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Who Rides a Tiger
1946 Crime Club Edition. All orders ship with confirmation number. "The Cat" brings you good books for less!
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1946
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September 11, 2022
I remember when I read this the first time, I was shocked by the twist ending. I recommended it to a friend, and she had the same reaction as me. Neither of us saw the ending coming, and I thought it was one of the best mysteries I had ever read.
July 8, 2021
Susan Lowden, a single woman of twenty-six is still living with her father, Dwight Lowden.
Dwight’s character is described by the narrator as, “A self-centered man, living in his world of individualism.”
On one particular morning, the phone rings at the Lowden home. The caller is none other than Mrs. Leeper, the housekeeper of Harriet Lowden, aunt to Dwight and great aunt to Susan. Susan’s great aunt livers in a mansion across town.
It was Susan who picked up the ringing phone. She listens as the housekeeper asks for her father, there is urgency in the woman’s voice on the other end of the line as she says that it concerns her great aunt Harriet.
As Susan listens to the nervous voice of the housekeeper, there are many thoughts popping up in her head. For one, she knows that the apprehension in the tone of Mrs. Leeper’s voice, combined with the fact that the housekeeper almost never called her or her father, meant that there must be something rather dire happening with her great aunt.
Susan also knew that whatever the problem might be her dad would be disinterested in assisting in any way. She remembered her father telling Susan that when he was young, he had been fond of his aunt Harriet, but as he grew older, each of them had become self-centered in their ways, and an indifference led to a distant kind of dislike between aunt and nephew.
As a result of this, Susan very seldom saw her great aunt Harriet, the last time was about three years past.
And despite the distance between them, Susan was always intrigued with her great aunt. This intrigue, Susan had to admit, was partly because she was much wealthier than she and her father were, and the other part, was the mysterious ways in which Harriet lived her secret, quite solitary life at the mansion. Susan always suspected that there was a story behind her great aunt’s unconventional lifestyle, but never had the kind of relationship with her that would allow her to learn about the older woman’s past.
And after considering all these things, Susan decided to take control of whatever situation the housekeeper might present. She involuntarily grips the receiver a bit tighter as she tells a lie to the housekeeper on the other end of the line, “My father isn’t very well, perhaps I can be of assistance?”
The dead air on the other end of the line indicated that Mrs. Leeper was considering the idea, but after a few seconds, in a lower tone of voice, she confides that she’s concerned about Harriet. She won’t get out of bed, and she eats almost nothing.
Susan listens to the housekeeper’s concerns, and as she does, realizes that she’s not particularly concerned about being helpful to the housekeeper, nor is she very moved by the condition of her selfish, hermitical great aunt.
No, it was nothing more than the prospect of a small adventure that piqued Susan’s interest. She would go to her great aunt’s house, be admitted by Mrs. Leeper, have a talk with the mistress, and who knew what might come of that interview?
Susan’s father Dwight had been sunning himself in the backyard, and soon, he would be coming in for his lunch, then an afternoon nap. And it was just after he’d settled in for his rest that Susan eased the car out of the garage, heading for her great aunt’s home. And even as she drew near the residence, it’s grandeur once again impressed her,
“Her house stood far back from the street, behind a picket fence painted white. The ivy on its brick walls was rich toned in the sunlight. It was a large, handsome house that invited a comparison with the small, shabby dwelling Susan and her father lived in.”
She alights the car, admiring the house as she draws near, then knocks on the door. Soon, the small, timid looking housekeeper, probably in her late sixties, opened the door, viewing Susan with a mixture of apprehension and relief.
The apprehension, Susan guessed, was the result of the housekeeper looking at her, probably remembering that she was in her mid twenties, but perhaps thinking she was looking even younger in Mrs. Leeper’s eyes. The housekeeper had placed the desperate call in the hopes that a person of some seniority in the Lowden Family might be summoned, but instead, Susan guessed, she was looking back at this young girl.
The relief, Susan also guessed was due to the fact that any Lowden, young or old, had bothered to show up at all.
The Lowden “Family,” Susan knew, was a term of abstraction. It was now not so much a family, as it was a scattered bunch of people who happened to have the last name. The young woman standing in the doorway, Susan perceived the housekeeper thinking, was young and inexperienced, but at least there was someone with her to help take responsibility for the urgent situation happening with her employer.
A few seconds later, Mrs. Leeper admitted Susan into the house, she closed the door and looked nervously at Susan, “You won’t let her know I phoned, will you?”
Susan agreed to say nothing of the reasons for her arrival when she spoke to her great aunt, her eyes looked to the upstairs where she remembered her bedroom was.
The housekeeper followed her gaze, clasping her hands, whispering in an agitated fashion, “She’s dying, I know she is. I’ve been so worried, alone with her here, and her refusing to let me call a doctor. Today, she’s worse, she can’t get out of bed.”
Susan patted her arm, “You were perfectly right to get in touch with us. Why don’t you sit down and relax a little? I’ll go up and see how she is.” Susan was speaking with an assurance she did not feel. As she walked up the stairs, she realized this was already feeling less like an adventure and more like a precarious situation. All kinds of misgivings assaulted her as she neared the top of the stairs.
Susan saw that the door to her great aunt’s bedroom was open. She stepped in and was about to announce herself when her aunt sharply said,
“Who’s there? Mrs. Leeper? What’s all that talk going on?”
“It’s I aunt Harriet, Susan Lowden, the girl said as she stepped into the room.”
The old woman in the bed turned at her to look at her without interest. “Well…why are you here?”
“I heard you were ill. I thought I would see for myself.”
“Take a good look now that you are here, and then go away!”
“I think I should” as she stepped closer, studying her elderly great aunt. The older woman’s face was thinner and more wrinkled then even she remembered. Her eyes were deeper in her sockets. The woman’s bone structure was more prominent because of the weight loss. She looked old beyond belief. And yet, Susan thought, the bone’s showing so plainly made it possible for her to glimpse the girl her great aunt had once been. A girl that must have possessed much beauty. In that moment, some of the prospect of an adventure returned to Susan. She wanted to unlock the mystery of her great aunt’s shadowy past.
But based on what she before her, there was much time.
She was dying. The stamp of it was there; the process had begun, withdrawing vitality and the beginning of disintegration.
Suddenly, Susan perceived the presence of the housekeeper behind her. “How is my aunt’s appetite?” not turning to address her but still studying the older woman in the bed.
“She’s not eating a thing. Not a thing.” The housekeeper answered in reckless defiance of the still figure in the bed.
“She must see a doctor,” Susan asserted.
“She said she doesn’t want to see one,” Mrs. Leeper replied, speaking as if the old woman was not even in the room, otherwise she would not have spoken in such a forward fashion.
“But of course, she will,” Susan spoke up rather matter-of-factly. “She can’t stay here like this.”
It was then that Harriet spoke up, her tone of voice as harsh as possible in the hopes of persuading the two persistent women before her. “I won’t have a doctor in this house. If you call one in spite of me, I will refuse to see him.” She then turned and levelled her gaze at Susan. “As for you, girl…suppose you stop interfering in my affairs and go home where you belong. I’ve seen all I want to see of you.”
Susan and Harriet then stared each other down for a few moments. Finally, Susan said in a lower tone of voice, “you must know you are quite ill.”
“I’m not quite ill” Harriet impatiently interjected. “I’m dying.” Shaking her head now, she added, “I’ve lived a long time and I’ve come to the end of it.”
Susan wasn’t going to bother with soothing words. Instead, she decided on more practical matters, hoping to convince her aunt. “Do you intend to put Mrs. Leeper, who has been with you so many years, in a bad light after you are gone? There’ll be a death certificate to be signed, you know, and questions asked as to why she didn’t see that you had proper care? Mrs. Leeper may be in some trouble if you persist in the attitude you are taking.”
Harriet took the direct works quietly. She turned her head toward the window. “Go away and let me alone. A doctor will be of no use to me."
Compunction stirred in Susan. “What about Mrs. Leeper? Whom shall I call?”
A tired sigh came from the bed. Susan even detected a tiny bit of engagement on the part of her great aunt. Still, she had to maintain the persona of an indifferent old woman. “All right, call the young doctor if you must. But not old Gowdy.”
Susan went to the phone n the room and called Dr. Haynes. She knew this was the doctor her aunt was referring to. He’d be young to her even though eh was in his forties.
Later, Susan went home and over supper with her father, told him about Harriet. “I promised Mrs. Leeper I’d go right back.”
Dwight Lowden raised his eyebrow, “Why do you bother?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I really don’t.” Susan replied. But deep down inside she felt a strange kind of satisfaction. She had broken through to her aunt today. There was no doubt about that.
Perhaps the adventure had really begun, she thought.
The next day, her great aunt Harriet was dead.
Weeks later, Susan finds herself tasked with going through the many items in her great-aunt’s attic, and among the ancient items, Susan finds a collection of her great-aunt’s diaries from when she was a young woman. The rest of the story is anchored on entries from the diaries. I enjoyed this storytelling approach.
And in the end, this was a captivating and rather atmospheric story. There were many aspects of it I enjoyed, including: A gentlemanly dispute at a ball concerning each man’s placement on a certain young lady’s dance card, a dashing young lieutenant suitor, a grand inheritance fiercely disputed, a famous but frustrated portrait artist, an impressive treetop rescue an ancient wardrobe mistress and a smile that had the power to strip away time.
A fantastic ending to boot!
Dwight’s character is described by the narrator as, “A self-centered man, living in his world of individualism.”
On one particular morning, the phone rings at the Lowden home. The caller is none other than Mrs. Leeper, the housekeeper of Harriet Lowden, aunt to Dwight and great aunt to Susan. Susan’s great aunt livers in a mansion across town.
It was Susan who picked up the ringing phone. She listens as the housekeeper asks for her father, there is urgency in the woman’s voice on the other end of the line as she says that it concerns her great aunt Harriet.
As Susan listens to the nervous voice of the housekeeper, there are many thoughts popping up in her head. For one, she knows that the apprehension in the tone of Mrs. Leeper’s voice, combined with the fact that the housekeeper almost never called her or her father, meant that there must be something rather dire happening with her great aunt.
Susan also knew that whatever the problem might be her dad would be disinterested in assisting in any way. She remembered her father telling Susan that when he was young, he had been fond of his aunt Harriet, but as he grew older, each of them had become self-centered in their ways, and an indifference led to a distant kind of dislike between aunt and nephew.
As a result of this, Susan very seldom saw her great aunt Harriet, the last time was about three years past.
And despite the distance between them, Susan was always intrigued with her great aunt. This intrigue, Susan had to admit, was partly because she was much wealthier than she and her father were, and the other part, was the mysterious ways in which Harriet lived her secret, quite solitary life at the mansion. Susan always suspected that there was a story behind her great aunt’s unconventional lifestyle, but never had the kind of relationship with her that would allow her to learn about the older woman’s past.
And after considering all these things, Susan decided to take control of whatever situation the housekeeper might present. She involuntarily grips the receiver a bit tighter as she tells a lie to the housekeeper on the other end of the line, “My father isn’t very well, perhaps I can be of assistance?”
The dead air on the other end of the line indicated that Mrs. Leeper was considering the idea, but after a few seconds, in a lower tone of voice, she confides that she’s concerned about Harriet. She won’t get out of bed, and she eats almost nothing.
Susan listens to the housekeeper’s concerns, and as she does, realizes that she’s not particularly concerned about being helpful to the housekeeper, nor is she very moved by the condition of her selfish, hermitical great aunt.
No, it was nothing more than the prospect of a small adventure that piqued Susan’s interest. She would go to her great aunt’s house, be admitted by Mrs. Leeper, have a talk with the mistress, and who knew what might come of that interview?
Susan’s father Dwight had been sunning himself in the backyard, and soon, he would be coming in for his lunch, then an afternoon nap. And it was just after he’d settled in for his rest that Susan eased the car out of the garage, heading for her great aunt’s home. And even as she drew near the residence, it’s grandeur once again impressed her,
“Her house stood far back from the street, behind a picket fence painted white. The ivy on its brick walls was rich toned in the sunlight. It was a large, handsome house that invited a comparison with the small, shabby dwelling Susan and her father lived in.”
She alights the car, admiring the house as she draws near, then knocks on the door. Soon, the small, timid looking housekeeper, probably in her late sixties, opened the door, viewing Susan with a mixture of apprehension and relief.
The apprehension, Susan guessed, was the result of the housekeeper looking at her, probably remembering that she was in her mid twenties, but perhaps thinking she was looking even younger in Mrs. Leeper’s eyes. The housekeeper had placed the desperate call in the hopes that a person of some seniority in the Lowden Family might be summoned, but instead, Susan guessed, she was looking back at this young girl.
The relief, Susan also guessed was due to the fact that any Lowden, young or old, had bothered to show up at all.
The Lowden “Family,” Susan knew, was a term of abstraction. It was now not so much a family, as it was a scattered bunch of people who happened to have the last name. The young woman standing in the doorway, Susan perceived the housekeeper thinking, was young and inexperienced, but at least there was someone with her to help take responsibility for the urgent situation happening with her employer.
A few seconds later, Mrs. Leeper admitted Susan into the house, she closed the door and looked nervously at Susan, “You won’t let her know I phoned, will you?”
Susan agreed to say nothing of the reasons for her arrival when she spoke to her great aunt, her eyes looked to the upstairs where she remembered her bedroom was.
The housekeeper followed her gaze, clasping her hands, whispering in an agitated fashion, “She’s dying, I know she is. I’ve been so worried, alone with her here, and her refusing to let me call a doctor. Today, she’s worse, she can’t get out of bed.”
Susan patted her arm, “You were perfectly right to get in touch with us. Why don’t you sit down and relax a little? I’ll go up and see how she is.” Susan was speaking with an assurance she did not feel. As she walked up the stairs, she realized this was already feeling less like an adventure and more like a precarious situation. All kinds of misgivings assaulted her as she neared the top of the stairs.
Susan saw that the door to her great aunt’s bedroom was open. She stepped in and was about to announce herself when her aunt sharply said,
“Who’s there? Mrs. Leeper? What’s all that talk going on?”
“It’s I aunt Harriet, Susan Lowden, the girl said as she stepped into the room.”
The old woman in the bed turned at her to look at her without interest. “Well…why are you here?”
“I heard you were ill. I thought I would see for myself.”
“Take a good look now that you are here, and then go away!”
“I think I should” as she stepped closer, studying her elderly great aunt. The older woman’s face was thinner and more wrinkled then even she remembered. Her eyes were deeper in her sockets. The woman’s bone structure was more prominent because of the weight loss. She looked old beyond belief. And yet, Susan thought, the bone’s showing so plainly made it possible for her to glimpse the girl her great aunt had once been. A girl that must have possessed much beauty. In that moment, some of the prospect of an adventure returned to Susan. She wanted to unlock the mystery of her great aunt’s shadowy past.
But based on what she before her, there was much time.
She was dying. The stamp of it was there; the process had begun, withdrawing vitality and the beginning of disintegration.
Suddenly, Susan perceived the presence of the housekeeper behind her. “How is my aunt’s appetite?” not turning to address her but still studying the older woman in the bed.
“She’s not eating a thing. Not a thing.” The housekeeper answered in reckless defiance of the still figure in the bed.
“She must see a doctor,” Susan asserted.
“She said she doesn’t want to see one,” Mrs. Leeper replied, speaking as if the old woman was not even in the room, otherwise she would not have spoken in such a forward fashion.
“But of course, she will,” Susan spoke up rather matter-of-factly. “She can’t stay here like this.”
It was then that Harriet spoke up, her tone of voice as harsh as possible in the hopes of persuading the two persistent women before her. “I won’t have a doctor in this house. If you call one in spite of me, I will refuse to see him.” She then turned and levelled her gaze at Susan. “As for you, girl…suppose you stop interfering in my affairs and go home where you belong. I’ve seen all I want to see of you.”
Susan and Harriet then stared each other down for a few moments. Finally, Susan said in a lower tone of voice, “you must know you are quite ill.”
“I’m not quite ill” Harriet impatiently interjected. “I’m dying.” Shaking her head now, she added, “I’ve lived a long time and I’ve come to the end of it.”
Susan wasn’t going to bother with soothing words. Instead, she decided on more practical matters, hoping to convince her aunt. “Do you intend to put Mrs. Leeper, who has been with you so many years, in a bad light after you are gone? There’ll be a death certificate to be signed, you know, and questions asked as to why she didn’t see that you had proper care? Mrs. Leeper may be in some trouble if you persist in the attitude you are taking.”
Harriet took the direct works quietly. She turned her head toward the window. “Go away and let me alone. A doctor will be of no use to me."
Compunction stirred in Susan. “What about Mrs. Leeper? Whom shall I call?”
A tired sigh came from the bed. Susan even detected a tiny bit of engagement on the part of her great aunt. Still, she had to maintain the persona of an indifferent old woman. “All right, call the young doctor if you must. But not old Gowdy.”
Susan went to the phone n the room and called Dr. Haynes. She knew this was the doctor her aunt was referring to. He’d be young to her even though eh was in his forties.
Later, Susan went home and over supper with her father, told him about Harriet. “I promised Mrs. Leeper I’d go right back.”
Dwight Lowden raised his eyebrow, “Why do you bother?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I really don’t.” Susan replied. But deep down inside she felt a strange kind of satisfaction. She had broken through to her aunt today. There was no doubt about that.
Perhaps the adventure had really begun, she thought.
The next day, her great aunt Harriet was dead.
Weeks later, Susan finds herself tasked with going through the many items in her great-aunt’s attic, and among the ancient items, Susan finds a collection of her great-aunt’s diaries from when she was a young woman. The rest of the story is anchored on entries from the diaries. I enjoyed this storytelling approach.
And in the end, this was a captivating and rather atmospheric story. There were many aspects of it I enjoyed, including: A gentlemanly dispute at a ball concerning each man’s placement on a certain young lady’s dance card, a dashing young lieutenant suitor, a grand inheritance fiercely disputed, a famous but frustrated portrait artist, an impressive treetop rescue an ancient wardrobe mistress and a smile that had the power to strip away time.
A fantastic ending to boot!
September 8, 2007
When old Aunt Harriet died, her relatives weren't exactly crying their eyes out. She'd never wanted any of them alive, and didn't leave them a thing when she died. But here grandniece Susan is asked to help clean out the attic when she finds a diary that just might explain everything.
I liked this book, but at times, it was slow going. I enjoyed the years old mystery and the characters, but it could have been handled better. Also, I had to look up the copyright because I wondered how anyone around in 1879 could possibly be dying just now. It was written in 1946, and reflects that a bit, but it's actually pretty topical. So I found a few bits really jarring--like describing the horrible troubles with the Indians, and so on.
Interesting, but not a must read. And the cover really gives the story away.
I liked this book, but at times, it was slow going. I enjoyed the years old mystery and the characters, but it could have been handled better. Also, I had to look up the copyright because I wondered how anyone around in 1879 could possibly be dying just now. It was written in 1946, and reflects that a bit, but it's actually pretty topical. So I found a few bits really jarring--like describing the horrible troubles with the Indians, and so on.
Interesting, but not a must read. And the cover really gives the story away.
December 9, 2023
Not one of her best in my opinion.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews