In 1944 ... 'In towns up and down this green and sceptred island bunches of enterprising citizens are acquiring blitzed areas of temporary desolation and in many cases bleeding half-destitute freeholders of the only small stake in the country they possess'. And in several cases they don't refrain from murder to obtain their aims.
Did you ever know, Sexton Blake was left-wing? Consider the following conversation between Sexton Blake and 'Smudger', a Civil Servant and friend of Blake's:
.... "I suppose. Blake, being a bit ' left-wingish ' like I am, you share my opinion that, the Government are stalling over this Uthwatt Report?"
"Of course they are. That's obvious ! "
"The same," said Smith deliberately, "as the Lloyd George Government, after the last war, stalled over the Sankey Report on Nationalisation of the Mines."
"Exactly!"
"The reason being," said Smith, "that both reports had, as a major issue, the so-called ' sanctity of private property ' treading hard on the corns of ' vested interest ' and ' landed pvo-prictorship.' which, in the religion of the Reactionary, is locked upon as 'Holy Writ."
"That's right. And anything that violates it is the next best thing to blasphemy. What about it?"
This Sexton Blake story of 1944 helps to understand the landslide victory of Labour in 1945
Did you ever know, Sexton Blake was left-wing? Consider the following conversation between Sexton Blake and 'Smudger', a Civil Servant and friend of Blake's:
.... "I suppose. Blake, being a bit ' left-wingish ' like I am, you share my opinion that, the Government are stalling over this Uthwatt Report?"
"Of course they are. That's obvious ! "
"The same," said Smith deliberately, "as the Lloyd George Government, after the last war, stalled over the Sankey Report on Nationalisation of the Mines."
"Exactly!"
"The reason being," said Smith, "that both reports had, as a major issue, the so-called ' sanctity of private property ' treading hard on the corns of ' vested interest ' and ' landed pvo-prictorship.' which, in the religion of the Reactionary, is locked upon as 'Holy Writ."
"That's right. And anything that violates it is the next best thing to blasphemy. What about it?"
This Sexton Blake story of 1944 helps to understand the landslide victory of Labour in 1945
A small review of one the stories of this collection:
Rex Hardinge, The man I Killed.
Hardinge's stories are often repetitive and formulaic. But this one isn't. It's an inverted mystery, we know the murderer from the outset. Indeed, he tells us his story in first person, the story of his 'perfect' crime. His friend Sexton Blake himself, he planned, should provide his alibi. The suspense arises not from whodunit but from watching Sexton Blake discovering how it was done. The main mystery, why it was done, is only revealed at the end.
And we learn something astonishing about Blake. He plays the violin so good "he could justifiably have made it his profession". Even in his recreations he is superior to the other Baker Street detective.
This is certainly one of the best stories Hardinge has written.
Rex Hardinge, The man I Killed.
Hardinge's stories are often repetitive and formulaic. But this one isn't. It's an inverted mystery, we know the murderer from the outset. Indeed, he tells us his story in first person, the story of his 'perfect' crime. His friend Sexton Blake himself, he planned, should provide his alibi. The suspense arises not from whodunit but from watching Sexton Blake discovering how it was done. The main mystery, why it was done, is only revealed at the end.
And we learn something astonishing about Blake. He plays the violin so good "he could justifiably have made it his profession". Even in his recreations he is superior to the other Baker Street detective.
This is certainly one of the best stories Hardinge has written.
John Hunter was one of those authors who wrote for just about any genre from before the First World War up to the 1950s. Among his hundreds of stories were about three dozen for the 30s Magazine THE THRILLER and nearly fifty SEXTON BLAKES from 1936 to the '50s.
THE SECRET MAN is a spy story which appeared in THE THRILLER in 1936.
A secret pagan organisation called the Brethren of the Hammer of Thor plans by assassination of Hitler, the Austrian Chancellor and perhaps Mussolini to destabilize Central Europe and put their leader Baron von Uhlstein as head of a united state. The master criminal Nicholas and his servant Wolf kidnap von Uhlstein with the intention, once the plot has succeeded, to usurp the leadership and conquer France and England. But the 'Silver Greyhounds', a hidden espionage group of the English government, won't allow this to happen, of course. The End is a bit disappointing, though. The master criminal manages to escape. Maybe Hunter used or planned to use Nicholas as a serial master crook in further stories.
The style is lively, a bit violent, and highly readable. Hunter is also strong on atmosphere. I loved the desciption of the Belgian coastline with its tram in drizzling rain. Hunter always gets his places right:
"The villa overlooked the Aussen Alster and it stood on that great Harvestehude lakeside where the millionaires have their dwelling places, in a setting which - considering it is in the heart of one of the world's greatest ports - is itself show more exquisitely beautiful, the villa was like a gem in a splendid setting". Living in Hamburg, I can confirm it was (and it is) like that.
In this Hunter story we find a likeable Jew, Solly Cohen. In a 30's thriller this is no small achievemnt, too. show less
THE SECRET MAN is a spy story which appeared in THE THRILLER in 1936.
A secret pagan organisation called the Brethren of the Hammer of Thor plans by assassination of Hitler, the Austrian Chancellor and perhaps Mussolini to destabilize Central Europe and put their leader Baron von Uhlstein as head of a united state. The master criminal Nicholas and his servant Wolf kidnap von Uhlstein with the intention, once the plot has succeeded, to usurp the leadership and conquer France and England. But the 'Silver Greyhounds', a hidden espionage group of the English government, won't allow this to happen, of course. The End is a bit disappointing, though. The master criminal manages to escape. Maybe Hunter used or planned to use Nicholas as a serial master crook in further stories.
The style is lively, a bit violent, and highly readable. Hunter is also strong on atmosphere. I loved the desciption of the Belgian coastline with its tram in drizzling rain. Hunter always gets his places right:
"The villa overlooked the Aussen Alster and it stood on that great Harvestehude lakeside where the millionaires have their dwelling places, in a setting which - considering it is in the heart of one of the world's greatest ports - is itself show more exquisitely beautiful, the villa was like a gem in a splendid setting". Living in Hamburg, I can confirm it was (and it is) like that.
In this Hunter story we find a likeable Jew, Solly Cohen. In a 30's thriller this is no small achievemnt, too. show less
For me the best book on the English detective novel of the Golden Age, though I vehemently disagree with his seeing Freeman Wills Crofts and John Rhode only as hangers-on. For the sake of the argument that the English detective story is best understood as a reaction against the thrillers of Le Queux, Oppenheim, Buchan etc. Panek marginalizes an important part of this tradition.
A Thriller very much in the tradition of John Buchan's 39 STEPS. In Berlin a dying man hands out a document to the hero, a post-graduate medical student from Scotland. From this moment on he will be hunted, from Berlin to Hamburg and then from Scotland over London to the Kentish coast where the roles of hunter and hunted are reversed. There is the usual conspiracy of German spies with agents everywhere, the usual powerful villain and the usual impersonations. Not up to the standard of Buchan but still not badly written. Of the author John (Alexander) Ferguson is not much known. He wrote thrillers and spy stories like STEALTHY TERROR or NIGHT IN GLENGYLE but also straight detective novels like THE GROUSE MOOR MYSTERY (US-Title THE GROUSE MOOR MURDER) and DEATH COMES TO PERIGORD with the detective Francis MacNab.