Man in the Tricorn Hat

Juan Llorca #1

by Delano Ames

Juan, a member of the Spanish Civil Guard, is greatly taken with fascinating Mary Lou and her uncle, the Texas oil millionaire, when they arrive in their Cadillac in the picturesque fishing village of Madrigal.
He already has his own problems in the enigmatic but attractive shape of Julia, a young English widow who is a painter, but he rapidly acquires a host of others when a corpse is found under her window.

Genres: Mystery, Crime

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Delano Ames (May 29, 1906 – January 1987) was an American writer of detective stories. Ames was the author of some 20 books, many of them featuring a husband and wife detective team of amateurs named 'Dagobert and Jane Brown'. A later series of novels involved a character named Juan Lorca, of the Spanish Civil Guard, who solved local mysteries.

Born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Delano's father Benjamin worked for the local newspaper, but moved the family in 1917 to New Mexico.

Ames married Australian born writer, Maysie Greig (1901-1971) in Greenwich Village, New York City, in 1929. Greig was a prolific author of light-hearted romance novels. They divorced in 1937.

Ames lived in England for the next few years, where he married his second wife, Kit, and was assigned as a British intelligence officer during World War II. He also worked on anthologies on mythology and as a translator for Larousse in France. His last book was an introduction for a book of photography of Spain in 1971.

He died in Madrid, Spain, in January 1987.

Reviews

[Peter A · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful read! I heard about the author through an obituary, and I had never heard of him before (see https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/de... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delano_...). This is a nice little (156 page) mystery, set in Spain about 1960, a place the author lived. This is the first Juan Llorca mystery, that sets up the tension between many characters, with the result of one of them being found dead. And one of the key suspects is a person Juan Llorca has a personal interest in.

The story shows the age it is set and written in, by carefully addressing some social issues we are (at the time of the review) less concerned with. Yet, it also is just a fresh today as it was then (at least that is my belief), and with a surprise ending (whodunit). And the main character is very sympathetic, with humanity and humor.

I will be looking for other books by this author.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in Danish.
3 pluss to 3 1/2

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Robert T.]

To confusing and tedious to read