Lucy Beatrice Malleson (1899-1973) was a British author most well known for her creation of Arthur G. Crook, an entertaining lawyer whose malleable ethics support his fervent belief that none of his clients are guilty. Crook had some 50 adventures published under the pseudonym Anthony Gilbert. Malleson also used the name J. Kilmeny Keith for her first mysteries and later she adopted the name Anne Meredith.
Malleson also wrote more than 25 radio plays, which were broadcast in Great Britain and overseas. Her thriller The Woman in Red (1941) was broadcast in the United States by CBS and made into a film in 1945 called My Name is Julia Ross. Malleson’s short stories were published in several anthologies and in such periodicals as Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and The Saint. The short story “You Can’t Hang Twice” received a Queens award in 1946.
In No Dust in the Attic (Collins, 1962) Crook notices a young couple in a train station and decides that something is wrong. He is right: Janice Grey ran away when she discovered Pat Wylie, the fascinating man she married, is part of an organized robbery gang and is responsible for murders committed during heists. Wylie found her and forced her to return to London with him. Too frightened to scream for help in the crowded station, her face reflects her terror and Crook watches them on the train.
Wylie’s colleagues are also watching them. They’ve decided Wylie is a liability and dispatch him efficiently while Janice is out of the compartment for a minute. Crook intervenes just in time to keep one of the thugs from finishing the job by pushing her through a door of the moving train. Janice goes on the run once again in London with the gang, the police, and Crook on her trail.
No real mystery here, this is more of a thriller that showcases Crook’s affinity for the underdog and his ability to convince people who ordinarily would have nothing to do with law enforcement to help him. As is often the case in these books, Crook charms an aggressively unattractive neighbor into giving him key information. The quiet Bill Parsons, Crook’s colleague, is more visible than usual in this story and Gilbert fills in some of his backstory.
Those who have read earlier books about Crook will notice the multiple small references to societal changes as Gilbert moves the books past the post-war era into the difficult economy and political upheaval of the early 1960s.
Fans of the series will want to read this title and new readers will find it is a good introduction to Crook and his antics. The entire Crook series is recommended reading.