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Bulldog Drummond #6
Temple Tower
As the ‘Maid of Orleans’ sets sail for Boulogne, two men wave goodbye to their trusting wives, who are completely unaware that their husband’s intended ‘golf holiday’ is a ruse. One of the men is Captain Hugh ‘Bulldog’ Drummond – a demobilised officer with a fierce appetite for adventure and ale; the other is Bulldog’s loyal friend, Peter, who narrates this exciting tale of a man in fear of his life and in desperate need of their help in penetrating the ill-omened Temple Tower.
250 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1929
4 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Sapper
267 books37 followersSapper was the pseudonym of Herman Cyril McNeile, whose father was Malcolm McNeile, a Captain in the Royal Navy and, at who was at the time, governor of the naval prison at Bodmin, the town where Herman was born.
McNeile was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1907. He went to France in 1914 when World War I broke out and he saw action at both the First and the Second Battle of Ypres where he displayed considerable bravery, was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in dispatches.
His first known published work was a series of short war stories based on his own experiences, and published under the name 'Sapper' in the Daily Mail and in the magazine 'The War Illustrated'.
These stories were immediately successful and later sold over 200,000 copies within a year when subsequently republished in book-form. His realistic writing proved most popular at a time of great stress and Lord Northcliff, the owner of the Daily Mail who recognised his talent, was so impressed by that he attempted, but failed, to have McNeile released from the army so he could work as a war correspondent.
After the War was over, in 1919, McNeile resigned from the army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and became a full-time author, publishing his first novel, Mufti, in that year.
In 1922, he moved to Sussex and lived there for the rest of his life, having married Peggy Baird-Douglas with whom he had two sons.
He began the series for which he now best remembered, that of Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond in 1920 and thereafter he wrote 10 novels featuring his eponymous hero. The public took to Drummond and McNeile had great financial success.
The first book was adapted for the stage and produced, to great success, at Wyndham's Theatre during the 1921-1922 season with Gerald du Maurier playing the main character. Films followed and the first talkie BullDog Drummond film in 1922 was reputed to have earned McNeile the vast sum of $750,000. There were 26 films made of his books.
As well as Drummond, he wrote about Ronald Standish but the majority of his work was short stories that were published in various popular monthly magazines and continued to earn him good money. Indeed, in addition to his novels, many of his books were short story collections.
He was reputedly an unremittingly hearty man, who even his good friend and collaborator Gerard Fairlie, who continued the Drummond series after McNeile's death with seven further books, described as "not everybody's cup of tea". He died on August 14, 1937 at his home in Pulborough, West Sussex.
His funeral, with full military honours, took place at Woking crematorium.
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2010
McNeile was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1907. He went to France in 1914 when World War I broke out and he saw action at both the First and the Second Battle of Ypres where he displayed considerable bravery, was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in dispatches.
His first known published work was a series of short war stories based on his own experiences, and published under the name 'Sapper' in the Daily Mail and in the magazine 'The War Illustrated'.
These stories were immediately successful and later sold over 200,000 copies within a year when subsequently republished in book-form. His realistic writing proved most popular at a time of great stress and Lord Northcliff, the owner of the Daily Mail who recognised his talent, was so impressed by that he attempted, but failed, to have McNeile released from the army so he could work as a war correspondent.
After the War was over, in 1919, McNeile resigned from the army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and became a full-time author, publishing his first novel, Mufti, in that year.
In 1922, he moved to Sussex and lived there for the rest of his life, having married Peggy Baird-Douglas with whom he had two sons.
He began the series for which he now best remembered, that of Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond in 1920 and thereafter he wrote 10 novels featuring his eponymous hero. The public took to Drummond and McNeile had great financial success.
The first book was adapted for the stage and produced, to great success, at Wyndham's Theatre during the 1921-1922 season with Gerald du Maurier playing the main character. Films followed and the first talkie BullDog Drummond film in 1922 was reputed to have earned McNeile the vast sum of $750,000. There were 26 films made of his books.
As well as Drummond, he wrote about Ronald Standish but the majority of his work was short stories that were published in various popular monthly magazines and continued to earn him good money. Indeed, in addition to his novels, many of his books were short story collections.
He was reputedly an unremittingly hearty man, who even his good friend and collaborator Gerard Fairlie, who continued the Drummond series after McNeile's death with seven further books, described as "not everybody's cup of tea". He died on August 14, 1937 at his home in Pulborough, West Sussex.
His funeral, with full military honours, took place at Woking crematorium.
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2010
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 7, 2024
The color of the cover consists of shades of restgiving brown. We can see some people on what appears to be the deck of a cruiseship. This ship only comes into play at the very beginning and at the very end of the book. Actually the story begins when the schip leaves port and end when the ship returns home.
It all started when Drummond saw coloured flashing lights at night. Wondering what those lights might mean he start an investigation, with right hand Peter. Soon they make - not with much friendliness - the acquaintance with their neighbours. They live completely secluded in a house that has been built like a fortress, guarded by a brute and his monstrous dog.
In the vicinity they meet a young couple, not very well of on the money-side, of which the girl has accepted a job in the mysterious house. The owner is very peculiar and could be dangerous.
Drummond is quick to appoint the girl as his spy-in-place and offer the young man a place to stay in his house. On their way home they meet another couple, arrogant and unfriendly, that seem somehow also interested in the mysterious house and its owner.
To make the set complete, after a while and some misunderstandings they literally bump into a retired policeman in disguise who also offers to assist them and join forces in their investigation.
The the plot becomes a bit more clear, it all started in France by organized crime where 1 criminal betrayed all the others, most of them were murdered, and eloped with a huge amount of stolen jewellery to England.
It will take several more deaths and a few narrow escapes before things become clear to the Bulldog. Peter in the mean time follows one false or misinterpreted clue after another, all eventually leading to dead ends.
It breaths the good feeling of the English countryside during summer, good life as far as food and drink goes, a positive sphere and a humourous tone. Thrilling with lots of action.
It all started when Drummond saw coloured flashing lights at night. Wondering what those lights might mean he start an investigation, with right hand Peter. Soon they make - not with much friendliness - the acquaintance with their neighbours. They live completely secluded in a house that has been built like a fortress, guarded by a brute and his monstrous dog.
In the vicinity they meet a young couple, not very well of on the money-side, of which the girl has accepted a job in the mysterious house. The owner is very peculiar and could be dangerous.
Drummond is quick to appoint the girl as his spy-in-place and offer the young man a place to stay in his house. On their way home they meet another couple, arrogant and unfriendly, that seem somehow also interested in the mysterious house and its owner.
To make the set complete, after a while and some misunderstandings they literally bump into a retired policeman in disguise who also offers to assist them and join forces in their investigation.
The the plot becomes a bit more clear, it all started in France by organized crime where 1 criminal betrayed all the others, most of them were murdered, and eloped with a huge amount of stolen jewellery to England.
It will take several more deaths and a few narrow escapes before things become clear to the Bulldog. Peter in the mean time follows one false or misinterpreted clue after another, all eventually leading to dead ends.
It breaths the good feeling of the English countryside during summer, good life as far as food and drink goes, a positive sphere and a humourous tone. Thrilling with lots of action.
June 3, 2024
Started off well, then got bogged down in its incredible, and largely uninteresting, plot. An intriguing set-up, but handled without imagination. This is the third Drummond book I've read; in the cases of the first two the movie versions were more compelling than the books. I expect i'll discover that's the case with TEMPLE TOWER, as well, when I see the movie in a couple months.
January 28, 2026
Quite an enjoyale read with, for once, a reasonably plausible ending.
It's mysuspcion belief that Sapper puts the narration into the voices of various members of Bulldog Drummond's entourage just to play around a bit with various styles. Anyway, in this one, the first-person narration is by Peter Darrell,"because I believe that this is the first occasion that one of his really intimate friends has written about him" (p. 3). Peter makes the point that the previous Novel was written by Joe Dixon, who "...good fellow though he is, hardly knew Hugh at all" (p. 3).
Anyway, it starts off warbling about writing stories, as if the narrator is aware that he's creating something fictional. I can't really complain about this, as Mickey Spillane did this in a book I can't remember, P G Wodehouse starts off a few of the "Jeeves and Wooster" books with Berite realising he's writing a story, and even Raymond Chandler does it in The Long Goodbye.
Then we get onto the story. Bulldog Drummond has taken a house down on Romney Marsh, in that southeastern part of England made famous in and by Pride and Prejudice and Riddley Walker. There he meets his neighbour, Mr Granger,
Into this story comes engaged couple, Tom Scott and Pat Verney. Pat is going to work for Granger as a secretary and Tom is worried, but Drummond sees an opportunity for a bit of fun, and subsequently a plot involving jewel thieves and a lot of strangulations murder ensues.
There is, unlike the previous novel, a plausible escape scene, and an unmasking of the villain which, for once, is logically arrived at. Although, I must admit, it may have seemed like that because I didn't fall asleep through certain bits in this one. Three stars to hide my shame...
It's my
Anyway, it starts off warbling about writing stories, as if the narrator is aware that he's creating something fictional. I can't really complain about this, as Mickey Spillane did this in a book I can't remember, P G Wodehouse starts off a few of the "Jeeves and Wooster" books with Berite realising he's writing a story, and even Raymond Chandler does it in The Long Goodbye.
Then we get onto the story. Bulldog Drummond has taken a house down on Romney Marsh, in that southeastern part of England made famous in and by Pride and Prejudice and Riddley Walker. There he meets his neighbour, Mr Granger,
"a gentleman I’ve got remarkably little use for. In appearance, he is small and measly looking: you see smaller editions in a bit of ripe Stilton" (p. 9).
Into this story comes engaged couple, Tom Scott and Pat Verney. Pat is going to work for Granger as a secretary and Tom is worried, but Drummond sees an opportunity for a bit of fun, and subsequently a plot involving jewel thieves and a lot of strangulations murder ensues.
There is, unlike the previous novel, a plausible escape scene, and an unmasking of the villain which, for once, is logically arrived at. Although, I must admit, it may have seemed like that because I didn't fall asleep through certain bits in this one. Three stars to hide my shame...
March 23, 2025
It’s odd, isn’t it, that thing of never having heard of an author - and then as soon as you do, virtually the very next book you pick up is by that very writer. And so within a few weeks of being introduced to Bulldog Drummond, I came across a vintage copy of “Temple Tower”.
Fellow reviewers have commented - generally unenthusiastically - on the bewildering plot. And I have to agree that the new clutch of criminals in this story aren’t as satisfyingly, sophisticatedly evil as arch-crim Carl Peterson of the earlier novel.
But something that particularly delighted me is the location of this book - a setting I know very well. A fellow reviewer suggested that the action takes place on the moors - thinking perhaps of Dartmoor or the wild Yorkshire moors of the Brontë sisters.
In fact, Sapper sets this action not on moorland but very specifically on Walland Marsh, just outside Rye, the quaint old fishing town on the Kent-Sussex border.
The marshlands along this section of the English South Coast - the Walland, Romney and Dunge Marshes - were first reclaimed from the sea by the Romans. But the struggle between man and the forces of nature has continued unabated over the centuries. It’s a strange wilderness of mist and salt marsh, sheep and dykes, vast skies and the ruins of long vanished villages and ruined churches.
It’s also the atmospheric setting of another very favourite novel of mine, “Joanne Godden” written in 1921 by Sheila Kaye Smith. Joanna Godden is the feisty young woman from the Walland Marsh who inherits and farms the land in the face of nature and prejudice.
These marshes also feature prominently in my favourite EF Benson’s “Mapp and Lucia” novels of the 1920s. While most of the action takes place on the cobbled streets of quaint Rye (called Tilling in the novels) - with the sophisticated Down-from-London set pretending to be locals - marsh flooding’s still an ever present threat, from which the First Ladies of Tilling make a thrilling escape on an upturned kitchen table …
Oh, and of course, these are the bleak, sinister marshes where Pip spends his uncertain childhood in Dickens’ “Great Expectations”.
In fact these salt marshes are such a feature in English literature that I think they’ve become a kind of character in their own right - damp, windswept and obstinate. So pretty English, then …
Fellow reviewers have commented - generally unenthusiastically - on the bewildering plot. And I have to agree that the new clutch of criminals in this story aren’t as satisfyingly, sophisticatedly evil as arch-crim Carl Peterson of the earlier novel.
But something that particularly delighted me is the location of this book - a setting I know very well. A fellow reviewer suggested that the action takes place on the moors - thinking perhaps of Dartmoor or the wild Yorkshire moors of the Brontë sisters.
In fact, Sapper sets this action not on moorland but very specifically on Walland Marsh, just outside Rye, the quaint old fishing town on the Kent-Sussex border.
The marshlands along this section of the English South Coast - the Walland, Romney and Dunge Marshes - were first reclaimed from the sea by the Romans. But the struggle between man and the forces of nature has continued unabated over the centuries. It’s a strange wilderness of mist and salt marsh, sheep and dykes, vast skies and the ruins of long vanished villages and ruined churches.
It’s also the atmospheric setting of another very favourite novel of mine, “Joanne Godden” written in 1921 by Sheila Kaye Smith. Joanna Godden is the feisty young woman from the Walland Marsh who inherits and farms the land in the face of nature and prejudice.
These marshes also feature prominently in my favourite EF Benson’s “Mapp and Lucia” novels of the 1920s. While most of the action takes place on the cobbled streets of quaint Rye (called Tilling in the novels) - with the sophisticated Down-from-London set pretending to be locals - marsh flooding’s still an ever present threat, from which the First Ladies of Tilling make a thrilling escape on an upturned kitchen table …
Oh, and of course, these are the bleak, sinister marshes where Pip spends his uncertain childhood in Dickens’ “Great Expectations”.
In fact these salt marshes are such a feature in English literature that I think they’ve become a kind of character in their own right - damp, windswept and obstinate. So pretty English, then …
January 11, 2018
Better than "The Female of the Species," but in my mind the villain doesn't really make it out of the shadow of Carl P.
I can certainly respect his effort, I loved this book, but Sapper really put himself in a corner when he wrote Carl Peterson as Drummond's first nemesis.
I can certainly respect his effort, I loved this book, but Sapper really put himself in a corner when he wrote Carl Peterson as Drummond's first nemesis.
April 17, 2018
Not the first Bulldog Drummond to read but enjoyable if you are a Bulldog addict like me.
January 20, 2025
A fun read, thoroughly enjoyable.
February 13, 2021
This is #6 of 10 Bulldog Drummond novels written by McNeile. After his death, the series was continued by Gerard Fairlie.
Major characters:
Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond
Peter Darrell, our narrator
Mr. Spragge, of Spragge's Farm
Jean Marillard, a.k.a. "le Rossignol / the Nightingale"
Mr. Granger, resident of Temple Tower
Gaspard, Mr. Granger's servant, a.k.a. "le Crapeau / the Toad"
Miss Patricia Verney, Granger's newly hired secretary
Tom "Freckles" Scott, Miss Verney's boyfriend
le Bossu Masqué, a.k.a. The Silent Strangler
Paul and Madame Vandali
Jean Picot, the Vandali's chauffeur
Victor Mathews, New York City Police
Locale: the moors of England
Synopsis: Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, a gentleman adventurer (in the mold of The Saint) and his friend, Peter Darrell (our narrator), have just seen their wives off for a holiday in France. They are looking forward to a visit themselves as they head across the moors to Hugh's home.
No sooner do they arrive, then they observe mysterious red and blue flashing signal lights from a neighboring farm of Mr. Spragge. The only other person on the moors is Mr. Granger. Since the lights are not for Hugh, they must be meant for Granger. Granger's home is Temple Tower, a former convent. Granger has supplemented the walls surrounding it with a large hound, glass and other fortifications.
Hugh is trying to find a way to investigate when he encounters a young woman, Miss Patricia Verney, and her boyfriend, Tom "Freckles" Scott, en route to Temple Tower. She has just answered a job posting as Granger's secretary; and Hugh enlists Tom to assist in spying on the Temple Tower.
Some new suspicious people arrive on the scene: Paul and Madame Vandali, and their chauffeur Jean Picot.
First, Hugh, Peter, and Tom spy on Spragge's farm, and find a man (Jean Marillard) making a rope ladder. Later they spy on Temple Tower to find the ladder has been used to breach the wall. A New York policeman, Victor Mathews, finds them and enlists their aid. Matthews fills them in on the back story, in which a mysterious killer, le Bossu Masqué, also known as The Silent Strangler, was involved and is still at large.
Review: This is the first Bulldog Drummond story I have read, and it wasn't quite what I expected - yet better than expected. Drummond is a gentleman adventurer (the 'Captain' is his former military rank) quite similar to Simon Templar / The Saint. As in The Saint, there is even a beautiful blonde named Patricia in the adventure (although she is not cast as Drummond's girlfriend).
Mysterious happenings abound, as it common in the era. We have mysterious lights in the night, a large hound on the moor (sound familiar?), a hunchback, a walled mansion, a secret passage, and mechanical traps.
I did guess correctly the identity of the criminal mastermind, le Bossu Masqué, but it did not detract from the adventure. This one is a good read for the dark, stormy night. If you like the early Saint adventures, you will like this one.
Caution: one instance of the n-word.
Major characters:
Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond
Peter Darrell, our narrator
Mr. Spragge, of Spragge's Farm
Jean Marillard, a.k.a. "le Rossignol / the Nightingale"
Mr. Granger, resident of Temple Tower
Gaspard, Mr. Granger's servant, a.k.a. "le Crapeau / the Toad"
Miss Patricia Verney, Granger's newly hired secretary
Tom "Freckles" Scott, Miss Verney's boyfriend
le Bossu Masqué, a.k.a. The Silent Strangler
Paul and Madame Vandali
Jean Picot, the Vandali's chauffeur
Victor Mathews, New York City Police
Locale: the moors of England
Synopsis: Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, a gentleman adventurer (in the mold of The Saint) and his friend, Peter Darrell (our narrator), have just seen their wives off for a holiday in France. They are looking forward to a visit themselves as they head across the moors to Hugh's home.
No sooner do they arrive, then they observe mysterious red and blue flashing signal lights from a neighboring farm of Mr. Spragge. The only other person on the moors is Mr. Granger. Since the lights are not for Hugh, they must be meant for Granger. Granger's home is Temple Tower, a former convent. Granger has supplemented the walls surrounding it with a large hound, glass and other fortifications.
Hugh is trying to find a way to investigate when he encounters a young woman, Miss Patricia Verney, and her boyfriend, Tom "Freckles" Scott, en route to Temple Tower. She has just answered a job posting as Granger's secretary; and Hugh enlists Tom to assist in spying on the Temple Tower.
Some new suspicious people arrive on the scene: Paul and Madame Vandali, and their chauffeur Jean Picot.
First, Hugh, Peter, and Tom spy on Spragge's farm, and find a man (Jean Marillard) making a rope ladder. Later they spy on Temple Tower to find the ladder has been used to breach the wall. A New York policeman, Victor Mathews, finds them and enlists their aid. Matthews fills them in on the back story, in which a mysterious killer, le Bossu Masqué, also known as The Silent Strangler, was involved and is still at large.
Review: This is the first Bulldog Drummond story I have read, and it wasn't quite what I expected - yet better than expected. Drummond is a gentleman adventurer (the 'Captain' is his former military rank) quite similar to Simon Templar / The Saint. As in The Saint, there is even a beautiful blonde named Patricia in the adventure (although she is not cast as Drummond's girlfriend).
Mysterious happenings abound, as it common in the era. We have mysterious lights in the night, a large hound on the moor (sound familiar?), a hunchback, a walled mansion, a secret passage, and mechanical traps.
I did guess correctly the identity of the criminal mastermind, le Bossu Masqué, but it did not detract from the adventure. This one is a good read for the dark, stormy night. If you like the early Saint adventures, you will like this one.
Caution: one instance of the n-word.
September 6, 2017
Gentleman adventurer Captain Hugh Drummond, built like a heavyweight boxer but not blessed with much of a face to look at ('even his wife admitted that she only used it to amuse the baby,') is back to down some more beers and baddies in a lame-assed addition to the popular series.
He's not up against his arch enemies Carl and Irma Peterson this time out. Instead a trio of French crooks called The Toad, The Nightingale, and Le Bossu Masqué ('The Masked Hunchback') cross his path, unfortunately for them.
And us, as it turns out.
I enjoyed the first Bulldog Drummond story, despite its clumsily executed hokeyness. Drummond had some hilariously corny oneliners and that particular caper, though witless, was more fun than a box of frogs.
Pardon the terrible and racially inappropriate pun, but the box of frogs he found himself up against here (or more accurately house of frogs, the eponymous Temple Tower) didn't contain much in the way of touché. Nor was it a whole lot of fun.
I have to disagree with Drummond's own assessment of The Toad's plan to dispose of his stolen jewellery as a 'distinctly clever method,' and instead adjudged it a distinctly cretinous attempt to execute a crime.
As a matter of fact the entire story consisted of a series of slack-brained contrivances. The real identity of the Le Bossu Masqué was as effectively hidden as the Eiffel Tower.
To be generous, the first hundred pages or so were enjoyable enough. But then Sapper proved what a sap he was at handling a plot.
He's not up against his arch enemies Carl and Irma Peterson this time out. Instead a trio of French crooks called The Toad, The Nightingale, and Le Bossu Masqué ('The Masked Hunchback') cross his path, unfortunately for them.
And us, as it turns out.
I enjoyed the first Bulldog Drummond story, despite its clumsily executed hokeyness. Drummond had some hilariously corny oneliners and that particular caper, though witless, was more fun than a box of frogs.
Pardon the terrible and racially inappropriate pun, but the box of frogs he found himself up against here (or more accurately house of frogs, the eponymous Temple Tower) didn't contain much in the way of touché. Nor was it a whole lot of fun.
I have to disagree with Drummond's own assessment of The Toad's plan to dispose of his stolen jewellery as a 'distinctly clever method,' and instead adjudged it a distinctly cretinous attempt to execute a crime.
As a matter of fact the entire story consisted of a series of slack-brained contrivances. The real identity of the Le Bossu Masqué was as effectively hidden as the Eiffel Tower.
To be generous, the first hundred pages or so were enjoyable enough. But then Sapper proved what a sap he was at handling a plot.
June 23, 2014
Probably the weakest of the series so far, although I think I've given them all four stars, this one is a low four stars, just above a three rather than a solid four or nudging a five. For the first time in the series there's no sign of Drummond's usual adversaries the Peterson's (of course Carl had pegged it a couple of books earlier.) A different narrator again this time, in the form of regular Black Gang member Peter Darrell, although the rest of the gang don't feature at all. Anyway this time Drummond's up against a gang of French jewel thieves and there are mysterious goings on at Temple Tower the house next to the one Hugh Drummond has rented for the summer. A good yarn Drummond's just not in it enough.
Read
July 29, 2011I read this book as part of my research on a play I was performing in that is a satire on the whole Bulldog Drummond series, and British adventure novels and films of the period in general. Although it was helpful to me at the time, I wouldn't ordinarily choose a book from this genre to read (I'd rather watch the movies), nor do I particularly recommend this one. It's fairly shallow, glosses over anything resembling depth of character, and has a predictable plot. This one isn't one of the series that was made into a movie, so if you enjoy British pulp fiction of the 1930s, perhaps you'd enjoy it.
August 28, 2013
I really enjoyed this. My first Bulldog Drummond novel and I will definitely be reading more. Easy read, often amusing, always enjoyable. There are parts that are typical for its age that some readers today might cringe at (in which case they shouldn't read old books in my opinion) but taken in context it's just a highly enjoyable adventure thriller.
January 20, 2013
Sapper must have been surfeiting on Feuillade when he wrote this one.
July 19, 2011
Bulldog Drummond
May 15, 2018
An excellent adventure and mystery book. The story gallops along at a cracking pace. The characters are well written and the ending has a nice twist.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews