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Easy Prey
When Reg and Mavis Holmes advertised for a lodger, several applicants retreated as soon as they heard there was a young baby in the house. But Miss Trubb’s reaction was different: ‘When she had seen the pram in the hall and Mavis had told her about Joy, her stern, rather lifeless features had glowed with a sudden radiance, an inner happiness that shone in her faded eyes and trembled in her voice.’
But the peaceful, happy days of this young couple and their baby are soon to be shattered. How can Miss Trubb’s interest in their new baby be as innocent as it seems? For Reg and Mavis soon learn that they’ve entrusted their blooming 6-month-old daughter to the protection of a convicted child killer . . .
But the peaceful, happy days of this young couple and their baby are soon to be shattered. How can Miss Trubb’s interest in their new baby be as innocent as it seems? For Reg and Mavis soon learn that they’ve entrusted their blooming 6-month-old daughter to the protection of a convicted child killer . . .
- GenresMystery
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1959
34 people want to read
About the author
Josephine Bell
86 books17 followersJosephine Bell (the pseudonym of Doris Bell Collier Ball) was born into a medical family, the daughter of a surgeon, in Manchester in 1897.
She attended Godolphin School from 1910 to 1916 and then she trained at Newnham College, Cambridge until 1919. On completing her studies she was assigned to University College Hospital in London where she became M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. in 1922 and M.B. B.S. in 1924. She married Dr. Norman Dyer Ball in 1923 and the couple had a son and three daughters.
From 1927 until 1935 the couple practised medicine together in Greenwich and London before her husband retired in 1934 and she carried on the practice on her own until her retirement in 1954.
Her husband died in 1936 and she moved to Guildford, Surrey and she became a member of the management committee of St. Luke's Hospital from 1954 to 1962.
She began writing detective fiction in 1936 using the pen name Josephine Bell and her first published novel in the genre was 'Murder in Hospital' (1937).
Perhaps not surprisingly many of her works had a medical background and the first one introduced one of her enduring characters, Dr David Wintringham who worked at Research Hospital in London as a junior assistant physician. He was to feature in 18 of her novels, ending with 'A Well Known Face' (1960).
Overall she wrote more than 60 books, 45 of them in the detective fiction genre where, as well as medical backgrounds, she used such as archaeology in 'Bones in the Barrow' (1953), music in 'The Summer School Mystery' (1950) and even a wildlife sanctuary as background in 'Death on the Reserve' (1966).
She also wrote on drug addicition and criminology and penned a great number of short stories. In addition she was involved in the foundation of the Crime Writers' Association in 1953, an organisation in which she served as chair person in the 1959–60 season.
She died in 1987.
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
She attended Godolphin School from 1910 to 1916 and then she trained at Newnham College, Cambridge until 1919. On completing her studies she was assigned to University College Hospital in London where she became M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. in 1922 and M.B. B.S. in 1924. She married Dr. Norman Dyer Ball in 1923 and the couple had a son and three daughters.
From 1927 until 1935 the couple practised medicine together in Greenwich and London before her husband retired in 1934 and she carried on the practice on her own until her retirement in 1954.
Her husband died in 1936 and she moved to Guildford, Surrey and she became a member of the management committee of St. Luke's Hospital from 1954 to 1962.
She began writing detective fiction in 1936 using the pen name Josephine Bell and her first published novel in the genre was 'Murder in Hospital' (1937).
Perhaps not surprisingly many of her works had a medical background and the first one introduced one of her enduring characters, Dr David Wintringham who worked at Research Hospital in London as a junior assistant physician. He was to feature in 18 of her novels, ending with 'A Well Known Face' (1960).
Overall she wrote more than 60 books, 45 of them in the detective fiction genre where, as well as medical backgrounds, she used such as archaeology in 'Bones in the Barrow' (1953), music in 'The Summer School Mystery' (1950) and even a wildlife sanctuary as background in 'Death on the Reserve' (1966).
She also wrote on drug addicition and criminology and penned a great number of short stories. In addition she was involved in the foundation of the Crime Writers' Association in 1953, an organisation in which she served as chair person in the 1959–60 season.
She died in 1987.
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 4, 2013
Reg and Mavis have a lodger to help them make ends meet. Miss Helen Trubb seems like the perfect lodger – quiet, neat, tidy and well behaved as always willing to babysit their baby, Joy. One dreadful night everything changes when Miss Trubb nearly dies because the gas has been turned on and it is only a matter of chance that baby Joy isn’t dead.
Reg and Mavis learn something about Miss Trubb which shocks them to the core and they completely fail to believe that their quiet trustworthy lodger could be guilty of such wickedness. Most people would have shrugged and moved on vowing to be more careful about choosing lodgers in future but not Reg and Mavis who trust their own judgement.
This is a totally fascinating story in which things are definitely not what they seem and sometimes ordinary individuals have to stand up for what they believe in. The book is well written with the tension gradually built up to a shattering finale. I thought the characters were well drawn and believable and their motivations convincing. I found I had to keep reading to find out what the real truth was even though I had worked out part of it quite early on. If you want well written crime stories without on the page violence or bad language then Josephine Bell is an author to try.
Reg and Mavis learn something about Miss Trubb which shocks them to the core and they completely fail to believe that their quiet trustworthy lodger could be guilty of such wickedness. Most people would have shrugged and moved on vowing to be more careful about choosing lodgers in future but not Reg and Mavis who trust their own judgement.
This is a totally fascinating story in which things are definitely not what they seem and sometimes ordinary individuals have to stand up for what they believe in. The book is well written with the tension gradually built up to a shattering finale. I thought the characters were well drawn and believable and their motivations convincing. I found I had to keep reading to find out what the real truth was even though I had worked out part of it quite early on. If you want well written crime stories without on the page violence or bad language then Josephine Bell is an author to try.
July 21, 2018
In this mystery novel from 1959, a young couple with a baby rents out a room in their house to Miss Trub, a middle-aged spinster who seems to dote on young Joy. But one day, coming back from a night out, they find the house full of gas - with their baby and Miss Trubb inside. During the subsequent investigation, the couple find out that years before, Miss Trubb had been accused of killing her illegitimate child. Somehow the couple can't believe that Miss Trubb would have harmed either her own child or baby Joy, and they set out to investigate her antecedents, with the help of the distinguished barrister who defended her at her trial. This takes them back into the lives of both Miss Trubb and her sister before and during WWII, and they soon realize that there are many unanswered questions. Was Miss Trubb really the mother of the baby she appeared with one day? What was her sister up to during her Art School days? And why do they have the uneasy impression that they are being spied upon?
I enjoyed the book and I had not anticipated the ending. Miss Trubb's fugue states and stubborn disinclination to help with her own defense were undoubtedly necessary to keep the story going, but it got a bit tiresome towards the end. Reg and Mavis were a sympathetic pair of amateur detectives, decent folks who just can't stand to see an innocent woman suspected of heinous crimes.
I enjoyed the book and I had not anticipated the ending. Miss Trubb's fugue states and stubborn disinclination to help with her own defense were undoubtedly necessary to keep the story going, but it got a bit tiresome towards the end. Reg and Mavis were a sympathetic pair of amateur detectives, decent folks who just can't stand to see an innocent woman suspected of heinous crimes.
April 21, 2022
The story had a solid opening, but took forever to reveal the answer to the mystery. And at that point, I didn’t care.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews