Charles Kingston

This is a Golden Age murder mystery story, set in 1930's England. Twenty-some Bobbie Cheldon. has fallen in love with a young nightclub dancer, Nancy Curzon, and asks her to marry him. However, she wants a rich husband and Bobbie is penniless. She gives him a month to make himself worthy of becoming her husband. He's separated from a family fortune by his uncle, Massy, who is a relatively young man at 53 years old. Driven by his love for Nancy he starts to think how much better off his life would be if the family fortune was his. He is encouraged to take action by some shady characters in Nancy's circle of friends, and Massy's days are numbered. Soon Massy is dead, the victim of a stabbing in the Piccadilly Underground station.
Chief InspectorI Wake of Scotland Yard enters the picture to investigate the murder. He's a tough no-nonsense copper with a proven track record of solving difficult cases. He is the star of the book as far as I am concerned. The remainder of the story is a typical police procedural, but with an ironic plot twist, that makes for a droll ending. In the end Wake makes an arrest but it is a by-the-way event to close the book.
The ever present British class system plays out in the background. Nancy is part of the Bohemian city crowd in the London show business west End, and worse, she suffers from being "common". Her friends are dodgy types, tainted by petty criminal past lives. In contrast to her and her crowd, is Bobbie, a poor member of the landed gentry. He is by all accounts a lazy and spoiled stupid boy who lacks the means to earn a living. Despite that he easily assumes the airs of the aristocracy when he assumes the family estate. It's all good local colour for the murder mystery.
The Introduction written by Martin Edwards presents an interesting perspective on the book and the author.… (mer)