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dmwhipp's review
4.0
Very enjoyable murder mystery set in London in the early part of the 20th century. Journalist Frank Sprago works with Scotland Yard to help solve a perplexing murder. I particularly liked the writing style. I would have liked a touch more character development, but still found it great fun.
fictionfan's review
5.0
A mysterious victim...
When young newspaper editor Frank Spargo happens upon a murder scene late one night, his journalistic instincts lead him to follow the story. Fortunately the police detective in charge of the case doesn’t seem to have a problem with sharing all the evidence with a journalist and soon Spargo is taking the lead in the investigation. The first thing is to identify the victim, but this turns out not to be as easy as might be expected. The man’s wallet and papers have been removed from his body, and even when they begin to trace him, he seems to have a mysterious past. Spargo will have to go back into that past to find out who the man is, what he was doing in Middle Temple late at night and who had the motive and opportunity to kill him.
All that is found on the victim’s body is a scrap of paper with the name and address of a young barrister, Ronald Breton. Breton has never met the man, but since he’s just starting his first case and is yet to make his name in legal circles, it seems unlikely the victim would have been looking for him in his professional capacity. When it turns out the man had met Stephen Aylmore the evening before – an MP and the father of Breton’s fiancée – it all begins to look like the motive is more likely to be personal, and Aylmore quickly becomes the chief suspect. Fortunately for Aylmore he has two daughters and Spargo finds himself falling for the other one, giving him an incentive to clear Aylmore’s name.
It took me a while to really get into this one but after a slowish start it begins to rattle along at a good pace, and the plot is that great combination of being twisty and complicated without ever becoming hard to follow. Spargo does his detection the old fashioned way – by talking to people, noticing discrepancies between the stories of various witnesses and using those to prise open the secrets that some of them are hiding. First published in 1919 in the age of the gifted amateur detective, the idea of a journalist being so closely involved in a police investigation doesn’t seem as unbelievable as it would today, and Spargo mostly shares all the information he finds, although eventually he and Rathbury, the police detective, find themselves on opposite sides – Rathbury trying to prove the guilt of Aylesbury and Spargo trying to prove his innocence.
Most of the action takes place in London, around Fleet Street and the Middle Temple, but the story takes Spargo out of the city too, first to a small market town where he uncovers some long past scandals that seem to have a bearing on the case, and then up to Yorkshire for a finale deep in the moors. Fletcher describes each setting well, giving a real feeling for the different ways of life in the various places. None of the characterisation is particularly in-depth, but it’s done well enough so that I soon found myself rooting for some of the characters to be cleared while others I was prepared to see go to the gallows. Fletcher, anticipating the Golden Age style, gave me a solution that meant I could feel justice had been done. I must say it’s a sudden solution, though! Boom – here’s the final piece that makes it all fall into place, and we’re done. My brain could have done with an extra three or four pages to give me time to process what just happened! But I didn’t think it was unfair or illogical – just abrupt.
All-in-all, I enjoyed this one a lot. It does feel rather dated in style (which I don’t mind, but some people might) and frankly could have done with a stiff edit to get rid of one or two little discrepancies, but they weren’t enough of a problem to bother me nor to affect the overall outcome. I was disappointed to read in Martin Edward’s entry in his [b:The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books|34136879|The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books|Martin Edwards|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1487224262l/34136879._SX50_.jpg|55174134] that Fletcher never revisited the Spargo character in later books – I reckon he could have made a good series detective. However apparently Fletcher did create another series detective later, Ronald Camberwell, and I’d happily try one or two of those if I can get hold of them. Meantime, this one is recommended as well written, cleverly plotted and entertaining. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB I downloaded this one from wikisource. The formatting is very good.
When young newspaper editor Frank Spargo happens upon a murder scene late one night, his journalistic instincts lead him to follow the story. Fortunately the police detective in charge of the case doesn’t seem to have a problem with sharing all the evidence with a journalist and soon Spargo is taking the lead in the investigation. The first thing is to identify the victim, but this turns out not to be as easy as might be expected. The man’s wallet and papers have been removed from his body, and even when they begin to trace him, he seems to have a mysterious past. Spargo will have to go back into that past to find out who the man is, what he was doing in Middle Temple late at night and who had the motive and opportunity to kill him.
All that is found on the victim’s body is a scrap of paper with the name and address of a young barrister, Ronald Breton. Breton has never met the man, but since he’s just starting his first case and is yet to make his name in legal circles, it seems unlikely the victim would have been looking for him in his professional capacity. When it turns out the man had met Stephen Aylmore the evening before – an MP and the father of Breton’s fiancée – it all begins to look like the motive is more likely to be personal, and Aylmore quickly becomes the chief suspect. Fortunately for Aylmore he has two daughters and Spargo finds himself falling for the other one, giving him an incentive to clear Aylmore’s name.
It took me a while to really get into this one but after a slowish start it begins to rattle along at a good pace, and the plot is that great combination of being twisty and complicated without ever becoming hard to follow. Spargo does his detection the old fashioned way – by talking to people, noticing discrepancies between the stories of various witnesses and using those to prise open the secrets that some of them are hiding. First published in 1919 in the age of the gifted amateur detective, the idea of a journalist being so closely involved in a police investigation doesn’t seem as unbelievable as it would today, and Spargo mostly shares all the information he finds, although eventually he and Rathbury, the police detective, find themselves on opposite sides – Rathbury trying to prove the guilt of Aylesbury and Spargo trying to prove his innocence.
Most of the action takes place in London, around Fleet Street and the Middle Temple, but the story takes Spargo out of the city too, first to a small market town where he uncovers some long past scandals that seem to have a bearing on the case, and then up to Yorkshire for a finale deep in the moors. Fletcher describes each setting well, giving a real feeling for the different ways of life in the various places. None of the characterisation is particularly in-depth, but it’s done well enough so that I soon found myself rooting for some of the characters to be cleared while others I was prepared to see go to the gallows. Fletcher, anticipating the Golden Age style, gave me a solution that meant I could feel justice had been done. I must say it’s a sudden solution, though! Boom – here’s the final piece that makes it all fall into place, and we’re done. My brain could have done with an extra three or four pages to give me time to process what just happened! But I didn’t think it was unfair or illogical – just abrupt.
All-in-all, I enjoyed this one a lot. It does feel rather dated in style (which I don’t mind, but some people might) and frankly could have done with a stiff edit to get rid of one or two little discrepancies, but they weren’t enough of a problem to bother me nor to affect the overall outcome. I was disappointed to read in Martin Edward’s entry in his [b:The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books|34136879|The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books|Martin Edwards|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1487224262l/34136879._SX50_.jpg|55174134] that Fletcher never revisited the Spargo character in later books – I reckon he could have made a good series detective. However apparently Fletcher did create another series detective later, Ronald Camberwell, and I’d happily try one or two of those if I can get hold of them. Meantime, this one is recommended as well written, cleverly plotted and entertaining. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB I downloaded this one from wikisource. The formatting is very good.
mazza57's review
3.0
For something so old this stands up to the modern world. A man is found murdered within the are of middle temple London. not quite first on the scene but a close second or third is Frank Sprago a journalist. The police are represented by a solid but somewhat unimaginative Rathbury. They agree to pool Resources to find the perpetrator. Whilst the police eventually pick on one man who has been economical wight he truth regarding his place in the events Sprago continues to investigate and uncovers a convoluted history. It is very easy to read and follow the workings of Sprago's mind. The characterisation is diverse and it remind me a little of [b:The 39 Steps|153492|The 39 Steps (Richard Hannay, #1)|John Buchan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391320797l/153492._SY75_.jpg|2422487] in its story telling.
I hadn't heard of the author before but he is quite prolific and I would definitely read more from him.
I hadn't heard of the author before but he is quite prolific and I would definitely read more from him.
sethlynch's review
2.0
Another Audio book . This one was a free download from Libravox via Guttenberg.
It was OK. The reading got a bit bad towards the end. Some of the readers stumbled over entire paragraphs without stopping the tape and starting again. The odd word is ok but not a paragraph. This was matched by the bad writing – the plot was all right but the repitition tedious. ‘He opened the door, he went through the door he had opened.’ Did he really – and exactly how wide did he open the door, pray tell?
It was OK. The reading got a bit bad towards the end. Some of the readers stumbled over entire paragraphs without stopping the tape and starting again. The odd word is ok but not a paragraph. This was matched by the bad writing – the plot was all right but the repitition tedious. ‘He opened the door, he went through the door he had opened.’ Did he really – and exactly how wide did he open the door, pray tell?
quietjenn's review
3.0
Solid, if not particularly remarkable, old school mystery; bears some similarities to the other Fletcher novel I've read (and liked a little better) but still very dependable and enjoyable.
bev_reads_mysteries's review
4.0
Frank Spargo is a young journalist who has just finished his shift as dawn breaks across London and plans to make his way home for breakfast and a good, long sleep. As he passes Middle Temple Lane, home to various barristers and the like, he notices Driscoll, a policeman of his acquaintance, looking about him and signalling to another policeman nearby. Sensing a possible story he approaches Driscoll to find out what's up.
A porter has found the body of an elderly man on the steps leading to one of the chambers in the Middle Temple. Spargo hooks up with Detective Sergeant Rathbury who arrives to take charge of the case and they soon find that there is nothing at all on the man to identify him.The only lead is a piece of paper that had slipped into the lining of a pocket and which has the name and address of a young barrister, Ronald Breton. Spargo has recently made the barrister's acquaintance through a newspaper article. Breton, when questioned, claims no knowledge of the man but he becomes interested in the case and he, Spargo, and Rathbury work--sometimes in tandem and sometimes along separate lines--towards the solution.
I first read The Middle Temple Murder (1919) by J. S. Fletcher over twenty-five years ago (back before I did any sort of review on what I read) and when the library finally purged its copy and put it up for sale in its Friends of the Library Used Bookstore I snatched it up so I could own it and read it again. Fortunately, from the mystery-puzzle stand-point, I had very little memory of the story and was able to enjoy myself without knowing the solution beforehand. Fletcher provides us with a very nice early detective novel. His policeman is neither antagonistic towards the amateur detective work of Spargo nor is Rathbury incompetent (as so many fictional policemen are portrayed). Each of the men follow up the clues they find and pool their knowledge. If anyone keeps information up their sleeves, it's Spargo--all in the effort to get a big scoop.
This is a fast-moving story which follows our investigators from one adventure to the next, from one witness to another. There are several features that would become standard in mystery stories--mysterious man from the past killed for unknown reasons, wealthy man of business with mysterious background, the missing child--but here, because it is such an early example, they seem fresh. The main disappointment I have with the book is the denouement. The reveal of the culprit at the end comes much too quickly and with too little explanation. One can just see the motive for the murder, but Fletcher gives the wrap-up very little effort. It's as if he said--"Well, X did it. That's all you need to know." Other than the ending, this is a fine example of an early mystery story and, from what I read on the internet, one of Fletcher's better efforts. ★★★★ (I gave it five stars previously.)
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
A porter has found the body of an elderly man on the steps leading to one of the chambers in the Middle Temple. Spargo hooks up with Detective Sergeant Rathbury who arrives to take charge of the case and they soon find that there is nothing at all on the man to identify him.The only lead is a piece of paper that had slipped into the lining of a pocket and which has the name and address of a young barrister, Ronald Breton. Spargo has recently made the barrister's acquaintance through a newspaper article. Breton, when questioned, claims no knowledge of the man but he becomes interested in the case and he, Spargo, and Rathbury work--sometimes in tandem and sometimes along separate lines--towards the solution.
I first read The Middle Temple Murder (1919) by J. S. Fletcher over twenty-five years ago (back before I did any sort of review on what I read) and when the library finally purged its copy and put it up for sale in its Friends of the Library Used Bookstore I snatched it up so I could own it and read it again. Fortunately, from the mystery-puzzle stand-point, I had very little memory of the story and was able to enjoy myself without knowing the solution beforehand. Fletcher provides us with a very nice early detective novel. His policeman is neither antagonistic towards the amateur detective work of Spargo nor is Rathbury incompetent (as so many fictional policemen are portrayed). Each of the men follow up the clues they find and pool their knowledge. If anyone keeps information up their sleeves, it's Spargo--all in the effort to get a big scoop.
This is a fast-moving story which follows our investigators from one adventure to the next, from one witness to another. There are several features that would become standard in mystery stories--mysterious man from the past killed for unknown reasons, wealthy man of business with mysterious background, the missing child--but here, because it is such an early example, they seem fresh. The main disappointment I have with the book is the denouement. The reveal of the culprit at the end comes much too quickly and with too little explanation. One can just see the motive for the murder, but Fletcher gives the wrap-up very little effort. It's as if he said--"Well, X did it. That's all you need to know." Other than the ending, this is a fine example of an early mystery story and, from what I read on the internet, one of Fletcher's better efforts. ★★★★ (I gave it five stars previously.)
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
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