Malcolm Hutton (1921-??) was an English career civil servant, working for the Department of Civil Defence and running the Joint Computer Organisation of the Home Office and the London Metropolitan Police. He served in the Royal Air Force from 1941 to 1946 and became a flight lieutenant. Beginning in 1979 he published seven novels and then under the name Malcolm Forsythe he published seven mysteries between 1991 and 2001. He was a member of the Crime Writers Association. I haven’t been able to learn much more than that, as my usual biographical sources have failed me.
- Without a Trace (Crime Club, 1991; Lume, 2023)
- A Cousin Removed (Crime Club, 1992; Lume, 2023)
- The Book Lady (Crime Club, 1993; Lume, 2023)
- A Fatal Reunion (HarperCollins, 1995; Lume, 2023)
- Death of a Secretary (HarperCollins, 1996; Lume, 2023)
- Only Living Witness (Severn House, 2000; Lume, 2023)
- Last Known Address (Severn House, 2001; Lume, 2023)
All seven mysteries are classic police detective stories with Detective Chief Inspector George Millson and Detective Sergeant Norris Scobie, set in and around the fictional village of Tanniford (real-life Wivenhoe) in Essex.
In Without a Trace, Millson and Scobie are called to the small town of Tanniford when 8-year-old Maisie Brown did not come home after the annual festival. She was seen marching in the parade and parted with her best friend outside a sweets shop, supposedly to go straight to her house but she didn’t arrive. The local constable had blocked the incoming and outgoing road during the celebration to allow for foot traffic and the parade in the street so Millson knew someone local had taken her. His staff began laboriously documenting the location of every resident during the time Maisie went missing and they found some interesting gaps. Then the video of the parade captured by one of the locals seemed far more focused on the pretty girls than it should have been.
My first thought was how late the actual kidnapper appeared, although he had some equally unsavory companions that were prominent early on. I am not sure if this is a flaw in the plot; the flow seemed logical enough. I was also struck by how great the potential for violence was in the overall scenario and how differently it was treated from the way a contemporary telling would have been. What would have been gory and tragic turned out to be quite different. Really surprising considering how relatively recent this series is. Similar to Catherine Aird’s C. D. Sloan stories. Fans of traditional British detective or Golden Age mysteries will enjoy these books.