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Paul Temple #2
Paul Temple and the Front Page Men
When the detective novel 'The Front Page Men' is published, it is a smash hit - not least because no-one knows the true identity of the author, the mysterious Andrea Fortune.
Shortly afterwards, two robberies are committed, and on each occasion a card is left at the scene bearing the words 'The Front Page Men'.
The police link these thefts to several high-profile kidnapping cases - and then the mruders begin. Could the book be linked to the crimes? Is mild-mannered piano tuner J. P. Goldie as innocent as he seems?
And just who is the mastermind behind it all? With his wife Steve's life in danger, Paul Temple must find out before it is too late ...
Audio Cassette
First published January 1, 1939
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46 people want to read
About the author
Francis Durbridge
329 books33 followersFrancis Henry Durbridge was an English playwright and author born in Hull. In 1938, he created the character Paul Temple for the BBC radio serial Send for Paul Temple.
A crime novelist and detective, the gentlemanly Temple solved numerous crimes with the help of Steve Trent, a Fleet Street journalist who later became his wife. The character proved enormously popular and appeared in 16 radio serials and later spawned a 64-part big-budget television series (1969-71) and radio productions, as well as a number of comic strips, four feature films and various foreign radio productions.
Francis Durbridge also had a successful career as a writer for the stage and screen. His most successful play, Suddenly at Home, ran in London’s West End for over a year.
A crime novelist and detective, the gentlemanly Temple solved numerous crimes with the help of Steve Trent, a Fleet Street journalist who later became his wife. The character proved enormously popular and appeared in 16 radio serials and later spawned a 64-part big-budget television series (1969-71) and radio productions, as well as a number of comic strips, four feature films and various foreign radio productions.
Francis Durbridge also had a successful career as a writer for the stage and screen. His most successful play, Suddenly at Home, ran in London’s West End for over a year.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 4, 2014
Aug 2014: Re-read
24 Nov 2008: A nice solid Paul Temple mystery though not as good as later ones. The usual (attempted) abduction of Steve but no car crashes and somehow not as fascinating. Should have seen the ending coming but then again, I never do seem to have a clue who the murderer is. Nice, enjoyable distraction but nothing more.
24 Nov 2008: A nice solid Paul Temple mystery though not as good as later ones. The usual (attempted) abduction of Steve but no car crashes and somehow not as fascinating. Should have seen the ending coming but then again, I never do seem to have a clue who the murderer is. Nice, enjoyable distraction but nothing more.
August 27, 2021
A bit too complicated for me to properly follow but still enjoyed it
April 10, 2025
A twist at the end
April 25, 2025
A book which gets three stars for its comedy value - the plot and the action is "Boys' Own" comic book, with the emphasis heavily on 'comic'. Second of the Temple novels and it's already formulaic. Having listened to several of the radio broadcasts I was already prepared for the formula - Temple helps Scotland Yard catch the master criminal, often a mister big who runs a crime syndicate and steals jewels and finds time to visit nightclubs in London, in the course of which action there will be attempts to kidnap Steve and there will be lucky escapes when Temple's car is shot at or he hears the ticking of a time bomb just in time to hurl it through a window and thus avoid death. Or something like that.
I'm beginning to get a picture of Francis Durbridge. Temple is an alter ego, the man he'd love to have been, educated at Rugby and Oxford (where he should have got a blue for rugby), an upper middle class socialite who moves in high circles and is universally respected. There's that sense of the aspirational in Temple as a creation - Durbridge is a pale imitation of his hero, Durbridge would have loved to have climbed the social ladder to reach Temple's level, to have enjoyed his sophistication and social mix.
So, novel two, 'The Front Page Men', is ridiculous. Temple, to a degree, takes a back seat - much of the action involves police officers and criminal conspirators. Temple almost becomes a bit player in the action. The story had been the second radio serial broadcast by the BBC (in November, 1938 - the book was published in 1939).
So this is a year before the outbreak of war, but the action takes place in a sanitised world free from politics or influence of world events. It makes Temple's bourgeois world seem all that less real (as opposed to simply being an artifice or fantasy).
Of course, if 'The Front Page Men' is ridiculous, then so is Temple. He's a latter-day Holmes, there's nothing original about him, he just solves puzzles - crime is reduced to puzzles which need unravelling. And, of course, solving puzzles is easy if you're the alter ego of the man who thinks up the puzzles in the first place.
And there is something ludicrous about the puzzles Durbridge sets: the central plot here is utter nonsense, it's really just a string of crimes without real coherence, with cardboard cut-out characters and simplistic situations - the railway heist is one of the most ridiculous pieces of crime writing you'll ever come across. I do confess, I'm utterly amazed Durbridge and Temple achieved such lasting popularity.
And I'm intrigued by the writing. Durbridge wrote radio scripts (and later B-movie scripts). The novels (at least the first few) were 'ghost' written - a man called Charles Holton fleshed out the scripts into book form. You can see little flights of literary fantasy from time to time in the book. I can discover practically nothing about Holton, except that he may have been born in Stourbridge in 1905 and have been a writer and journalist. Whoever you were, Mr.Holton, you're attempts to write a Scottish accent for one of the detectives really, really, really annoyed this Scotsman!
But the use of a ghost writer maybe that tells you something else about Durbridge. He's clearly not prepared to credit a co-writer with the book, but is it not strange he found himself unable to flesh out his radio or cinema scripts as books? Surely, an opportunity to really develop characters? And, OK, so Durbridge's name was used to market the book, that's obviously what would have happened in 1939. But the copy I read was published by Collins Crime Club in 2015. Why not make Holton joint author, or at least extend some credit to the man? The book, as a story, is dreadful, the real mystery is in its joint-authorship.
I'm beginning to get a picture of Francis Durbridge. Temple is an alter ego, the man he'd love to have been, educated at Rugby and Oxford (where he should have got a blue for rugby), an upper middle class socialite who moves in high circles and is universally respected. There's that sense of the aspirational in Temple as a creation - Durbridge is a pale imitation of his hero, Durbridge would have loved to have climbed the social ladder to reach Temple's level, to have enjoyed his sophistication and social mix.
So, novel two, 'The Front Page Men', is ridiculous. Temple, to a degree, takes a back seat - much of the action involves police officers and criminal conspirators. Temple almost becomes a bit player in the action. The story had been the second radio serial broadcast by the BBC (in November, 1938 - the book was published in 1939).
So this is a year before the outbreak of war, but the action takes place in a sanitised world free from politics or influence of world events. It makes Temple's bourgeois world seem all that less real (as opposed to simply being an artifice or fantasy).
Of course, if 'The Front Page Men' is ridiculous, then so is Temple. He's a latter-day Holmes, there's nothing original about him, he just solves puzzles - crime is reduced to puzzles which need unravelling. And, of course, solving puzzles is easy if you're the alter ego of the man who thinks up the puzzles in the first place.
And there is something ludicrous about the puzzles Durbridge sets: the central plot here is utter nonsense, it's really just a string of crimes without real coherence, with cardboard cut-out characters and simplistic situations - the railway heist is one of the most ridiculous pieces of crime writing you'll ever come across. I do confess, I'm utterly amazed Durbridge and Temple achieved such lasting popularity.
And I'm intrigued by the writing. Durbridge wrote radio scripts (and later B-movie scripts). The novels (at least the first few) were 'ghost' written - a man called Charles Holton fleshed out the scripts into book form. You can see little flights of literary fantasy from time to time in the book. I can discover practically nothing about Holton, except that he may have been born in Stourbridge in 1905 and have been a writer and journalist. Whoever you were, Mr.Holton, you're attempts to write a Scottish accent for one of the detectives really, really, really annoyed this Scotsman!
But the use of a ghost writer maybe that tells you something else about Durbridge. He's clearly not prepared to credit a co-writer with the book, but is it not strange he found himself unable to flesh out his radio or cinema scripts as books? Surely, an opportunity to really develop characters? And, OK, so Durbridge's name was used to market the book, that's obviously what would have happened in 1939. But the copy I read was published by Collins Crime Club in 2015. Why not make Holton joint author, or at least extend some credit to the man? The book, as a story, is dreadful, the real mystery is in its joint-authorship.
July 4, 2023
"De mannen van de voorpagina" is de titel van een boek van een auteur die onbekend wenst te blijven. Het wordt ook al snel de naam van een bende die hard en ongenadig toeslaat. Ontvoering van kinderen voor losgeld, maar bij het niet volgen van de instructies: moord.
Paul Vlaanderen raakt er eerst zijdelings bij betrokken en is niet echt geïnteresseerd, tot hijzelf en Ina het doelwit vormen. Dan gaat hij voluit in de tegenaanval.
Zoals bij Durbridge wel meer gebeurt komen we relatief snel een aantal namen van de criminelen te weten. De lezer heeft hier een voordeel op de speurders. Maar ook criminelen worden gelikwideerd als ze dreigen te praten.
Pianostemmer Goldie en dominee Hargreaves blijken niet te zijn wie ze zich voorgeven te zijn - maar dat is niet noodzakelijk slecht. Sir Graham van Scotland Yard, Vlaanderen en zijn vrouw zijn natuurlijk al oude bekenden voor de fans. De schrijver borduurt verder op wat we al van hen weten en diept de personages een beetje verder uit.
Alibis en identiteiten worden nagekeken en vals bevonden. Veel aktie, ook van de gewelddadige en bloederige soort. Steeds komt de lezer meer te weten maar telkens schijnt het spoor dood te lopen, soms letterlijk. De kring van mogelijke verdachten wordt steeds kleiner en op een bepaald ogenblik is enkel de supermisdadiger, de bendeleider achter de schermen nog een onbekende. Toch komt de onthulling van diens identiteit niet als een complete verrassing. Enerzijds omdat de kring van personages die een betekenisvolle rol spelen in het verhaal steeds kleiner wordt, anderzijds omdat op het einde er toch wel sterke aanwijzingen zijn in diens richting.
Veel humor zit er niet in, toch is het weer een verhaal dat op een postieve toon verteld wordt en dat ontspannen kan gelezen worden. Vlotte dialogen, goeie beschrijvingen, niet te veel psychologie, wel een vleugje hard-boiled detective - maar dan op zijn Engels. Het huwelijk van Vlaanderen houdt goed stand en dat is de romantische noot in het verhaal, verder blijken de gevoelens vooral vals en op geld geöriënteerd.
In de boeken merkt de lezer alweer niet dat de verhalen eigenlijk hun leven begonnen zijn als een hoorspel.
Paul Vlaanderen raakt er eerst zijdelings bij betrokken en is niet echt geïnteresseerd, tot hijzelf en Ina het doelwit vormen. Dan gaat hij voluit in de tegenaanval.
Zoals bij Durbridge wel meer gebeurt komen we relatief snel een aantal namen van de criminelen te weten. De lezer heeft hier een voordeel op de speurders. Maar ook criminelen worden gelikwideerd als ze dreigen te praten.
Pianostemmer Goldie en dominee Hargreaves blijken niet te zijn wie ze zich voorgeven te zijn - maar dat is niet noodzakelijk slecht. Sir Graham van Scotland Yard, Vlaanderen en zijn vrouw zijn natuurlijk al oude bekenden voor de fans. De schrijver borduurt verder op wat we al van hen weten en diept de personages een beetje verder uit.
Alibis en identiteiten worden nagekeken en vals bevonden. Veel aktie, ook van de gewelddadige en bloederige soort. Steeds komt de lezer meer te weten maar telkens schijnt het spoor dood te lopen, soms letterlijk. De kring van mogelijke verdachten wordt steeds kleiner en op een bepaald ogenblik is enkel de supermisdadiger, de bendeleider achter de schermen nog een onbekende. Toch komt de onthulling van diens identiteit niet als een complete verrassing. Enerzijds omdat de kring van personages die een betekenisvolle rol spelen in het verhaal steeds kleiner wordt, anderzijds omdat op het einde er toch wel sterke aanwijzingen zijn in diens richting.
Veel humor zit er niet in, toch is het weer een verhaal dat op een postieve toon verteld wordt en dat ontspannen kan gelezen worden. Vlotte dialogen, goeie beschrijvingen, niet te veel psychologie, wel een vleugje hard-boiled detective - maar dan op zijn Engels. Het huwelijk van Vlaanderen houdt goed stand en dat is de romantische noot in het verhaal, verder blijken de gevoelens vooral vals en op geld geöriënteerd.
In de boeken merkt de lezer alweer niet dat de verhalen eigenlijk hun leven begonnen zijn als een hoorspel.
August 10, 2022
Rating 2.5
The second PT novel from 1939 and it definitely feels like an early story, even if you don’t know the year.
It feels very 1930’s, well before war breaks out and nobody even mentions worries about Germany, indeed the fence who appears at the end of the story has flown over from Germany.
There also a lot more deaths than is usual for a PT story, several police officers plus a couple of people caught up in the plot as well as a number of criminals (or at least ex / petty criminals)
As is usual the plot advances at a very fast pace but I didn’t really like the book that much.
I have heard the radio adaptations and think I have seen a film based on the story as well - both were enjoyable and worth seeking out.
So a recommendation with some reservations but if reading through the series it has to be included
The second PT novel from 1939 and it definitely feels like an early story, even if you don’t know the year.
It feels very 1930’s, well before war breaks out and nobody even mentions worries about Germany, indeed the fence who appears at the end of the story has flown over from Germany.
There also a lot more deaths than is usual for a PT story, several police officers plus a couple of people caught up in the plot as well as a number of criminals (or at least ex / petty criminals)
As is usual the plot advances at a very fast pace but I didn’t really like the book that much.
I have heard the radio adaptations and think I have seen a film based on the story as well - both were enjoyable and worth seeking out.
So a recommendation with some reservations but if reading through the series it has to be included
July 17, 2019
Surprisingly violent for a Temple, packed with random murders and callous despatchings, which naturally, are all resolved neatly before the 200th page. This time, our intrepid hero is investigating the mysterious Front Page Men, named after a surprise best-seller (which turns out to be authored by someone very close to home) a ruthless gang involved in kidnapping, extortion, murder and jewel heists. Whilst their identity is never in question, that of their leader Number 1 is only revealed, in typical fashion, in the closing pages.
Dated but interesting in its portrait of the social stratification and expectations of 1930s Britain, this remains pure escapism and jolly good fun.
Dated but interesting in its portrait of the social stratification and expectations of 1930s Britain, this remains pure escapism and jolly good fun.
February 6, 2022
It has been so long since I have finished a book in matter of hours. It was so thrilling. And Paul Temple is now my second favorite detective (of course, Sherlock Holmes is top list😌) can't wait to read the rest😌
November 4, 2022
Not as fast paced as the first Paul Temple. Quite complexed plot involving many twists and turns. This along with the 1930's language might put some readers off but I quite enjoyed it. An interesting period piece.
June 9, 2017
Much better than 'Send for Paul Temple' with a more diverse cast of characters.
February 2, 2024
Another romp through the Golden Age with Paul Temple & his glamorous wife Steve as they set out to discover who is the boss of an organised crime group called The Front Page Men
January 2, 2025
Another audiobook read by Anthony Head. And much more violent than what I'm used to seeing in these Golden Age mysteries. The Front Page Men were horrible people who deserved exactly what they got.
May 19, 2024
Visit JetBlackDragonfly (The Man Who Read Too Much) at www.edenthompson.ca/blog
The second Paul Temple crime thriller was written in 1939, where we find Paul and ex-reporter Steve recently married. Living in a Mayfair flat, they not only find a mystery at their doorstep, it invites itself right on in.
'Andrea Fortune' has written a runaway bestselling detective novel called The Front Page Men, but she has kept her identity a secret, sending royalties to charity. The book's publisher and his wife, good friends of Paul and Steve, have no idea either.
When a series of robberies are committed, a calling card is left bearing the moniker of "The Front Page Men". Soon they change tactics and begin kidnapping children of wealthy families for ransom, and things turn deadly serious. Commissioner Graham Forbes and his team of undercover detectives stake out a ransom drop and require the use of a Mayfair flat - the home of Paul and Steve! Temple joins the case and begins to infiltrate London's seedy bars, mingling with criminals to discover who is behind the crimes.
Again, we are introduced to the criminals outright and follow their evil plots, so convoluted that even when you know who is behind it, Durbridge still manages to surprise you. There are false identities, ruthless murders, and always deadly retribution for speaking out about 'The Front Page Men'. As usual, even the members of the gang are not safe from each other! Steve is not involved so much, but the personal lives of all their friends fill out the plot. Terrific side characters you are sure may be the unknown head of the gang - or indeed, the secretive author Andrea Fortune - and you may be very much surprised! I never would have guessed.
This entry is full of action, and even the similarity in story to the first in the series "Send For Paul Temple" is forgotten when he ties all the ends up in the big reveal. A lot of fun - a terrific read.
Highly recommended.
The second Paul Temple crime thriller was written in 1939, where we find Paul and ex-reporter Steve recently married. Living in a Mayfair flat, they not only find a mystery at their doorstep, it invites itself right on in.
'Andrea Fortune' has written a runaway bestselling detective novel called The Front Page Men, but she has kept her identity a secret, sending royalties to charity. The book's publisher and his wife, good friends of Paul and Steve, have no idea either.
When a series of robberies are committed, a calling card is left bearing the moniker of "The Front Page Men". Soon they change tactics and begin kidnapping children of wealthy families for ransom, and things turn deadly serious. Commissioner Graham Forbes and his team of undercover detectives stake out a ransom drop and require the use of a Mayfair flat - the home of Paul and Steve! Temple joins the case and begins to infiltrate London's seedy bars, mingling with criminals to discover who is behind the crimes.
Again, we are introduced to the criminals outright and follow their evil plots, so convoluted that even when you know who is behind it, Durbridge still manages to surprise you. There are false identities, ruthless murders, and always deadly retribution for speaking out about 'The Front Page Men'. As usual, even the members of the gang are not safe from each other! Steve is not involved so much, but the personal lives of all their friends fill out the plot. Terrific side characters you are sure may be the unknown head of the gang - or indeed, the secretive author Andrea Fortune - and you may be very much surprised! I never would have guessed.
This entry is full of action, and even the similarity in story to the first in the series "Send For Paul Temple" is forgotten when he ties all the ends up in the big reveal. A lot of fun - a terrific read.
Highly recommended.
May 5, 2016
Rule number 1: if you've got a nickname and a you're bit iffy; you're a dead duck in a Temple thriller.
Rule number 2: if Steve is driving beware - she crashes. A lot.
Rule number 3: if Steve says she thinks she knows who the killer is, it won't be them.
Rule number 4: any foreigner will be either a crook, a killer or a dead crook.
Rule number 5: Scotland Yard can't solve a crossword puzzle without Paul Temple.
Not the best Paul Temple but had it's moments of amusement, contrasting with ghastly deaths to which Temple seemed eerily off-hand. But then people do drop down like flies around him.
Contrary to what the title suggests, this is not about journalists but about a gang of ruthless robbers who name themselves The Front Page Men. Useful aid to sleep at night but if you can keep track of who's who and what's going on, you are a better man than I.
Enjoy. Or fall asleep trying. I did.
Rule number 2: if Steve is driving beware - she crashes. A lot.
Rule number 3: if Steve says she thinks she knows who the killer is, it won't be them.
Rule number 4: any foreigner will be either a crook, a killer or a dead crook.
Rule number 5: Scotland Yard can't solve a crossword puzzle without Paul Temple.
Not the best Paul Temple but had it's moments of amusement, contrasting with ghastly deaths to which Temple seemed eerily off-hand. But then people do drop down like flies around him.
Contrary to what the title suggests, this is not about journalists but about a gang of ruthless robbers who name themselves The Front Page Men. Useful aid to sleep at night but if you can keep track of who's who and what's going on, you are a better man than I.
Enjoy. Or fall asleep trying. I did.
October 1, 2015
Really, 2-1/2 stars not 3, but half-stars aren't an option. This 30s British novel isn't so much a mystery (we know most of the "whos" whodunit except for the head man) as a police thriller; a gang called the Front Page Men terrorize London with robberies and kidnappings and eventually murders. They have named themselves after a popular crime novel by a mysterious woman who uses a pseudonym and the town is agog. Paul Temple and his wife Steve help the police find the gang. Paul and Steve are a lot like Nick and Nora Charles in the Thin Man movies, but I never got a handle on Temple's character--he remained mostly colorless. I might pick up another in this series someday if I heard good things about it.
August 9, 2013
I have got a detective theme going on at the moment! But I have to say I wasn't enamoured with this. I really couldn't care less about any of the characters and I found the resolution less than satisfactory. It felt rushed and Paul Temple didn't strike me as someone with Patrick Jane's mentalist powers, so I wasn't convinced that he could have worked it out.
I won't rush to read any more of this series.
I won't rush to read any more of this series.
July 9, 2016
Enjoyable but not particularly interesting. I absolutely love the old radio serials and they are what brought Paul Temple to my notice but in novel form this adventure is, to my mind, merely average.
May 5, 2010
It was uninteresting and couldn't enjoy it. Gave up after listening halfway thru.
June 13, 2017
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
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