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| Crime-Book Society paperback edition No. 14 - 1936? |
The title of Sidney Horler's first chapter, Dark Man - Fair Man, is apt, as we meet the villain (or one of them) and the hero within the first two pages. Diana Marsh is returning from the USA on the Mauretania and the liner is due to dock at Southampton on the morrow. Once again, she is being pestered by a cad - one Hector Graham - and, once again, she scorns him. He could have killed the little devil. Hard on his heels comes the fair man, Stephen Hurd (there was a suggestion of quiet and unsuspected strength in young Stephen - she felt safe with him). He had been educated at Repton - bound to be a good egg, then. The ship docks; Diana looks forward to seeing her father and her pet greyhound, Lass of Fortune. Bad news awaits. Her father's kennel master, Josh Kelly, is on the quayside, but no father. That's because he had died in his sleep the previous night.
Of course, Stephen is suddenly alongside to help. Thank goodness, as she felt she wanted a man of this class to talk to. Off the three of them go to Belton Chase in the New Forest, that small Georgian mansion over which James Marsh had lavished care and money. Further bad news awaits; the family solicitor informs Diana that her father had died a poor man; the home would have to be sold. Thus, the scene is set for Diana and Stephen to get to know more of each other and Hector to prowl. In fact, Chapter III is simply entitled The Enemy. While Diana is being shown a small cottage by her solicitor, George Smedley, a bluff northerner, a car swept by at a terrific pace - it is driven by...Hector Graham. He must not buy Belton Chase! In fact, it is purchased by a mystery bidder. Diana manages to buy back her greyhound, whilst the rest of the pack is sold to Hector. The cad also swears undying love for her, but he is more than just a harmless bounder. So much so, that Stephen, who seems to be never far away, knocks him down due to his over-familiarity towards Diana. Stephen has also given her a special telephone number - Whitehall 14000. Guess what: Stephen is The Man from Scotland Yard.
A further Chapter explains what Hector Graham is really up to. In fact, he is not 'Mr. Big'; that position is reserved for Kingfisher Dan. Captain Daniel McCorkell was a resourceful, unscrupulous, predatory master crook of Mayfair. Nicknamed for his fondness for flamboyant clothes, he was Hector's boss. It was his money which had set up Hector in the prepossessing Longmoor Grange, not too far from Diana's old home. The two crooks meet up at the Grange. The reader now finds out what nefarious business they are involved in - printing fake banknotes, for America, Europe etc. Hector's visit to America had been to set up a link with a New York crime lord. The master forger is one James Bailey released from a seven years' stretch in Dartmoor. His whereabouts is a mystery. And Stephen Hurd is one of the ones trying to pin them all down. This criminal - detective cat and mouse game is what finds poor Diana enmeshed in.
Diana moves into Hope Cottage with Josh and her greyhound, which is being trained to run at the greyhound track (her father had been well-known there). Once again, she meets up with the unpleasant Hector. I felt that the greyhound sections of the novel possibly pandered to the author's own interests. Horler constructs a fast-paced narrative, with plenty of thrills along the way. He has Stephen Hurd and Hector Graham engage in not only verbal sparring ("I've devoured crook stories since I was a kid, and I've never yet come across a real detective"), but also fisticuffs and revolver pointing. There are dashes of humour and the usual flashes of racism from Horler (a buck n-g--r is mentioned, as is a fat, greasy Italian). It all ends well, of course. Stephen comes up trumps for the Yard - Kingfisher Dan and the forger Bailey are caught; Hector Graham can be charged with the murder of his thug henchman Cecil Kater; Diana and Stephen can get hitched and live at Belton Chase (a 'front man' had bought it for Stephen, who was very wealthy!); and Josh can sleep next door to Lass of Fortune. I enjoy a good yarn.
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