Deep Lay the Dead

by Frederick C. Davis

World War II is in progress, and mathematics professor Rigby Webb receives a mysterious call to take a job with a physician, Duncan Chandler, in rural Pennsylvania. He heads there as a major snowstorm sets in.

Chandler, also an expert on codes and ciphers, has turned his home medical office into a secure room to work on a secret government project - creating an unbreakable cipher for war communications. Webb is also an expert on codes and ciphers. Webb accepts the job offer as his assistant. His previous assistant met with an "accident" which no one talks about.

One of the guests is bitter Max Harwick, a famous pianist, who has just lost two fingers after a hunting accident. Chandler had to amputate them to save his life, but Harwick's career is ruined. Attorney Ross Harwick, his son, wants an out-of-court settlement, but Chandler insists on going to trial to prove his good intentions.

Word comes that an enemy spy is after the secret cipher. A courier is coming to the house with news of his identity. As he approaches, a shot is fired from an upstairs window, killing the courier and causing him to fall into an abandoned quarry.

With the house firmly snowed in, one of the occupants is likely the enemy spy - and a murderer. RM

Genres: World War II, Mystery

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

Frederick Clyde Davis (1902-1977) was an American pulp writer. He was educated at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, and became a professional writer at the age of 22. Davis wrote several novels featuring his series detective, Professor Cy Hatch. He also wrote as Murdo Coombs, Stephen Ransome and Curtis Steele. Books under his own name were published in the UK as by Stephen Ransome. Other series characters were Schyler Cole and Luke Speare.

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rigby Webb, gifted math instructor, is quite sure that someone is sabotaging his life. It started when the job he thought was secure was pulled out from under him. And when he applied for other jobs--even though interviews initially went well--it seemed he just wasn't what the employer was looking for. Then out of the blue he gets a letter from Dr. Duncan Chandler, talking to him like they're old friends and inviting him to his home in rural Pennsylvania to work for him on some mysterious project.

Rigby heads out there, struggling through a snowstorm, but not (he tells himself) to take the job. He wants to give this Chandler fellow a piece of his mind and tell him to stop messing with his life. Because he's as sure as sure can be that Chandler has arranged for him to be out of work so he'd have to take the job. Once he arrives, Dr. Chandler reveals that the reason he's been maneuvered into coming is that his country needs him and they couldn't be obvious about it. Rigby wrote a ground-breaking article on ciphers and codes and the government wants him to help Dr. Chandler (who is pretty spiffy with codes himself) develop an unbreakable code that can be used to defeat the Axis powers.

Meanwhile, Chandler's wife Claire, has been feeling neglected because her husband shuts himself up in his office for hours on end and has once again invited a houseful of weekend guests to keep her amused. We have Nick Winston who may or may not be having an affair with Claire; Tony Raye, a dancer with a gambling problem; Erica Kerrington, Tony's dance partner and possible girlfriend--though she's had her eye on Rigby for quite some time; Arnold Barclay--man about town, society gossip extraordinaire, and host of "The Midnight Tattler" radio show; and Jill Chandler, the daughter of the of the house. Into the mix is thrown Max Harwick, a talented pianist until an accident forced Dr. Chandler to operate and amputate some of his fingers, and Harwick's son Ross who is representing his father in a negligence suit against the doctor. The Harwicks had come to try and convince Chandler to settle out of court and are forced by the snowstorm to stay for the weekend.

Added to the tension of a house party trapped by the snow--and making do with no electricity in the bargain--are various other factors from the possible affair between Nick and Claire to the open hostility between Tony and Arnold (Tony blames Barclay's gossip mongering for the break-up of his marriage) to the Harwicks' anger at the doctor. To make things even more interesting, Dr. Chandler receives word from Washington DC that there is a spy in their midst and a courier is on the way with proof of identity. But the courier is shot and killed as soon as he comes within sight of the house. And he's not the first to die...Dr. Chandler's previous assistant was killed in a very suspicious car "accident." Chandler and Webb are working against the clock to complete the code--all the while knowing that a spy is working against them and willing to kill for what they want.

Rick Mills recommends reading this when you have a blizzard brewing. Well...Indiana doesn't seem to believe in real, snowy winters much anymore, but the first little flurry of flakes made me think it was time. This is an enjoyable little mystery that ticks of several boxes on the vintage mystery reader's favorite's list: Country house scene? check. Snowbound and cut off from help? check. Small group of suspects? check. Suspicious circumstances all around? check. Davis fixes us up with some interesting and likeable characters as well as a truly despicable villain (once all is revealed). A nice classic good versus evil setup with a satisfying denouement.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of the review. Thanks.

[Rick Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Major characters:

Rigby Webb, professor of mathematics
Dr. Duncan Chandler, our host
Claire Chandler, his wife
Jill Chandler, their daughter
Tom Stowell, lawyer
Nick Winston, having an affair with Claire Chandler?
Tony Raye - gambler and dancer
Erica Kerrington, Tony's girlfriend
Max Harwick, pianist until his unfortunate accident
Ross Harwick, his son, a lawyer
Arnold Barclay, host of The Midnight Tattler radio show
Mary Peacock, the nurse who disappeared

Locale: rural Pennsylvania

Synopsis: World War II is in progress, and mathematics professor Rigby Webb receives a mysterious call to take a job with a physician, Duncan Chandler, in rural Pennsylvania. He heads there as a major snowstorm sets in.

Chandler, also an expert on codes and ciphers, has turned his home medical office into a secure room to work on a secret government project - creating an unbreakable cipher for war communications. Webb is also an expert on codes and ciphers, having written academic papers on them. Webb accepts the job offer as his assistant. His previous assistant met with an "accident" which no one talks about.

One of the guests is bitter Max Harwick, a famous pianist, who has just lost two fingers after a hunting accident. Chandler had to amputate them to save his life, but Harwick's career is ruined. Attorney Ross Harwick, his son, wants an out-of-court settlement, but Chandler insists on going to trial to prove his good intentions.

Word comes that an enemy spy is after the secret cipher. A courier is coming to the house with news of his identity. As he approaches, a shot is fired from an upstairs window, killing the courier and causing him to fall into an abandoned quarry.

With the house firmly snowed in, one of the occupants is likely the enemy spy - and a murderer.

Review:

This is an enjoyable book, and it is my tradition to take it off the shelf and read it once a year whenever we get a big snowstorm. It never gets old. Suspicion falls on each person in turn. Rigby Webb is an enjoyable character. There is additional drama with a couple of marital affairs, and Rigby always has his own eye on Jill.

This book really, really needs a sketch map of the home. Perhaps the original edition had one, but my Collier edition does not; so I made my own.





See my blog post for the full size sketches here.

Try to get a copy for your next blizzard. The Collier uniform edition in blue/black binding is much more common than the original printing.

For additional reviews indexed by author, please visit The Mystillery Blog and try The Mystillery Reading Challenges!

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ripping yarn of a mystery, and I love that it takes place in January- and that I got to read it on a snowy day in January. Rigg Webb heads out to find Dr. Chandler, who he believes is the reason behind many of the crazy changes that have happened to him. He ends up in the lap of a mystery, tied to WW2 and also to previous assistants to Dr. Chandler who are missing or dead.

It’s a locked room mystery of sorts, a group of people who have been invited to stay over the weekend (and some who had simply tried to meet with Dr. Chandler) are all stranded by a blizzard. To make matters worse they lose electricity .... etc...

Without giving the story away, a murder occurs and you have to figure out who it is! (I felt good that I had picked two people and it was one of them.) It’s very tense, and no one really can hide from one another much- except Dr. Chandler who spends much of the story locked up in his office.

It’s a quick paced read! If you enjoy noir, some quirky characters, and espionage- this is a story for you.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is similar to a locked room mystery, but this takes place in a large house. Wonderful atmosphere, suspense and plenty of suspects. in this 1942 gem.