Gerald Verner - The Grim Joker (Kindle Edition)

 

Gerald Verner - The Grim Joker - Kindle Edition 

Robert Budd Mystery Number 1

Gerald Verner was one of a number of pen-names used by John Robert Stuart Pringle (31 Jan 1897-16 Sep 1980). Other names used by the multipseudonymous Mr Pringle include Derwent Steele, Donald Stuart and Nigel Vane.

First published in 1936, this is the first of quite a lengthy series of books featuring central character Supt Robert Budd. 

I would say it is intelligently plotted, written in an engaging style and is likely to satisfy all but the most demanding of afficionados of detective fiction of that era. 

Budd is an interesting and, mostly, engaging character. Known as `Rosebud` by his subordinates due to his interest in gardening, he is obese and cultivates a sleepy demeanour which hides an incisive mind. 

His tendency to be abrasively rude to any Officer who he perceives as negligent, even when this does not seem to actually be the case, will not sit well with the modern reader and I am not sure why it is there. 

It does occur to me that Mr Verner may have been influenced by Frank Froests` The Rogues` Syndicate, which first appeared in 1930 and also featured a detective, Weir Menzies, whose hobby is gardening and who can be forceful in his criticisms of slipshod officers. Menzies, however, is portrayed as a kindly, though forceful, man who  does this as an alternative to disciplinary action and in the hope the erring officers will remember and improve. Robert Budd does not appear to have a comparable motivation at all.  

I worked out part of the plot before I reached the end, but not all of it by any means. 

Would recommend this book to others with a taste for this sort of thing and it`s my intention sometime soon to move on to the second of the Robert Budd mysteries, which I believe is called The Jockey.  

 

Eugene Grey - Ancestral Dance - 2019 @ Miniaci Theater

V J Banis - The Mystery of Bloodstone - Linford Mystery Library

 

V J Banis - The Mystery of Bloodstone  - Linford Mystery Library - Date uncertain

V J Banis is best remembered as a writer on gay issues but had an interesting sideline as the author of a number of gothic novels. 

These sounded tremendous fun so I enlisted the help of my local library service to give one a try.  

One of his works involved a man who finds a skeleton with a stake where its' heart used to be.  That sounded intriguing but unfortunately Derbyshire Library Service were unable to provide a copy. 

Undaunted, I opted for this one. 

The plot sounded promising enough, involving a young woman who feels compelled to revisit Bloodstone Manor, the house in which she grew up, which overlooks a village named Skull Point. 

Accordingly, she sets sail during a raging storm (not just an ordinary storm) accompanied by a servant who is soon found spending her nights attempting to make contact with the deceased.  

Promising enough, and our heroine is soon plunged into a variety of unnerving and ambiguous scenarios, leading her to question the motivations of almost everyone she meets. 

Unfortunately, while the author hints at a variety of promising directions for the story to take, there is a sense that the story gets away from him and the eventual ending is unsatisfying and doesn't make a lot of sense.  

I may well try another of the authors' gothic novels at some point but despite my initial enthusiasm I'd have to say that for me it didn't live up to it's initial promise.  

 

Bunny Bonnitto - Campanherio

George Bellairs - A Surfeit of Suspects - Charnwood - 2022

 

George Bellairs  - A Surfeit of Suspects - Charnwood  - 2022

2022 reprint of book first published in 1964

George Bellairs was a pseudonym used by Harold Blundell (1902-1982)

Harold Blundell aka George Bellairs was never a professional writer despite having 58 novels and a number of articles published. Instead he stayed in his post as bank manager in Rochdale and pursued writing as a paying hobby. 

It's often said that many writers of classic detective fiction treated their stories as a kind of puzzle to be solved, and often seemed set in a kind of hermetically-sealed bubble, divorced from most people's reality. 

This story is nothing like that, with much of the plot centring around  a joinery business in the fictitious manufacturing town of Evingdon which has been hovering on the brink of bankruptcy for some time.  

The author makes great play of the contrast between the expanding new town and the less salubrious old town with it's inadequately lighted streets and rows of terraced houses. 

He also draws on his experience in banking to set out the elaborate scam run by one group of characters, with one company belonging to another company which in turn belongs to yet another as they try to hide the identity of those in charge. 

Style-wise, George Bellairs is usually regarded as an unpretentious writer of rather low-key novels, probably to be found at the lighter end of the crime fiction spectrum. 

I'd agree that Surfeit of Suspects is an easy read, but on this showing, it would be a mistake to underestimate this author. 

The S.U.S. Band - Give Me The Strength

Leonard Gribble - Notorious Crimes - Guild - 1985

Leonard Gribble  - Notorious Crimes - Guild Publishing  - 1985

Leonard Gribble was an author and editor who wrote under a number of names, including Leo Grex and Bruce Sanders. 

This true crime collection features lucid and readable accounts of a dozen cases, many of them I suspect largely forgotten now.  

The book held my attention throughout and I would happily read another similar volume.  

There are a number of minor errors, generally unimportant in themselves but notable for their frequency.  Generally these are just grammatical errors. 

One more perplexing error comes in Chapter 6, 'One Way Ride in Essex'. In this case it is explained that, under interrogation, a suspect was unable to write out an address another man had previously given him, presumably some days earlier.

The author states that "the inference was very clear to the police" , but it is not so clear to the reader. Given that the suspect was American, the address, that of the Provost Marshall in London, would be one he might have problems with. Neither is  it clear why he had been given that address, or what bearing it had on the case.

However, that is really an isolated instance and elsewhere matters are generally explained fully and the writing style is quite accessible.

Overall, I enjoyed this very much and would recommend it to others.