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Sexton Blake Library, 4th series #429
Ölüme Davet
The mansion was large and luxurious, overflowing with priceless antiques and the pleasures a great deal of money can buy. Beautiful, honey-tanned people frolicked on the white sandy beaches, living the sweet life with a flair. This was a scene out of everybody's dreams.
And then they found the first mangled body......
And then they found the first mangled body......
- GenresMystery
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
3 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Jack Trevor Story
57 books10 followersJack Story was the son of a baker's roundsman and a domestic servant. During the First World War his father was killed and then his mother moved to Cambridge and worked in one of the colleges.
As a youngster he worked as a butcher's lad making local deliveries. He stated that his early education was derived from 'The Modern Boy', 'Melody Maker' and Action publications.
Self-taught, he began his writing in the early 1940s and it was said that he regularly wrote 4,000 words a day and often took only two or three weeks to finish a novel.
He was married three times and had eight children and also gained a reputation as a ladies' man and apparently he was often seen with glamorous women. As a consequence his domestic life was said to be chaotic, owing to his serial infidelity and his bankruptcy, both of which occasionally provided inspiration for some of his work.
He first achieved success as a writer with the Pinetop Jones Western stories (writing under the pseudonym Bret Harding) and he later achieved great fame contributing to the Sexton Blake detective series - he wrote 20 titles for the Sexton Blake Library. He was also well known for his Horace Spurgeon novels and the Albert Argyle trilogy. He also used the pseudonyms Alex Atwell and Rex Riotti.
When he was penniless in the 1970s he moved to the then new town of Milton Keynes, where he was given a flat about the Museum of Rural Life. He meant to stay only one year, but remained there for the rest of his life.
He wrote a weekly column for 'The Guardian' in the 1970s and appeared on television in the series 'Jack on the Box' in 1979. He wrote several screenplays, including the film 'Mix Me a Person', and was heavily involved in the film version of his novel 'Live Now - Pay Later'. His final broadcast was an audio diary entitled 'Jack's Last Tape'. His novel 'The Trouble with Harry' (1949) was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1955.
When someone once asked him why he didn't write an autobiography. He replied [referring to his novels and other writings], 'What do you think I've been doing all these years?'
He died in Milton Keynes on 5 December 1991.
As a youngster he worked as a butcher's lad making local deliveries. He stated that his early education was derived from 'The Modern Boy', 'Melody Maker' and Action publications.
Self-taught, he began his writing in the early 1940s and it was said that he regularly wrote 4,000 words a day and often took only two or three weeks to finish a novel.
He was married three times and had eight children and also gained a reputation as a ladies' man and apparently he was often seen with glamorous women. As a consequence his domestic life was said to be chaotic, owing to his serial infidelity and his bankruptcy, both of which occasionally provided inspiration for some of his work.
He first achieved success as a writer with the Pinetop Jones Western stories (writing under the pseudonym Bret Harding) and he later achieved great fame contributing to the Sexton Blake detective series - he wrote 20 titles for the Sexton Blake Library. He was also well known for his Horace Spurgeon novels and the Albert Argyle trilogy. He also used the pseudonyms Alex Atwell and Rex Riotti.
When he was penniless in the 1970s he moved to the then new town of Milton Keynes, where he was given a flat about the Museum of Rural Life. He meant to stay only one year, but remained there for the rest of his life.
He wrote a weekly column for 'The Guardian' in the 1970s and appeared on television in the series 'Jack on the Box' in 1979. He wrote several screenplays, including the film 'Mix Me a Person', and was heavily involved in the film version of his novel 'Live Now - Pay Later'. His final broadcast was an audio diary entitled 'Jack's Last Tape'. His novel 'The Trouble with Harry' (1949) was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1955.
When someone once asked him why he didn't write an autobiography. He replied [referring to his novels and other writings], 'What do you think I've been doing all these years?'
He died in Milton Keynes on 5 December 1991.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 21, 2020
This is one of her worst.
The Newport setting among the trust fund set is superbly done and the characters are excellent, but the writing is quite poor this time around. It is often difficult to figure out whom a pronoun is referring to or who is speaking. The segues into the obligatory romance are quite jarring. And, since the killer is fairly obvious, this was a chore to get through.
The Newport setting among the trust fund set is superbly done and the characters are excellent, but the writing is quite poor this time around. It is often difficult to figure out whom a pronoun is referring to or who is speaking. The segues into the obligatory romance are quite jarring. And, since the killer is fairly obvious, this was a chore to get through.
August 11, 2016
see review on paperback edition
March 12, 2024
I enjoyed this older mystery. It is pretty clear who the "bad" guy is from the beginning, but I knew that going in. I was able to listen to an old audio version and I found it very enjoyable. I plan on looking up some other titles from this author when I want this type of read.
August 11, 2016
Leslie Ford's Invitation to Murder (1954) is set against the rarefied air surrounding the rich inhabitants of Newport, Rhode Island. It has as its main ingredients: a well-endowed trust fund, a necklace of star rubies, the disappearance of the patriarch, and four murders.
Fish (James Fisher) Finlay comes back from the Korean War minus a portion of his leg and missing a chunk of his self-esteem. He goes to work for the Merchants & Mechanics Bank and Deposit Company and earns enough respect from Caxson Reeves, Vice President, to be given a watching brief on the James V. Maloney Trust. As soon as he gets involved, he suspects that Nikki de Gradoff, fourth husband of Dodo Maloney, was scheming to gain possession of Dodo's fortune. There are rumors that de Gradoff helped his previous wife to shuffle off this mortal coil.
But...the fortune doesn't actually belong to Dodo. It is being held in trust for Jennifer Linton, Dodo's daughter by her first marriage. Dodo holds the purse strings and an interest in the trust until Jennifer's 22nd birthday. Dodo, her husband, her husband's cousin, and the cousin's cousin all gather at Enniskerry, the family's enormous Rhode Island estate. Under the glitter of the parties and the social hours, there are tensions, but things really heat up when Polly Randolph, a reporter with information for Fish, is pushed to her death on the rocks below. Dodo has never told her husband that all that pretty money isn't really hers forever and Fish worries about what might happen to Dodo if he remains in the dark--or to Jennifer if de Gradoff has a sudden revelation. Then a funny little French waiter disappears and an attempt is made on Fish's life. These and various other apparently unrelated incidents all add up to a deep-laid plot that will end in another death.
This Ford book makes for pleasant reading. It's not a knock-out book by any standard, but Ford does what she does so well--provides interesting characters in a country house setting. There is plenty of underlying currents and hidden motives, but the seasoned mystery reader won't be fooled for long on who's behind it all (which prevents this from soaring past the three-star mark). If you're looking settle down for an evening's enjoyment with an interesting cast and a good setting, then this is just the ticket.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Fish (James Fisher) Finlay comes back from the Korean War minus a portion of his leg and missing a chunk of his self-esteem. He goes to work for the Merchants & Mechanics Bank and Deposit Company and earns enough respect from Caxson Reeves, Vice President, to be given a watching brief on the James V. Maloney Trust. As soon as he gets involved, he suspects that Nikki de Gradoff, fourth husband of Dodo Maloney, was scheming to gain possession of Dodo's fortune. There are rumors that de Gradoff helped his previous wife to shuffle off this mortal coil.
But...the fortune doesn't actually belong to Dodo. It is being held in trust for Jennifer Linton, Dodo's daughter by her first marriage. Dodo holds the purse strings and an interest in the trust until Jennifer's 22nd birthday. Dodo, her husband, her husband's cousin, and the cousin's cousin all gather at Enniskerry, the family's enormous Rhode Island estate. Under the glitter of the parties and the social hours, there are tensions, but things really heat up when Polly Randolph, a reporter with information for Fish, is pushed to her death on the rocks below. Dodo has never told her husband that all that pretty money isn't really hers forever and Fish worries about what might happen to Dodo if he remains in the dark--or to Jennifer if de Gradoff has a sudden revelation. Then a funny little French waiter disappears and an attempt is made on Fish's life. These and various other apparently unrelated incidents all add up to a deep-laid plot that will end in another death.
This Ford book makes for pleasant reading. It's not a knock-out book by any standard, but Ford does what she does so well--provides interesting characters in a country house setting. There is plenty of underlying currents and hidden motives, but the seasoned mystery reader won't be fooled for long on who's behind it all (which prevents this from soaring past the three-star mark). If you're looking settle down for an evening's enjoyment with an interesting cast and a good setting, then this is just the ticket.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews