What do you think?
Rate this book
Arthur Crook #1
Murder by Experts
Murder by Experts launched Anthony Gilbert's long-running series featuring the shady London lawyer and detective Arthur Crook. Although she had been writing since 1926, this was her first major popular success. The plot revolves around collectors of Chinese antiques.
Badly dressed and unappealing, Mr. Crook's appearance often traps murderers. Gilbert uses skillful plotting, lively supporting characters, entertaining dialogue and clever action to tell the story. A strong and popular personality, Crook is not generally the protagonist of the stories, but comes to help when women or children are in peril or an innocent person is blamed for a crime. . .and his clients are always innocent!
In this story, Sampson Rubenstein, a wealthy English art collector, has invited several people to his country house to admire his latest acquisition, a very rare and highly valuable Chinese cloak. Fanny Price, a beautiful adventuress, Graham, a dealer in curios, and Simon Curteis, visit the country home to see Rubenstein's collection of Chinese antiquities. Chinese art is his dominant passion and his collection includes a large number of ancient and fabulously valuable cloaks, dresses and other items of clothing. Fanny, an ambitious, intelligent and beautiful woman who fascinates every man who meets her, is middle-aged Graham’s mistress. Curteis is in love with her, he knows that Fanny is dangerous, but doesn't care. Lal, Rubenstein’s wife, is madly jealous of her. Fanny also acts as Graham's agent in buying and selling antiques, especially Chinese antiques. Also in the house is a young photographer artist named Norman Bridie with his girlfriend Rose.
Problems erupt on the first night when Rubenstein offers to drive Fanny to the railway station. The weather is atrocious, with heavy rain and fog, and Rubenstein is a notoriously bad and reckless driver. Lal is jealous and makes a scene, but Rubenstein and Fanny leave for the railway station. . . but Rubenstein does not return. Later his car is found at the foot of the cliffs, buried under a fall of rock. Naturally the police expected to find his body there as well, but they do not, and a week or more later he is found stabbed to death in a locked room in his own house.
The mystery is narrated by Simon Curteis, an adventurer who has fallen in love with Fanny Price who has been charged with Rubenstein’s murder. Curteis enlists lawyer Arthur G. Crook to help him find the real murder. Anthony Gilbert delivers a twisty plot and a double surprise ending!
Badly dressed and unappealing, Mr. Crook's appearance often traps murderers. Gilbert uses skillful plotting, lively supporting characters, entertaining dialogue and clever action to tell the story. A strong and popular personality, Crook is not generally the protagonist of the stories, but comes to help when women or children are in peril or an innocent person is blamed for a crime. . .and his clients are always innocent!
In this story, Sampson Rubenstein, a wealthy English art collector, has invited several people to his country house to admire his latest acquisition, a very rare and highly valuable Chinese cloak. Fanny Price, a beautiful adventuress, Graham, a dealer in curios, and Simon Curteis, visit the country home to see Rubenstein's collection of Chinese antiquities. Chinese art is his dominant passion and his collection includes a large number of ancient and fabulously valuable cloaks, dresses and other items of clothing. Fanny, an ambitious, intelligent and beautiful woman who fascinates every man who meets her, is middle-aged Graham’s mistress. Curteis is in love with her, he knows that Fanny is dangerous, but doesn't care. Lal, Rubenstein’s wife, is madly jealous of her. Fanny also acts as Graham's agent in buying and selling antiques, especially Chinese antiques. Also in the house is a young photographer artist named Norman Bridie with his girlfriend Rose.
Problems erupt on the first night when Rubenstein offers to drive Fanny to the railway station. The weather is atrocious, with heavy rain and fog, and Rubenstein is a notoriously bad and reckless driver. Lal is jealous and makes a scene, but Rubenstein and Fanny leave for the railway station. . . but Rubenstein does not return. Later his car is found at the foot of the cliffs, buried under a fall of rock. Naturally the police expected to find his body there as well, but they do not, and a week or more later he is found stabbed to death in a locked room in his own house.
The mystery is narrated by Simon Curteis, an adventurer who has fallen in love with Fanny Price who has been charged with Rubenstein’s murder. Curteis enlists lawyer Arthur G. Crook to help him find the real murder. Anthony Gilbert delivers a twisty plot and a double surprise ending!
- GenresMystery
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1936
5 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Gilbert
145 books39 followersAnthony Gilbert was the pen name of
Lucy Malleson
an English crime writer. She also wrote non-genre fiction as
Anne Meredith
, under which name she also published one crime novel. She also wrote an autobiography under the Meredith name, Three-a-Penny (1940).
Her parents wanted her to be a schoolteacher but she was determined to become a writer. Her first mystery novel followed a visit to the theatre when she saw The Cat and the Canary then, Tragedy at Freyne, featuring Scott Egerton who later appeared in 10 novels, was published in 1927.
She adopted the pseudonym Anthony Gilbert to publish detective novels which achieved great success and made her a name in British detective literature, although many of her readers had always believed that they were reading a male author. She went on to publish 69 crime novels, 51 of which featured her best known character, Arthur Crook. She also wrote more than 25 radio plays, which were broadcast in Great Britain and overseas.
Crook is a vulgar London lawyer totally (and deliberately) unlike the aristocratic detectives who dominated the mystery field when Gilbert introduced him, such as Lord Peter Wimsey.
Instead of dispassionately analyzing a case, he usually enters it after seemingly damning evidence has built up against his client, then conducts a no-holds-barred investigation of doubtful ethicality to clear him or her.
The first Crook novel, Murder by Experts, was published in 1936 and was immediately popular. The last Crook novel, A Nice Little Killing, was published in 1974.
Her thriller The Woman in Red (1941) was broadcast in the United States by CBS and made into a film in 1945 under the title My Name is Julia Ross. She never married, and evidence of her feminism is elegantly expressed in much of her work.
Her parents wanted her to be a schoolteacher but she was determined to become a writer. Her first mystery novel followed a visit to the theatre when she saw The Cat and the Canary then, Tragedy at Freyne, featuring Scott Egerton who later appeared in 10 novels, was published in 1927.
She adopted the pseudonym Anthony Gilbert to publish detective novels which achieved great success and made her a name in British detective literature, although many of her readers had always believed that they were reading a male author. She went on to publish 69 crime novels, 51 of which featured her best known character, Arthur Crook. She also wrote more than 25 radio plays, which were broadcast in Great Britain and overseas.
Crook is a vulgar London lawyer totally (and deliberately) unlike the aristocratic detectives who dominated the mystery field when Gilbert introduced him, such as Lord Peter Wimsey.
Instead of dispassionately analyzing a case, he usually enters it after seemingly damning evidence has built up against his client, then conducts a no-holds-barred investigation of doubtful ethicality to clear him or her.
The first Crook novel, Murder by Experts, was published in 1936 and was immediately popular. The last Crook novel, A Nice Little Killing, was published in 1974.
Her thriller The Woman in Red (1941) was broadcast in the United States by CBS and made into a film in 1945 under the title My Name is Julia Ross. She never married, and evidence of her feminism is elegantly expressed in much of her work.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 6, 2018
Having recently read & very much enjoyed - A Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith another pseudonym of Anthony Gilbert I thought I would have a go at one of Gilbert's Arthur Crook (her serial lawyer/private detective) novels - I picked this one at random. The novel was published by Collins The Crime Club in 1936 - and I will put the book taster from the first edition below.
The novel involves us in the world of Chinese antiquities and shows us the difference between mere collectors and those who can tell the genuine article from the expertly crafted fake. The initial plot, setting and characterisation were perfectly created - the novel is narrated by Simon Curteis (who later we find out was a former spy/undercover op.) who becomes the amateur sleuth and whose aim is to find evidence to get his beloved Fanny Price (a bewitching beauty with a cold heart and zero morals) away from the hangman's noose - the reader will often wonder if his narration is reliable. He employs a former friend/acquaintance Arthur Crook (a negatively spoken lawyer/private detective) who seems to do most of his detecting off stage - and only appears in the story in small doses. The Police have an even lesser role and are mentioned in passing until the denouement. The story until the second half is written in a fluid and extremely readable prose (like the above mentioned Anne Meredith novel) - however after this point Gilbert seems to go into unnecessary verbiage overload. The story constantly twists and turns and in doing so - Gilbert loses both herself and her readers. The denouement becomes so convoluted (bringing together Curteis', Crooks & The Police's detection work - some of which is off stage detection work), confused (no explanation why the stolen bracelets turn up in a bric-a-brac shop) and totally unbelievable (there is absolutely no believable reason why the murderer has decided to hang around months after the murder) that it destroys what could have been an excellent novel. I would give this novel 5 out of 10 - as clearly the author can write very good crime fiction and can come up with great plot ideas - but in this novel she completely lost her way and seems to trip herself up completely.
Book taster:
Fanny Price, a beautiful adventuress, Graham, a dealer in curios, and Curteis, who tells the story, visit the country house of Sampson Rubenstein to see his collection of Chinese antiquities. Fanny is Graham's mistress (this is not made so clear in the book - and appears more like an assumption rather than reality), Curteis is in love with her (he obviously likes to be rebuffed & abused), and Lal, Rubenstein's wife, is madly jealous of her. After a scene between Fanny and Lal, Rubenstein motors Fanny to the Station to catch the London train, and does not return. Later his car is found at the foot of the cliffs, buried under a fall of rock. But a few days later (untrue a few or more weeks later), when the Chinese room is forced open. Rubenstein is found stabbed to death there. Murder by Experts is a most ingenious story, brilliantly narrated, a story that certainly succeeds in keeping you guessing (not particular difficult to guess who the murderer is at all as most the suspects disappear off the scene before the second half).
The novel involves us in the world of Chinese antiquities and shows us the difference between mere collectors and those who can tell the genuine article from the expertly crafted fake. The initial plot, setting and characterisation were perfectly created - the novel is narrated by Simon Curteis (who later we find out was a former spy/undercover op.) who becomes the amateur sleuth and whose aim is to find evidence to get his beloved Fanny Price (a bewitching beauty with a cold heart and zero morals) away from the hangman's noose - the reader will often wonder if his narration is reliable. He employs a former friend/acquaintance Arthur Crook (a negatively spoken lawyer/private detective) who seems to do most of his detecting off stage - and only appears in the story in small doses. The Police have an even lesser role and are mentioned in passing until the denouement. The story until the second half is written in a fluid and extremely readable prose (like the above mentioned Anne Meredith novel) - however after this point Gilbert seems to go into unnecessary verbiage overload. The story constantly twists and turns and in doing so - Gilbert loses both herself and her readers. The denouement becomes so convoluted (bringing together Curteis', Crooks & The Police's detection work - some of which is off stage detection work), confused (no explanation why the stolen bracelets turn up in a bric-a-brac shop) and totally unbelievable (there is absolutely no believable reason why the murderer has decided to hang around months after the murder) that it destroys what could have been an excellent novel. I would give this novel 5 out of 10 - as clearly the author can write very good crime fiction and can come up with great plot ideas - but in this novel she completely lost her way and seems to trip herself up completely.
Book taster:
Fanny Price, a beautiful adventuress, Graham, a dealer in curios, and Curteis, who tells the story, visit the country house of Sampson Rubenstein to see his collection of Chinese antiquities. Fanny is Graham's mistress (this is not made so clear in the book - and appears more like an assumption rather than reality), Curteis is in love with her (he obviously likes to be rebuffed & abused), and Lal, Rubenstein's wife, is madly jealous of her. After a scene between Fanny and Lal, Rubenstein motors Fanny to the Station to catch the London train, and does not return. Later his car is found at the foot of the cliffs, buried under a fall of rock. But a few days later (untrue a few or more weeks later), when the Chinese room is forced open. Rubenstein is found stabbed to death there. Murder by Experts is a most ingenious story, brilliantly narrated, a story that certainly succeeds in keeping you guessing (not particular difficult to guess who the murderer is at all as most the suspects disappear off the scene before the second half).
November 7, 2023
I tend to enjoy Golden Age mysteries, and have tried this author before, with similar results: boredom, mostly. I thought this was too long, ponderous and went off on long tangents (like a trial transcript that went on for pages and could have been summarized in a few paragraphs, or just left out. I am a slow reader by habit and by the time I plowed through to the end of the nearly 300 pages I couldn’t remember some clues that probably pointed to the culprit. Plus, it was one of those books where the hero becomes besotted by a beautiful woman he just met and risks his life for her although he knows he has no chance with her.
P.S. I bought my copy in a small bookstore since I like supporting these independent businesses. Both I and the clerk were surprised the book cost close to $50. The Orion (The Murder Room series) publication is nothing special, no fancy cover art, no crime scene map, no cast of characters, no introduction. Why it cost so much is a deeper mystery than the one inside it.
P.S. I bought my copy in a small bookstore since I like supporting these independent businesses. Both I and the clerk were surprised the book cost close to $50. The Orion (The Murder Room series) publication is nothing special, no fancy cover art, no crime scene map, no cast of characters, no introduction. Why it cost so much is a deeper mystery than the one inside it.
April 15, 2021
Fanny Price is beautiful but some what mysterious woman who likes antiques but is totally amoral. Set in 1932, Fanny part of group of friends who hang out without millionaire antique dealer Sampson Rubenstein. When the duo are involved in bizarre car crash sees Rubenstein dead and Fanny has vanished. Yet weeks later Rubenstein is found stabbed to death holding button from Fanny's coat. Facing the hang man's rope her friend Simon Curteis attempts to get to the bottom of Fanny's history believing anything he might find could help save from jail. A unusual novel in that Fanny Price is a chancer who probably deserves what she gets. The book doesn't really do anything to dispel her unpleasant traits with lawyer Arthur G. Crook the only redeeming character while Curteis loyalty makes him look a fool. If there was option for three and half stars I would have given it but there was some many loose ends that were never explained.
November 10, 2017
Fun listening to mysteries without the graphics (sex, profanity), plots were good to excellent - recommended but not if your alone... :-)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews