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Jack O'Lantern
Who was Jack O'Lantern? To Scotland Yard he was one of the cleverest criminals ever to pit his wits against their machinery for man-finding. He was many things to many people...but no one really knew who he was....
286 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1930
19 people want to read
About the author
George Goodchild
188 books7 followers George B. Goodchild (1888-1969) aka Alan Dare, Wallace Q. Reid, and Jesse Templeton, was an incredibly prolific successful British author. His career lasted over 60 years (1916-published after death, still reprinted); his works number around 210, most under his own name.
Little is known of his life. GR system bug adds January 1 to his birth date, but the actual date is unknown. Born in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1888, he married Dora Mary Hill and had one son and two daughters. He lived at The Great Quarry, Guildford. Before full-time writing, he had experience in journalism and publishing. He died at Aldershot in March 1969, aged 80.
Featured characters were Scotland Yard Inspector McLean, spy catcher Q33, Trooper O'Neill, cowboy Colorado Jim (Jack) and Nigel Rix. McLean appeared in The Weekly News even anonymously until 6 October 1979, ten years after Goodchild died, and inspired Dandy Inspector McLean Library published by D.C. Thomson. An early 1921 story in The Children's Newspaper was a rare contribution to the scifi genre. Only a handful of his books are still in print, recently some republished in large print. Colorado Jim is the only one on gutenberg.org as of Jan 2012.
(in-progress chronological list of works on aneyespy
Little is known of his life. GR system bug adds January 1 to his birth date, but the actual date is unknown. Born in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1888, he married Dora Mary Hill and had one son and two daughters. He lived at The Great Quarry, Guildford. Before full-time writing, he had experience in journalism and publishing. He died at Aldershot in March 1969, aged 80.
Featured characters were Scotland Yard Inspector McLean, spy catcher Q33, Trooper O'Neill, cowboy Colorado Jim (Jack) and Nigel Rix. McLean appeared in The Weekly News even anonymously until 6 October 1979, ten years after Goodchild died, and inspired Dandy Inspector McLean Library published by D.C. Thomson. An early 1921 story in The Children's Newspaper was a rare contribution to the scifi genre. Only a handful of his books are still in print, recently some republished in large print. Colorado Jim is the only one on gutenberg.org as of Jan 2012.
(in-progress chronological list of works on aneyespy
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 26, 2014
Nicely written book that is both mystery and love story. The mystery is: Who is the Jack O'Lantern? Where is he? And why is he on a killing spree? These are the questions both Police Officer Wrench and his Superior Officer Sweetness are trying to discover though Sweetness feels he must compete with his junior for respect in the eyes of Scotland Yard.
The love affair of the book is two-fold. The first is that Wrench is in love with Sonia, and her guardian is a prime target for the killer. The second romance is between the killer and another lovely lady.
The mystery of the time is fairly easy to figure out (for me it was) by the time I was getting more than halfway through the book. I would think at the time it would be a "shocker." However, that being said it was still interesting enough to see how things were going to be pulled together and end. For some reason I felt the book, while clearly set in England, to have an American writer's slant. It had the visualization of world that you find in many British novels, but the action level that is more common for American novels (especially of the 1930's.)
I would like to give it 3 1/2 stars. It is certainly enough to make me want to check out other books by the author, some of which are conveniently in my library.
The love affair of the book is two-fold. The first is that Wrench is in love with Sonia, and her guardian is a prime target for the killer. The second romance is between the killer and another lovely lady.
The mystery of the time is fairly easy to figure out (for me it was) by the time I was getting more than halfway through the book. I would think at the time it would be a "shocker." However, that being said it was still interesting enough to see how things were going to be pulled together and end. For some reason I felt the book, while clearly set in England, to have an American writer's slant. It had the visualization of world that you find in many British novels, but the action level that is more common for American novels (especially of the 1930's.)
I would like to give it 3 1/2 stars. It is certainly enough to make me want to check out other books by the author, some of which are conveniently in my library.
January 2, 2023
We start off lurking on the dark waterfront with a dead body in the water! The apparent culprit is someone known as "Jack O'Lantern", son of Tobias Lantern. Tobias is quite difficult to figure. In various parts of the book he is described and having gotten off a murder charge, yet in other parts he was described as being executed for it. A love triangle of sketchy characters keeps us guessing.
This is one in a series of 30 titles published between 1930-1932 by The Mystery League. Get a handy reference list of characters to keep everyone straight and see my synopsis at my blog post here: http://themysteryleague.blogspot.com/...
For additional reviews indexed by author, please visit The Mystillery Blog and try The Mystillery Reading Challenges!
This is one in a series of 30 titles published between 1930-1932 by The Mystery League. Get a handy reference list of characters to keep everyone straight and see my synopsis at my blog post here: http://themysteryleague.blogspot.com/...
For additional reviews indexed by author, please visit The Mystillery Blog and try The Mystillery Reading Challenges!
October 9, 2025
A mysterious killer lurks around London; a dedicated detective seeks to find him. The killer may threaten the life of the detective's girlfriend's guardian.
Then there are several hundred pages of "oh, this is so puzzling! Let's go over the problem again".
The killer continues his devilish plan. The detective looks under every stone...
And the conclusion is ridiculous beyond belief.
Then there are several hundred pages of "oh, this is so puzzling! Let's go over the problem again".
The killer continues his devilish plan. The detective looks under every stone...
And the conclusion is ridiculous beyond belief.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews