Loder, Vernon


Vernon Loder was a pseudonym for John George Haslette Vahey (1881 - 1938), an Anglo-Irish writer who also wrote as Henrietta Clandon, John Haslette, Anthony Lang, John Mowbray, and Walter Proudfoot. He was born in Belfast and educated at Ulster, Foyle College, and Hanover. Four years after he graduated college he was apprentice to an architect and later tried his hand at accounting before turning to fiction writing full time. 

 

These tidbits were taken directly from Loder's bio in a copy of Two Dead (Collins, 1934):   "He once wrote a novel in twenty days on a boarding-house table, and had it serialised in U.S.A. and England under another name... He works very quickly and thinks two hours a day in the morning quite enough for any one. He composes direct on a machine and does not re-write."  Truth or hyperbole?  You decide.

 

Vahey's series characters were Inspector Brews, Chief Inspector R. J. "Terry" Chace, Donald Cairn (as Loder); William Power, Penny & Vincent Mercer (as Henrietta Clandon); and Inspector Bill Vallance (as Proudfoot). No other series characters have been identified in the books under his remaining pseudonyms.  Series characters are identified in all titles listed below.

 

Bibliography

The Mystery at Stowe (1928)

Whose Hand? (1929) (in the US as Between Twelve and One)

The Vase Mystery (1929)

The Shop Window Murders (1930)

The Essex Murders (1930) (in the US as The Death Pool) - with Inspector Brews

Death of an Editor (1931) - with Inspector Brews

Red Stain (1931)

Death in the Thicket (1932)

Death at the Wheel (1933)

Suspicion (1933)

Murder from Three Angles (1934) - with Chief Inspector Chace

Two Dead (1934)

Death at the Horse Show (1935) - with Chief Inspector Chace

The Case of the Dead Doctor (1935)

Ship of Secrets (1936)

The Deaf Mute Murders (1936)

The Little Man Murders (1936)

Choose Your Weapon (1937)

The Men with the Double Faces (1937) - with Donald Cairn

A Wolf in the Fold (1938) - with Donald Cairn

The Button in the Plate (1938)

Kill in the Ring (1938)

 

As Henrietta Clandon

Inquest (1933)

The Ghost Party (1934)

Rope by Arrangement (1935)  - with William Power, Penny & Vincent Mercer

Good by Stealth (1936) - with William Power (alone in a minor role)

This Delicate Murder (1936) - with William Power, Penny & Vincent Mercer

Power on the Scent (1937) - with William Power, Penny & Vincent Mercer

Fog Off Weymouth (1938) - with the Mercers (alone)

 

As John Haslette

The Man Who Pulled the Strings (1916)

 

As John Haslette Vahey

Down River (1925)

Fiddlestrings (1925)

The Storm Lady (1926)

Mr. Nemesis (1930)

Mystery at the Inn (1931)

Death by the Gaff (1932)

Witness in Support (1932)

Tragic Lesson (1933)

Spies in Ambush (1934)

Secrets for Sale (1935)

 

As Anthony Lang

The Crime (1927)

The Man with Three Threads (1928)

Fly Country (1928)

The Daring Diana (1929)

Evidence (1930)

 

As John Mowbray

Call the Yard (1931)

 

As Walter Proudfoot

Crime in the Arcade (1931)

The Trail of the Ruby (1932)

Arrest (1933) - with Inspector Bill Vallance

Conspiracy (1933) - with Inspector Bill Vallance

 

As George Varney

The Missing Link (1926)