Ken Holt In The Secret of Hangmans Inn

Ken Holt #6

by Bruce Campbell

When Joe Driscoll, a loyal veteran worker at the Brentwood Weekly Advance, disappears Ken and Sandy begin an investigation. When their initial sleuthing turns up tantalizing tidbits of information, Brentwood Police Chief Andy Kane joins in. Then when Pop receives a card purportedly from Joe and postmarked Crandon, Ken and Sandy journey to that nearby town and track down "the Black One". There they also run into the mysterious antique dealer De Lacey.

Following up Joe's hobby of bird watching, the intrepid duo stake out a nearby marsh. There, more clues turn up that involve a freight train. Shortly after it is Sandy who recalls that an abandoned inn near the outskirts of Camden (Hangman's Inn), would be a likely hide-out for the gang that kidnapped Joe Driscoll. To their utter amazement, Ken and Sandy find Pop and Bert held captive there ! When the two would-be rescuers are added to the prisoners, things looked bleak indeed.

How all three Allens, Ken, and Joe escape the clutches of the train robbers and eventually trap them, make "The Secret of Hangman's Inn" one of Ken and Sandy's most difficult cases to date.

Genres: Mystery

213 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Bruce Campbell is a pseudonym used by the husband-and-wife team of Sam and Beryl William Epstein for their Ken Holt mysteries.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ken Holt and his buddy Sandy Allen are used to getting into scrapes and having to solve mysteries as they work for Sandy's dad at the Belmont Advance newspaper.

This tale begins as what seems a simple case of one of the employees taking leave without permission but it develops into a missing person case as mysterious letters and telegrams are received at the newspaper offices and they seemingly come from the missing person, Joe Driscoll.

But Ken and Sandy smell a rat and start investigating. This leads them and Sandy's father and brother into a series of exciting escapades and then, out of the blue, reveals a more sinister plot than what appears to be a simple case of kidnapping.

Hair-raising moments ensue, the foursome are captured but in the end, as is always the case with Ken Holt and company, Ken and Sandy come out on top and receive plaudits all round for their enterprise. Jolly good fun all through!

July 2019: I didn't realise that I had read this previously but a second read does confirm the earlier rating that I gave it. It is quite an exciting mystery but one that leaves me wondering (this time around anyway) about the title, Hangman's Inn does not come into the story until around page 120 and thereafter it features very little. One has to imagine what its significance is rather than be specifically told. But having said that the characters are entertaining and the mystery is fascinatingly unravelled ... so as a boy's yarn, perfectly acceptable but I can imagine some boys asking, 'What is Hangman's Inn, Mum (or Dad)?' And if I were asked, I am not sure what the answer would be!

[itchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

no silenced revolvers this time

p86: ken had managed to regain his own knees by die time the others had edged out of the circle of light.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know what to expect going to this book, except that it was billed as a "British Hardy Boys". I was hoping for a European mystery or at least British characters. What I read was a story taking place in the US with American Characters, using British English spelling. Overall I enjoyed the book, the plot was good, suspenseful, written well, but still a disappointment.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. I love the title, though it doesn't come into the story until after halfway through.

I really enjoy these books. They seem a little more realistic than the Hardy Boys and the mystery is more complex.