Double for the Toff

Toff #40

by John Creasey

Within a few minutes of each other, two puzzling yet unconnected cases are presented to The Honourable Richard Rollison (aka ‘The Toff’), with requests for help. The beautiful Isabel Cole’s fiancée is accused of murder and she needs to save him from what seems an unjust fate, whilst Cedric Dwight is being pursued by a gang of murderous hoodlums. Both are urgent and complex cases and for a moment it seems that ‘The Toff’ will have to choose between them. There is absolutely no connection between the cases and yet ….

Genres: Mystery

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

AKA Gordon Ashe, M E Cooke, Norman Deane, Robert Caine Frazer, Patrick Gill, Michael Halliday, Charles Hogarth, Brian Hope, Colin Hughes, Kyle Hunt, Margaret Lisle, Abel Mann, Peter Manton, J.J. Marric, Richard Martin, Rodney Mattheson, Anthony Morton, Jeremy York, Henry St. John Cooper and Margaret Cooke.

John Creasey (September 17, 1908 - June 9, 1973) was born in Southfields, Surrey, England and died in New Hall, Bodenham, Salisbury Wiltshire, England. He was the seventh of nine children in a working class home. He became an English author of crime thrillers, published in excess of 600 books under 20+ different pseudonyms. He invented many famous characters who would appear in a whole series of novels. Probably the most famous of these is Gideon of Scotland Yard, the basis for the television program Gideon's Way but others include Department Z, Dr. Palfrey, The Toff, Inspector Roger West, and The Baron (which was also made into a television series). In 1962, Creasey won an Edgar Award for Best Novel, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Gideon's Fire, written under the pen name J. J. Marric. And in 1969 he was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Honourable Richard Rollinson, also known as The Toff, amateur detective with friends both in the Underworld and at Scotland Yard, is confronted with two potential cases in the space of a few hours. The mother and girlfriend of Fred Benning, a young man arrested on suspicion of having murdered his trashy bit-on-the-side, appeal to him for help. While he's still making up his mind about whether to take on this hopeless-sounding case, he notices a man on a motorcycle taking a potshot at another man in the street. The shaken victim, Cedric Dwight, confides to The Toff that he has been the target of multiple assassination attempts in the past few weeks, and for no reason that anyone can understand. Soon someone coshes The Toff and throws him in the Thames. His manservant is tied up and Dwight is kidnapped. A motorcycle gang beats up The Toff's best East End connection. Another set of men terrorize Dwights's wife. And the Toff's investigations into the case of Fred Benning aren't going too well, either.

I found this a pretty generic mystery. The figure of the aristocratic amateur sleuth with his multi-talented butler-sidekick is a bit of a cliché by now. What was fresh in the days of Lord Peter Wimsey and Albert Campion felt flat in this book from 1959.

[Delores Alger · Rating 4 out of 5]

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