Shelley Smith (1) (1912–1998)

I had never heard of The Party at No. 5 by Shelley Smith before seeing it on H. R. Keating’s List of 100 Best Crime Novels. Originally published in 1954, this is an odd story that has been labelled an “inverted mystery” by one critic, and a story of domestic malice by another. I was totally absorbed by this book and needing to see the resolution, read it in one sitting.

Two elderly ladies are brought together, one as a companion to the other, and we see them become more and more show more resentful of each other. Mrs. Rampage is spoilt and insensitive, although she lives in a large house and is surrounded by beautiful things, she pinches every penny and counts the cost of everything. Her niece has brought Mrs. Roach into the house to be her companion. Mrs. Roach is a widow who has no financial security and must work for a living. On the surface Mrs. Roach appears to be a patient, caring person but as the book develops we find she is deftly separating Mrs. Rampage from her friends and family as well as procuring valuable items from the house. The two women circle around each other, their relationship moving from friendly, to resentful, to hatred. The tension mounts and we wonder which one of the two will finally gain the upper hand.

The author did an excellent job with both the interplay between the two characters and with slowly building the tension as Mrs. Rampage feels more and more trapped in a situation that she can’t control. The atmosphere in the book changes as the story develops and we go from the light, almost humorous mood at the beginning of the book to downright horror. The Party At No. 5 may not work for everyone as it is a very claustrophobic story but I thought it was pure genius. show less

This was my third Shelley Smith novel, and although I really enjoyed the first one, The Party at Number 5, I haven’t been very impressed with the next two. Background for Murder, published in 1942, is set in and around an asylum. The head of the hospital has been found murdered but the local police are stumped. Private Investor Jacob Chaos is brought in to handle the case and the over-abundance of suspects.

Having to question both the staff of the asylum and the patients is a time consuming show more job and working discreetly is important but before he knows it the killer has struck again and Chaos must speed up to unwind the twists and lies and uncover the murderer.

Although written and described as a thriller, I found this book moved quite slowly. This is a traditionally structured mystery plot but definitely lacked any suspense or excitement. Due to it’s published date, the language about mental illness was very outdated as Chaos refers to the patients as halfwits and nuts. For me Background For Murder was rather dull and I figured out who the killer was quite early in the book. show less

Death Stalks a Lady by Shelley Smith is a vintage mystery novel that was originally published in 1945. This is very much a “woman in jeopardy” mystery that is told in two parts, the first by the lady herself, Judith Allen and the second by her American friend, Robert Stone.

Judith has returned to England and the family home after the death of her father. Obviously her parents lived separate lives and Judith had been raised mostly by her father in America. Her older brother and sister had show more remained in England with their mother. Upon his death, the father had bequeathed all his money to Judith, cutting the rest of the family out of the will. It came as no surprise that someone appeared to be stalking Judith and planning on her demise, and that someone would be someone closely related to Judith. But another suspect enters the picture when Judith meets and falls in love with Rex Brady, is he as good as he appears or is he after her money as well. There are plenty of red herrings supplied as well as a body or two, but eventually the story comes together with a satisfying conclusion.

While I didn’t love this book, finding there were just too many questions to be answered, it wasn’t all that bad either. There was one interesting twist to Judith’s inheritance and plenty of interesting characters but I was left feeling a little unsatisfied with the convoluted story. show less

Originally published in the 1950s this is the tale of a flight from England to India that goes wrong somewhere over an Arabian desert, and it doesn't really matter where, it's just that the passenger is free to go for respite to a nearby house where he finds an elderly English lady. He never reads novels....
from page 7 in this edition
'"Frankly, I can't see the point," he shrugged. "Even if I had the time to waste (which I haven't) I don't believe I should ever come to reading novels. I show more really cannot fathom why anyone every does."
"Or write them, I suppose."
"No, I can't say that. There are such an immense number of curious wyas of earning a living that I suppose writing fiction is no odder than any other. But why anyone should bother to read is another matter. A pernicious infection of the mind."
"You think so?"
"At any time. But at this period of history when one really does feel that one cannot be too serious in one's approach to the problems of this age, why fritter one's valuable energies away on such senseless frivolity which weakens the moral fiber - so my tutor always said - and sulls the intellect," said Lancelot Jones in wise lecture-room tones, approving the sonorous periods.
The old woman smilled at the ridiculous young prig."

And she tells a tale of jealousy and love and twisted family relationships and I was drawn in. It was a very bad decision to start reading this late last night. I suspected the twist at the end relatively early on but it was well done. show less