Knock, Murderer, Knock!, by Harriet Rutland
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Knock, Murderer, Knock!, by Harriet Rutland
Download PDF Ebook Online Knock, Murderer, Knock!, by Harriet Rutland
“I think,” said Palk slowly, “there’s a homicidal maniac loose in the Hydro, but who it is, God knows.”
Presteignton Hydro is a drably genteel spa resort, populated by the aged and crippled who relish every drop of scandal they observe or imagine concerning the younger guests. No one however expects to see gossip turn to murder as their juniors die one by one – no one, that is, except the killer. The crusty cast of characters make solving the case all the harder for Inspector Palk – until the enigmatic sleuth Mr. Winkley arrives to lend a hand.
Knock, Murderer, Knock! was Harriet Rutland’s sparkling debut mystery novel, first published in 1938. This edition, the first in over seventy years, features a new introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.
‘Very well written, intelligent story of triple murder... acid characterization’ Kirkus Reviews
Knock, Murderer, Knock!, by Harriet Rutland- Amazon Sales Rank: #631432 in Books
- Published on: 2015-10-30
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.81" h x .59" w x 5.06" l, .56 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 258 pages
About the Author Harriet Rutland was the pen-name of Olive Shimwell. She was born Olive Seers in 1901, the daughter of a prosperous Birmingham builder and decorator. Little is known of the author's early life but in 1926 she married microbiologist John Shimwell, with whom she moved to a small village near Cork in Ireland. This setting, transplanted to Devon, inspired her first mystery novel Knock, Murderer, Knock! which was published in 1938. The second of Harriet Rutland's mysteries, Bleeding Hooks, came out in 1940, and the third and last, Blue Murder, was published in November 1942. All three novels are remarkable for their black comedy, innovative plots, and pin-sharp portraits of human behaviour, especially concerning relationships between men and women. Olive and John were divorced in the early forties, and Olive apparently did not publish anything further. She died in Newton Abbot in 1962.
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Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. An entertaining classic mystery rediscovered. By Diane L An entertaining classic mystery rediscovered. The author writes with an acidic tongue and paints a wonderfully funny portrait of her quirky characters. The murder occurs in a closed community: a hydro spa, and it's fun learning about just what a hydro spa was. In the beginning, I had to use the search function on my kindle to keep track of just who each character was. Once we met all the characters in depth, they were easily distinguishable due to the author's skill. The strength of the book is the characters and how they are drawn but this is a classic mystery with competent plotting and all clues presented. A totally enjoyable read.I recommend reading the modern introduction after you finish the mystery. He doesn't spoil the mystery but it's more fun to discover the characters and their quirks on your own.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Fine Reissue of a Forgotten Book By drkhimxz Well done reissue of a rather long forgotten mystery from a series of similar works newly offered for the Kindle. At a buck it is well worth reading.Originally published in the 1930's, it is as up-to-date as the latest tale of Manor-house murders, this time an establishment for those who want to combine a place to stay with health management. The setting is quite appropriately English, the style similar to that of the more acute of the British Grand Mistresses of the genre. The book begins with a sharply rendered portrait of the inhabitants of the establishment and moves quite early on to the murder of a patron in a most unusual way. Enter the British Constabulary whose representatives are drawn with a sharp but not unfriendly pen, They include officers of varied background and skills, resembling, in that respect, a combination familiar to readers of the genre. Well written, by one with insight into the vagaries of character and peculiarities of the (mostly) elderly, the book is a welcome revival, which should appeal to those with a taste for the less boisterous and sexually explicit sort of mystery.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A Marvelous "Forgotten" Author From the Golden Age is Rediscovered! By Bradley Friedman The good news is that, based on reading only the first of her novels, I would say that Harriet Rutland is a marvelous mystery writer, every bit as clever and fun as Christianna Brand or Marjorie Allingham, more clever than Ngaio Marsh or Dorothy Sayers, and capable of both incredible humor and great poignancy.The bad news? She only wrote three books.What is a boy to do??? I have purchased the other two, but do I space them out over a number of years, or do I gobble them down now and grieve afterward? I will forever wonder how someone as good as Rutland could stop after her third effort, but, as mystery scholar Curtis Evans states in his excellent introduction to the novel, there isn’t a lot known about the author.Knock, Murderer, Knock begins thusly: “Mrs. Napier walked slowly to the middle of the terrace, noted the oncoming car, looked round to make sure that she was fully observed, crossed her legs deliberately, and fell heavily on to the red gravel drive."It turns out that Mrs. Napier likes to fall down a lot – and do some other odd things – to garner attention as one of the oldest residents at the Presteignton Hydro, a spa and hotel set on a cliff in Devonshire Bay. The place is crammed with eccentrics, most of them women, who take treatments from the handsome owner, Dr. Williams, and spend the rest of their time gossiping viciously about each other. There are over twenty characters to keep track of at the Hydro, and an early review I read somewhere criticized the enormous size of the cast. But honestly, these characters are gold, and aside from mining an enormous amount of humor from their antics, Rutland manages to delineate one from the other and juggle their places in the mystery so well that I could tell them all apart just fine, thank you.As a plotter, Rutland does a splendid job of surprising me again and again – in her choice of victims and in the secrets her characters have kept hidden - so I really don’t want to give much of the story away. Suffice it to say that a murderer strikes at Presteignton Hydro, and it is up to Inspector Pawk and Sergeant Jago to find the killer. And when the police don’t seem capable of success, a new guest named Mr. Winkley shows up, whose interest in the case may be that of an amateur sleuth, or it may be something else.Rutland’s prose is sparkling, and the dialogue is so good that, for once, I did not find myself tiring of the inclusion of multiple interviews of the suspects; each one was a comic gem. The interviews are made even more fun as Rutland shares Inspector Pawk’s interior opinions of these people: his attraction toward the Doctor’s secretary, or his antipathy toward Mrs. Dawson, the mystery novelist, just because she is a lady writer who has no qualms about pointing out the mistakes Pawk has made on the case. At first, it seems that Mrs. Dawson will be a figure of fun, but as the case progresses, she becomes more and more important to the story. This happens with a number of characters who pass back and forth from minor to major status. Nobody can be taken for granted during this investigation.Despite the prevalence of effective humor throughout the book, Rutland is not averse to depicting the horror and sadness of murder, particularly in her choice of victims, or the loneliness of those of middle age and above who find themselves living alone. The spa residents alternately like and loathe each other, partly out of a sense of frustration at their own lives, and out of a need for something to do. They band together when necessary, and they attack each other without much provocation. They are odd and eccentric and yet seemed incredibly realistic to me, and I loved each and every one of them.Rutland’s novel doesn’t contain the depth of surprise that a Christie novel might, but she reminded me of Dame Agatha in many ways, particularly in her fine depiction of spinsters and servants, and in the nice way she lay scene after scene before us, telling us a little more each time about her characters even as she laid a new twist in the story before us. I can only imagine how famous Harriet Rutland might have become if only she had dedicated more of her life to her writing. Dare I say it, I think she would have usurped other ladies as one of the Queens of Crime. (There, I said it!) As it is, I have only Bleeding Hooks and Blue Murder to look forward to. I shall probably read them very quickly, but I will savor them, and I will let you know what I thought when I’m done.
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