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The Missing Link: A Golden Age Murder Mystery
The quarter-of-a-million-pound Tarry family fortune is in need of a new owner. The lucky heir is likely to hail from the land of fortune – the USA. And so two Americans descend on the Devon moorland village of Toomerton to inspect the Tarry estate and monumental country house and establish their respective claims. ‘Blood will out’, and indeed it does – out of the caved-in head of one of the men – brutally murdered while asleep in his bed. A man’s gold cuff-link is the only clue left at the scene. Who is the owner of this missing link? Will the elderly amateur sleuth and detective novel fan, Mrs Turnbull, uncover the identity of the murderer before the genial Superintendent Vaux?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vernon Loder was one of no less than nine pseudonyms adopted by Anglo-Irish detective fiction author, Jack Vahey. Born John George Hazlette Vahey in Belfast in 1881 he worked first as an apprentice architect, then an accountant before finally turning to writing fiction full-time. Vernon Loder was Vahey’s most productive pseudonym and using this name he wrote 22 novels, many published in the prestigious Collins Crime Club, the first The Mystery at Stowe in 1928, the last, Kill in the Ring , in 1938. Jack Vahey died in 1938.
PRAISE FOR VERNON LODER
‘Vernon Loder spins out his gruesome tale and does it well’
New York Times
‘A brilliantly-written detective story’
The Daily Mail
‘The name of Vernon Loder must be widely known as a reliable and promising indication on the cover of a detective story’
Times Literary Supplement
‘Character drawing in Vernon Loder’s strong point’
Glasgow Herald
‘A master story-teller’
Manchester Evening News
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vernon Loder was one of no less than nine pseudonyms adopted by Anglo-Irish detective fiction author, Jack Vahey. Born John George Hazlette Vahey in Belfast in 1881 he worked first as an apprentice architect, then an accountant before finally turning to writing fiction full-time. Vernon Loder was Vahey’s most productive pseudonym and using this name he wrote 22 novels, many published in the prestigious Collins Crime Club, the first The Mystery at Stowe in 1928, the last, Kill in the Ring , in 1938. Jack Vahey died in 1938.
PRAISE FOR VERNON LODER
‘Vernon Loder spins out his gruesome tale and does it well’
New York Times
‘A brilliantly-written detective story’
The Daily Mail
‘The name of Vernon Loder must be widely known as a reliable and promising indication on the cover of a detective story’
Times Literary Supplement
‘Character drawing in Vernon Loder’s strong point’
Glasgow Herald
‘A master story-teller’
Manchester Evening News
241 pages, Paperback
Published April 11, 2023
About the author
Vernon Loder
26 books6 followersVernon Loder was a pseudonym for John Haslette Vahey, an Anglo-Irish writer who also wrote as Henrietta Clandon, John Haslette, Anthony Lang, John Mowbray, Walter Proudfoot and George Varney.
Vahey started his working life as an apprentice architect, then an accountant before finally turning to writing fiction full-time.
extra bio info from a book blurb
Vahey started his working life as an apprentice architect, then an accountant before finally turning to writing fiction full-time.
extra bio info from a book blurb
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 17, 2023
I am delighted to find another reissued novel by one of my favourite B-list GAD authors, J G H Vahey, best known in his guise as Vernon Loder. This was the first of two written as George Varney.
What is of great interest about this 1927 mystery is that the most effective of the amateur detectives is a sharp and elderly devourer of detective fiction called Mrs Turnbull who rarely stirs out of the house where she is lodging. Superintendent Vaux helpfully allows a lot of latitude in the investigation, saying at one point:-
"I’ll take it as a favour if you’ll let me come and check my conclusions occasionally. A woman’s intuition complements a man’s observation, and there’s some things you can see that we can’t, just as, in spite of all the feminists, there are some things no woman will understand this side of doomsday.”
Apart from Margaret Turnbull, and Vaux, who is a rare example of a Scotland Yard-trained detective working permanently in the provinces, the rest of the characters are fairly conventional, although four of them are Americans pursuing a claim to an English inheritance.
The plot is not difficult to fathom and the customary romance is pretty level-headed. A good pace is maintained and there is no mid-book sag, but it is all quite low key and there is not much tension or excitement.
A solid bedtime read.
3.5 stars , mainly for Mrs Turnbull.
What is of great interest about this 1927 mystery is that the most effective of the amateur detectives is a sharp and elderly devourer of detective fiction called Mrs Turnbull who rarely stirs out of the house where she is lodging. Superintendent Vaux helpfully allows a lot of latitude in the investigation, saying at one point:-
"I’ll take it as a favour if you’ll let me come and check my conclusions occasionally. A woman’s intuition complements a man’s observation, and there’s some things you can see that we can’t, just as, in spite of all the feminists, there are some things no woman will understand this side of doomsday.”
Apart from Margaret Turnbull, and Vaux, who is a rare example of a Scotland Yard-trained detective working permanently in the provinces, the rest of the characters are fairly conventional, although four of them are Americans pursuing a claim to an English inheritance.
The plot is not difficult to fathom and the customary romance is pretty level-headed. A good pace is maintained and there is no mid-book sag, but it is all quite low key and there is not much tension or excitement.
A solid bedtime read.
3.5 stars , mainly for Mrs Turnbull.
Displaying 1 of 1 review