SMALL VENOM

by William Mole

Book by William Mole

Genres: Detective

215 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

William Mole is the pseudonym of William Younger (1917-1962)

Reviews

[K.J. Charles]

A weird and grim little crime story from Dennis Wheatley's stepson, who was in MI5. (The hero is a wine merchant, as Wheatley was.) Premise: hero discovers an acquaintance is being blackmailed, and then that another man has died because of the same blackmailer. The story is first him tracking the blackmailer down, then, given the lack of hard evidence and willing witnesses, forcing him into a corner. It's very readable, a bit sick. I'd read more of his is they were more easily available.

[Sam Reaves · Rating 2 out of 5]

William Mole was the pseudonym of a fellow named William Younger, who wrote poetry and a few thrillers back in the fifties. This curiously titled piece of work was published in 1955 and apparently did fairly well; online comments are mostly favorable. I have to say it didn't do much for me. It features an amateur sleuth named Casson Duker, a well-to-do London wine merchant who solves crimes in his ample spare time. In this one he notices a fellow member of his club drinking more heavily than usual and gets the fellow to admit he has been blackmailed. Duker's curiosity is piqued, and, as the victim refuses to go to the police, he undertakes to track down the villain.
So far, so good. But the story then requires a heroic suspension of disbelief, as Duker proceeds essentially by making a series of fairly wild guesses, sold as inspired deductions, which all pan out perfectly, leading him to the blackmailer, who has struck before, driving one victim to suicide. At this point Duker drops everything, leaving his business to run itself, to rent a conveniently vacant room across the street from the crook's house so he can carry out virtually 24-hour surveillance on him, for days on end, to try to spot his next victim and bring him to justice. All this is with the approval and cooperation of the local police inspector, who is happy to let Duker do his job for him and even lends him several plain clothes coppers to help tail the scoundrel. It becomes a murder case when... But no spoilers. Suffice it to say that Duker saves the day and the bad guy gets it in the end.
No, none of it is very convincing. It's really a sort of fantasy about being an upper-class Brit with lots of money and time to devote to hobbies like sipping fine wines and tracking down murderers. Thin stuff, in my opinion.

[Nik Maack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable. A few spots are a bit dull. The psychology of it and the characters are quite good. Somewhat dated, but that's part of why I enjoyed it. Part of what's fascinating about the book is the snobbery of our hero balanced against the snobbery of our villain. Are they really that different?

This is my second book by William Mole. I barely remember the first, except for my Goodreads review of it, where I said I loved it. There's one remaining book in this trilogy and now I think I'll have to track it down.

Edit: I believe this book and SHADOW OF A KILLER are one and the same, given the cover and description of Shadow. Alas, the tradition of renaming books for different global audiences continues to cause trouble. The Hammersmith Maggot is such a better title.

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very different kind of detective novel with a great protagonist - a wine merchant with an amateur interest in criminal psychology. A great evocation of post-war London with pacy and engaging narrative.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Casson Duker, a wine merchant, investigates an illusive figure named Perry. Apparently the Queen, Elizabeth II, liked the novel.