The Strong Room: A Golden Age Mystery

by R.A.J. Walling

Golden Age of Crime writer R.A.J. Walling’s first-ever crime novel, republished here for the first time in almost a century.

Noel Pinson, barrister and sometime amateur sleuth, savored his carefully made cup of tea in his digs near the Temple, London’s legal district. Waiting for him in the morning’s post was an important envelope. The letter inside outlined the curious disappearance of English country solicitor, Westmore Colebroke. Colebroke had vanished three-months ago, the morning after he had arranged with his financier a large withdrawal of funds. Aided by retired detective superintendent Joe Grainger, Pinson works to solve this puzzling case traveling from London to Devon, Paris and Morlaix in Brittany.

Genres: Mystery, British Literature

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 2, 2023

About the author

Robert Alfred John Walling (11 January 1869, Exeter – 4 September 1949 Plympton) was an English journalist and author of detective novels, who signed his works "R. A. J. Walling".

See also Robert Alfred John Walling.

Reviews

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much of its time | There was a touch of the absurd in cosy British mysteries of the 1920s, with amateur detectives who worked very hard at taking nothing seriously, after their too-serious experiences in the Great War. They recline in chairs and blather in conversation and keep just one hand on the wheel no eyes on the road as they speed from place to place to slip hints and cash into the palms of working-class people who give them tips and information on the crime. When the moment comes they're more than willing to put their own life on the line in place of the intended victim, but never will they accept any true expression of gratitude or other sincerity pointed in their direction. They love to present an astonishing scene for the denouement, and they usually have a long-resigned wife who loves them dearly as she apologizes for them to the confused and unsettled strangers involved in the case. Think Lord Peter, Albert Campion, etc. If you enjoy that style, this will be right up your alley. I read this while taking a break from two other books that I'm not entirely enjoying, so it was an excellent change of pace, but I can imagine that if I read too many of the type in a row they would begin to chafe (Allingham's books certainly did, years ago when I was making my way through them, and she was good at what she did).

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a couple of books from the author’s Philip Tolefree series with not a lot of enjoyment and thought I would have a go at his first novel which includes the barrister Noel Pinson and ex- Superintendent Joe Grainger,who previously featured in serial stories.

Regretfully this was not any better. It had an excessively complicated but not complex plot, an extremely annoying amateur detective, a retired Scotland Yarder who stuck mulishly to wrong leads, and negligible police involvement. Pinson junketed around England and France dispensing his own ineffable brand of humour and wit , always knowing the answers and one or two steps ahead of everyone else.

I found it dull and short on real detection but if your taste runs to slightly whimsical amateur detectives who “know” the solution, and if you are willing to believe that a coroner, the police and a police doctor would allow identification of a corpse without proper examination, then this might just pass muster.

[David Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another new Golden Age author for me. This is his first book, a well-written intriguing mystery from 1927.

Noel Pinson is a junior counsel with idle dreams of becoming a knight and Attorney General. He lives in London with his wife and (“The Honourable”) Dora, his little daughter. A letter from an old friend and bank manager from Devonshire summons Pinson to help locate Elburton’s friend, a young solicitor named Westmore Colebroke who is also the beau of Elburton’s daughter, Maud. Colebroke vanished without trace having withdrawn a great deal of money from his account three months earlier and, due to Elburton’s casual reassurances, there has been no local concern. Elburton is now very worried that Colebroke might be dead.
Pinson sets off for Devon where he engages the help of a private detective called Grainger. It transpires that Colebroke had parted with his chauffeur and his assistant, neither of whom can be found.
The trail leads to Paris where Colebroke had been educated (his mother was French) but Pinson finds himself followed and threatened by people he thinks may have knowledge about what has happened. The efficient but hapless Grainger is coerced by Scotland Yard into helping find the chauffeur while Ponson uses his brain to deduce the facts of the case.
It does get a little wearisome at times as we are not privy to all the facts and evidence that Pinson unearths — he explains everything later — and there was one “fact” that I dispute:

“That,” said Mr Pinson, “is nothing. A man’s beard will grow when he is dead…”

I don’t think so.

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

From 1927, a golden age mystery/detective story. Noel Pinson, barrister, gets a call for help from old friend Elburton. Apparently a close neighbor, Westmore Colebroke (who loves to listen to Elburton's daughter play French songs on the piano) asked Elburton, a banker, for a large sum of money, and indicated he might take a lengthy trip. Turns out he had discharged his clerk and his chauffeur and apparently had no cases coming up on the docket (neighbor is also a barrister). Questions come up about where is he and Elburton takes responsibility and indicates that he is on vacation. All well and good. But it has been about three months and Elburton is beginning to worry. Thus, he calls on Pinson who has had some background in detecting with his friend Grainger.

Pinson and Grainger start sniffing around and go off on separate tracks. One believes Colebroke is alive and living in France, while the other is certain that Colebroke has been murdered by the chauffeur in the strong room he discovered in Colebroke's office.

I thought it was a great introduction to Walling and I liked Pinson and Grainger. I will look for more stories involving them. I think there are only two - The Fatal Glove: A Noel Pinson Mystery and The Fourth Man (I couldn't find a link for this one). Other books by him (22) involve a Mr. Tolefree.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two and a half stars.

The Goodreads synopsis gives enough information so I needn't go into it further. The plot was reasonably interesting but the "witty banter" type dialogue of Noel Pinson became extremely irritating very quickly. He reminded me a bit of H.C. Bailey's character Reggie Fortune. I prefer the author's other character Philip Tolefree and won't be rushing to read more of the Pinson series.

[GBL · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mystery from the Golden Age of crime writing, the novel features amateur detective, Noel Pinson. Pinson is asked by a friend to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a local lawyer, who has been missing for three months. The story involves a complex case, involving a number of characters and is quite interesting as an example of the type of crime writing from the early years of the 20th century.

[Janet Farnham · Rating 4 out of 5]

By and large the murder mysteries of the Golden Era are far superior to what is being written today. Yes, the language is different, sometimes difficult and stilted and the ideas and values can be jarring at times. But the quality of the writing, the complexity of the stories and the respect for the intelligence of the reader is why I keep choosing such a high percentages of rentals from that period.