Three for Midnight

Colonel Gethryn #1

by Philip MacDonald

Contents:

The Rasp
Murder Gone Mad
The Rynox Murder

Genres: Anthologies, Mystery

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Philip MacDonald (who some give as 1896 or 1899 as his date of birth) was the grandson of the writer George MacDonald and son of the author Ronald MacDonald and the actress Constance Robertson.

During World War I he served with the British cavalry in Mesopotamia, later trained horses for the army, and was a show jumper. He also raised Great Danes. After marrying the writer F. Ruth Howard, he moved to Hollywood in 1931. He was one of the most popular mystery writers of the 1930s, and between 1931 and 1963 wrote many screenplays along with a few radio and television scripts.

His detective novels, particularly those featuring his series detective Anthony Gethryn, are primarily "whodunnits" with the occasional locked room mystery. His first detective novel was 'The Rasp' (1924), in which he introduced his character Anthony Gethryn.

In later years MacDonald wrote television scripts for Alfred Hitchcock Presents ('Malice Domestic', 1957) and Perry Mason ('The Case of the Terrified Typist', 1958).

He twice received an Edgar Award for Best Short Story: in 1953, for 'Something to Hide', and in 1956, for 'Dream No More'. Indeed many critics felt that his short story writing was superior to his novels and they did win five second prizes in the annual contests held by 'Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'.

He also wrote under the pseudonyms Oliver Fleming, Anthony Lawless, Martin Porlock, W.J. Stuart and Warren Stuart.

Reviews

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had an absolute blast reading these three novella length stories. The first - The Rasp appears to be the story in which P.M. introduces his main detective Anthony Gethyrn to the world... and it's a romantic story and mystery tied together. Full of characters and very English places. The second one is a police procedural involving a serial killer... awesome story, fantastic characters again... and such horrible deaths and incredibly precise descriptions. A nail-biter to the end. And the last- one of the ultimate murder mysteries... don't want to give it away, but the physical descriptions and the characters are just so well drawn... and exaggerated in a way that is so consistent that you see the story in your mind.

Great detail in the writing, flipping between straight story telling- the reading of reports, letters, and charts... will be looking for more by this author.

[Marilyn Saul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Of the three novels presented, only one (Murder Gone Mad) received a four-star rating from me. The other two were one-star duds.

[Kathy KS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three mysteries from MacDonald are collected in this omnibus. All three are also different. Only The Rasp is part of a series, although they do briefly mention Colonel Gethryn in Murder Gone Mad. Current day readers need to remember that these were written in the 1920-30s.

I liked The Rasp because it's similiar to other Golden Age of Detection books, especially because it takes place in a manor house with a small group of potential houseguests as suspects. The Rynox Murder takes place in the business world and is not a traditional style; to tell you the truth I haven't even retained that much about it, already. No detective shows up on the scene to interact continuously with anyone.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Murder Gone Mad. This one is more of a village mystery and police procedural. The serial killer that begins killing on a regular basis likes to tease the police and seems to be totally ruthless about killing various types of people. The book, written in 1931, actually uses forensic techniques that were pretty new then; our Scotland Yard detective also uses some technology that possibly would have seemed pretty cutting edge in the police world at the time.
The ending of the book seemed weak, but I did enjoy the book.