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bev_reads_mysteries's review
4.0
Tenant for the Tomb (1971) by Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Beatrice Malleson) finds the irrepressible Arthur Crook, lawyer-detective whose clients are always innocent (Always.), mixed up with two ladies who plunge in where angels fear to tread and who can talk the hing leg off a donkey without batting an eye. He first meets Dora Chester and Imogene "Dotty" Garland on the train station at Penton. They and three others are waiting for the train to London. They get to chatting as you do when stuck in a train waiting room and Crook gets a taste of Imogene's unique brand of random, non sequitur talk. Then he and Dora witness what looks to be an attempt by Imogene's companion, Miss Styles (aka Miss Plum as named by Imogene), to shove Imogene under the train.
Crook manages to grab Imogene in time and as he and Dora discuss the odd scene (there's really nothing to prove it wasn't just an accident or a slip on Imogene's part), the lawyer hands Dora his card and asks for her address. Just in case something happens. She's actually preparing to leave London and move to the Penton area, so..
Well, sugar, drop me a line before you go and give me the new address. No, I'm not making a pass--as if you ever thought I would--but if something does happen to Dotty I'd like to have my witness. And, like I said before, the time could ven come when you could do with a bit of help yourself.
The next thing he knows something has happened. But it's Miss Styles who is dead and Imogene has disappeared. The two women had taken a hotel room in London and while Imogene was having a bath (at Miss Styles's suggestion) someone had shoved Miss Styles out the window. After the police finish a round of preliminary question and leave her in the charge of a nurse--more to keep an eye on her than because she's in shock, Imogene decides that having had to endure Miss Styles's constant companionship she isn't keen on being kept under the watch of another keeper and makes a bid for freedom.
She's not sure where to go, but then she remembers Dora and her invitation to "come see me at my new house" sometime. Well...no time like the present. Once there, she and Dora join forces with Arthur Crook to find out who killed Miss Styles. And why Miss Styles behaved so oddly about where to stay. And why Miss Styles posted all her letters in another town rather than using the local post office. And why Miss Styles swore Imogene to secrecy over her brother. And just exactly who was blackmailing whom? The investigation will take them to a seedy seaside resort where Miss Styles had previously had a partnership in a run-down hotel and ends in a lonely churchyard where a freshly dug grave tempts our villain to try one more spot of murder.
I think this is my favorite Arthur Crook mystery yet. I've found that I much prefer the stories where the lawyer shows up early in the proceedings. As I've mentioned before, Gilbert/Malleson is much more effective when she's writing about her protagonist and his interactions with other characters. This particular plot contained numerous laugh-out-loud moments, especially when Crook, Imogene, and Dora are all on stage. The conversation runs like a comedy team's patter routine. And the plot is quite good too. I had my heart set on a certain culprit and managed to disregard any and all clues that Gilbert/Malleson provided along the way.
First posted on my blogMy Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Crook manages to grab Imogene in time and as he and Dora discuss the odd scene (there's really nothing to prove it wasn't just an accident or a slip on Imogene's part), the lawyer hands Dora his card and asks for her address. Just in case something happens. She's actually preparing to leave London and move to the Penton area, so..
Well, sugar, drop me a line before you go and give me the new address. No, I'm not making a pass--as if you ever thought I would--but if something does happen to Dotty I'd like to have my witness. And, like I said before, the time could ven come when you could do with a bit of help yourself.
The next thing he knows something has happened. But it's Miss Styles who is dead and Imogene has disappeared. The two women had taken a hotel room in London and while Imogene was having a bath (at Miss Styles's suggestion) someone had shoved Miss Styles out the window. After the police finish a round of preliminary question and leave her in the charge of a nurse--more to keep an eye on her than because she's in shock, Imogene decides that having had to endure Miss Styles's constant companionship she isn't keen on being kept under the watch of another keeper and makes a bid for freedom.
She's not sure where to go, but then she remembers Dora and her invitation to "come see me at my new house" sometime. Well...no time like the present. Once there, she and Dora join forces with Arthur Crook to find out who killed Miss Styles. And why Miss Styles behaved so oddly about where to stay. And why Miss Styles posted all her letters in another town rather than using the local post office. And why Miss Styles swore Imogene to secrecy over her brother. And just exactly who was blackmailing whom? The investigation will take them to a seedy seaside resort where Miss Styles had previously had a partnership in a run-down hotel and ends in a lonely churchyard where a freshly dug grave tempts our villain to try one more spot of murder.
I think this is my favorite Arthur Crook mystery yet. I've found that I much prefer the stories where the lawyer shows up early in the proceedings. As I've mentioned before, Gilbert/Malleson is much more effective when she's writing about her protagonist and his interactions with other characters. This particular plot contained numerous laugh-out-loud moments, especially when Crook, Imogene, and Dora are all on stage. The conversation runs like a comedy team's patter routine. And the plot is quite good too. I had my heart set on a certain culprit and managed to disregard any and all clues that Gilbert/Malleson provided along the way.
First posted on my blogMy Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
cmbohn's review
4.0
Arthur Crook is traveling up to London one day when he spots a curious pair of ladies. One he christens Daisy, the other a stiff sort of female who seems to treat the chatty Daisy as if she's an escapee from a mental home. Young Daphne is also on the train. Crook predicts a sticky end for one the ladies, but he's wrong about which one.
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