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Inspector Crambo #1
The Narrowing Circle
Dave Nelson was fiercely ambitious. First in line for the top job on a magazine, he had every right to feel lucky. So when Willie Strayte was offered the job instead, and then turned up dead twenty-four hours later and everyone pointed the finger at Dave, he felt his luck had run out. As the net draws tighter around him, he finds himself in a desperate struggle for survival.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
1 person is currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Julian Symons
257 books67 followersJulian Gustave Symons is primarily remembered as a master of the art of crime writing. However, in his eighty-two years he produced an enormously varied body of work. Social and military history, biography and criticism were all subjects he touched upon with remarkable success, and he held a distinguished reputation in each field.
His novels were consistently highly individual and expertly crafted, raising him above other crime writers of his day. It is for this that he was awarded various prizes, and, in 1982, named as Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America - an honour accorded to only three other English writers before him: Graham Greene, Eric Ambler and Daphne Du Maurier. He succeeded Agatha Christie as the president of Britain's Detection Club, a position he held from 1976 to 1985, and in 1990 he was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writer.
Symons held a number of positions prior to becoming a full-time writer including secretary to an engineering company and advertising copywriter and executive. It was after the end of World War II that he became a free-lance writer and book reviewer and from 1946 to 1956 he wrote a weekly column entitled "Life, People - and Books" for the Manchester Evening News. During the 1950s he was also a regular contributor to Tribune, a left-wing weekly, serving as its literary editor.
He founded and edited 'Twentieth Century Verse', an important little magazine that flourished from 1937 to 1939 and he introduced many young English poets to the public. He has also published two volumes of his own poetry entitled 'Confusions about X', 1939, and 'The Second Man', 1944.
He wrote hie first detective novel, 'The Immaterial Murder Case', long before it was first published in 1945 and this was followed in 1947 by a rare volume entitled 'A Man Called Jones' that features for the first time Inspector Bland, who also appeared in Bland Beginning.
These novles were followed by a whole host of detective novels and he has also written many short stories that were regularly published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. In additin there are two British paperback collections of his short stories, Murder! Murder! and Francis Quarles Investigates, which were published in 1961 and 1965 resepctively.
His novels were consistently highly individual and expertly crafted, raising him above other crime writers of his day. It is for this that he was awarded various prizes, and, in 1982, named as Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America - an honour accorded to only three other English writers before him: Graham Greene, Eric Ambler and Daphne Du Maurier. He succeeded Agatha Christie as the president of Britain's Detection Club, a position he held from 1976 to 1985, and in 1990 he was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writer.
Symons held a number of positions prior to becoming a full-time writer including secretary to an engineering company and advertising copywriter and executive. It was after the end of World War II that he became a free-lance writer and book reviewer and from 1946 to 1956 he wrote a weekly column entitled "Life, People - and Books" for the Manchester Evening News. During the 1950s he was also a regular contributor to Tribune, a left-wing weekly, serving as its literary editor.
He founded and edited 'Twentieth Century Verse', an important little magazine that flourished from 1937 to 1939 and he introduced many young English poets to the public. He has also published two volumes of his own poetry entitled 'Confusions about X', 1939, and 'The Second Man', 1944.
He wrote hie first detective novel, 'The Immaterial Murder Case', long before it was first published in 1945 and this was followed in 1947 by a rare volume entitled 'A Man Called Jones' that features for the first time Inspector Bland, who also appeared in Bland Beginning.
These novles were followed by a whole host of detective novels and he has also written many short stories that were regularly published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. In additin there are two British paperback collections of his short stories, Murder! Murder! and Francis Quarles Investigates, which were published in 1961 and 1965 resepctively.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 6, 2024
From 1955
Set at a Pulp publisher in Britain, writers compete to edit a crime magazine. This is a mystery, but it’s very long and about as violent as Agatha Christie. There were things I liked.
Set at a Pulp publisher in Britain, writers compete to edit a crime magazine. This is a mystery, but it’s very long and about as violent as Agatha Christie. There were things I liked.
June 21, 2018
This was a 5 star book until the denouncement, more linkage was needed. Until then it had me hooked reading faster and faster, wishing my eyes would move faster across the page. Written in 54 it's also a historical look at PB mass production. The Inspector played a minor role, popping up now and then. The tale was told by the "victim".
January 9, 2021
From 1954 and quite a good period piece with a fairly familiar plot device where Dave Nelson, a crime editor at a publisher of mysteries and thrillers has been set up to appear to be the murderer of a rival who also happens to be his wife’s lover. The solution appears to lie in a generation-old South African crime the victim was writing about. Alcohol features prominently as suspects and colleagues come and go before the rather theatrical unveiling of the real killer. Still, an easy read with interesting background
Want to read
May 10, 2019Synopsis: Nelson was in line for the top job at the magazine. So when Willie got it instead, and soon turned up dead, Dave was fingered.
April 16, 2017
"El círculo se estrecha" es, en mi opinión, uno de los mejores libros de misterios que he leído en el último tiempo. Es un libro con una trama simple, fácil de leer, escrita desde un único punto de vista, pero desarrollada con tal destreza que hace que el lector se sumerja y se envuelva en al trama tal como el personaje principal.
Definitivamente una novela recomendable.
Definitivamente una novela recomendable.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews