Mystery Monday: Great WWII Mysteries

Mystery Monday: Great WWII Mysteries 

Mystery fiction written during World War II either provided an escapist novel with no mention of the war or a plot intricately tied to the war. Most of the authors popular during the Golden Era of Detective Fiction that encompassed the 1940s did a little of both. Three such authors are Agatha Christie, Christiana Brands, and Dorothy M. Hughes. 

N or M, published by Christie in 1941 featured the first novel of a “grown-up” version of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, husband and wife amateur sleuths who first appeared in 1922. The title is taken from a catechism in the Book of Common Prayer which asks “What is your Christian Name?” Answer: N or M; the initials representing the Latin “nomen veil nomina” meaning “name or names.” 

Years have passed since the couple’s career with British intelligence, and the Second World War has broken out when they are approached by a secret agent to go undercover to find German spies and fifth columnists. Filled with cryptic messages and clues, Tommy and Tuppence make their way to the fictional seaside town of Leahampton to investigate the situation. Twists and turns abound, but the Beresfords eventually find their man…and woman. 

Reviews of the book were glowing including one by E.R. Punshon touting “Mrs. Christie shows herself as ingenious as ever, and one admires especially the way in which the hero snores himself out of captivity.” Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? 

Interestingly, Christie was the subject of an MI5 investigation after naming one of the novel’s characters Major Bletchley. Their fears were unfounded as she revealed the as one of her “least lovable characters,” the man had been named area of Milton Keynes where she’d been stuck during a train journey. 

Another fantastic novel is Christiana Brands 1944 Green for Danger. Set in a rural British wartime hospital, the story was heavily praised for its clever plot and interesting characters. The head nurse is killed after reporting that the death of a patient under anesthesia was not accidental. Another near murder leaves a nurse dangerously ill, so Inspector Cockrill re-stages the operation to reveal the killer. The entire time German V-1 rockets shower the countryside and all must remain calm. The title for the book refers to the color-coding used on anesthetists’ gas bottles. 

The third and final novel is a thriller published in 1943. The Blackbirder follows the exploits of a young woman who has fled occupied Paris and her Nazi-sympathizer uncle and finds herself as an illegal immigrant in New York City. Because of her status she tries to keep a low profile, but when a man she knew in France is found dead outside her apartment, she must once again flee for her life. In order to leave the country, she must find The Blackbirder, a man who guides people across the US-Mexican border, but in the meantime, she must stay ahead of the Gestapo and the FBI she thinks is trailing her. Plenty of shadowy figures come and go, and tension is high as readers wonder who is trustworthy. 

Hughes wrote fourteen novels and a volume of poetry, but she also held positions with the Los Angeles Times, (New York) Herald Tribune, and (Albuquerque) Tribune as a professional crime-fiction reviewer. The Blackbirder is one of the author’s few novels with a white, female protagonist, instead preferring to create characters vastly different from herself such as psychotic men, black men, Spanish men, Native Americans, jazz musicians, soldiers, and doctors. 

What’s your favorite mystery novel published during WWII? 

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About Under Cover

It’s been six months since Ruth Brown followed clues to England and discovered the identity of her sister’s killer. War continues to rage as Ruth reports on food shortages, the black market, the evacuation of London’s children, and the bravery of the British people. 

When a bombing raid destroys her home and unearths a twenty-year-old skeleton in the cellar, her reporter’s senses tingle in anticipation of solving another mystery. Unfortunately, the by-the-book detective inspector assigned to the case is not interested in her theories. As Ruth investigates the case on her own, she butts heads with the handsome policeman. 

Will she get to the bottom of the story before the killer strikes again?

Purchase Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B083C61SJT

Mystery Monday: Hercule Poirot's Christmas

Mystery Monday: Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

The Christmas season can be a hectic and stressful time, so one of my favorite escapes is to read. Even if only for a few minutes each day, I try to carve out time to curl up with a book. Especially fun is delving into novels set during Christmas or New Year’s from classic authors, like Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot’s Christmas.

First published by the Collins Crime Club on December 19, 1938, in the UK, the book was published three months later in the United States under the title Murder for Christmas. Eight years later, Avon books issued the book under the title A Holiday for Murder. The novel is considered a “locked room mystery.”

A hit with most reviewers, the book seems quintessential Christie-a country house, a long list of possible suspects, and Poirot’s brilliant deductive skills. The plot involved the multi-millionaire Simeon Lee, who although frail in his old age, is reminiscent of Dickens’s Scrooge. Apparently, he’s so awful, there is an endless cadre of people who have reason to want him dead. In addition, the family has dysfunction down to an art and includes black sheep, unknown relatives, and surprise guests.

Lee invites his family for Christmas, most of whom would rather be anywhere else but with their father. Then he is overheard on the telephone indicating he wants to update his will after Christmas. After dinner, the sounds of crashing furniture and a hideous scream are heard by some of the family, who rush to the man’s room. The door is locked, and they have to break it down. Inside he is found dead, his throat slashed. Before the family can call the police, they are at the front door.

Questions abound, and Poirot sweeps in to solve the mystery.

The story was adapted to television as part of the David Suchet “Poirot” series and aired for the first time on December 25, 1994. Interestingly, the plot inspired writer/producer/director Rian Johnson to release Knives Out on November 27, 2019. This loose adaptation features a host of stars including Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, and Christopher Plummer.

What is your favorite Christmas mystery?

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Emma O’Sullivan is one of the first female doctors to enlist after President Franklin Roosevelt signs the order allowing women in the Army and Navy medical corps. Within weeks, Emma is assigned to England to set up a convalescent hospital, and she leaves behind everything that is familiar. When the handsome widower of the requisitioned property claims she’s incompetent and tries to get her transferred, she must prove to her superiors she’s more than capable. But she’s soon drawn to the good-looking, grieving owner. Will she have to choose between her job and her heart?

Archibald “Archie” Heron is the last survivor of the Heron dynasty, his two older brothers having been lost at Dunkirk and Trondheim and his parents in the Blitz. After his wife is killed in a bombing raid while visiting Brighton, he begins to feel like a modern-day Job. To add insult to injury, the British government requisitions his country estate, Heron Hall, for the U.S. Army to use as a hospital. The last straw is when the hospital administrator turns out to be a fiery, ginger-haired American woman. She’s got to go. Or does she?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/2tKsJ4F

Mystery Monday: Agatha Christie and Her Poisons

Mystery Monday: Agatha Christie and Her Poisons

Dame Agatha Christie is perhaps one of the most well-known mystery writers from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. With a career spanning over fifty years, she wrote sixty-six novels and fourteen short story collections. She is the best-selling novelist of all time, and according to her website, has only been outsold by the Bible and Shakespeare.

Poison is the most common murder weapon of choice in nearly half of her books. Over thirty victims die from one of fourteen different poisons from belladonna to ricin. Many Christie scholars have attested that her use of poisons stems from her service as a nurse and then dispenser (of medicine) first during The Great War and then again during WWII.

Born in 1890 in Torquay, England, she served at the Torquay hospital from October 1914 through September 1918. When WWII broke out, she renewed her training at University College Hospital in London and volunteered again. According to Christie herself it was her work in the dispensary that birthed the thought of writing a mystery novel:

“It was while I was working in the dispensary that I first conceived the idea of writing a detective story…and my present work seemed to offer a favourable opportunity. I began considering what kind of detective story I could write. Since I was surrounded by poisons, perhaps it was natural that death by poisoning should be the method I selected.”

Often the poisons she used were common to the time such as cyanide (a favorite of hers) that was available in the form of a pesticide and thallium which was used in rat poison. In addition arsenic and strychnine were still available in medical uses. Like any good writer, her research library was extensive, and she built up a large medico-legal library over her career. According to one website, Martindale: The Extra Pharmacopoeia was the most “well-thumbed” book in her collection.

Reviews mean a lot to writers, and Christie cherished the following review about The Mysterious Affair at Styles above all others: “This novel has the rare merit of being correctly written.” Coming from the Pharmaceutical Journal this was high praise indeed to this pharmacist’s assistant turn mystery writer.

Mystery Monday: The Mystery of Agatha Christie

Mystery Monday: The Mystery of Agatha Christie

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller Christie (Mallowan) wrote sixty-six mystery novels and fourteen short story collections and is known as the one of the Queens the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, although her career started much earlier. Her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles featuring Hercule Poirot was published in 1920.

You’ve probably read at least one of her stories, and perhaps know that her play The Mousetrap is the longest running play in the world. But here are some tidbits you may not be aware of with regard to this famous author:

•        She was born into a wealthy upper class family.
•        During WWI, she served in a Devon hospital that treated men coming back from the trenches.
•        During WWII, she worked as a pharmacy assistant in London where she learned a lot about poisons (which subsequently showed up in many of her novels.
•        She met her second husband, Max Mallowan, on an archaeological dig in Baghdad and continued to follow him on expeditions throughout their married life.
•        To honor her many literary works, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1956. In 1971 she was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE)
•        She was also officially a Lady because of her husband’s knighting in 1968 for his archeological work. 

Perhaps the most intriguing tidbit about Agatha Christie is her disappearance in 1926. After an argument with her first husband Archibald Christie, she left the house after leaving a note for her secretary claiming that she was going to Yorkshire. Her car was later discovered at Newlands Corner with some clothes and her expired driver’s license.

There was a public outcry, the news even made it to America where The New York Times posted an article on the front page. Home Secretary William Joynson-Hicks pressured police to do whatever it took to find her. A £100 reward was posted, and over one thousand police and fifteen thousand volunteers searched for her.

Ten days after she left home, she was found at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate under an assumed name (interestingly she used Neely as her surname-the last name of her husband’s mistress). She was diagnosed with amnesia, but scholars and the media have long debated about the situation. Some felt it was a publicity stunt, while others think it was an attempt to embarrass her philandering husband. Still more agree that she may have suffered some sort of nervous breakdown because of her exhaustive writing schedule, death of her mother, and infidelity of Archie.

She makes no reference to the incident in her autobiography, so obviously the truth will never be known. What do you think?

Mystery Monday: Author Helen Eustis

At a time when mystery books seemed to be split into two schools – the hard-boiled detective story (think Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett) or the cozy whodunit (Agatha Christie), author Helen Eustis burst on the scene with a new type of mystery fiction – psychological suspense. Her books featured innovative plots and commentary on gender and class issues of the 1940s and 1950s.

Born in Cincinnati, OH on January 31, 1916, Ms. Eustis passed away in January of this year. After a stint in business school, she graduated from Smith College in 1938. She then pursued a doctorate in English at Columbia University before giving up her studies in favor of a writing career.

She was not a prolific fiction writer – only publishing seven novels during her career. But when she did write fiction, her work did well. Nineteen forty seven was a good year for her. The Horizontal Man won the Edgar for best first novel, and her short story An American Home received an O'Henry Prize. Her novel The Fool Killer was adapted into a 1965 film starring Anthony Perkins and Edward Albert.

When asked about her motivation in creating her characters in The Horizontal Man, a story in which a philandering English professor is murdered at a small college replete with psychologically unstable students and professors, she said she wrote it “because she knew so many people in college she would like to murder.”

In addition to her mystery novels, Ms. Eustis wrote for Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker and other magazines. In later years she translated books written in French by authors including Christiane Rochefort and Georges Simenon.

Consider picking up one of these fascinating reads.