John Creasey MBE (1908–1973) was an English author of crime, romance, and western novels, who wrote more than six hundred books using some twenty-eight different pseudonyms. Of his many series characters, the Toff, the sobriquet of the Honorable Richard Rollison, endured the longest, figuring in 59 volumes according to Fantastic Fiction, from 1938 to 1978, the final title completed by William Vivian Butler. The character first appeared in 1933 in the weekly magazine The Thriller.
I looked at the fourth book in the Toff series two years ago this month. Now the 50th (!) title crossed my path, Stars for the Toff (Walker, 1968), and I wondered how the two, published 28 years apart, might compare.
Creasey moved with the times in this book, using the New Age interest in astrology and the occult (Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs was published the same year) as a scenario. The famous seer Madam Melinska left Rhodesia to visit the UK, and she has taken London by storm. Her followers all attest to her remarkable ability to foretell the future. One of her admirers is Lady Hurst, the Honorable Richard Rollison’s aunt. When Madam Melinska is arrested for fraud, Lady Hurst calls on the Toff to disentangle her favorite psychic from the criminal justice system.
The Toff has an uphill battle. Since the money Madam Melinska advised her clients to invest in Space Age Publishing was not received by that firm, which in fact is closing its doors due to lack of operating funds, she is facing an almost certain conviction and a likely sentence of some seven years in prison. One of her most bitter challengers ends up dead, leading the police to wonder if Madam Melinska is killing off her opponents in addition to defrauding them.
An amusing scene occurs when Madam Melinska’s followers express their concern and support via the Royal Mail, and their letters arrive at the Toff’s flat by the sackful.
Aided by his invaluable valet, Jolly, and journalist Olivia Cordman, Features Editor of The Day newspaper, the Toff deals with kidnapping, murder, his formidable aunt, thugs hiding behind doors with bludgeons, and vehicles running amok in crowds in addition to psychics in distress.
The resolution is a clever piece of sleight of hand.
Allen J. Hubin said in his Criminals at Large column in the New York Times of May 19, 1968, “John Creasey’s STARS FOR THE TOFF (Walker, $3.95) is good Creasey and very good Toff.”