Crippen & Landru’s recent release of a collection of short fiction by Richard and Frances Lockridge reminded me that I had not looked at any of their books for awhile. Frances Davis Lockridge (1896-1963) and Richard Lockridge (1899-1982) were journalists known mostly for their Mr. and Mrs. North mysteries. In all the Lockridges published about 70 books between 1936 and 1980. In addition to the stories about the Norths and Lt. Bill Weigand of the New York City police, they also created stand-alone mysteries and a few with Nathan Shapiro, a police detective who worked for Bill Weigand; with Bernie Simmons, an assistant district attorney in New York City; with Paul Lane, a detective in the New York City 19th Precinct; and with Inspector Merton Heimrich of the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification, stationed in upstate New York. Of them all, the books featuring Lt./Capt./Inspector Heimrich are my favorites.
The Inspector Heimrich police procedural series consists of 24 books released between 1947 and 1977. Heimrich is part of the New York State Police Criminal Investigation Division, and his bailiwick is Westchester County and its surroundings. Heimrich made his first appearance in a North mystery called Death of a Tall Man (1946). He got a book of his own the following year in Think of Death (1947). This first title and the third one Spin Your Web, Lady! (1949) are the only two of the series that have never come my way. While a book club edition of the latter is reasonably affordable, first editions of both run into three figures.
The second in the series, however, has been reprinted more than once and is available in ebook form. I Want to Go Home (J. B. Lippincott, 1948) is set in the aftermath of World War II. Military veterans are coming back to the United States and trying to go back to their lives as they were before the war. While everyone is delighted with the return of America’s service men and women, life changed while they were gone. Jane Phillips thought she could settle in California when she was released from active service in the Navy. Raised in Westchester County in New York, she wanted to start over again after the war and after the loss of her husband. But she realized after a bit that she didn’t fit in, as much as she wanted to, and she decided to return to the New York home of her Great-aunt Susan Meredith, who had largely raised her.
Jane had not heard from her aunt for over a year but she wrote to tell her of her travel plans. She expected to leave on a train Monday and arrive on Thursday, only she encountered obstacle after obstacle. First someone advised the hotel that she was not leaving and thus had to wait for her bill. Then the taxi she caught was malfunctioning and finally gave out altogether. Jane reached the terminal just as the boarding gate was closing. Then the switch from Pacific time to Mountain time meant she expected to have a longer layover at one of the train’s stops and she nearly was left behind.
By the time she reaches New York her great-aunt is dead and Captain Heimrich is beginning to believe a young man’s claim that his grandmother was poisoned. Jane’s story is so incredible that she is viewed with suspicion by her remaining relatives and the police. Just why someone was trying to keep her away from her aunt and what exactly happened to her aunt give Heimrich a lot to think about.
There is a curious timelessness to these books. While the Lockridges make no attempt to set their books in any but the present, the plots and the characters are just as relevant now as they were then. The New York Times mystery reviewer says in the May 16, 1948 issue: “For the second time the Lockridges have demonstrated that they can get along without Mr. and Mrs. North and Lieutenant Wiegand. There is no harm in that so long as they turn out novels as good as this one.”
Recommended especially for fans of police procedurals.