Henry Wade (1)Reseñas

Inspector Poole is asked to look into the apparently natural death of a banker, and soon discovers he was murdered. The characterization in this 1929 novel was deeper than is often the case in that period, and I thought the first half was excellent. After that it got a bit complex and unbelievable - lots of people carrying make up around to disguise themselves for example.

SPOILER

I also found the idea that Inez would get together with her half-brother after he is told they are in fact not related by blood (she has known all along) a bit disturbing.

With a few caveats, "Lonely Magdalen" is not a bad read. Those cautions would include a willingness to overlook the sexism and moral strictures that were normative in the early part of the twentieth-century, the time period in which the book is set. The plot, however, is interesting and the writing is crisp if not elegant. I was a bit disappointed in the ending but that is likely attributable to my tastes rather than any shortcomings in the plot. Nothing memorable here but an enjoyable easy read.

Charles Rathlyn bet everything on his horse to win, but sadly the horse stumbled on the last jump and Charles lost it all. Another owner, the wealthy widow Kate Waygold offered him a job as her racing manager, which he gratefully accepted. Then she proposed marriage, an offer he couldn't refuse without losing the security and privileged lifestyle he had been enjoying. When Kate died after a fall over the balustrade the story became a "did he or didn't he?" conundrum, amplified when her secretary apparently committed suicide. The detective investigating the case would have been delighted to put the noose around Charles' neck himself. This mystery was very well done.

The Duke of York’s “Steps are a location in London between Waterloo Place and the Mall and St. James Park. It is a common route for financier Sir Garth Fratten on his way home. It becomes his last walk, one evening, in the company of an old and close friend.

Was it a heart attack? He had a recent diagnosis of heart trouble and had been advised to take it easy. There seems to be something a bit off about the incident, suggesting possible murder.

If it was murder, there were plenty of possible suspects. His daughter or step-son, his friend, Leopold Hessel, a friend from his military years or maybe a member of the board of directors of a company he was looking into investing in. Each could have a reason and each have a past they don’t wish known.

Taking place in 1929, after the “Great Way,” the war is still casting its shadow on life. Could espionage be a factor, and if so who and why?

An enjoyable read and a step back in time.

Follows a rather unpleasant fellow through 1930s Britain as he tries to off the family members between him and a lordship. The murders aren't clever, and the dialog and people are neither interesting nor insightful. Not worth it.

I marvel that a brilliant man like Jacques Barzun would include this in a collection of fifty classics. While it does have some -- shall we say? -- sociological interest, and it does end very strong, it is a classic instance of "For the first thirty pages you wonder whether it will ever start, and from then on you wnder whether it will ever end." Incidentally, the gimmick of three suspects with similar names is used again with great cleverness in Warner Shedd's WILDCAT AT EVE. Another thought of much less consequence: this volume, like many others in the Barzun & Taylor reprint series is blighted by multiple typographical errors. I don't think Barzun would have put-up with that kind of sloppiness in his own students!

Many of these Penguins I read blind; I choose them at random from the shelf, with only the cover of the spine to give a clue as to what they will be about. The earliest ones carry no blurb, and no information about the author. And so I read this wondering: who was Henry Wade? I felt certain he must have been a detective, moonlighting as a mystery writer. He seemed to have a deep and thorough understanding of police procedure, and intimate knowledge of the thought processes of someone overwhelmed by information, struggling to distinguish signal from noise, stumbling towards a conclusion. Perhaps he showed an unusual level of interest in the workings of committees and Town Councils - a Town Councillor seemed another possibility. But how intriguing to find that he was actually a Peer, Sir Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet. Continued

A fine mystery of the "classical" phase. POSSIBLE SPOILER COMING: Three investigators (all official: Superintendent, Chief Constable, and Scotland Yard inspector), who do not fully trust or even respect each other, take different approaches to solving the murder of an unpleasant fellow. All are partly right and, of course, inescapably, ultimately wrong.½