Wallace, Edgar - The Frightened Lady (1933)

A first-rate thriller. Wallace's prodigality with books sometimes obscures his abundant talents. When he put his mind to it -- as he did here -- he could produce books as compelling as any of his contemporaries. The Frightened Lady centres on the manor house, Marks Priory, in the village of Marks Thornton, and its odd household: the imperious Lady Lebanon, obsessed with heraldry and the continuance of her lineage; her son Lord Lebanon, amiable but apparently spineless; the frightened lady herself, sleepwalking Isla Crane; the genial but secretive American footmen, who seem more like mobsters; the elderly butler and assertive lady's maid; and the chauffeur, Studd, whose horrible murder brings the village to the attention of Scotland Yard. A frequent visitor to the house is the sinister Dr. Amersham, who seems to have a hold over them all.

Wallace has an apparently inexhaustible fund of appealing detectives. Here the investigation is carried out by the waspish Chief Inspector Bill Tanner, aided (and sometimes hindered) by his assistants, Sergeants Totty and Fellaby. Together they sort out the mystery surrounding the village and the house, and tease out the truth. This is a genuine mystery story, a comparative rarity in the Wallace canon, and nearly all the interest focuses on the process of investigation. Clues are not abundant, but they are there; there is plenty of humour; and the truth that emerges at the end of the book may well come as a complete shock to the reader. Highly recommended, and a sign of what Wallace could achieve at his best.

The Frightened Lady should soon be available from Gutenberg Australia.

Jon.