Rufus Frederick King (1893-1966) was an American crime fiction author. He wrote multiple series: the earliest with Reginald De Puyster, a sophisticated detective akin to Philo Vance; 11 novels about New York police Lieutenant Valcour from 1928 to 1939; another with Stuff Driscoll, a criminologist in a sheriff’s office; another with Colin Starr, who appeared in four stories in the Strand Magazine during 1940–41; and still another with Chief Bill Dugan, who appeared in three stories in The Saint Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine 1956–57.
His book about private investigator Cotton Moon and his assistant Bert Stanley seems to be the only appearance of that intrepid duo, who resemble Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin in many ways. Moon was more energetic though. Holiday Homicide (Doubleday Crime Club,1940; Wildside Press, 2015) starts on New Year’s Day, when the body of real estate magnate Myron Jettwick was discovered in his stateroom aboard his yacht. Since all of the ship staff had either been ashore or well lubricated in observance of New Year’s Eve, no one had any idea of who came aboard or left during the night. The prime suspect is Jettwick’s stepson Bruce, who with his mother, Jettwick’s ex-wife, had recently come back into the victim’s life. Jettwick’s sister hires Moon to investigate the crime while protecting Bruce.
Moon is a clever investigator and it is too bad King didn’t write more books about him. His decision to hire a diver to search the river around the yacht and his method for leaving the scene under the watchful eyes of the police with evidence once found was positively inspired.
King’s breezy, seriocomic style makes for an entertaining story and tends to disguise the competent structure of the mystery underlying the flippancy. A strong addition to anyone’s holiday reading list.
A lengthy analysis of King by crime fiction expert Mike Grost appears here: https://mikegrost.com/rufusking.htm. See also A Crime Is Afoot, https://jiescribano.wordpress.com/2020/05/11/rufus-king-1893-1966/