The Scarlet Circle

Dr. Westlake #6

by Jonathan Stagge, Otto Penzler (Introduction)

A Golden Age mystery featuring a sleuthing small-town doctor who's out of his depth as a killer haunts a waning New England summer.

On vacation with his daughter on the New England coast, Dr. Hugh Westlake is enjoying the sun, the sea, and the fishing. Being September, the inn where they're staying is almost empty, except for a few other guests. But the peace is shattered when a woman's body is found strangled on the beach, with a red circle drawn around a mole on her face.

The morbid scene becomes more so when she's identified as the governess of a family staying at the inn. Hugh gets drafted by local law enforcement to help with the investigation. He uncovers dysfunctional parents, a creepy mortician, a handsome lifeguard, and a woman painter--all with secrets to hide. Not to mention local legends. When another woman is murdered, with another mole circled, Hugh realizes there's a madman on the loose. And he must tie up the loose ends of crimes past and present to net a most diabolical killer.

"Stagge has packed some excellent reading between the opening and closing chapters." --Chicago Sun

"An exciting and grisly yarn." --New York Herald Tribune

"A fine entry in one of the better American amateur detective novel series." --Pretty Sinister Books

"One of the year's supreme morsels. It has everything the exemplary detective story should possess." --Worcester Telegram

Genres: Mystery

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1943

About the author

Patrick Quentin, Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge were pen names under which Hugh Callingham Wheeler (19 March 1912 – 26 July 1987), Richard Wilson Webb (August 1901 – December 1966), Martha Mott Kelly (30 April 1906–2005) and Mary Louise White Aswell (3 June 1902 – 24 December 1984) wrote detective fiction. In some foreign countries their books have been published under the variant Quentin Patrick. Most of the stories were written by Webb and Wheeler in collaboration, or by Wheeler alone. Their most famous creation is the amateur sleuth Peter Duluth. In 1963, the story collection The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow was given a Special Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

The inside of the church was madder than a Dali nightmare.

Though later in life he would move on to writing more or less exclusively for the theater (winning Tony Awards for his books for 'A Little Night Music', 'Candide' and 'Sweeney Todd') and for film (i.e., 'Cabaret'), Hugh Wheeler had a rather full earlier career as a mystery novel writer...

~ working in collaboration, in a mix-and-match way, with other writers to produce works under a few pseudonyms: Patrick Quentin, Q. Patrick, Jonathan Stagge. (How that breaks down for individual titles requires more explanation than I can get into here. I'll point those interested to the Wikipedia page for 'Patrick Quentin':for details:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick...

This is the second of Wheeler's collaborative works that I've read, after enjoying 'A Puzzle for Fools' - published the same year as 'The Scarlet Circle' (1936). Wheeler's duo- or group work kept him quite busy through the '30s and '40s. It seems he then began to more comfortably begin publishing under his own name.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

What's most interesting about 'TSC' is... if it doesn't bear an overwhelming resemblance to the work of Agatha Christie, it at least seems apparent that Wheeler and his collaborator (for this title) Richard Webb had read her work. After all, Lady A had been publishing since 1921. 'TSC' largely adopts the 'everyone is a suspect' trope that AC is credited with perfecting if not inventing. It also makes use of a creepy, remote setting and incorporates a bent toward droll humor.

Prior to the novel's 1936 publication, it had previously appeared in novella form in a magazine. That collaborative effort of 50,000 words blew up to 80,000 when Wheeler took the wheel alone to get the longer work done. The result is that we get more of Wheeler's single voice in operation.

Being a gay man, Wheeler undoubtedly couldn't resist adding to the cast a dreamy / perfectly chiseled - if not overly bright - lifeguard; a figure along the lines of the 'Rocky' character in 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' (just verbally cheesier).

Everything on exhibit in this novel is in service to a well-thought-out / well-constructed tale of one-by-one bump-offs. But - of course - why is all of this happening?

That's where things get a little sticky, as the plot progresses and the 'answer' comes slowly into view. 3/4 of the way there, 'TSC' ups-the-ante in a melodramatic way that pretty much defies logic. (Frankly, I would have 'forgiven' everything in this section if it had included something as simple as a pick-up truck. But anywho...)

Still, mystery lovers probably won't balk or squawk, since the pages turn themselves throughout, with effective visuals generously placed:

It was a terrifying smile because it seemed to have no connection with her, as if it had been put on her mouth just the way an earring is put on an ear.

The wind butted the car like a horde of ferocious, invisible goats. The clouds were a vast inkstain on the gray blotting-paper sky. The few sparse trees that flourished on the sandy dunes weaved back and forth with the elasticity of willow shoots. And, in spite of the moaning of the wind, the whole coast was caught up in the hollow stillness of anticipation.

If I can fault the novel at all, it's only slightly - in the denouement handling of the 'reveal': it seems to go on and on, due to the plot's over-complication. But that's a small point; there's certainly more than enough here to satisfy mystery aficionados.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent Golden-Age classic, recently reissued in the American Mystery Classics series. This is the same writing collective that issued novels under the names Q. Patrick and Patrick Quentin, and which I realized I'd been blaming for being the uber-racist Stuart Palmer, who is in fact a different person. (Pretty sure he wasn't also a writing collective.) Anyway. So this one adds to the Cape-Cod mystery subgenre, which merges the classic English country-house setting (we've usually got some selection of 6-8 suspects in a remote inn) with what feels like English-moor atmospherics, done finely here, with spooky night scenes and wind and tides and a climactic storm. The feel, macabre and gothic and almost supernatural, reminds me a lot of John Dickson Carr.

That may be the most English an American mystery can get, really, since you can employ the classic locational tropes and give them a salty, literally, hard-bitten edge. I guess then (1943, and the Asey Mayo novel in this series I read was from 1933; turns out I also read the first, from 1931) this area had not become the Kennedy-type playground you think of "Cape Cod" as signifying (or is that just Nantucket? is there a sub-sub-genre?)--though I also think of the Carveresque reality of the place in Alec Wilkinson's excellent Midnights, where he worked in Wellfleet, and that's from 1975.

This is billed as fair-play, which I guess it is (I did not remember one clue's being doled out, but I'll trust that it was mentioned once before the reveal), and there are some satisfying side bits to reveal (including the use of plastic surgery, which is decently forward-looking for the time). But I figured out the major plot point way earlier than I usually do, which angered me a bit (I expect to have no idea whatsoever as a rule), and there are a couple of kids in the novel who...read like they've been written by someone who has perhaps heard rumors of children but has not encountered any in person. That said, the kids play a crucial role right at the end that has been teased effectively before then. Decent, satisfying, not great.

In any case, to the four writers who turned this book out under one of their array of pseudonyms, I'm very sorry for having confused you with Stuart Palmer. Your book is only a little racist, since there are superstitious Portuguese townies who never speak or even appear in the story but who are described as backward, primitive rubes. I suppose it's not as bad as "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," but I wonder if there's a book out there studying the history of the verrrrry specific stereotypes from this one small part of the East Coast.

[Karen Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually enjoy mystery stories from this era (1940's), but I did like this one. The only part I didn't care for was the 20+ page explanation of how the hero came to figure out who had committed the murders.

[Christophe Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

This mystery was first published as a novel in 1943, though it had been serialized already in 1936. It is excellent: nice plot, great writing, colorful characters, and--something I rarely care about--a strong sense of place.

Very strongly recommended for fans of classical detective fiction. I will definitely seek out other Dr. Westlake mysteries.

For a much more detailed review by mystery expert Curt Evans, from his "The Passing Tramp" blog, see
http://thepassingtramp.blogspot.com/2...

[Michael Reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 1943 mystery novel that has just been reissued in the American Mystery Classics series.
Jonathan Stagge was a pen name used by Richard Webb and Hugh Callingham Wheeler. They were part of a group of five different collaborators who cowrote over a dozen mysteries. The group also published books under the names Patrick Quentin and Q. Patrick.

The book is set in the Talisman Inn on Cape Talisman, a rundown inn on the New England coast. The ocean is slowly eroding away the beach. The September fog is rolling inn. There are not many guests.

The story is told by Doctor Westlake, who is vacationing with his young daughter Dawn. Nellie Wood, a guest at the inn, is found murdered out in the dunes. There is a red circle drawn around a mole on her cheek.

Westlake uncovers a variety of suspects. The handsome lifeguard was romancing her. An artist staying at the inn with his wife and son may have been fooling around with her. The maid who found the body doesn't have a good explanation of why she was out in the dunes.

A second body is discovered with the same red circle around a mole. Westlake begins to uncover secrets about the owner of the inn. A creepy guest takes an odd interest in the murders.

The plot is enjoyably complex. Stagge captures the feel of a vacation inn fallen on hard times. This is a good solid mystery.

Interestingly, although the book was released in 1943, there is no mention of the World War that was ongoing.

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this, I need to find more Dr. Westlake mysteries!!! I so enjoyed this story. The mystery has all sorts of wacky and gruesome elements. The characters, while not all likable, are so odd and Dr. Westlake’s reaction is spot on and humorous that it makes the story really fun to read. In this story he and his daughter Dawn (who is a character who finds another kid just as zany as her to hang out with) come to a rundown hotel to spend time just relaxing at a beach in September. It’s relaxing for a little bit, but the cast of characters that have also are there is a set up for mayhem and well, murder.

Westlake is roped into helping (and ending up doing most of the thinking work) after the first murder. (Did I say first- yes I did.). The great thing is that Westlake actually gets information cause he spies, eavesdrops conversations, and actually thinks. But murder isn’t the only series of odd events. By the end, where Westlake starts to gather the remaining bits of info, you have a pretty good idea who the murderer is - but the catch is proof. He doesn’t say who until the very end- and the proof? Well the finale touché of proof is done in a way that is just the cherry on top at the end.

After reading this, I thought, if this story was made into a film- I would have loved to see. Bob Hope play Westlake.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather interesting mystery--good setting and fleshed out characters, although the author(s) seemed strangely obsessed with describing the lifeguard Buck Valentine's impressive physique, many, many times. I also thought the children, a young girl and even younger boy, were just odd. The little boy was constantly saying creepy things, and I was half expecting the author to pull a Crooked House (if you know, you know). I also had a hard time fathoming that simply drawing a circle in lipstick around a mole on a corpse was somehow scandalous or salacious, but one has to remember that this book was written almost a hundred years ago, before horror and gore became commonplace. But despite its deficiencies, it was an entertaining and quick read, and overall I enjoyed it.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 rounded up. I mostly liked the book especially the description of the storm and the aftermath with the coffins. The location of the hotel and the weather made this book more exciting. I thought the author went on too long with descriptions of the characters’ looks, it was pretty repetitive. I do think it was the sign of the times though.

The little boy was weird but maybe it came from how his mother treated him. Unusual for me, I figured out the killer early on, probably midway.

My first book of 2026.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised. Every element of this book was first rate. I enjoyed his character development, even the setting seemingly to act as a distinct character of this book. His humor gave the reader a touch of relief from the straight arrow writing of the murders and events.
Also no hint to the reader that this book was written in the 1930’s. I do not mean this comment as either a positive or a negative. Just so unusual to experience practically no time stamp.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a marvelous mystery from 1943 that holds up very well. Dr. Hugh Westlake, who is on vacation in New England with his young daughter discovers a body with a red circle surrounding a mole on the corpse. The local police enlist Westlake's assistance, but then the killer strikes again. This is a delightful fair play mystery that will keep you turning pages well into the night. Pour a cup of tea or cocoa and prepare to have a sleepless night. This one is fun!

[Kitty Galore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would make a good movie.

Spoiler Alert!

I can only imagine all the coffins bobbing and floating around in the water. People running up and down the beach with waves crashing. Scary church scenes. It seems there wasn't very much watching over the kids, even when murders became more frequent. There was a lot of attention over bodily physiques and some of the other incidents seemed like filler to puff up the number of pages. Worth reading nonetheless.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very enjoyable "fair play" mystery. I had narrowed the murderer down to two suspects (one of whom was the murderer) but it took me most of the book to get there. I was never bored by this book.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in Danish, as "Den kinesiske lykte"
4 minus
Released in Denmark under the pen name Quintin Patrick.

[Kenneth Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid and well dovetailed murder mystery in a seaside village. Not difficult but pleasant.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.com/2025/...