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Mr. J.G. Reeder #4

by Edgar Wallace, Едгар Уолъс, Михаела Михайлова (Translator)

Съдържа и Мошеникът Кенеди ; Случаят Джо Атимар.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was a prolific British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and countless articles in newspapers and journals.

Over 160 films have been made of his novels, more than any other author. In the 1920s, one of Wallace's publishers claimed that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him.

He is most famous today as the co-creator of "King Kong", writing the early screenplay and story for the movie, as well as a short story "King Kong" (1933) credited to him and Draycott Dell. He was known for the J. G. Reeder detective stories, The Four Just Men, the Ringer, and for creating the Green Archer character during his lifetime.

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red Aces is the name of the mystery novel I just finished written by Edgar Wallace. I don't know what I would have called it, but it wouldn't have been red aces, because although they do come in handy, it isn't until the end, long after I forgot there were any cards in the book at all. How about "The Dead Guy Who Everybody In The Book Was On Their Way To See But No one Got There In Time To Save His Life" for a title. Seems a bit long, but I read a lot of Dickens, so I guess I'm allowed to write long titles. On to the book.

We start with Kenneth McKay. Mr. McKay is desperately in love. Everyone at the bank where he works knows it. His father knows it, but is too busy brooding over his lost fortune to care. His friends know it, or should I say friend, because it appears he only has one friend, Rufus Machfield. Mr. Machfield is described this way:

He was a military-looking man of forty-five, and most people found him
rather a bore, for the views which he expressed so vehemently, on all
subjects from politics to religion, which are the opposite ends of the
ethical pole, he had acquired that morning from the leading article of
his favourite daily. Yet he was a genial person--a likeable man.

I only quote that because of him being a military looking man, not because he has anything at all to do with the story. I am just surprised at how many military looking men I come across in the novels I read, who no one ever seems to know what branch of what country of what military any of these men were ever in. Especially me. Well poor Mr. McKay runs into his friend Mr. Machfield, the military guy, and goes home with him for supper. I call him poor Mr. McKay because Kenneth, while being tall, athletic, and good-looking, was at the moment haggard looking and ill. It seems his worries are enormous. For one thing there is a fellow he owes two hundred pounds to that actually seems to want his money, which Kenneth doesn't have, there is money missing at his bank, not very large sums, but still money is missing, but worse than this he has just received a letter from that lady he is desperately in love with, the letter says this:

'Dear Kenneth: I'm not seeing you any more. I'm broken hearted to tell
you this. Please don't try to see me--please! M.'

I just realized that while Kenneth is important to the story, and Margot - that's the name of the lovely lady - is important to the story, I cannot for the life of me remember why she wrote him that letter. It's good she did though, because if she hadn't he wouldn't have been any where near the dead guy, and wouldn't have had the chance to be the murderer himself. The dead guy is Margot's uncle Mr Wentfort. A policeman finds him dead along the roadside, two men in a car stop, they are Mr. Enward, a lawyer and his clerk, Henry. They are shocked to see the dead man is Mr. Wentfort, although I suppose you would be shocked to see any dead man laying along the road. They know Mr. Wentfort, in fact, they were on their way to see him. The policeman tells them to wait with the body while he goes for help. They aren't thrilled with the idea, but having no other choice, they agree. After waiting quite a while we have another man enter the scene, he is described as being slightly bent and even more middle-aged than Mr. Enward. He is wearing a strange black hat, a long raincoat and large, shapeless gloves. His car has broken down and he has been walking for quite a while. He hasn't seen any policeman though, and this missing policeman has been gone a long time, so where is he? As for the new guy, let's find out who he is:


'We've met before. My name--er--is Reeder--R, double E, D, E. R.'

Mr Enward took a step forward.

'Not the detective? I thought I'd seen you...look!' He stepped out of
the light and the heap on the ground emerged from shadow. The lawyer
made a dramatic gesture. Mr Reeder came forward slowly.

He stooped over the dead man, took a torch from his pocket and shone it
steadily on the face. For a long time he looked and studied. His
melancholy face showed no evidence that he was sickened or pained.

'H'm!' he said, and got up dusting the snow from his knee. He fumbled in
the recesses of his overcoat, produced a pair of glasses, put them on
awkwardly and surveyed the lawyer over their top.

'Very--um--extraordinary. I was on my way to see him.'

Enward stared.

'You were on your way? So was I!

So there we have three people on their way to see him. And by now they are tired of waiting for the police to show up, so it is agreed that Mr. Enward and Henry will continue on and find the police somewhere, and Mr. Reeder will make his way to the home of the dead guy to see if he can figure out why and how he got to be dead. When he arrives, he knows someone is in the house, he can see a light through a window and there are footsteps leading to and from the house, but knocking on the door gets no answer. It does get him two cards however:

He came back to the door, and stood debating with himself what steps he
should take. He had seen in the darkness two small white squares at the
top of the door, and had thought they were little panes of toughened
glass such as one sees in the tops of such doors. But, probably in a
gust of wind, one of them became detached and fell at his feet. He
stooped and picked it up: it was a playing card--the ace of diamonds. He
put his torch on the second: it was the ace of hearts. They had both
apparently been fastened side by side to the door with pins--black pins.
Perhaps the owner of the house had put them there. Possibly they had
some significance, fulfilled the function of mascots.

There are the red aces, we'll come back to them a long, long time from now. For now Reeder is tired of knocking, so he climbs in a window and finds Margot hiding in one of the rooms. She is terrified, she claims no one has been there but her, she hasn't seen her uncle he wasn't there when she arrived. No one else had been there the entire time she was there, according to her anyway, so what she is so afraid of I haven't a clue. Except Reeder doesn't seem to think she is telling the truth, there are those footprints outside after all, and the open window, and the red aces, but she keeps saying no one has been there. OK, here's what we have so far, a dead guy, a niece who is in love with a man she has just sent an I will never see you again letter, the man who loves her, the lawyer, the lawyer's clerk, the missing policeman, the missing bank money, the father of Kenneth who lost all his money, the only friend Kenneth has, Rufus Machfield, two red aces stuck to the door. I could tell you more, things about gamblers and con-men and thieves, and people getting revenge on gamblers, con-men and thieves, but I won't. I'll let you read the book. I am almost through the J. M. Reeder books and will have to say goodbye to him, so I guess I will go get to it. Happy reading.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 2 out of 5]

ENGLISH: Edgar Wallace does not seem to be too sure about who is J.G. Reeder, one of his most famous characters. In the first book in the series (Room 13) he is a young man; in the other four, he is in his fifties. In the second and third, Reeder falls in love with a young girl, Margaret Belman, and is reciprocated. In the fourth and fifth, Margaret has disappeared without leaving a trace, and J.G. Reeder emphatically states that he is single. But perhaps the last two volumes of the series are telling old cases, prior to the second and third.

In my opinion, the best books in the series are the second and the third. The last two leave something to be desired, at least for me. I can't see clearly how Reeder comes to draw his conclusions. It looks as though Wallace is trying to amaze the reader with the surprising deductions of his character, without bothering to explain how he has arrived at them. The third story in this fourth book is easier to follow in this respect, but the identity of the killer is obvious from almost the beginning. The only thing left to know is how Reeder is going to unmask him.

ESPAÑOL: Edgar Wallace no parece tener muy claro quién es J.G. Reeder, uno de sus personajes más famosos. En el primer libro de la serie (Room 13) es un joven; en los otros cuatro es un cincuentón. En el segundo y el tercero, Reeder se enamora de una chica joven, Margaret Belman, y es correspondido. En el cuarto y el quinto, Margaret ha desaparecido sin dejar rastro y J.G. Reeder afirma enfáticamente que es soltero. A menos, claro, que los dos últimos volúmenes de la serie estén contando casos antiguos, anteriores a los del segundo y tercero.

En mi opinión, los mejores libros de la serie son el segundo y el tercero. Los dos últimos dejan algo que desear, al menos para mí. No suele quedar muy claro cómo llega Reeder a sacar sus conclusiones. Parece como si Wallace sólo intenta asombrar al lector con las deducciones sorprendentes de su personaje, sin molestarse en explicar cómo ha llegado a ellas. La tercera historia del cuarto libro es más fácil de seguir a este respecto, pero la identidad del asesino es obvia desde casi el principio. Lo único que falta saber es cómo Reeder va a desenmascararle.

[Claire Admiral · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★☆☆☆ 2.75 stars

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three long, short stories each around 100 pages long, at which they are each too short, there's more than enough material in each to make full novel. Mr Reeder is undoubtedly one of Wallace's best characters, but the stories here are too confusing with little explanation of how Reeder actually solves them.

[Rick Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Major characters:
George McKay
Kenneth McKay, his son
Margot Lynn, Kenneth's girlfriend, niece/secretary to Walter "Benny" Wentford
Walter "Benny" Wentford, Margot's uncle
Rufus Machfield, Kenneth's friend
Walter Enward, lawyer
Henry Green, Enward's clerk
Eric Kingfether, bank manager
Ena Burslem, a Woman of the World
J.G. Reeder, private detective
Constable James Verity

Locale: England

Synopsis: Kenneth McKay is out in the countryside and spots his girlfriend, Margot Lynn, out with another man. She refuses to  introduce them, and soon McKay gets a 'Dear John' letter breaking off their relationship. McKay tells this to his friend Rufus Machfield, who reveals that he is deep in gambling debt, and his bank is missing some funds.

Lawyer Walter Enward and his clerk Henry Green are called out on a snowy night to the cottage of Walter "Benny" Wentford. On the way, they are stopped by Constable James Verity, standing in the road alongside a dead body. Enward identifies the body as Wentford. Private Detective J.G. Reeder comes on the scene, and goes to Wentford's nearby cottage to find Margot inside, awaiting her uncle's return. He also finds two red ace cards pinned to the door. Contable Verity cannot be located, and is later found dead alongside the road.

Review: This was my first J.G, Reeder story and it was enjoyable. It is jam-packed to fit a full length novel's share of plot and characters into 100 pages, so it is quite condensed. There are a lot of characters and inter-relationships to keep track of. For example, Margot is not only Wentford's secretary, she is also his niece. J.G. just seems to be everywhere at once. I was a bit confused as to his position, he is called a private detective at first, then a member of the Public Prosecutor's Office. 

Once the action stops, there is one final chapter, which is quite different from what came before. J.G. himself writes the last chapter, calmly providing a detailed synopsis of the action and tying up all the loose ends. I found this valuable, since I had lost track of a lot of the details along the way. 

Overall, the story reminded me of the Rex Stout triple-volumes, consisting of three short Nero Wolfe adventures. The length is just right for a one-evening read. 

For additional reviews indexed by author, please visit The Mystillery Blog and try The Mystillery Reading Challenges!

[Thắng · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the result of running to meet the KPI. :)))
This, on the opposite of my premature assumption, was a collection of 3 stories about detective Reeder, rather than a long case. The cases were good, especially the third and final one, which was similar to my likes. Then and there we had some funny details, some punchlines and some hilarious mocking. However, I didn't hold this book in high esteem, even though it had many characteristics that I find enjoyable in many others. The cases were long, rambling, lack of details to put on the thinking hat, mostly I had to turn the pages to find out where the stories led me to, and only until the end the detective gave answers (but not the last case, since I had already got mine, and turned out it was on the correct line, set aside the plot twist). Those stories gave me the feeling of a copycat, which the original was the famous Sherlock Holmes, with a bad execution with the details. Even though Sherlock Holmes will always remain the top detective of my rank, we must admit there wasn't much to decipher from the plot to help us grasp on the culprit, instead we just followed his footsteps (actually Watson's footsteps) to the final confrontation and revelation, only then Holmes gave away his deduction and reasons (and most of them was brilliant). However, I rather like a plot that allows me and readers to possess all the details of the case as similar to the detective, so the game would be a fair game. I didn't have that in this book.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

J.G. Reeder is one of Wallace's few characters that he reused across different books, at least early in his career - though in the first book he's a young man (with an older man as a decoy), and subsequently the older man is Reeder and the young man is never mentioned again, so the continuity is not that strong.

He's a private detective who's also consulted by the police and has some kind of ill-defined connection with the Public Prosecutor's Office, which allows Wallace to have his cake and eat it too. Reeder is independent in terms of what cases he takes on, but he has some semblance of official authority when he needs it.

These three mid-length stories are varied. "Red Aces" is a story of a murder that Reeder happens to come upon on a snowy night, with some theatrical elements and a backstory of organized crime and revenge. His task is to extricate a young man from the elements that make him look guilty and identify the actual culprits. I found the whole thing rather confusing, and for most of it had no idea what had actually happened.

"Kennedy the Con Man" I thought was clever; I was fooled almost to the end. A number of people who had been victims of a scam several years before have disappeared mysteriously, and Reeder is asked to find them.

"The Case of Joe Attymar" had its clever elements too, but I was suspicious of one particular character throughout, though I was never sure. Since we don't get to see all of the evidence that Reeder sees, it isn't a "fair play" mystery.

The construction and unwinding of the cases shows ingenuity and originality, but these are otherwise not top-drawer Wallace. Entertaining, though, certainly.

[Tansy Hepton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this so much, especially as I read an original Crime Club edition from 1929. Reeder is a great character but these 3 stories just didn't work - perhaps they were too short or maybe times have moved on too far.

[Amber]

Doubleday Doran, n.d.