Valentine George Williams (1883-1946) was a British journalist and author. His father was G. Douglas Williams, the chief editor of Reuters News Agency, giving Valentine exposure to writing, journalism, and literature from his cradle. As a Reuters journalist Williams covered international events, including the Portuguese Revolution and the Balkan Wars, and was the first accredited correspondent to British General Headquarters during World War I. He served in the Irish Guards and was awarded the Military Cross. Between the wars in 1938 he published an autobiography, The World of Action. During World War II, he worked for the Foreign Office and the British embassy in Washington, D.C.
He wrote about thirty novels, mostly crime fiction. The lists of works by Williams on Fantastic Fiction and on the Golden Age of Detection wiki don’t match completely. Several titles were published under more than one name, which always complicates the compilation of comprehensive bibliographies. The Golden Age of Detection wiki also has an essay on Williams by Mike Grost, http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7932483/Williams%2C%20Valentine
His series characters were Dr. Adolph Grundt, Inspector Manderton, Sargent Trevor Dene, Baron Alexis de Bahl AKA The Fox, and Horace B. Treadgold. Treadgold is the lead character in Dead Man Manor (P. F. Collier & Son, 1936; Houghton Mifflin, 1936), which originally appeared in serial form using the title Footsteps at Night. Mr. Treadgold is a tailor, more precisely the senior partner of Bowl, Treadgold, and Flack, an exclusive bespoke clothing establishment in New York. He is far from his usual haunts in this book, as he is visiting a remote fishing camp in the French region of Canada. He doesn’t have fishing tackle nor is he eager to learn from the experts around him. Just why he is there is puzzling.
A once-fine mansion not far from the camp fascinates Treadgold. It is supposed to be abandoned but someone is living there. It becomes the scene of murder and the theft of valuable family heirlooms. The local gendarmerie are unprepared to deal with crime of this magnitude and they call for support. A brash detective named Napoleon Bigoury from Quebec is assigned the case. Despite opposition from residents, he promptly fastens on the local ne’er-do-well, who could not possibly have committed the murder, but Bigoury arrests him anyway.
When a second murder occurs, Bigoury has to look elsewhere for the perpetrator. Treadgold is everywhere, finding footprints in the garden, consulting with Bigoury, encouraging the young lady who is accused of the murder at one point, interviewing villagers. He’s unlike any tailor I have imagined but he’s an excellent amateur detective. Grost says the mystery here isn’t anything special but it is competently structured, if overwritten in places.
For fans of Golden Age crime fiction. Fortunately the book is readily available. It has been reprinted several times and it is available for download on Faded Page.