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Barradine Detects
Maurice Frederick Turpin Oliver Vine, Earl of Barradine and Sharples may be a peer of the realm, but this is the 1930s and even peers of the realm must needs work for a living. Which is why Barradine has founded the Twentieth Century Detective Agency. Ably assisted by his secretary Miss Barber, the young peer truns his hand to the solving of all manner of problems. But his greatest challenge comes in a series of puzzles set him by Mary Fearn, a young woman bent on extricating from a group of fraudulent financiers the money of which they had robbed her father. Since Miss Fearn's plans are formed with complete disregard for the law of the land, Barradine finds himself torn between the professional desire to foil her devil-may-care schemes, and a more human urge to assist her in avenging her father's plight. Originally published in 1937, this breezy, light-hearted detective novel is an offbeat delight.
165 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 3, 2019
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About the author
Edgar Jepson
184 books11 followersEdgar Alfred Jepson (1863 - 1938) was an English writer, principally of mainstream adventure and detective fiction, but also of some supernatural and fantasy stories that are better remembered. He used a pseudonym R. Edison Page for some of his many short stories, collaborating at times with John Gawsworth, Hugh Clevely and possibly Arthur Machen, long-term friends.
He was editor for a short period of Vanity Fair magazine, where he employed Richard Middleton, and did much to preserve the latter's memory. He was also a translator, notably of the Arsène Lupin stories of Maurice Leblanc.
He was a member of the Square Club (from 1908) of established Edwardian authors, and also one of the more senior of the New Bohemians drinking club.
As a literary dynasty: his son Selwyn Jepson was known as a crime writer; his daughter Margaret (married name Birkinshaw) published novels as Margaret Jepson (including Via Panama) and as Pearl Bellairs; and Margaret's daughter Franklin is the writer Fay Weldon. The Jepson domestic arrangements are commented on second-hand in Weldon's autobiographical writing.
Jepson was friends with the English mystery writer Hugh Clevely and even shared the same pseudonym "Tod Claymore." They co-wrote the novel "The Man With the Amber Eyes."
He was editor for a short period of Vanity Fair magazine, where he employed Richard Middleton, and did much to preserve the latter's memory. He was also a translator, notably of the Arsène Lupin stories of Maurice Leblanc.
He was a member of the Square Club (from 1908) of established Edwardian authors, and also one of the more senior of the New Bohemians drinking club.
As a literary dynasty: his son Selwyn Jepson was known as a crime writer; his daughter Margaret (married name Birkinshaw) published novels as Margaret Jepson (including Via Panama) and as Pearl Bellairs; and Margaret's daughter Franklin is the writer Fay Weldon. The Jepson domestic arrangements are commented on second-hand in Weldon's autobiographical writing.
Jepson was friends with the English mystery writer Hugh Clevely and even shared the same pseudonym "Tod Claymore." They co-wrote the novel "The Man With the Amber Eyes."
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 15, 2019
A curiosity from late in the author's long career.
Barradine is an Earl-not a younger son or lesser sprig as with many other British detectives of the 1930s. The book contains a series of stories which are separate, but connected by the theme of a woman, Mary Fearn, recouping her father's losses at the hands of unscrupulous financiers.
The settings are varied- London, Romney Marshes, Scotland, and Barbados all feature- and the banter between Mary and Barradine is amusing enough. The detection is slight, and some of the tales go on a little longer than their plot warrants.
Light reading for bedtime.
Barradine is an Earl-not a younger son or lesser sprig as with many other British detectives of the 1930s. The book contains a series of stories which are separate, but connected by the theme of a woman, Mary Fearn, recouping her father's losses at the hands of unscrupulous financiers.
The settings are varied- London, Romney Marshes, Scotland, and Barbados all feature- and the banter between Mary and Barradine is amusing enough. The detection is slight, and some of the tales go on a little longer than their plot warrants.
Light reading for bedtime.
August 17, 2019
Interesting
This was a book which was interesting, very readable and amusing in places. My main problem was I found the heroine simply irritating and somehow couldn't work up any sympathy for the morality of her behaviour even though I know I was meant to feel sympathy and agree with her need for retribution. If she hadn't been quite so overbearingly smug and the people she was up against less like pantomime villains, I might have done!
This was a book which was interesting, very readable and amusing in places. My main problem was I found the heroine simply irritating and somehow couldn't work up any sympathy for the morality of her behaviour even though I know I was meant to feel sympathy and agree with her need for retribution. If she hadn't been quite so overbearingly smug and the people she was up against less like pantomime villains, I might have done!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews