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Arthur Crook #34
Death Casts a Long Shadow
The victims were predictable – the murderer was not…
Classic crime from one of the greats of the Detection Club
It all starts with a personal ad in a newspaper. A middle-aged man is looking for a spouse, and a little too much emphasis is placed on her being without a family. The experienced lawyer and detective Arthur Crook can immediately work out that the man has no real intentions towards his future wife, but does he have it right?
Would you marry the man you loved if he were suspected of shooting his first wife? That was Helen Wayland's problem. Blanch French had died of a gunshot wound, and a jury could not decide if it was accident, suicide or murder. Sour, selfish and worth several millions, Mrs. French was just the kind of woman you’d expect to be murdered. And so, in due course, she was.
Young, beautiful, capable nurse Helen Wayland hears from a friend that people are saying unkind things about her behind her back. She made her choice, but two years later a second woman died in mysterious circumstances, and once again Paul French's name was involved. Paul's housekeeper, Mrs. Hoggett was the next to die – another murder predicted by all who, unfortunately, knew her well. Since there was no shortage of suspects, it was small wonder the killer eluded the law. And then a lovely young woman came forth with a story of bigamy and blackmail so bizarre it had to be true. All that was needed for proof was yet another corpse…
It was thanks to Arthur Crook, that intrepid legal champion of lost causes, that the astonishing truth about both deaths was finally established and the innocent vindicated. Arthur Crook, a charming, unorthodox and brawny British lawyer and detective, cares a lot about his clients and less about formalities. He is the main character in the majority of Anthony Gilbert's crime novels, where he creatively solves murder mysteries and intrigues in 1900s England.
The exceptional standards of entertainment and integrity for which Anthony Gilbert is famous are fully maintained when Death Takes a Wife.
Classic crime from one of the greats of the Detection Club
It all starts with a personal ad in a newspaper. A middle-aged man is looking for a spouse, and a little too much emphasis is placed on her being without a family. The experienced lawyer and detective Arthur Crook can immediately work out that the man has no real intentions towards his future wife, but does he have it right?
Would you marry the man you loved if he were suspected of shooting his first wife? That was Helen Wayland's problem. Blanch French had died of a gunshot wound, and a jury could not decide if it was accident, suicide or murder. Sour, selfish and worth several millions, Mrs. French was just the kind of woman you’d expect to be murdered. And so, in due course, she was.
Young, beautiful, capable nurse Helen Wayland hears from a friend that people are saying unkind things about her behind her back. She made her choice, but two years later a second woman died in mysterious circumstances, and once again Paul French's name was involved. Paul's housekeeper, Mrs. Hoggett was the next to die – another murder predicted by all who, unfortunately, knew her well. Since there was no shortage of suspects, it was small wonder the killer eluded the law. And then a lovely young woman came forth with a story of bigamy and blackmail so bizarre it had to be true. All that was needed for proof was yet another corpse…
It was thanks to Arthur Crook, that intrepid legal champion of lost causes, that the astonishing truth about both deaths was finally established and the innocent vindicated. Arthur Crook, a charming, unorthodox and brawny British lawyer and detective, cares a lot about his clients and less about formalities. He is the main character in the majority of Anthony Gilbert's crime novels, where he creatively solves murder mysteries and intrigues in 1900s England.
The exceptional standards of entertainment and integrity for which Anthony Gilbert is famous are fully maintained when Death Takes a Wife.
173 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
About the author
Anthony Gilbert
145 books39 followersAnthony Gilbert was the pen name of
Lucy Malleson
an English crime writer. She also wrote non-genre fiction as
Anne Meredith
, under which name she also published one crime novel. She also wrote an autobiography under the Meredith name, Three-a-Penny (1940).
Her parents wanted her to be a schoolteacher but she was determined to become a writer. Her first mystery novel followed a visit to the theatre when she saw The Cat and the Canary then, Tragedy at Freyne, featuring Scott Egerton who later appeared in 10 novels, was published in 1927.
She adopted the pseudonym Anthony Gilbert to publish detective novels which achieved great success and made her a name in British detective literature, although many of her readers had always believed that they were reading a male author. She went on to publish 69 crime novels, 51 of which featured her best known character, Arthur Crook. She also wrote more than 25 radio plays, which were broadcast in Great Britain and overseas.
Crook is a vulgar London lawyer totally (and deliberately) unlike the aristocratic detectives who dominated the mystery field when Gilbert introduced him, such as Lord Peter Wimsey.
Instead of dispassionately analyzing a case, he usually enters it after seemingly damning evidence has built up against his client, then conducts a no-holds-barred investigation of doubtful ethicality to clear him or her.
The first Crook novel, Murder by Experts, was published in 1936 and was immediately popular. The last Crook novel, A Nice Little Killing, was published in 1974.
Her thriller The Woman in Red (1941) was broadcast in the United States by CBS and made into a film in 1945 under the title My Name is Julia Ross. She never married, and evidence of her feminism is elegantly expressed in much of her work.
Her parents wanted her to be a schoolteacher but she was determined to become a writer. Her first mystery novel followed a visit to the theatre when she saw The Cat and the Canary then, Tragedy at Freyne, featuring Scott Egerton who later appeared in 10 novels, was published in 1927.
She adopted the pseudonym Anthony Gilbert to publish detective novels which achieved great success and made her a name in British detective literature, although many of her readers had always believed that they were reading a male author. She went on to publish 69 crime novels, 51 of which featured her best known character, Arthur Crook. She also wrote more than 25 radio plays, which were broadcast in Great Britain and overseas.
Crook is a vulgar London lawyer totally (and deliberately) unlike the aristocratic detectives who dominated the mystery field when Gilbert introduced him, such as Lord Peter Wimsey.
Instead of dispassionately analyzing a case, he usually enters it after seemingly damning evidence has built up against his client, then conducts a no-holds-barred investigation of doubtful ethicality to clear him or her.
The first Crook novel, Murder by Experts, was published in 1936 and was immediately popular. The last Crook novel, A Nice Little Killing, was published in 1974.
Her thriller The Woman in Red (1941) was broadcast in the United States by CBS and made into a film in 1945 under the title My Name is Julia Ross. She never married, and evidence of her feminism is elegantly expressed in much of her work.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 13, 2021
I truly hate the new goodreads page format, I really do. Why fix something if it ain't broken?
full post is here
http://www.crimesegments.com/2021/03/...
As it turns out, I screwed up and read the wrong book, a mistake I discovered only this morning. I've been using the list of books from the Séptimo Círculo collection as my main crime/mystery reading guide this year; only four books in and thanks to my own stupidity, I read the wrong book. I was going to read Anthony Gilbert's The Long Shadow, written in 1932, and completely neglected the date (and obviously the real title) and bought his Death Casts A Long Shadow from 1959 instead (originally published as Death Takes a Wife). It's no surprise; here at casa mia our 2020 hasn't ended yet with what feels like a quarterly extension. I feel really stupid for being so careless, and now of course, I can't find a copy of the 1932 book anywhere.
But in the long run, it doesn't really matter, because I quite liked this one.
It's an intriguing and ingenious puzzle that is worked out over the course of this novel; the author also offers up a bit of sleight of hand that merited a silent "bravo" toward the end. And while I don't want to go too far here, let's just say that aside from the crimes in this story, the author also spends a lot of time thematically on examining different types of love that have the power to either make or break a marriage. Then there's this: when the "intrepid detective-lawyer" Arthur Crook reveals all about the case at hand, I actually said out loud "but what about" ... (and trust me, if you read this book you'll have the same question running through your own head throughout your time with this novel) and the answer appeared on the next page. Voila -- perfect sense of timing.
I have no other experience with the character Arthur Crook to know how Death Casts a Long Shadow fares alongside the other novels, but this one had me unwilling to set the book down for any reason. Once again I find myself saying that someone really needs to republish these old books; this one was quite cleverly done so I can only imagine that the others might be just as good or even better.
definitely recommended for those who are into older British mysteries and older mystery fiction in general.
full post is here
http://www.crimesegments.com/2021/03/...
As it turns out, I screwed up and read the wrong book, a mistake I discovered only this morning. I've been using the list of books from the Séptimo Círculo collection as my main crime/mystery reading guide this year; only four books in and thanks to my own stupidity, I read the wrong book. I was going to read Anthony Gilbert's The Long Shadow, written in 1932, and completely neglected the date (and obviously the real title) and bought his Death Casts A Long Shadow from 1959 instead (originally published as Death Takes a Wife). It's no surprise; here at casa mia our 2020 hasn't ended yet with what feels like a quarterly extension. I feel really stupid for being so careless, and now of course, I can't find a copy of the 1932 book anywhere.
But in the long run, it doesn't really matter, because I quite liked this one.
It's an intriguing and ingenious puzzle that is worked out over the course of this novel; the author also offers up a bit of sleight of hand that merited a silent "bravo" toward the end. And while I don't want to go too far here, let's just say that aside from the crimes in this story, the author also spends a lot of time thematically on examining different types of love that have the power to either make or break a marriage. Then there's this: when the "intrepid detective-lawyer" Arthur Crook reveals all about the case at hand, I actually said out loud "but what about" ... (and trust me, if you read this book you'll have the same question running through your own head throughout your time with this novel) and the answer appeared on the next page. Voila -- perfect sense of timing.
I have no other experience with the character Arthur Crook to know how Death Casts a Long Shadow fares alongside the other novels, but this one had me unwilling to set the book down for any reason. Once again I find myself saying that someone really needs to republish these old books; this one was quite cleverly done so I can only imagine that the others might be just as good or even better.
definitely recommended for those who are into older British mysteries and older mystery fiction in general.
September 21, 2009
Blanche French gets what she really wanted - a husband. But once Paul French gets a look at the pretty nurse taking care of his rich wife, he can't help falling for her. Soon Mrs. French is dead. It was just an accident, protests her husband. So why is there another murder a couple of years later?
I enjoyed this one. The dilemma is there almost from the beginning - did he kill his wife or not? You don't really find out until the end.
I enjoyed this one. The dilemma is there almost from the beginning - did he kill his wife or not? You don't really find out until the end.
November 24, 2021
I got to the solution before Gilbert did, which was disappointing. Excellent writing, but the plot was thin.
April 30, 2014
Blanche French is wealthy and married to Paul a successful solicitor. The problem is she never lets him forget that she’s the one with the money. When she dies in what Paul insists is an accident there are many people who don’t believe him. When other deaths follow Arthur Crook becomes involved and discovers more than some people might have wanted him to discover.
I am getting used to the format of these Arthur Crook mysteries but some may find them irritating. The crime is displayed to the reader in the first half of the book and Crook often doesn’t become involved until more than half way through. If you want to see more of the detective from the start then you may not enjoy these books. I find it interesting to try and work out whether who is really the murderer before Crook himself works it out.
If you like Golden Age type crime stories then you will probably enjoy this series even though Arthur Crook is very far from being the average aristocratic sleuth of the era. The books do not need to be read in the order in which they were published.
I am getting used to the format of these Arthur Crook mysteries but some may find them irritating. The crime is displayed to the reader in the first half of the book and Crook often doesn’t become involved until more than half way through. If you want to see more of the detective from the start then you may not enjoy these books. I find it interesting to try and work out whether who is really the murderer before Crook himself works it out.
If you like Golden Age type crime stories then you will probably enjoy this series even though Arthur Crook is very far from being the average aristocratic sleuth of the era. The books do not need to be read in the order in which they were published.
June 7, 2021
Death Casts a Long Shadow is a psychological thriller. Paul French falls in love with the nurse who is taking care of his wife, Blanche. Blanche is killed but Paul claims it was an accident. The rest of the book is mainly character driven and a look at love and marriage. A detective, Arthur Crook, appears occasionally to move the story along. I was surprised to find that this 1959 novel was the 36th in the series. I certainly didn't feel I had missed anything by not reading the previous stories.
December 1, 2017
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
December 31, 2017
Intriguing.
More here: http://inkquilletc.blogspot.in/2017/1...
More here: http://inkquilletc.blogspot.in/2017/1...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews