Emma Redington Lee Thayer (1874-1973) was an American author who published 61 mystery novels under the name Lee Thayer between 1919 and 1966. All but one feature the wealthy private investigator Peter Clancy and his valet Wiggar, who bears a striking resemblance to his earlier and more famous colleague Bunter. Thayer was also an artist who produced designs for book illustrations, bindings, and dust jackets.
Those who have studied her novels find nothing in particular to recommend them, yet someone saw enough value in her books to publish 61 of them. Her dust jacket and book artwork however was highly sought after. See articles on the Golden Age Detection wiki, http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7931625/Thayer%2C%20Lee, on The Thrilling Detective, https://thrillingdetective.com/2018/10/19/peter-clancy/, and on Mystery File, https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=7756. The comments on the latter are particularly illuminating.
I read one Thayer more than two years ago and was underwhelmed. I decided to look at another title at a different point in the series and settled on one of the last published. And One Cried Murder (Dodd Mead, 1961) finds Peter Clancy and Wiggar on vacation in England where they encounter the Sanford family: an elderly lady with a niece and two nephews. The family resides in a wealthy San Francisco neighborhood, not far from Clancy’s West Coast home. After their return, Clancy goes out of his way to re-introduce himself. The aunt holds the purse strings and the younger generation is anxious to stay in her good graces. The aunt attends a party at the local country club, where she drinks far too much, and an unknown someone drives her home in her own car. She is found dead the next day, still in the car, an apparent victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. A valuable diamond necklace is missing.
As her heirs, the niece and nephews receive a significant amount of attention from the police, and they beg for Clancy’s assistance in demonstrating their innocence. Clancy and Wiggar investigate, cooperating with the police when it’s convenient.
While the writing is reasonably polished and some of the settings are beautifully described, the narrative wanders and the evidence against the culprit is not particularly more compelling than for some of the other characters. There was a nice twist around the unacceptable young man who the niece was slipping around to meet but overall the story lacked enough surprises to hold my attention.
The real mystery to me is who read these books and how great were sales to justify keeping the series in print. While the gentleman detective was the standard in the 1930s, the trope was out of style by 1950, if not before, and I am surprised that Dodd, Mead persisted in publishing the books. See the review on Mystery File, https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=90546.
Recommended for readers who like to sample a broad range of mystery fiction.