Some two dozen mysteries were published under the name Archibald Fielding or A. Fielding or A. E. Fielding between 1924 and 1944. They are attributed to Dorothy Feilding (sic) about whom little is known, not even her year of birth apparently, which is given as 1884 or 1889 or 1900. The Golden Age of Detection wiki offers the research of genealogist John Herrington, who confirms her residence in Kensington during the 1930s and a year later in Islington, but could find nothing more. The archivist at Collins, the British publisher of the books, reports that any records of A. Fielding were presumably lost during WWII. The blog Mystery*File of 8 Feb 2007 has an interesting discussion here: https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=64.
I checked Ancestry.com’s database and I found a Dorothy Feilding in the electoral rolls of 1951 and 1962. Is this the same person as the author? She was living in Holland Court Hotel in South Kensington in 1951. In 1962 she was at 11 Princes House on Kensington Park Road in North Kensington. Lyta Alexander was living with her then. Lyta Alexander was still living at this address in 1964 without Dorothy Feilding. Did Feilding die in the interim? Did she move? Was she just visiting at the time? Since these addresses are all in Kensington, I believe it’s reasonable to assume this is the same person as the one found in the 1930s electoral rolls.
A death notice in The Daily Telegraph of 6 August 1960 notes the sudden death of Dorothy Feilding in Kensington, daughter of the late Herbert Feilding of Birkdale. Is this the author Dorothy? The electoral roll entry of 1962 contradicts the idea they are the same person but the location is suggestive.
The Eames-Erskine Case (Collins, 1924; Knopf, 1925) is the first Fielding book with Chief Inspector Pointer. It’s a complicated affair about a young man who took an overdose of morphine in his hotel room and then hid in the back of the hotel armoire, leaving no identification or reason for his actions.
The room was accessible from a long balcony that ran outside the window to the rooms on either side and Pointer decided quickly that the ostensible suicide was more than likely murder. The hotel manager and the gentleman who discovered the body both drew Pointer’s attention through their nervous behavior and inconsistent actions, as did guests from a neighboring hotel who seemed more interested in police comings and goings than reasonable.
Fielding obviously had writing experience. Or possibly a very good editor. This book does not read like a debut. The narrative is compelling if complex and the pacing is solid. Inspector Pointer is a good example of the fully realized Scotland Yard detective with quirks as well as considerable ability. Fielding could also work red herrings into the story adroitly. I was convinced I knew the killer and I was stunned to learn who it really was. My only complaint is that the plots are more complicated than they really need to be. It’s almost as if bits of two separate plots have been combined into a cohesive whole.
Still, I like Inspector Pointer and I found this particular book held up better than the first one I read by Fielding.
See more on A Crime Is Afoot here: https://jiescribano.wordpress.com/2020/04/07/fielding-a/