A word of explanation to go with the following review, and any others that will be showing up here on the M*F blog in the days to follow. These reviews will come from the long distant past, nearly 30 years ago, in fact. All were published in a fanzine published by Guy M. Townsend, and called The MYSTERY FANcier. I’ll use the initials TMF in the headings to so indicate where all such reviews first appeared. Prior to their TMF publication, some of the reviews were appeared in the Hartford Courant (not a fanzine) and will also be so designated.

   I’m going to reprint the reviews as they were published at the time, whatever warts I see they may have when I read them now. I will update the publishing history of the books, and on occasion, perhaps even most of the time, add Updates or other Commentary.

   I no longer use letter grades to close up my reviews, but I did back then, and for better or worse, I’ll include them now. Don’t hold me too closely to either my comments or the grades I assigned to the books. I was a different person then, and so (probably) were you.



BRIAN BALL – Death of a Low-Handicap Man.

Arthur Barker Ltd., UK, hardcover, 1974. Walker & Co., hardcover, US, 1978. Paperback reprint: Walker 3063, 1984. Trade paperback: Wildside Press, 2003.

Death of a Low-Handicap Man

   When a golfer that not everyone’s overly fond of is found whacked to death near the clubhouse, the only question the bartender asks is: “How many strokes?” On the other hand, the investigation that follows is painfully and stolidly slow, hampered in part by an unspoken procedural conflict between the village bobby and the superintendent from the C.I.D. Nor is it quite a “locked room” mystery either, but it is difficult to explain how nothing suspicious was noticed, even though the thicket in which the dead man was found had been under close observation throughout the match, and from all sides. Although it’s not really necessary, a love of the silly game of golf will help tremendously in the enjoyment you’ll get from this one. (C)

      – From The MYSTERY FANcier, Vol. 3, No. 2, Mar-Apr 1979. This review also appeared earlier in the Hartford Courant.

[UPDATE] 07-18-07. Brian Ball has six books listed in CFIV, as follows:

      Death of a Low-Handicap Man (n.) Barker 1974; Walker, 1978.
      Montenegrin Gold (n.) Barker 1974; Walker, 1978.
      Keegan: The No-Option Contract (n.) Barker, 1975.

Keegan

      Keegan: The One-Way Deal (n.) Barker, 1976.
      Witchfinder: The Evil at Monteine (n.) Mayflower, pb, 1977.
      The Baker Street Boys (co.) BBC, 1983. Series character: Arnold Wiggins. [Two novelettes based on the BBC television series.]

   He’s probably much better known, however, as science fiction writer Brian N. Ball. For a list of all of his books, this website seems to be the place to look.

   Keegan appears to have been a reluctant spy for British Intelligence. The book based on “The Baker Street Boys”sounds intriguing, as does the TV series itself. The link will lead to the IMDB entry for it. There was one other book in the “Witchfinder” series:

      Witchfinder: The Mark of the Beast. (n.) Mayflower, pb, 1976.

   While this may be a book wrongly omitted from CFIV, it may be a straight horror novel with no criminous aspects to it.

   As for the mystery novel reviewed above, I seem to have neglected to include the name of either of the two sleuths involved, not that either apparently made another appearance. Nevertheless, I’d still like to know who they might have been. If you happen to have a copy handy, would check it out and pass the word along to me?

   The “locked room” aspect doesn’t seem to have been strong enough for the book to be included in Bob Adey’s Locked Room Murders, but once again, my bringing it up at all makes me wish I’d taken better notes at the time. Even though I gave this one a letter grade of only a “C”, if I come across it again any time soon, I think that a re-reading might very well be in order.