Murder in Cartwright Gardens: crime classic

by J.S. Fletcher

All the folk who lived in No. 85 had gone to bed by that time, and the landlady, knowing that there was no late-comer to arrive, had locked and bolted her front door. It took Jennison a minute or two to turn the key and draw the two bolts, and all the time something was pulsing and throbbing in his brain, and saying over and over and over again, You'll find the man dead! You'll find the man dead! And when at last he had got clear of the house, and had rushed along the street to where the man lay, quiet enough, in the gutter, and had bent down and laid a hand on him, he knew that the man was dead—

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

241 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Joseph Smith Fletcher was an English journalist, writer, and fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He studied law before turning to journalism.

His literary career spanned approximately 200 books on a wide variety of subjects including fiction, non-fiction, histories, historical fiction, and mysteries. He was known as one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Golden Age .

Reviews

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man is poisoned and 21 year old London warehouse clerk Alfred Jennison looking out his window late one night sees this man suddenly clutch his throat and dies. The police make a full investigation, but no clear suspects arise while the case becomes sensational newspaper copy. Jennison, is bored with his life, sees this an an opportunity for adventure and excitement so takes on the role of amateur sleuth and begins questioning people on his own, finding out many things that the police do not know while withholding that information from the police. He is motivated by the desire to monetarily profit from this.

The first half of the book is from Jennison's viewpoint at which point the Scotland Yard detective who originally investigated the case takes over the story and actively becomes involved once more as the American investigator of the company the victim worked for comes to London to deal with the situation. Due to the American's initiative, they began to unravel the complicated web of people who surround the man who died.

[John Keeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Interesting J.S.Fletcher Mystery

The first half of the book is from the viewpoint of the young man who saw the murdered man suddenly die from the poison he obviously had been given. The young man decided to do some investigating on his own and did discover some evidence that he refused to share with the police. For that reason I didn’t care for this young man. A Scotland Yard detective takes over the story at this point and quite frankly I was very glad. The detective wasn’t as sharp as he should have been which somewhat surprised me. The ending was somewhat abrupt but it was clear who had committed the murder.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of seven novels Fletcher had published in 1923, as well as a book of short stories, and it shows.

Apart from what is, even for JSF, a very abrupt ending, there are lots of loose ends and many unresolved questions.

It is rather a pity, as the opening is promising, with a peculiar death in the streets of London late at night. However, there is little tension and not a lot of mystery in the subsequent events which involve blackmail and a lot of fairly basic detection both amateur and professional.

This is only for completists and not a good starter for those new to the writer.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The electronic copy of the book that I read was missing the end, so I don’t know the whole book. What I read, I liked. Apparently all downloads in MOBI/Kindle format are incomplete, as is the PDF version ( I downloaded it to make sure). I don’t know how to finish it unless I come across a hard copy, but given the book’s age, I doubt that will happen.

[Caron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick ending

This was a murder mystery with an unusual perspective and unusual ending. A man sees the victim die and then tries to solve it only for his own benefit. The story ends quickly without a wrap-up, but still a very good tale.

[Gerry Cannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let down

I actually thought there was a page somehow missing from the end. Not saying that every whodunit has to end with the big scene with all the suspects and the 'tec, but this was a complete anti-climax.

[SuedePuzzler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring. Not a fairplay mystery, and not exciting as an adventure story. There wasn't a sympathetic character you could root for.

[Patricia Roberts-Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

At moments, it feels like a standard Golden Age mystery, and it drags, but it's quite clever.

[Samantha Glasser · Rating 4 out of 5]

J. S. Fletcher was an amazingly popular mystery writer of his time. Even the president read his novels, and they amounted to a great many. Most of them had similar themes and were set in and around England, an area that Fletcher was greatly familiar with. It is strange that his name is forgotten today, because his talents hold up well by the modern standard.

This story revolves around a poisoning. A man named Jennison looks out his window late one night to see a dapper gentleman strolling along the street. Suddenly, the man stops, clutches his throat, and dies. The police make a full investigation, but no clear suspects arise and the case becomes sensational newspaper copy. Jennison, who is rather bored with his own life, takes on the role of amateur sleuth and begins questioning people on his own, finding out many things that the police do not know, hoping to receive a reward in the end.

Some of the sentences are rather long-winded, but they flow very well, making for quick reading. It is somewhat indicative of the time period, but the dialogue is easy to understand. The chapters often end on climaxes and force one to read on to find out what this next twist will reveal.

[P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Detectives dash thither and yon. The case is almost solved. Hard to say why this book exists.