Joseph Smith Fletcher (7 February 1863 – 30 January 1935) was an English journalist and author. He is known for his prodigious literary output. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and non-fiction (Source: Wikipedia). The Golden Age of Detection wiki credits him with 98 mysteries and 25 collections of short mystery fiction. The first was published in 1889 and the last was completed and released posthumously in 1937. The quality of his plots and his writing are not considered outstanding; I’ve seen the word “hack” used more than once when Fletcher is under discussion. For more on Fletcher, see Mike Grost’s thoughtful analysis on the GAD wiki page: http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7930591/Fletcher%2C%20JS

The Middle Temple Murder (Ward Lock, 1919) was Fletcher’s breakthrough novel; it is considered one of his best works. Grost states the plot expands on the one used in an earlier short story, which he believes was more successfully executed. The story opens with a young reporter named Spargo walking home from work and coming upon a police constable who’s just been advised of a murder in a nearby street in the Temple, the area of London largely given over to the practice of law. Spargo accompanies the police in hopes of a good story and he’s not disappointed. A man lies dead in front of one of the buildings; he has been stripped of all money, papers and identification. Spargo, with his newspaper’s blessing, involves himself with the police in first learning who the dead man is and then searching for his killer, all the while providing front-page stories for the paper.

The search takes him to a small market town a day’s train journey away from London, where he learns about an old trial for embezzlement and a couple of con artists who dealt in large-scale financial fraud. It proves to be the key to unraveling the true identity of the victim. Spargo returns to London to learn that someone else has been arrested for the murder, putting pressure on Spargo to save the defendant, whom he knows to be innocent.

I enjoyed this story. The plot is complicated enough to hold my attention, with plenty of twists and turns, perhaps more than one a little too coincidental. Mike Grost points out that Fletcher was fascinated by monetary chicanery and there’s a lot of it here. Much of it depended on the ability at the time to move two or three hundred miles away, change one’s name, and start over, which has been largely impossible for 40 or 50 years. No character development and no brilliant detective, instead a budding journalist who confers with the police and makes up his approach to investigation as he goes along. A nicely devious yarn firmly set in its time and place.

This review is based on a digitized version created from a physical book by a community of volunteers. The unusual cover is from another edition.