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John V. C. Wyllie and Dr. Samuel Quarshie
Originally published in Mystery Readers Journal, Volume 39, Number 1 (Spring 2023). Dr. Samuel Quarshie is the amateur detective in mysteries written by John Vectis Carew Wyllie (1914-1997) in the late 1970s. The doctor was educated at McGill University in Montreal...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Abbey Court Murder by Annie Haynes
Dean Street Press has reprinted all twelve of the mysteries written by Annie Haynes (1865-1929). Haynes didn’t survive to see the Golden Age of Detection at its apex but she did help usher it in. Her second mystery was the first appearance of Inspector Furnival of...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Murder in the French Room by Helen Joan Hultman
Helen Joan Hultman (1891-1985) taught high school English but she also wrote well-regarded mysteries. Her detectives included Tim Archer and Inspector Dan Bratton. The Golden Age of Detection wiki (http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7930628/FrontPage) offers the...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Dead Skip by Joe Gores
Joseph Nicholas Gores (1931-2011) was a critically acclaimed screenwriter and author. He received the 2008 Eye Lifetime Achievement Award, the 1970 Edgar for Best First Novel, the 1970 Edgar for Best Short Story, and the 1976 Edgar for Best Television Episode. His...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Shadow on the Wall by Moray Dalton
Moray Dalton was the pen name of Katherine Mary Deville Dalton (1881-1963), who wrote two romances and then turned to crime. Her first mystery was released in 1924 and it was succeeded by 28 more, the last one in 1951. Most of the books featured Scotland Yard...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Anxious Conspirator by Michael Underwood
Michael Underwood was the pseudonym of John Michael Evelyn (1916-1992), a British civil servant and author. Evelyn was called to the Bar in 1939, then served in the British Army during the war. Afterwards he entered the Civil Service and began writing crime...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Tragedy at Freyne by Anthony Gilbert
Lucy Beatrice Malleson (1899-1973) was a British author most well known for her creation of Arthur G. Crook, an entertaining lawyer whose ethics do not bear scrutiny. Crook had some 50 adventures published under the pseudonym Anthony Gilbert. Malleson also used the...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: My Foe Outstretch’d Beneath the Tree by V. C. Clinton-Baddeley
My Foe Outstretch'd Beneath the Tree (Gollancz, 1968) is the second book by V. C. Clinton-Baddeley (1900-1970) in his mystery series about a Cambridge don named Dr. R. V. Davie. Victor Vaughan Reynolds Geraint Clinton Clinton-Baddeley was a British playwright,...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Lyttleton Case by R. A. V. Morris
Ronald Arthur Vennor Morris (1877-1943) was born in Wales but mostly lived in England, working in London before moving to Hove in Sussex. The Lyttleton Case (Collins, 1922) is his only work of fiction. It was selected for the Detective Story Club, the forerunner of...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The House of Shade / Death in Zanzibar by M. M. Kaye
Mary Margaret Kaye (1908-2004) was born in India and lived there until she was sent to boarding school in England. She was originally an illustrator of children’s books until she decided to try a thriller. Her most famous book is The Far Pavilions, a historical...
