed having the story unfold through his eyes. This is the first mystery that I have read by this author, but I certainly would not hesitate to pick up another as this one was both entertaining and different.… (más)