Tue 9 Aug 2011
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: ROGER EAST – Murder Rehearsal.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Crime Fiction IV , Reviews[8] Comments
William F. Deeck
ROGER EAST – Murder Rehearsal. Knopf, hardcover, 1934. First published in the UK: Collins, hardcover, 1933.
When several “accidental” but suspicious deaths occur following the plot of Colin Knowles’s detective novel in progress, and one of those deaths could be advantageous to him in regaining his lost love, is Knowles turning art into reality? But why, then, the additional deaths?
Superintendent Simmonds of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate the first death and, later, with the help of Knowles’s unfinished novel, makes the connection with the other deaths in a book that combines the thriller and the detective story. If nothing else, this novel gives the reader the chance to re-encounter the greatly cherished delayed revenge motif, despite the necessity to swallow some large coincidences.
In the Manchester Evening Chronicle, Dr. Watson — frankly, I doubt that this was our Dr. Watson — said East “seems likely to become one of the small band of really first-class detective-story writers.” The promise is here, but it’s only a promise.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: [Taken from the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin.]
EAST, ROGER. Pseudonym of Roger Burford, 1904- ; other pseudonym: Simon.
The Mystery of the Monkey-Gland Cocktail (n.) Putnam 1932.
Murder Rehearsal (n.) Collins 1933 [Colin Knowles; Supt. Simmonds]
The Bell Is Answered (n.) Collins 1934.
Candidate for Lilies (n.) Collins 1934.
Twenty-Five Sanitary Inspectors (n.) Collins 1935 [Supt. Simmonds]
Detectives in Gum Boots (n.) Collins 1936 [Colin Knowles]
The Pearl Choker (n.) Collins 1954.
Kingston Black (n.) Collins 1960.
The Pin Men (n.) Hodder 1963.
SIMON. Pseudonym of Roger Burford & Henry Joseph Hasslacher.
Murder Among Friends (n.) Wishart 1933 [Insp. (Supt.) Deering]
Death on the Swim (n.) Wishart 1934 [Insp. (Supt.) Deering]
The Cat with the Moustache (n.) Wishart 1935 [Insp. (Supt.) Deering]
August 10th, 2011 at 10:22 am
I like Roger East’s books. I wish I could find more of them. This one was a bit convoluted for my tastes and overly plotted. Candidate for Lilies I think is a better book than the one reviewed here. Check our my blog for a review of that title. I posted it back in January. I have yet to read Twenty-Five Sanitary Inspectors and that one is supposed to be even better. H R F Keating slected it for his reprint series form Collins dubbed “Disappearing Detectives.” Curt Evans recommends The Bell Is Answered as one of East’s best books, but I have never found a copy of that anywhere.
August 10th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
After reading your review of LILIES, John, I checked my collection, and that is the one I happen to have a copy of, too. I meant to read it, but you know how those things go.
You’re quite right about how scarce the Roger East books are. I believe there was only one copy of REHEARSAL on ABE when I went looking, and the price was just out of my range at the moment ($75).
Of the three “Simon” books, I found no copies at all.
August 11th, 2011 at 5:07 am
A small correction to the list of his books, the correct title is PEARL CHOKER, you can see a picture of the dust wrapper on detective-fiction.com. To fill out his details Roger East also wrote for film and TV including the 1960s BBC TV series MAIGRET, he died in 1981. His first book THE MYSTERY OF THE MONKEY GLAND COCKTAIL is exceptionally scarce, I have only had one copy in twenty years. The ‘Simon’ books are almost as hard to find, the first two were done as Mellifont paperbacks (probably abridged)and THE CAT WITH THE MOUSTACHE was reprinted as a Curtis Warren paperback in 1950 as THE MYSTERY OF THE HYPNOTIC ROOM
August 11th, 2011 at 8:44 pm
Thanks, Jamie! I’ve added some of the Roger East titles to my want list, but if will take 20 years to come across one, it very well may be too late.
August 12th, 2011 at 4:19 am
I forgot to add that a character called Jack Mors, a criminal typologist, features in Roger East’s last two books
August 13th, 2011 at 12:37 am
This guy had a very interesting background. I did like The Bell Is Answered, though I felt like the others were interesting though not exactly successful (except 25 Sanitary Inspectors, which worked for me). The one Simon book was very odd indeed. Saw a copy of The Cat with Moustache for about $750 once. It sold!
I have a theory Roger East authored another mystery under another pseudonym. Would make a great article for mysteryfile….
September 18th, 2021 at 11:19 am
[…] Rehearsal has been reviewed, among others, by William F. Deeck at Mystery File, Martin Edwards at ‘Do You Write Under Your Own Name?’ and NIck Fuller at The Grandest Game in […]
February 2nd, 2022 at 7:57 pm
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