Charles Fulton Oursler (1893-1952) was an American journalist, playwright, and author. He started out in the newspaper and magazine business and became senior editor of Reader’s Digest in 1944. He wrote for a number of publications including The Black Cat, Detective Story Magazine, The Thrill Book, and Mystery Magazine. His best-known work is The Greatest Story Ever Told, published in 1949, and released as a motion picture in 1965. It was Oursler’s attempt to tell the life of Christ in a way to appeal to modern-day readers. Both the book and the movie were bestsellers.

He wrote eight mysteries under the name Anthony Abbot (only one T) between 1930 and 1943. His series detective was New York City Police Commissioner Thatcher Colt and his sidekick was his secretary Tony Abbot. An interesting essay by author and reviewer Mike Grost about Oursler is posted on the Golden Age of Detection wiki: http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7929884/Abbot%2C%20Anthony

Grost points out that Oursler was interested in psychic phenomena, remarkable since Oursler was a converted Catholic and the Church opposes it in any form. This interest crops up in his books, which explains why mediums are so prominent in the fifth Colt mystery, About the Murder of a Startled Lady (Farrar & Rinehart, 1935).

Two sleazy mediums report hearing a voice that described the murder of a young woman and where the body is buried. The district attorney is a firm believer in their abilities and insists that Colt take the claim seriously. Colt quietly sends a search team to the site and finds a box of bones. The bullet inside the skull leaves no question about the manner of death. Colt is naturally quite suspicious of the mediums and considers them prime suspects but he has yet to identify the remains.

He calls in a sculptor who recreates the face of the victim, based on the skull features and measurements. I found this forensic knowledge on Oursler’s part intriguing, as facial reconstruction was still experimental in the early 20th century.

Distribution of photos of the resulting face identified a woman who left her father’s house six months earlier and had never been heard of again. Visits to the home revealed a wildly dysfunctional family and an unpleasant set of people. In fact nearly all of the characters here are deeply unlikable. I would have been happy to see them all in jail.

Tracking the victim’s last days became Colt’s priority, and a standard police procedural unfolds. Colt must have driven his subordinates distracted, since he insisted on doing their jobs for them. The final reveal took place with all of the potential suspects present in classic mystery style but in an unexpected and improbable setting. Still, it makes a good dramatic denouement.

An interesting but overlong read that is very much of its time. Mentions of the Dionne quintuplets and the emerging hydroelectric industry pop up as does the growing traffic in Manhattan. I didn’t follow Colt’s reasoning in identifying the killer but his accusation resulted in a confession so he was clearly right. I always wonder about authors who put themselves in their books. Clive Cussler made himself the character who rescued Dirk Pitt once when Pitt was cornered. And of course Ellery Queen was the detective in the series written by Ellery Queen.

See other comments on the book here:

Mike Grost http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7929885/About%20the%20Murder%20of%20A%20Startled%20Lady

Jim Noy https://theinvisibleevent.com/2019/04/18/514/

Beneath the Stains of Time https://moonlight-detective.blogspot.com/2011/03/she-looked-so-startled.html