NORBERT DAVIS – The Mouse in the Mountain. William Morrow, hardcover, 1943. Handi-Books #40, paperback, 1945, as Dead Little Rich Girl. Rue Morgue Press, trade paperback, 2001.

    Norbert Davis was a mystery writer who entered the scene in the early 30s with a story in Black Mask magazine entitled “Reform Racket” (June 1932). He managed to switch to the slicks such as Collier’s and The Saturday Evening Post, had a couple of detective novels published in hardcover, then one in paperback, and suddenly the bottom seemed to have fell out of the market for him. He committed suicide in 1949 when he was only 40 years old.

    This is the first of the three novels, all featuring the detective “team” of Doan and Carstairs. Doan is a little mild fat man who is also a private eye. According to his description on page 3:   “He looked like a very nice, pleasant sort of person, and on rare occasions he was.” Carstairs, his friend and constant companion, is an enormous Great Dane.

    Doan and Carstairs are in Mexico in this one, on a mission consisting (according to common knowledge) of finding and convincing a fugitive from the United States to stay in Mexico and not come home to bother a certain group of politicians who would rather certain activities remain unknown.

    “Common knowledge” may or may not be correct, as I’m sure you realize, and therein likes the story. What is most remarkable about Norbert Davis and his style of writing is how funny the story is, and how quickly the comedy can change into sudden violence.

    To reach the village of Los Altos, for example, Doan must take a sightseeing bus loaded with other typical American tourists, including the rich heiress to a flypaper company and a family with one of the brattiest kids this side of the comic strips. The laughter stops, however, at least momentarily, when they arrive and within minutes Doan must shoot an escaped fugitive in the mouth. Within days many more funny incidents have occurred, and so have several more deaths (not including the earthquake).

    It’s a top notch job of writing. Even though the plot itself is a little thin, it’s hard to complain about that. Davis makes writing seem so easy that anyone could do it, but if that were so, why can’t everybody write a novel that goes down as smoothly as this?

       The Doan & Carstairs series —

The Mouse in the Mountain. Morrow, hc, 1943.
Sally’s in the Alley. Morrow, hc, 1943.

Oh, Murderer Mine. Handi-Books, pb, 1946.

    A long article about Norbert Davis and one of his enthusiastic readers, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, appears here on the main Mystery*File website. Following the article are several home photos of Davis and a complete bibliography, including his short fiction.

STEVEN F. HAVILL – Heartshot. St. Martin’s Press, hardcover, March 1991. Poisoned Pen Press, softcover, 2007.

   There’s always a small shiver of excitement that runs through a reader when a new writer comes along showing all the signs of being a natural-born storyteller. It’s a chancy thing, though, and while it was there at the beginning of Steven Havill’s debut novel Heartbeat, but by book’s end, sadly to say, the flame had flickered and was sadly diminished.

   Telling the story is Bill Gastner, an aging (and badly overweight) undersheriff for Posadas County, New Mexico. A relic of the past and chafing under the recent election of a PR-oriented sheriff, Gastner wonders if perhaps his days on the job are numbered. Then a carload of teenagers smashes up, leaving five of them dead, and in the car is $150,000 worth of cocaine.

   So Gastner, with the help of Estelle Reyes, the only detective on the force, gets a chance to show he’s still worth his keep. It’s an excellent start, but halfway through the book, things begin to go awry. A fine new secondary character is introduced, but the potential to do even better things with him is sadly wasted.

   Maybe Havill didn’t intend to write a mystery. Maybe he meant only to write a crime story taking place in small town near the Mexican border. But if you wish for matters like motives, opportunities and small clues to be connected up, you will have to wait longer than the author seems to have taken pages to tell.

   [WARNING: Plot Alert] It might have been a good idea at the time, but one thing I don’t understand is why Gastner contronts one of the villains while they are alone together in a private airplane. (I won’t reveal any identities, but any detective story reader who doesn’t know who it is long before they take off simply hasn’t been paying attention.) Not only that, Gastner has just stolen his way out of a hospital room afer suffering a severe heart attack, and the plane is not pressurized. Oh, oh.

   Don’t get me wrong. The characters in Heartshot are terrific. It’s going to be the first in a series, I’m sure, and the people in this one are worth coming back to, to find out more about them. The writing is fine, and the storytelling ability is there. So what’s missing? Simply somebody (an editor, most preferably) to tell the author that the story he’s telling just isn’t holding all the water it’s supposed to.

      The Bill Gastner series —

Heartshot (1991)
Bitter Recoil (1992)
Twice Buried (1994)
Before She Dies (1996)
Privileged to Kill (1997)
Prolonged Exposure (1998)
Out of Season (1999)

Dead Weight (2000)
Bag Limit (2001)

   After Bill Gastner’s retirement, the remaining books in the series feature Undersheriff Estella Reyes-Guzman:

Scavengers (2002)

A Discount for Death (2003)
Convenient Disposal (2004)
Statute of Limitations (2006)
Final Payment (2007)

The Fourth Time is Murder (2008)
Red, Green, or Murder (2009)
Double Prey (2011)

One Perfect Shot (2012)

[UPDATE] 03-07-12.   With all of the followup books in the series, it’s a good thing that Steven Havill did not read this review and decide to call it quits on a writing career, right then and there. Maybe you shouldn’t pay any attention to it, either. In any case, I don’t have any of the other books in the series, and I think I ought to remedy that.

JACQUELINE WINSPEAR – An Incomplete Revenge. Henry Holt & Co., US, hardcover, February 2008. Picador, US, trade paperback, November 2008.

Genre:   Historical Mystery. Leading character:  Maisie Dobbs; 5th in series. Setting:   England, 1931.

First Sentence:   The old woman rested on the steps of her home, a caravan set apart from those of the rest of her family, her tribe.

   An old friend hires investigator Maisie Dobbs to look into matters relating to a potential land purchase. Petty thefts have been blamed on boys from London there to help pick hops, but the residents distrust the Gypsies in the area as well.

   Maisie discovers that small fires have occurred every year but no one ever reported them to the fire departments or police. A family was killed during the war by a Zeppelin attack, yet no one will talk about it. Maisie must put together the pieces together while also dealing with her feelings about the soldier she loves who has been in a coma since the war.

   This is my second foray into Maisie Dobbs. I didn’t care for her the first time and, I must admit, nothing much has changed. Winspear does include information on the gypsies that I found interesting until it became redundant. She also includes details to the point of minutia on things that aren’t particularly important. Her descriptions are informative but not evocative, so that a feeling for the sense of place is missing.

   As a character, Maisie is the sort of person who would annoy me if I knew her. Yes, I can justify some of it by remembering she’s experienced the trauma of war, but not all. There is arrogance to Maisie that surpasses self confidence and is somewhat unappealing as it borders on arrogance. Her friend, Priscilla, is the complete antithesis to Maisie and annoying in her own way. In fact, the most interesting characters in the book are Maisie’s father, followed closely by the dog.

   The story itself is just not gripping. There’s no real suspense or emotion; everything is at a distance and somewhat dispassionate. The number of coincidences is overwhelming; Maisie’s perfection at everything becomes tiring. Everyone is willing to talk to her. There is no struggle or effort really required; it’s all quite neat and rather placid.

   For those who like cozies; no violence, no real threat, no swearing, no sex, no real evil, this would be perfect. Unfortunately, that’s just not my taste so although there were parts that were interesting, it was not really my cup of tea — single malt whiskey, please.

Rating:   OK.

      The Maisie Dobbs series —

1. Maisie Dobbs (2003)    Edgar Awards Best Novel nominee (2004)
2. Birds of a Feather (2004)    Agatha Award Best Novel winner (2004)
3. Pardonable Lies (2005)    Agatha Award Best Novel nominee (2005)

4. Messenger of Truth (2006)    Agatha Award Best Novel nominee (2006)
5. An Incomplete Revenge (2008)
6. Among the Mad (2009)

7. The Mapping of Love and Death (2010)
8. A Lesson in Secrets (2011)
9. Elegy for Eddie (2012)

DONALD MacKENZIE – Death Is a Friend. Houghton Mifflin; US, hardcover, 1967. First published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton, hardcover, 1967.

   One of the reasons I bought this was because one of the crooks in this ill-fated crime caper is a stamp dealer by profession. (I used to collect the things before I discovered that once hinged into an album there’s nothing you can do with them.)

   Three men brought together by greed are splintered apart by distrust jealous hatred — yes, there’s a woman involved — and a fine portrayal of the fickle finger of fate.

   MacKenzie is not a particularly good writer, but he’s often an effective one. Except for the ending, which made no sense at all, this is a pretty fair example of the destructive effects inherent in some human relationships. There’s nothing in the plot that seriously depends on stamps, though.     (C plus)

[UPDATE] 03-01-12.   Donald MacKenzie was a very prolific mystery writer, with nearly 40 titles to his credit between 1965 and 1993. Sixteen of these were cases solved in one way or another by John Raven, a hardboiled inspector from Scotland Yard described by some sources as a “maverick.”

   When I wrote this review I did not realize it was the second of three books with Henry Chalice and Crying Eddie as the two leading characters. At this late date I do not know who they are or what role they had in Death Is a Friend. All I can tell you is that neither of them are the stamp collector I was talking about, nor (I am sure) either of his two accomplices:

       The Henry Chalice & Crying Eddie series —

Salute from a Dead Man. Hodder, 1966.
Death Is a Friend. Hodder, 1967.
Sleep Is for the Rich. Macmillan, 1971.

   Recently posted on the Mysterical-E website is a definitive list of the Top Ten PI series ever televised, according to Jim Doherty. Definitive only to him, perhaps, but I’ll bet many of them are going to turn up on yours as well, if you were to make one. But there are a couple of them that may surprise you. They did me — not that I would disagree with him — but the chances I’d have come up with one or two of them on my own are slim.

   Before you head on over, you might want to take the following quiz. I chose one, two or maybe three words from Jim’s descriptions of each of the shows — the latter well worth reading in themselves. If I’ve done a good job, maybe you can match the phrases below with the corresponding series. Most should be easy, but if I’m a little sneaky, perhaps not.

      1 )   suave

      2 )   most violent show

      3 )   disgraced agent

      4 )   girth

      5 )   municipal corruption

      6 )   car never worked

      7 )   ex-con

      8 )   good-looking

      9 )   security officer

      10 )   covert ops

ANDREW YORK – The Fascinator. Doubleday Crime Club, US, hardcover, 1975; Berkley, US, paperback, 1976. First published in the UK by Hutchinson, hardcover, 1975; Arrow, UK, paperback, 1977.

   James Bond is not dead. It’s taken me a while to discover it, but Jonas Wilde, with many years of service to British Intelligence already behind him, is the logical successor.

   He’s not as flamboyant a character perhaps, but Wilde is very much a deadly adversary, and he possesses quite the same remarkable fascination to women. Trained agents they may be, but soon enough they become sexual objects to be toyed with as well. Fascinating.

   Actually he’s retired at the beginning of this one, fed up, torn loose, and lost in the soothing touch of Spanish sangria. A puzzling task presented by Israeli Intelligence under duress reawakens his faculties, however, and when he agrees to become the bodyguard for an Arabian potentate yachting in the Mediterranean, no amount of clever plotting or overwhelming firepower can sway him from the job he was hired for.

   He’s an indefatigable one-man task force, but after he’s trapped by an explosion in an underwater cavern with the wounded prince and his number one consort, all you can do is hold your breath during yet another attempt at escape.     (B plus)

[UPDATE] 02-23-12.   I did not realize it at the time, but this was the last adventure of Jonas Wilde, or at least the last one that Andrew York, one of several pen names of prolific author Christopher Nicole, wrote up about him:

      The Jonas Wilde series —

The Eliminator. Hutchinson 1966.
The Co-Ordinator. Hutchinson 1967.

The Predator. Hutchinson 1968.

The Deviator. Hutchinson 1969.

The Dominator. Hutchinson 1969.
The Infiltrator. Hutchinson 1971.

The Expurgator. Hutchinson 1972.

The Captivator. Hutchinson 1973.

The Fascinator. Hutchinson 1975.

   The first of the paperback covers was from Lancer. The others shown were published by Berkley. One of the covers has a #1 on it, suggesting that they were trying to ride the “men’s adventure” bandwagon started with Don Pendelton’s “Executioner” series for Pinnacle. To go along this theory, some of the books have “Jonas Wilde: Eliminator” across the top of the covers.

MICHAEL ALLEGRETTO – Blood Stone. Scribner’s, hardcover, 1988. Avon, paperback, 1990.

   Michael Allegretto’s second about Denver private eye Jacob Lomax (the first was Death on the Rocks, which I missed) is Blood Stone.

   I liked this quite a lot: the narrative moves, the plot is sound, and Allegretto has a nice ear for dialogue. Lloyd Fontaine, a burned-out drunk of a private investigator, asks Lomax for help. Lloyd is he’s still on the trail of millions in jewelry stolen twenty years earlier.

   Jake doesn’t take Fontaine seriously — until he finds Lloyd tortured and dead. To complicate matters, Jake’s nemesis in the cops thinks this is the chance he’s long lusted after to put Jake away. The man convicted in the robbery has just been released from prison, and all manner of greedy nasties have gathered for the kill.

   You’ll enjoy this.

       The Jacob Lomax series —

1. Death on the Rocks (1987)    [Nominated for the 1988 Anthony and Macavity Awards; winner of the Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel]

2. Blood Stone (1988)
3. The Dead of Winter (1989)
4. Blood Relative (1992)
5. Grave Doubt (1995)

    Jake Lomax was also in a handful of short stories, including “The Bookie’s Daughter,” which appears in Justice For Hire: The Fourth Private Eye Writers of America Anthology (1990)

        #11. INSPECTOR FRAYNE, by Harold de Polo.

   Harold de Polo created a short-lived series about a dandy police inspector named Frayne. Frayne prides himself on being the best-dressed man in the police department and one of the best in the city.

   His personal assistant is a red-haired detective named Don Haggerty, who was known in the department as Frayne’s right-hand man. He did many of the basic detective chores required in investigations, such as looking over the crime scene for any interesting signs or clues. He was also known as “a bulldog on the trail, too.” (The Small Glass Eye, DFW, 14 Sept 1929)

   Haggerty was indispensable to Inspector Frayne in his cases. Frayne considered him a man-hunter in training, and his personal protégé. However, Frayne noted that Haggerty was “still young enough to have likes and dislikes. Inspector Frayne called them intolerances, stumbling blocks in the path of efficient police duty.” (The Small Glass Eye)

   This view of Frayne gives a clue to his personality, showing that he believed that efficiency and unemotional attitudes were the key to better detective work. In the previously mentioned case he had an innocent person arrested for a murder so that the real murderer would believe he was free of suspicion.

   Frayne often used psychological tricks to get suspects and witnesses to respond in the way he wished. Haggerty knew that the “manhunter never assumed an attitude, never made a gesture, never uttered a word, that didn’t mean something.” (La Linda Paloma) In this story Frayne “was simply getting his suspects more on edge.”

   One problem with some of the stories is that Frayne seems to operate as an intuitive detective, with not much in the way of clues to show his line of thinking. “La Linda Paloma” actually is much better than the usual stories in the series; he has definite clues and details how they affected his thinking.

   In the earliest of the stories in the series, “The Small Glass Eye,” Frayne investigates a crime out of his jurisdiction at a lake in the Adirondacks. The cause of his investigating this murder illustrates a facet of Frayne’s personality. His one interest, aside from his clothes, was in investigating murders. It was a hobby with him, and “He could sniff it a mile off, a thousand miles off, … ” After reading a couple of newspaper articles about the death of millionaire Gideon Whipple, Frayne was certain that it was not an accidental death but a purposeful murder.

   One of Frayne’s regular habits was his reading of all the morning newspapers in New York, as well as many papers from other cities including some foreign ones. He was noted as a speed reader, which was an advantage considering how many newspapers he read. He also had “a reading knowledge of seven or eight languages.” (La Linda Paloma) His greatest trait was that he had a photographic memory for all of the newspaper pieces he read, and could recite lines and paragraphs going back years.

   Frayne had seven telephones, some of them private and others for business. Six of his telephones were in his apartment in the East Fifties of New York City, and the seventh in his basement shooting gallery. One of his private lines was directly connected to Don Haggerty’s office at police headquarters. When he wanted to summon Haggerty, Frayne picked up the telephone and clicked his message by moving the receiver up and down. Haggerty responded similarly.

   Frayne lived close to police headquarters, because as noted in the stories it took Haggerty only twelve minutes to make the trip to Frayne’s residence. Frayne’s multistory home is well suited for him. Special closets for his clothes, for example. The basement has a special shooting range so that Frayne can keep in practice with his specially made and altered blunt-nose automatic. He has one his topcoats specially altered so he can draw his gun faster.

   Frayne also had several automobiles, all well powered. One is a roadster. Frayne does not have to worry about his expenses based upon his detective’s pay; he can afford to own all of these things because he “possessed a sufficiently substantial private fortune to enable him to do this,” (The Missing Clew).

   Haggerty’s responsibilities change somewhat over the course of the series. He gradually was given more responsibility, and became the “buffer” for Frayne. In this position, Haggerty had to weed out the homicide cases for which Frayne was suited, and “to offer his chief only such problems as appeared to be impossible to unravel.” (Pelican Plot)

   In other words, common murder cases of no difficulty were refused by Haggerty. Haggerty at this point spoke to Frayne over a special wire connection to Frayne’s apartment, using a number known only to him.

   Other than Haggerty, there are only a couple of other recurring characters in the series. One is Grady, the coroner, who is also an expert on guns and a friend of Frayne’s. He “was one coroner who didn’t hanker to be a great detective.” (Mandarin Coat)

   There is a detective named Mullins, who “was a slim stoop-shouldered man in a pepper-and-salt suit far from new. His eyes looked tired…” (Buttered Toast) Mullins has dreams of solving murders. He also is able to identify criminals based on witness descriptions. He knows a considerable amount about the local criminals and their habits and hangouts. Frayne relies on him to help in some of his cases.

   In the story “Inspector Frayne’s New Topcoat” Frayne is after the gangsters who killed a homicide detective and “one of Frayne’s favored men.” In this story, too, Frayne has an innocent man arrested as a way to get at the guilty party. Seems to be one of his methods of operation.

   â€œThe Missing Clew” involves Frayne’s investigation of the murder of an eccentric rich man. Once more he intuits what really occurred, from the evidence of muddy dog footprints. A minor story in the series.

   â€œButtered Toast” is a much better story, as Frayne unravels the mystery of what seems to be a simple robbery and murder of a jewelry wholesaler. Frayne comes across many clues and uses them to deduce an unusual crime and the motives for it. In this story, Haggerty is noted as being an improving fingerprint expert.

   â€œMandarin Coat” is an interesting story of an investigation by Frayne of a poisoning case. The puzzle is how was the poison administered to the victim, and who could have done it. The method of poisoning is a clever one. The story could have been a bit longer, to explain how Frayne learned some of the facts he disclosed late in the story.

   In “Pelican Plot” Frayne has to unravel the who and how of a murder case seemingly impossible. Mr. Kerfoot, a rich manufacturer, has a bronze figure of a pelican on his desk that is wired to follow certain instructions such as raising windows, opening a door, and pulling out chairs for guests. However, it turns out that someone has added an extra command for seemingly shooting a gun from a hidden place. Another case where Frayne seemingly intuits the solution with ease.

   In “La Linda Paloma”, the next story in the series, Frayne has to find the murderer of a personal maid to a world famous dancer named La Linda Paloma. Any of a number of people nearby could have stabbed the woman, so Frayne has to find small clues that point the way.

   The series as a whole is just an average detective series, with nothing particularly special about it. Harold de Polo had more success with his stories featuring hick country law enforcement officials. There were two series of these: Sheriff Ollie Bascomb, and another featuring Sheriff Whitcher Bemis. Both had elements of humor in them. Another outdoor series featuring Chan Buzzell was a bit more serious.

      The Inspector Frayne series, by Harold de Polo:

   In Detective Fiction Weekly:

The Small Glass Eye     September 14, 1929
Inspector Frayne’s New Topcoat     November 2, 1929
The Missing Clew     December 21, 1929
Buttered Toast     January 25, 1930
Murder in the Tower     March 1, 1930
Mandarin Coat     March 8, 1930
Pelican Plot     April 5, 1930
The Flying Corpse     July 12, 1930
The Little White Powder     July 26, 1930
La Linda Paloma     December 27, 1930
Peter Wenda, Beads     January 24, 1931

   In Complete Detective Novel Magazine:

Night Club Riddle     May, 1931

   In The Underworld Magazine:

Inspector Frayne Returns     July, 1933

    Previously in this series:

1. SHAMUS MAGUIRE, by Stanley Day.
2. HAPPY McGONIGLE, by Paul Allenby.
3. ARTY BEELE, by Ruth & Alexander Wilson.
4. COLIN HAIG, by H. Bedford-Jones.
5. SECRET AGENT GEORGE DEVRITE, by Tom Curry.
6. BATTLE McKIM, by Edward Parrish Ware.
7. TUG NORTON by Edward Parrish Ware.
8. CANDID JONES by Richard Sale.
9. THE PATENT LEATHER KID, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
10. OSCAR VAN DUYVEN & PIERRE LEMASSE, by Robert Brennan.

THOMAS BLACK – Four Dead Mice. Rinehart & Company, hardcover, 1954. Bantam #1448, paperback, 1956, as Million Dollar Murder.

   I’m going to change things around from the way they usually occur here, not just a little, but from top to bottom. Instead of a complete list of Thomas [B.] Black’s private eye Al Delany character at the end of this review, here they are at the beginning:

      The 3-13 Murders. Reynal & Hitchcock, 1946.

      The Whitebird Murders. Reynal & Hitchcock, 1946.

      The Pinball Murders. Reynal & Hitchcock, 1947.

      Four Dead Mice. Rinehart & Co., 1954.

   There are are only the four of them, and why the gap, and why the abrupt end to the series, I do not know. I’d welcome any information that you might have. According to Al Hubin, Thomas Black was born in Kansas in 1910, with a possible death date of 1993, not confirmed. (Information on hand as of the current Revised Crime Fiction IV.)

   I’m sure I’ve read at least one of the first three, but it was so long ago, I’ll not rely on memory, and I’ll report on only this one. It takes place in Chancellor City, an small metropolis with more than its share of alleys, back streets, rundown housing and a wide-open red light district. I had the feeling that it might be St. Louis, in disguise, or Kansas City, perhaps, but that’s only a guess, and it’s probably not relevant anyway.

   Delany is asked by a bakery to find out who might have dropped some dead mice into a vat of bread dough, and the case escalates from there to include the death of a job applicant who flunked an employment check, and more.

   The dialogue is bright and chipper and slangy, and maybe some of the slang makes the book unreprintable today. For example, S.Q.Q. stands for? San Quentin Quail, if that helps any, and that’s what Delaney knows what Honey Ward is, a precocious young girl (in ways also probably unreprintable today) who grabs his attention early on and doesn’t let go.

   Here’s an early scene that doesn’t have anything to do with the plot, and Cora Collins doesn’t appear again, but I liked the flavor it provided:

   From a little later on, from page 37, this excerpt is getting closer to the plot:

   With other characters involved named Delight (a big nut-brown colored hairpin, handsome as sin and better proportioned), “Baggy Pants” Vance, Bam Carson, George Washington Hite, Little Phil Murio, and a hophead named Sleepy-Sleep, this reads like a cross between Damon Runyon and Harry Stephen Keeler, with triple the coherency of the latter, thanks to numerous recaps and timetables and lists of questions that haven’t have been answered yet.

   I’m not so sure about the ending. I wish Black had pumped up the descriptions of some of the characters earlier on, to give them the presence they needed to fit the roles they were designed to play — and I’m not (necessarily) referring to the killer(s). As it is, it’s solid detection on the run, winging it as it goes, and cramming it all in to fit (for the most part) until the number of pages runs out.

[UPDATE] 02-10-12.   I’m sorry to say that this is all I remember of this book. If I hadn’t written the review, I wouldn’t even be able to tell you where the four dead mice came in. I think this is a positive review, however. I’ve convinced myself I ought to read the book again, next time I get the chance.

FRANK THOMAS – Sherlock Holmes and the Treasure Train. Pinnacle, paperback original, March 1985.

   Frank Thomas was — just in case you’re wondering if he might have been — the movie actor who gained considerable fame playing the lead role in the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet series on the small screen, a role so well known that I’m sure it stayed with him the rest of his life. After his TV days were over, though, he also became an expert on the game of bridge and (most relevant to us here) a mystery novelist.

   Besides a handful of short stories about Sherlock Holmes, Thomas wrote four novels about the character, of which this was the third. Watson, of course, in all of them as well, as the purported narrator, and so is Mycroft Holmes – at least in Treasure Train – but (as far as I recall) never onstage. He’s only referred to, and as it so happens, quite often.

   There are a couple of other short cases to deal with at first, but the crux of the matter of hand is the theft of £500,000 in gold that has been stolen from a well-guarded and armored railroad car as it’s being transported across the English countryside. If it sounds like an “impossible crime” to you, it did to me at first as well, but Holmes makes quick work of that part of the mystery, alas.

   The problem, then — having become one of whodunit, not how — loses momentum quickly as the intricacies of international finance and banking come into play. Thomas does his best to keep things interesting through the middle of the book, but I found my eyelids getting heavier and heavier throughout the denser chapters, of which there were, unfortunately, too many.

   Thomas also does his best to make the reader believe his characters are the same as those created by Conan Doyle, but while solidly done, he never convinced me. Two gentlemen. good detectives each, with the same names and outer mannerisms as the real Holmes and Watson? Yes, I found myself going along with that, but I also regret to report that clones, even above average ones, are seldom little more than stand-by replacements for the real thing.

      The Sherlock Holmes novels by Frank Thomas —

Sherlock Holmes and the Golden Bird. Pinnacle, pbo, 1979.

Sherlock Holmes and the Sacred Sword. Pinnacle, pbo, 1980.

Sherlock Holmes and the Treasure Train. Pinnacle, pbo, 1985.
Sherlock Holmes and the Masquerade Murders. Medallion, pbo, 1986.