Beginning with a Bash

Leonidas Witherall Mystery #1

by Phoebe Atwood Taylor

The sign said COME IN AND BROWSE—IT’S WARM INSIDE. Martin Jones made the mistake of his life when he joined the others inside the bookstore. One of them, Professor John North, would soon be dead. And Martin is going to be the prime suspect.

Luckily for Martin the bookstore is owned by his friend Dot Peters, who knows he's innocent. Even with the able assistance of Leonidas Xenophon "Bill" Witherall, the retired headmaster of the Boston academy which Martin once attended, can she prove his innocence?

Genres: Mystery, Cozy, Golden Age Mystery

204 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Taylor is an American mystery author. She is best known for her Asey Mayo series, based in Cape Cod. She additionally wrote and published under the pen names Alice Tilton and Freeman Dana.

Phoebe Atwood Taylor, born in 1909 in Boston, Massachusetts, was the first member of her family to have been born off Cape Cod in more than 300 years. Upon graduating from Manhattan's Barnard College, she moved to Weston, Massachusetts, to pen her first work, The Cape Cod Mystery (1931), which was published when she was 22. The book was written while Taylor was caring for her invalid aunt, Alice Tilton (the source of one of her two publishing pseudonyms, the other being Freeman Dana). Taylor was one of the first mystery writers to give a regional and rural rather than urban focus during the time known as the "golden age" of mystery writing (1918 - 1939). Gone with the Wind's author, Margaret Mitchell, was a great fan of the Asey Mayo series, and encouraged Taylor to pack the books with Cape Cod detail. In all, she authored 33 books. She died in 1976 at age 67.
- Bio by The Countryman Press

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL685...

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phoebe Atwood Taylor (1909-1976) wrote eight novels under the name Alice Tilton, all featuring Leonidas Xenophon Witherall.

In this, the first in the series, originally published in 1937, Witherall is a janitor of a building in which there is a bookshop where a murder is committed. He was once a teacher, but has lost his money as a result of the Depression.A former pupil is accused of the murder of his ex-boss, the head of museum from which a large sum in bonds has gone missing.

Witherall, along with Dot, the bookshop owner, Agatha Jordan, a Bostonian widow,and Gerty McInnis and her gangster boyfriend, set out to prove the police wrong.

This is more of a caper or a romp, albeit with dark overtones, than a detective novel. We know fairly early on who is guilty, and the novel is, from then on, a catalogue of (mis)adventures on the way to the solution.

It is immensely readable and full of occasionally rather grim fun. The Boston setting is well-evoked.

This edition is great value and I will read more of the series.

3.5 stars.

[Lia Marcoux · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an absolute nonsensical hoot. It's got everything. Gangsters, society mavens, coincidences, anthropologists, shoot-'em-ups, brassy housemaids, bonbons, clues, buried treasure...it's the opposite of worthy and stuffy. Does it make sense? Not always! Is that important? Not to me!

[Mare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Leonidas Witherall book I've read and I truly enjoyed it.

[Erik Tolvstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

More of a madcap adventure than a straight-up mystery. It should have been made into a Preston Sturges screw ball comedy back when it was written.

The tale involves Phoebe Atwood-Taylor's customary gang of Boston area characters and settings. In no particular order, there's a William Shakespeare look-alike mastermind, a proper Boston matron who lets loose on an adventure, a wide-eyed midwestern transplant, a heart-of-gold gangster's sister, several gangsters of rival gangs and unique personalities, some academics who aren't what they seem to be, a decrepit old book store, secret passages, burglaries, murder, disguises, a couple of unusual car chases, a unique sort of treasure hunt, and general mayhem.

Great, great fun tale!

[Arlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leonidus Xenophon Witherall

Retired teacher, and currently a janitor, encounters a former student ,Martin, taking shelter from the cold. Martin has been accused of theft, fired, lost his apartment, & all of his belongings except what he has with him.

Then, the man who accused him of theft & who fired him is found murdered. But Leonidus is convinced Martin is innocent, of theft and of murder. But he has only 40 hours to prove it.

What follows is a riotous ride around Boston, with Brahmins, gangsters, star-crossed lovers, and intermittent police. Set in post-Prohibition Boston.

I first met Leonidus, who looks just like William Shakespeare, via the old radio shows. Here is one of the books the show was based on.

[Regan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun read! Published in 1937 it's a great look back at how things were done before cell phones, computers and all our electronics. Working together as a team an unlikely group comes together to solve a murder. A few had some quirks...okay, they all did but in a fun way.

[Heather Culley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hammers used for bookbinding do look like that.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beginning With a Bash was the first Leonidas Witherall novel written by Phoebe Atwood Taylor under the pseudonym Alice Tilton, published in the UK in 1937 but not in the US until 1972 due to some dubious advise from teh publisher.

The novels opens with Leonidas, former headmaster of a private school down on his luck even though he looks like William Shakespeare accept for his glasses.. The depression wrecked his retirement funds and now he's reduced to being a book store's janitor. A former pupil who is also down on his look comes in on a Saturday. He's been accused of stealing from his former employer and is wandering the streets with his last remaining valuable possession, a set of golf clubs. Very quickly, a body discovered near the store and it turns out to be the former employer, who was killed by a blow from a blunt object. The police quickly take Leonidas' former pupil into custody who conveniently had a grudge against the dead man and was carrying a bag of gold clubs that would be perfect to bludgeon the man to death.

However, Leonidas doesn't believe the young man is guilty and sets out to prove it by Monday morning and find the missing money to boot. Leonidas sets off with the book store owner but quickly acquires a motley crew of assistance including a Italian gangster and his star-crossed girlfriend who is also the sister of her boyfriend's Irish rival and the dead man's housekeeper, as well the widow of a former Massachusetts Governor.

This book is a classic vintage style madcap comedy mystery that sees Leonidas and friends going from one jam to another. The book is light reading with the gangster being more in the style of Damon Runyan than Francis Ford Coppola. The book does include a few regrettable uses of the n-word (although I should note that this may have been removed from some modern editions), but if you can get past that, it's a fun and exciting story full of improbable twists and turns sure to amuse you for hours.

[astaliegurec · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phoebe Atwood Taylor (aka Alice Tilton) published "Beginning with a Bash" back in 1937. I was going to start my review by saying it would probably have made a good 1930s/1940s movie or radio show. But, when I checked Wikipedia for Leonidas Witherall, I found that this series actually WAS a radio series. The book reads just about like any tongue-in-cheek detective movie from that era ("The Thin Man" comes to mind). As an hour and a half or so movie or a half an hour radio program, the book would be fine. But, as a 192 page book, the triteness becomes too much. Page after page, chapter after chapter, of watching all those carefully set up ducks falling in a row ("clack clack clack") so that everything works out (no matter how silly) just gets tiring. There's nothing really wrong with the writing. The book is just typical of what was popular back in those days. For me, though, I can only rate it at an OK 3 stars out of 5.

The books in Phoebe Atwood Taylor's (Alice Tilton's) Leonidas Witherall series are:

1. Beginning with a Bash (A Leonidas Witherall Mystery)
2. The Cut Direct: A Leonidas Witherall Mystery (no Kindle version available)
3. Cold Steal: A Leonidas Witherall Mystery (no Kindle version available)
4. The Left Leg: A Leonidas Witherall Mystery (no Kindle version available)
5. The Hollow Chest, A Leonidas Witherall Mystery (no Kindle version available)
6. File for Record (no Kindle version available)
7. Dead Ernest (Leonidas Witherall Mysteries) (no Kindle version available)
8. The Iron Clew

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by Phoebe Atwood Taylor under the name of Alice Tilton. Better known for her "Codfish Sherlock," Asey Mayo, these books feature Leonidas Witherall, a former instructor at Meredith Academy. Among other things, Witherall is known for his resemblance to Shakespeare and spends most of his time being referred to as "Bill."

I have to admit a certain weakness for academic mysteries--whether academic in location/setting, by detective, or by primary victim. And I tend to collect the most unlikely-looking specimens based only on the mention of a professor or university or school or academic what-have-you in the blurb on the back. This always ensures a surprise--although the amount of pleasure involved seems to vary.

So far, these are very fun books, definitely fitting into the madcap mystery genre. Ms. Taylor reveals in letters quoted in notes at the back of this book, that she felt that it would be highly suitable for the silver screen. I can certainly imagine it having been filmed in the tradition of the Thin Man series starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. It remains to be seen whether the charm will fade if the formula is repeated in every book (central character going from one impossible situation to the next and getting out of all of them through the most incredible combination of coincidence and good luck). But for the moment I'm enjoying the ride.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a fast and fun book, this is definitely a book of it's time, racially charged language and all.
The book doesn't immediately open with a Professor's head being bashed in but it's very near to the beginning. And it's a former student of Leonidas Witherall, now a janitor in a used book store, who is the obvious suspect. Martin had been accused of stealing $40k and the professor was his accuser.
Witherall, also known as Bill Shakespeare because of his uncanny resemblance to the bard, is determined to find the real killer and he drags his new boss (an old friend of Martin's), a society dowager (an old flame of Witherall's), a mobster, and the sister of a mobster on a fabulous adventure for buried treasure while trying to figure out who killed the professor in the cramped and dim bookstore.
If my review doesn't convince you to read this book, you can always listen to the episode of Classic Mysteries that convince me to read this book.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better known for the Asey Mayo mysteries written under Phoebe Atwood Taylor, my favorites have always been the smaller group of books written under the pseud. of Alice Tilton featuring Leonidas Witherall. Described as looking like the famous bust of William Shakespeare, Witherall thus often called Bill, is a sometime professor at a private school but in this tale which takes place after the 1929 stock crash like many he has lost much and currently working as a janitor/jack-of-all-trades in a building which includes a bookstore. Shortly after the beginning of the book a body is found in the bookstore and we are off on a wild ride through Boston featuring Prohibition, gangsters, Irish policemen, and a wide variety of people looking for ways to make or get money by hook or by crook. Fast paced, full of humor, always a treat to read.
Reread 2023 as part of reading all of this author’s books in my collection. Such fun.

[Mary Barna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the 30s and published under the pseudonym of Alice Tilton, this is the first in the Leonidas Wetherall series. Taylor is best known for her Asey Mayo--Cape Cod series. Her writing has been getting flack because it is not "politically correct" by today's standards. That's what I find interesting.

Leonidas has a strong resemblance to William Shakespeare, so much so that the students at the Meredith Academy, where Leonidas was retired from, called him Bill.

Leonidas now "janits" at a shabby used book store in Boston. Martin, one of his former students, is found in the book store along with Martin's former boss' corpse.

To prove Martin's innocence, Leonidas sets out on a marathon investigation involving sexy maids, Boston Dowergers, evil Anthropologists and a handful of not-so-bright gangsters.

Mayhem ensues.

[Virginia Aikens · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Ear For Dialogue

This Leonidas book is very entertaining, though not quite as fun as the others. Reading it is an enchanting step back in time to post prohibition Boston with gangsters, dowager heiress, and sharp-witted underlings (along with charmingly dull ones as well). A quick and quirky read.

[Elizabeth Hunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a pretty silly mystery introducing Leonidas Witherall, a former teacher and Shakespeare look-alike. The setting, in Boston of the 1930s, is fun, but the period gangster patois gets old pretty fast and the coincidences are thick enough to beggar belief.

[Sharla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more of a 3.5 star book, leaning towards four. It's a rollicking farce of a story. It's humorous but pretty thin on plot and heavy on stereo types. Still, not a bad read.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Professor North's body is found at Peter's bookstore. Former teacher Witherall works there.