James Jack Ronald (1905-1972) was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, mystery stories, and dramatic novels. Raised in Glasgow, Ronald moved to Chicago at seventeen where he worked in a variety of jobs and then returned to the UK to pursue a writing career. His early works were serializations and short stories internationally syndicated in newspapers and magazines. Several of his books were adapted into films.
Chris Verner offers more detail about the virtually forgotten author in his introduction to the Ronald reprints from Moonstone Press. Since Ronald wrote under any number of pseudonyms including Michael Crombie, Kirk Wales, Peter Gale, Mark Ellison, Alan Napier, Cynthia Priestley, Norah Banning, and Kenneth Streeter and published in long-lost pulp magazines, locating Ronald’s considerable writings is a formidable task.
Volume 5 of the James Ronald Stories of Crime & Detection series includes a full-length novel, a novella, and a short story. The Dark Angel was originally serialized in 1930 by The Portsmouth Evening News, then appeared in other newspapers, and eventually published as a novel in 1936 with a dust jacket by the noted artist G. P. Micklewright. Less than 200 pages, it offers an interesting mix of 1930s crime fiction tropes and original ideas. Among the former are profound distrust of anyone not English, rare and fatal poisons from Africa, and women who are blackmailed because of a supposedly bigamous marriage. (Do these women never check on the validity of a marriage with what inevitably turns out to be a rotter?) Making not one but two of the investigating officers suspects is decidedly original, especially keeping them on the case after identifying them as potential criminals.
The story opens with Miss Elspeth Brownrigg, a well-to-do spinster and philanthropist, receiving a letter threatening her with death if she does not pay the anonymous writer of the letter £5000 (present day value £304,393.32, $404,972.22 USD). She promptly telephones her nephew Norman with Scotland Yard who invites his supervisor to meet his aunt. With Scotland Yard’s support Miss Brownrigg declines to pay. I especially appreciated her no-nonsense plan to capture the extortionist in the act of taking the money from her handbag.
She narrowly escapes death in retaliation, though, making everyone realize the letter writer was quite serious. The extortionist easily extracts money from his next victim but his third victim is a tougher proposition all around.
Far from seeking anonymity, the extortionist keeps the newspapers well informed of his actions, giving the police unwanted adverse publicity. All the police seem to be able to do is expand its pool of suspects, which numbers some eight or nine by the time the culprit is revealed. None of the clues point to only one person, for instance far too many people have access to the kind of typewriter used to generate the letters. The solution is a complete surprise and not entirely credible even though it is highly original.
I found this story an interesting mix of pulp and detective styles. Students of Golden Age crime fiction should definitely look for the Moon Press reprints. The original first editions are rare and expensive.
The Invisible Event blog has been following the releases of Ronald’s work more closely than I have. See comments on The Dark Angel here: https://theinvisibleevent.com/2024/10/10/the-dark-angel-james-ronald/