My first Cassells/Murdoch, as far as I know, although the man wrote so much under so many names that it's quite possible I have read one before. The verdict -- here's another unjustly neglected author.
The book starts with a lengthy prologue that introduces the victim. Joe Gaynor is an ex-burglar gone straight who owns a pub outside London, which he runs with his friend Dipper and daughter Mally. When Joe gets wind of odd activities at the local manor house he summons up his old skills and goes out at night to investigate, first by himself and later with Dipper's aid. But his nocturnal visits arouse someone else's suspicion , and Joe is found dead -- a genuine shock to the reader, who has got quite fond of this amiable character.
Enter Inspector Flagg, an investigator of the old school that turned out Sergeant Beef and Inspector Dover. Flagg is large and heavy and enjoys beer and cigars -- especially other people's -- but he is competent and active enough, and soon establishes that Joe was shot from a car. There's not a lot of detection, and much of the book is spent on questioning sessions that re-establish what we already know, but the writing is entertaining in itself and there is plenty of action along the way as Dipper gets bashed on the head and Mally's various suitors dash back and forth at night. Some heavy-handed fun is had with Flagg's Sergeant, an ex-Memory Man from the music halls known as Know-All Newell. Case 29 turns out to be an unsolved wartime payroll theft masterminded by the sinister Lautman -- but who is Lautman? Flagg sorts it all out in the end, of course.
Entertaining and just the right length at 192 pages. It's a pleasant surprise to find such good writing from such a prolific author, and I'll be looking for more. The inline drawing of bespectacled, cigar-puffing, bowler-hatted Flagg is a bonus.
Jon.
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