Reviews

Historical Novels Review, published by the Historical Novel Society (USA and UK) Issue 56, May 2011

Off The Record was Editor’s Choice

Recording tape and gramophones probably don’t sound like promising grounds for a novel, but in Off The Record the technology is the MacGuffin for a splendid mystery, a story so deftly put together I read it a second time to see how it worked.

The setting is 1920’s England.  The First World War still haunts people who are now enduring the fading of the British Empire, the crumbling of social tradition.

In the village of Stoke Horam, opinionated baronial Charles Otterbourne has a gramophone factory.  Nutty genius Alan Carrington comes to him with a revolutionary new idea for recording sound.  They meet but don’t mesh.  Soon bodies are showing up all over the place and detective story writer, Jack Haldean, who has captained several other novels by Gordon-Smith, comes in to make sense of it all.

Gordon-Smith’s writing is quick and sure; her characters emerge as real people within a few lines. The period dialog is especially good, colloquial with affectation and the historical detail, unobtrusive and precise, coveys a beautiful sense of the time before instant communication collapsed all our lives into a single moment. 

Rereading the novel was a thorough pleasure.  The plot is seamlessly assembled; Gordon-Smith, a devotee of Agatha Christie, puts the truth always there in front of you, manipulating emphasis and expectations to keep it all a surprise.  The solution to the mystery, incorporating the technology that started everything off, ties up the whole story in a single satisfying knot.  Off The Record should appeal equally to lovers of historical fiction and detective novels and doubly to fans of both.

Cecelia Holland

Off The Record

The USA Library Journal highlighted OFF THE RECORD in their list of what's hot for Spring 2011. (The USA publication date for OFF THE RECORD is March 2011)

http://blog.libraryjournal.com/prepubalert/2010/10/25/what-else-is-hot-spring-2011-mystery


Moving up to the Roaring Twenties, you’ll find Dolores Gordon-Smith’s latest Jack Haldean mystery (Off the Record. Severn House. Mar. 2011. ISBN 9780727869746. $28.95)—perhaps the only mystery in which a gramophone inspires bloodshed.

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OFF THE RECORD

BOOKLIST

15TH FEBRUARY 2011

Off The Record, Author: Gordon-Smith, Dolores, Severn House, Pages: 240
$28.95, ISBN: 978-0-7278-6974-6
In Stoke Horam in 1920s England, Charles Otterbourne owns a paternalistic
company, New Century Works, which manufactures gramophones, typewriters,
and telephones. However, the principled, philanthropic Otterbourne is suspected
by his accountant of embezzling company pension funds. When Andrew Dunbar
and the eccentric Professor Alan Carrington approach Otterbourne about
purchasing Dunbar’s company to get the rights to Carrington’s new invention, an
electrical recording system, Otterbourne is murdered at the meeting, apparently
by Carrington. Did he really do it? Who else would want Otterbourne dead? Was
it personal or professional? When Dunbar is also murdered, Carrington’s son,
Gerard, becomes the chief suspect. Inspector William Rackham consults writer
Jack Haldean to help him unravel the mystery. Plot twists, deductive reasoning,
step-by-step investigation, and details of the newly invented electrical recording
system add to this leisurely paced British mystery.

-------------------------------

OFF THE RECORD

KIRKUS REVIEWS

15TH JANUARY 2011

Off The Record, Author: Gordon-Smith, Dolores, Severn House, Pages: 240
$28.95, ISBN: 978-0-7278-6974-6

Jack Haldean, World War I pilot turned mystery writer and amateur sleuth, takes
up a case involving big improvements to gramophones.

The firm of industrialist Charles Otterbourne, who’s known for his good works,
plans a merger with that of Andrew Dunbar to develop a radical new sound
machine created by Professor Alan Carrington. But the merger is derailed
when Carrington is found, gun in hand, with the body of Otterbourne, and he’s
arrested by the local police. His son Gerry admits to his cousin Steve Lewis,
who’s married to Otterbourne’s daughter Molly, that his brilliant father is mentally
unstable. Soon afterward, the professor is found dead in his cell, seemingly
ending the affair. But Gerry’s discovery that Otterbourne had embezzled the
funds in his workers’ retirement plan convinces him that Otterbourne committed
suicide. Knowing how ruthless his stepfather can be, Dunbar’s stepson asks him
to look into the case. Developments continue at a spirited pace. An uncle of Alan
and Gerry’s is attacked, and Dunbar is found shot in a hotel. Although Gerry is
arrested for the murder, Jack thinks he may be innocent and sets out to prove it
by following the twisted path of family and business relationships gone wrong.

Jack’s sixth (A Hundred Thousand Dragons, 2010, etc.) surrounds the clever
sleuth with loads of period detail from the Golden Age of British mysteries.

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Publication: PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 

Issue: 7^TH FEBRUARY 2011

Off The Record, Author: Gordon-Smith, Dolores, Severn House, Pages: 240 
$28.95, ISBN: 978-0-7278-6974-6 

Set in 1924, Gordon-Smith’s fifth Jack Haldean mystery (after 2010’s A Hundred Thousand Dragons) gets off to a sluggish start, but the later, near-manic pace more than compensates. When the butler and chauffeur of entrepreneur Charles Otterbourne, whose company is about to manufacture a machine that will record and play sound electronically, hear a gun shot, they rush to their master’s study, where they find him dead on the hearthrug, with Alan Carrington, the machine’s eccentric inventor, kneeling nearby, gun in hand. When Carrington later commits suicide in prison, the case appears closed. But an alarming number of murders all somehow connected to the Otterbourne family deeply troubles Scotland Yard’s Insp. Bill Rackham, who turns for help to his friend and confidant, detective fiction writer Jack Haldean. Haldean’s impish wit, charming manner, and imaginative flights of fancy bring cohesion and sparkle to a busy plot.

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From Amazon.co.uk

I enjoy the Jack Haldean mysteries. Their 1920s setting contains a fascinating blend of bright Roaring Twenties glitz and dark Great War shadows. There's always a good mix of well-drawn characters. And Jack himself is one of the most delicious sleuths around: likeable (and fanciable,) brave (an ex-air ace,) intelligent (just as well, given the convoluted cases he gets drawn into solving.)

OFF THE RECORD is about the gramophone industry, which was at a crisis point because of the advent of radio, with its clearer sound quality. Dolores Gordon-Smith has clearly done her research here, and it's fascinating, especially perhaps for people like me who can remember wind-up gramophones. I'd have liked more on the technical side actually, because sound recording has always intrigued me.

As the story starts, tension is building like a gathering thunderstorm. Charles Otteerbourne is a gramophone manufacturer whose firm is in financial trouble, going to a crucial meeting with a possible business partner and an eccentric but brilliant scientist who may just have invented a much better type of record player. However, the meeting becomes stormy and culminates in Otterbourne's violent death. Murder or suicide? If murder, who has a motive? Jack works his way through a maze of contradictory clues to an unexpected and satisfying resolution.

Off the Record is another of Gordon-Smith's genial and ingenious crime mysteries set evocatively among London's upper echelons during the aftermath to the Great War. Readers familiar with the previous tales in the series can expect - and will receive - a brisk pace, plenty of action, an engaging detective(the now fully established Major Jack Haldean)polished prose and subtle use of period detail. But the novel's strongest feature is the author's masterly handling of plot -whose inventiveness and byzantine complexity will delight those who like nothing better than to spend an afternoon negotiating the twisting paths and blind alleys of a five star labyrinth! Anyone with a fond regard for the 'Golden Age' of crime writing and who relishes the feints and sleights of a good puzzle will enjoy this book immensely.

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From Mystery Women Magazine

“OFF THE RECORD” by Dolores Gordon-Smith

Published by Severn House, November 2010

The back flyleaf of Dolores Gordon-Smith’s new Jack Haldean mystery — the fourth of
these — tells us that the author (let us call her DGS to save a few trees) has had a
varied and colourful career that includes work as a Christmas pudding maker. This
suggests a taste for a rich and spicy confection, with perhaps a few hidden surprises,
and certainly the creation of a treat.

For mystery fans, the novel lives up to the pudding.

The basic ingredients are, broadly, commonplace for the genre — country houses,
Mayfair flats, London clubland, and the easy male camaraderie of public school chaps
who had served in the army or are connected by family. The female characters are
fewer, but know how to deal with the cook and make sure the domestic
arrangements all function properly. The time is the 1920s, when memories of the
Great War are still fresh, and life offers echoes of the pre-war world, but disturbing
elements of modernity are threatening to unravel further the already loosened social fabric.

To these ingredients DGS adds some unusual twists and flavours. The inter-war boom in consumer electrical goods
— not least the electri c gramophone — proves pivotal, and provides both the title and a key device in the story. We
find that supposed representatives of the English middle class are, in fact, not what they seem. These are changing
times, and from the mix, a mystery, with a serious body count, develops rapidly.

The hero, Jack Haldean, fits the part beautifully, as a slightly more modern John Buchan character, and is now
developing greater depth as DGS’s work expands. While he is the hero, and solves the mystery (of course) our
author is wise enough to allow him not to dominate, and gives her other characters, entertaining enough as they
are, space of their own.

Strongly recommended — a careful recipe, well mixed and cooked to perfection.

Reviewer: Rebecca Jenkins

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Frankie's Letter


I have long been a fan of Dolores Gordon-Smith's Jack Haldean stories of post World War I England with their flashbacks to events of the war, but now in Frankie's Letter Gordon- Smith treats readers to a full-blown war story with all the action, terror and intrigue that implies.

Frankie's Letter is not a battlefield novel, but rather, a spy novel about Anthony Brooke, a young Englishman who had studied in Germany before the war and passed himself off as a native German as a student prank, but when war came used the skill in deadly seriousness serving the English intelligence service. The tables are turned when Anthony discovers that there is a German spy doing the same thing in England, passing himself off as an English gentleman. The action moves swiftly from Germany to London to the English countryside, but in the background of everyone's mind are the all-too-real horrors of the mud-clogged trenches.

This is an excellent page-turner of a novel with superb background detail and characters you really care about from an author who knows her period.

DonnaFCrow@aol.com
Donna Fletcher Crow, A Very Private Grave, The Monastery Murders

 

 

 

 Frankie's Letter (Kindle Edition)

5.0 out of 5 stars on Amazon,co.uk

 An Evocative Thriller

 

Something of a change of pace for Dolores Gordon-Smith - set before the swing of the twenties that her previous books revel in, Frankie's Letter is a thrilling spy story which flits between the sodden rooftops of enemy territory to the unsettled calm of the English Countryside, where the violence of war infests the secret lives of the characters.

As always, DGS is wonderfully evocative of the era she explores through a plot that never lets up the pace. Highly recommended to John Buchan fans!

 

By

Penny Wallace

 

 

A HUNDRED THOUSAND DRAGONS

Publication: PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Issue: 14TH JUNE 2010

A Hundred Thousand Dragons, Gordon-Smith, Dolores (Author), Aug 2010. 240 p. Severn, hardcover, $28.95. (9780727869104).


At the start of Gordon-Smith’s enjoyable fourth Jack Haldean mystery set in the 1920s (after 2009’s As if by Magic), the former Royal Flying Corps pilot and mystery writer runs into a man who bears him a serious grudge, explorer Durant Craig, in the lounge of London’s Claridge’s Hotel. When Durant, “one of the few Englishmen to have been through the Yemen,” denounces Jack as a coward, Jack makes no effort to defend himself, leaving the reader to wonder how the likable Jack could have offended his accuser.
Jack retreats to Sussex for the weekend, to attend a country house party. Alas, the festivities are interrupted by an exploding car that Jack soon learns is a coverup for murder. While Jack tries to help his friends solve the crime, he also conceals relevant details about himself that could offer clues. A startling discovery, however, makes him realize he must reveal some unpleasant truths about his part in the Great War in order to thwart future killings. Traditional mystery fans will be well satisfied.
_

 
 
     

A three star review from Booklist. Wow!
     
 


Author: DOLORES GORDON-SMITH

Title: A HUNDRED THOUSAND DRAGONS

Publication: BOOKLIST

Issue: 1ST JULY 2010


***A Hundred Thousand Dragons, Gordon-Smith, Dolores (Author), Aug 2010. 240 p. Severn, hardcover, $28.95. (9780727869104).

A bit of postwar country-house mystery, a bit of Lawrence of Arabia, a bit of Indiana Jones, Gordon-Smith’s latest is eccentric, unusual, suspenseful, and gripping. Just back from WWII, Jack Haldean agrees to meet his cousin Isabelle and her fiancé, Arthur, for tea at the Savoy, but when the trio is introduced to the famous Arabian explorer Durant Craig, Jack’s reaction is both bizarre and unexpected. Putting it down to the after-effects of war, Isabelle and Arthur persuade Jack to accompany them to a house party in rural Sussex. But at the party, the trio witness a gruesome car fire. Assuming it’s a tragic accident, Jack soon realizes it’s murder, and when Durant Craig turns out to have been present, Jack suspects the explorer's involvement. What he can’t know is that the murder will force him to revisit one of the most traumatic episodes of his life, compel him to return to the Arabian desert, and force him to confront an old and deadly nemesis. This satisfying mix of mystery and high-concept adventure features glamour, romance, suspense, style, and charm and is sure to appeal to a wide range of readers.
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From Mystery Women Magazine July 2010

Written by Jennifer Palmer


Jack Haldean returns with a rip-roaring adventure in Dolores Gordon-Smith’s fourth book about him. Jack is a 1920’s sleuth with all the First World War baggage that one might expect of a young man of that era. He was a pilot who suffered a leg wound which can affect him still; the psychological scars from the war are more hidden and serious. Jack’s enjoyment of the upper-class activities of his period such as dining at the Ritz or going to a costume ball is marred by an encounter with a spectre from his past. In quick succession other exciting and dangerous happenings catapult him into a mystery that seems to link with his war experiences.

This book ranges over a wider geographical area than previous stories have done – from deepest Sussex to the middle East. The swashbuckling activities of Jack evoke the image of a Rider Haggard hero while the cerebral efforts to interpret clues refer us to Sherlock Holmes.

I really enjoyed this book in which Jack faces the demons of his past and gets the chance to fly a plane again. I find myself speculating on what will happen next since these events must impact on his future. As always, the period detail is accurate and carefully used to produce a sense of time and place. I do miss the superb period covers of the 3 previous books, although this one is eye-catching in its own way.
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Beth Kanell of Kingdom Books, Waterford, Vermont

If you haven't yet seen the film "Lawrence of Arabia" in the Peter O'Toole incarnation, don't read this yet -- go rent the film first.

Because Dolores Gordon-Smith's take on postwar England and its wounded heroes does much more than bring Lord Peter Wimsey out of the closet and into the person of aviator Jack Haldean. In this fourth Haldean mystery, A HUNDRED THOUSAND DRAGONS, Gordon-Smith also re-writes the poignant and magnificent historical myth of Lawrence that O'Toole portrayed so brilliantly.

Haldean isn't crippled by Lawrence's inability to bond with the people he was born among. His good friend Arthur Stanton, about to marry Jack's cousin Isabelle, knows something of what the Great War has broken in Jack. And as the three friends attempt to untangle a murder in an English country house, they find that there are good reasons to mistrust visitors with German accents, if they happen to also be unscrupulous, violent, and manipulative. And when the criminal types decide to manipulate the Arabs as well, Jack is caught in the midst of exactly the sort of situation a man with his internal scars ought to avoid.

Meticulous and logical, you can't say Jack rushes in where angels fear to tread. Even when invited to theorize by police Superintendent (and Jack's friend) Ashley, Haldean stays calm and measured:
Jack paused to arrange his thoughts. "I think there was a murder," he said eventually. "I think the murderer concealed the body under a rug [blanket] and drive to the Hammer Valley. I think the murderer positioned the car against a tree and subsequently set fire to it."
And when Ashley invites him to go further and put a name to the criminal, Jack makes it clear that the evidence only supports a guess at this point. He's an ideal sleuth because he doesn't get ahead of the facts of the case.

Yet the trembling of Jack's hands betrays his agitation, and for him to take on the challenges of flying a small plane and confronting well-armed evil will cost him dearly.

Gordon-Smith spins a good tale that's perfect vacation reading: drenched in period costume and language, authentically exotic at times, and very, very English in its pacing and heroism. Well done, indeed; here's a series to gather and set on the shelf for those long winter afternoons, as well as during this milder season's rainy interruptions to outdoor adventures.

Oh yes, wondering about those "hundred thousand dragons"? Well, Jack's thinking poetry; after all, the mastermind he's after is self-styled "Ozymandias," that dreaded "king of kings" of the "antique lands." And in fact, it's through poetry of a sort that he figures out the most significant clues.
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This was on the Independent Mystery Booksellers’ Association of

America for their Killer Books monthly roundup, August 2010.  Five out of over a hundred books are chosen – and Dragons is one of them!


A HUNDRED THOUSAND DRAGONS by Dolores Gordon-Smith (Severn House, $28.95), Beth Kanell, Kingdom Books, Waterford VT, http://www.kingdombks.com

In her fourth Jack Haldean mystery, A Hundred Thousand Dragons, Dolores Gordon-Smith opens with what appears to be a classic post-Great War country house mystery featuring England's kind but wounded gentlefolk. After exhuming multiple details for a time-and-place detection solution around aburned body in a car accident, veteran Jack Haldean -- still shaken from a war exploit that he's reluctant to divulge -- assists his friends in pinning
the crime on the foreign agent responsible. But when he finally discovers the motive for the murder, he faces having to climb back into a small
plane's cockpit and pursue the criminal in the ancient lands of Araby -- or Egypt. Ozymandias, King of Kings, inspires this murderer; but will his works
persist, unlike his namesake's? Gordon-Smith spins a good tale drenched in period costume and language, authentically exotic at times, and very, very
English in its pacing and heroism. Read this one, and you'll want to collect its three popular predecessors.

 

 


 Library Journal:

‘In 1920s London, writer-sleuth Jack Haldean’s (As If By Magic) past comes calling when an archaeologist and Middle East expert he knew during World War I is murdered. Facing an episode from his past that humiliated and almost ruined him, Jack returns to Arabia to confront the demons he thought he had escaped. VERDICT Part traditional British mystery and part Indiana Jones adventure, this is filled with action as Jack attempts to save himself and those he cares about most.’
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On 27th May 2010, the official publication day, A Hundred Thousand Dragons was in Amazon's top 100 of historical crime fiction. Yo!


This is an email from Anne Laing - a discerning type!

Dear Dolores,
There are so many ways I enjoyed this book - real mystery and twists, complex setups, adventure, vivid descriptions (actually felt I'd visited parts of Egypt and Jordan). Loved it for the story, use of characters and the attention to detail. It was thoroughly engaging from start to finish.
Sorry, I could go on gushing but I have a more important question to ask - when will Jack be on his next case? Can't wait! From a true and avid fan.

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From the website, DorothyL

Date:    Wed, 2 Mar 2011 12:39:51 EST
From:    Donna Fletcher Crow <DonnaFCrow@AOL.COM>
Subject: A Hundred Thousand Dragons

Dolores Gordon-Smith knows how to tell a ripping good yarn and A HUNDRED
THOUSAND DRAGONS is Jack Haldean's best adventure yet.  The explosion of a
burning Rolls Royce with a body in it brings on an investigation that forces
Jack to relive the youthful failure that has haunted him for  years.

Following the clues of a fiendishly clever cypher, Jack returns to  the
scene of his former torment.  His desperate attempt to right old wrongs  and
prevent new ones leads to an explosive ending that will have Indiana Jones
fans and Jack Haldean fans cheering.

Donna

Donna Fletcher Crow
A Very Private Grave, # 1, The  Monastery Murders
The Shadow of Reality, # 1 The Elizabeth &  Richard Mysteries
_www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com_ (http://www.donnafletchercrow.com/)
Deeds  of Darkness;Deeds of Light blog:
_www.donnafletchercrow.com/articles.php_
(http://www.donnafletchercrow.com/articles.php)

Dolores Gordon-Smith's latest Jack Haldean novel, A Hundred Thousand Dragons,runs true to form - i.e. an intriguing mystery meticulously unravelled (code-breaking buffs are well catered for), period detail smoothly woven into the narrative, and some fine description. In this last respect the hero's solitary flight over the Arabian desert and his landing near the 'rose-red city' of ancient Petra is especially well evoked, the writer creating a mood of uncannily still, brooding beauty. It is a mood that contrasts starkly with the sprightly banter of London's cocktail circuit which opens the novel and gets things off to a lively start. But landscape and social texture apart, being a Haldean adventure there is planty of gripping action, tension and surprise. Jack crosses swords with the formidable Durant Craig (likened to an Assyrian bull!) a sort of irascible, hirsute version of T.E. Lawrence;and becomes perilously embroiled in Turkish and German espionage where he is dogged by the loathsome Lothar Von Erlangan. Disturbing things happen in Arabia, as also in the cosier confines of rural Sussex or indeed in the darkened alleyways of the Tottenham Court Road. But despite the mounting fear and lurking violence Gordon-Smith tells her tale with panache and humour, and the hero's fans will not be disappointed.

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As If By Magic

 

Publishers’ Weekly 22nd June 2009

As if by Magic Dolores Gordon-Smith. Soho Constable, $25 (288p) ISBN 978-1-56947-588-1


Gordon-Smith’s intricate third 1920s mystery to feature writer-sleuth Jack Haldean (after 2008’s Mad About the Boy) opens with an intriguing setup: George Lassiter, a down-on-his-luck South African, breaks into what he thinks is an unoccupied London house, only to see what he’s sure is a woman’s murder. When the police collar him for burglary, he relates what happened, but the authorities find no evidence of foul play at the house. Fortunately, Haldean, who flew with Lassiter during WWI, learns of his situation and goes to his rescue. When Lassiter tells Haldean he’s been cheated out of a bequest by an imposter, Haldean discovers that the people whose house Lassiter burglarized may be tied not only to the scam that deprived Lassiter of the bequest but to a series of murders reminiscent of the Ripper killings. Gordon-Smith does a solid job presenting fair-play clues.

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Amazon

Magical Resolution, 10 Jul 2009
By Suzette A. Hill (UK)


As If By Magic seems an entirely fitting title for this third novel in the Jack Haldean series. Dolores Gordon-Smith's capacity for tortuous plotting is intrinsically absorbing; but even more satisfying is the way that all the threads are drawn together in the end - as if by magic! For fans of Agatha Christie and other redoubtable 'plotters' this novel holds considerable appeal. However, it is not simply the ingenuity of the plot itself which holds our attention, but also the way that the 1920s' social scene is smoothly incorporated: the fusion of sedate tea parties and dope-ridden nightclubs comes over well; and the excitement of fast cars - and in particular fast aeroplanes - is beautifully recaptured. Gordon-Smith also has an unerring ability to render the physical tangibilities of experience: her recreation of the cold, isolation and bleakness of London on a drear Friday night is brilliantly portrayed - and unnerving! As indeed is her acute perception of the anxieties and disillusions of personal relationships. I can recommend this novel as an entertaining and intriguing read, but also as a reflective one.

Thanks, Suzette - I'm really grateful for that! Incidentally, if anyone wants a really good - and very funny - read, you could do no better than read Suzette's "Bones" trilogy. The latest one, "Bone Idle" is out now. Great stuff!

 

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Rachel A Hyde

MyShelf.com


As If By Magic
A Jack Haldean Murder Mystery - Book III

by Dolores Gordon-Smith


South African George Lassiter is down on his luck after being cheated out of a huge inheritance. Ill, penniless and desperate he staggers into a house that looks oddly familiar... and witnesses a murder. But when the police arrive the body has vanished, and George is taken to hospital. It is only by chance that novelist Jack Haldean hears of him and remembers his old wartime comrade-in-arms. Rescued and installed in Jack’s apartment it is time for the pair to start trying to find out why somebody pretending to be George has already claimed his birthright.

Only the third book in the series, and already there is a totally different setting and cast, apart from Jack. We have had a country fete and house party setting for the previous two, and now London is the venue for what is, in my opinion, the best so far of a very good bunch. This is a story that constantly surprises, and which does not really even hint on the flyleaf—or in the description above—what the book is about. Something happens on every page, and what follows is a melange of old family secrets, assorted dastardly doings and shenanigans in the world of aviation. Apart from all this delightfully convoluted plotting we get to know a new cast of characters considerably well quite quickly, but even this is not the most impressive feature of this book. My admiration in particular has to be for the way in which the author depicts the heady world of aviation when it was still new enough to be exciting. This was a time when war planes were giving way to those used for pleasure, and people had dreams of owning their own and all that could entail. There is a palpable enthusiasm for this lost world in here, which is as enjoyable as the actual murder mystery. Here is a book that sets a high standard, and I find myself eager to read book four. If you enjoy writers like Barbara Cleverly then this will appeal—very highly recommended.

 

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From Amazon

5 out of 5 stars terrific historical mystery, August 21, 2009
By Harriet Klausner

In the 1920s in London, South African expatriate George Lassiter breaks into a house he believes is empty. However, instead he hears voices in what sounds like the murder of a woman. Not sure what to do, he goes to leave quietly only the police arrest him accusing him of attempted burglary.

He tells the cops what he believes happened inside the house, but they find no evidence of a homicide. Private investigator Jack Haldean learns of his WWI flying mate's problems and goes to get him out of jail. George explains to Jack what he heard, why he was in the house and who owns it. Jack believes George that a murder probably occurred and that he was cheated by an impostor out of his inheritance. Jack investigates and learns the owners of the house are relatives of George who probably abetted the con artist who stole his bequest. Jack begins to piece together something more horrifying as an apparent serial killer is the loose while London remains ignorant.

The third Jack Haldean 1920s whodunit (see A FATE WORST THAN DEATH and MAD ABOUT THE BOY) is a terrific historical mystery that brings to life London through the eyes of an emigre author just after WWI. The story line is fast-paced from the moment George breaks into a house he believes he owns. Fans will relish Jack's inquiry as he finds much more than he expected.

 

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 RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH (USA)  JAY STRAFFORD

The beginning could come straight from Agatha Christie. A man witnesses a murder, but when the police arrive, the body has disappeared. An heir is cheated of a legacy. And an aviation executive's disfigured body is found floating in the River Thames.
But in As If by Magic (296 pages, SohoConstable, $25), the third instalment in her Jack Haldean series, the stamp is unmistakably that of Dolores Gordon-Smith.
The mischief begins on a cold night in 1923, and it's not long before Haldean, a World War I veteran and a writer of detective stories, is called in to help an old friend. What he uncovers is a multitude of lies that force him to use all his inductive and deductive powers to uncover the truly evil villain.
Gordon-Smith pays homage to the mysteries of the Golden Age -- the final-chapter explanation from the amateur sleuth is one example, his amiability another -- but brings a 21st-century sensibility to her task. The result is period-piece delight that never seems dated.

 

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I Love A Mystery (website USA)

 

AS IF BY MAGIC
DOLORES GORDON-SMITH
Soho Constable August, 2009
George Lassiter is sick, cold, and hungry. He breaks into a stranger's house for warmth and food. While he is there, he witnesses the murder of a beautiful girl. When the police arrest him for burglary, he tells them what happened but they find no evidence of foul play.
Jack Haldean, who flew with Lassiter during World War I, learns of George's situation and goes to his rescue. When Jack learns of the events of the previous night, he believes, like the police, it was a nightmare brought on by delirium. A corpse just does not vanish, AS IF BY MAGIC.
If anybody is going to figure out this puzzle, it is going to have to have to be Haldean, because the London police are trying to solve a series of murders reminiscent of the Jack the Ripper killings. RECOMMENDED.

Marion E. Green


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By email

Dear Ms. Gordon-Smith:
I just finished reading "As if by Magic" and thoroughly enjoyed the book. When reading mysteries, I like to try to figure out who the culprit is. The explanation of the plot at the end of the book was wonderful.
I recently came across my copy of "And then there were none" by Agatha Christie. This was the first "grown-up" murder mystery I read as a teen (besides Nancy Drew mysteries), and I have added it to my reading list for the month. I have tried several English authors in the past, and have had difficulty getting interested in their books. However, you have a wonderful writing style and I am looking forward to reading your other books.

Sincerely, Joan Bare

 

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An interview by Robin Agnew of Aunt Agatha's Bookstore posted on her website.

Robin has the knack of asking questions that ellicit a real spark to respond to.

The questions are about As If By Magic



I was so interested in Dolores' book I asked her to answer a few questions, which she nicely agreed to. Enjoy!

Q: Did you have a prior interest in aviation, or did it come about as you were writing? I appreciated the notes at the end of the book.

A: My Dad, who's still very much with us, I'm glad to say, was a pilot in the Second World War, and perhaps it's because of him that I have such a strong interest in early flying. I never had the money to do it for real—I was born in a very small terraced house (more about this later!)—but one of my earliest memories is sitting with Dad watching grainy black and white pictures of Spitfires scrambling on a TV programme called All Our Yesterdays while he told me what was happening. I was only about three at the time and I think that was my first encounter with History, as such; the idea that life had once been different. As I grew older, I read the Biggles series—I don't know if they're known in America—about the WWI fictional flying ace. W.E. Johns, the author, had been a WWI pilot and all sorts of middle-aged Brits (usually men, I have to say) go soggy when Biggles is mentioned. Naturally, it's one thing to have an interest in a subject and quite another to amass the sort of detail need for a book, so I had to do a lot of research, but, because of that life-long interest, knew the sort of thing I was looking for. I don't know why I go wobbly at the sight of a bi-plane, but I do!

Q: What's your writing process? Your plot was very complex with many details neatly dovetailing, so I am wondering how much advance planning you do.

A: I tend to start off with an opening scene that I find intriguing, such as poor old George at the beginning of As If By Magic. George is clearly a gent but destitute and he witnesses a murder. I live those first scenes in my head. CS Lewis likened this part of the process to bird-watching and I know exactly what he means. You have to be very still, and let it all unfold. Then come the questions; who are these people? what are they doing and why are they doing it? There's a lot of trust at this stage; you think out answers and trust it will carry you along the 80 to 100 thousand words or so, but you get a sense for the sort of "thickness" of the material. I play the fairness game with myself; the murderer doesn't murder in a playful sense of fun to make life complicated, but as the most obvious solution to a problem. His or her actions have to be logical. Actions always have consequences though, and the consequences are the plot.

Q: Lots of my favorite adult books seem to have roots in really good children's literature—a good story, well told, just can't be beat, in my opinion. And that's what all really good children's books do—tell a great story. Any children's influences that you feel carried through to your present writing? The reason I ask is I was so strongly reminded of C.S. Lewis' THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW in the scene when Jack goes from one row house to the next through the connected attics.

A: I couldn't agree more about good children's books. They have clarity, simplicity and economy and also let the reader do enough work to fill in details and make them live the story rather than beat you to death with details. I first read THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW at the age of eight, by which time I was an experienced attic explorer in the terrace I mentioned earlier! There's whole rows of terraces in my home town that I, together with friends, burrowed through. As a householder (and mother!) I'd play merry hell with any kid, mine or otherwise, I found trying it as it's dangerous, apart from anything else, but we were never caught. It's part of that rich, secret world of childhood which is such a brilliant resource for a writer. Lewis was certainly an attic explorer and he uses the attic eaves to explain the Wood Between The Worlds in THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW. The eaves are part of the house or world but not in the house or world. In one of his theological books he uses the image again, to illustrate the difference between being interested in religion and actual belief. In AS IF BY MAGIC the attics were a perfect solution to get Jack (and, later, the club raiders) into the dodgy club. I still live in a terraced house and went and sat under my own eaves before I wrote the scene, absorbing the smell and the feel and noticing how the wind and the sounds from the street come up under the slates. This left me with a) a lot of material b) the thought we should get some decent insulation!

Q: I liked the emotional connections you set up in this novel with George and his family—that's very powerful stuff. Do you plan to include George in future books, or will Jack go on his own path?

A: I absolutely loved George and got so attached to him that this can't possibly be his only outing. Besides that, although "old friends" are a very convenient way for Jack to get into the story, Jack's not so single-minded as to only look up old pals when they've been troubled by sudden death. It would make any old pal look askance at poor Jack if he was always a harbinger of mortality!

Q: How did you come up with the character of Jack? It's interesting that he's a writer—I especially liked the part where he proves to George that writers actually work. You included a lot of attitudes that would have actually been present in 1922 in a very subtle way.

A: Inventing Jack was like watching paint dry! I knew what sort of person I wanted but getting there was very long-winded. I wanted him to have been in the war, so although young he could be mature, know a great many sorts of people and he had to be a pilot, which sounded exciting. He's half-Spanish, to make him a bit of an outsider, as all classic detectives are, and a Catholic, which puts him outside the mainstream too. He needed well-off relations so he could do country house mysteries (which I love) but I didn't want him to be rich himself, as to be unconcerned by money is a state of affairs I find nearly unbelievable! Poirot's Belgium thrift is, I think, a very endearing characteristic whereas Wimsey's careless wealth does irritate me. So he had to have a job but what? The obvious choice is policeman, but I so loved private eye stories, that I wanted him to be independent. However, you can't run round detecting if you're constantly begging time off work. Doctor, architect, lawyer? My favourite choice, for a while, was artist, but it's difficult being a Twenties artist. You're either traditional, which is dull, or a Cubist or Neo-Vorticist, which is too radical. There was an "Uh? Duh?" movement when I realised he was a writer and, naturally, he writes detective stories. In MAD ABOUT THE BOY? the second book, there's a whole sequence in which the mystery at hand is analysed by strict detective story rules. I found that tremendous fun to write. Oh yes, and I wanted to fancy him rotten. All of this was worked out before I wrote a word. The "writer" sequence is my response to all those who think writing is like literary knitting—a mere pastime—filtered through the attitudes of the Twenties.

Q: On that same note, how difficult is it to get into the head of someone who existed in 1922? Is it like being possessed by the past?

A: I find it dead easy! I've read shedloads of early Twentieth century books and stiffened them up with real history. It's not possession, as such—I usually remember what year we're in—but there's a real double vision.

Q: I noticed on your jacket flap that you have 5 children! How do you manage your life? What's a typical day for you?

A: When the children were young I couldn't do anything but be a full-time Mum but, now the youngest is 15 and the eldest (and still at home) is 22, life's a lot more relaxed. I'm very lucky in that we all get on very well, so it's all fairly smooth, really. Once I've seen everyone on their way, I do any outstanding housework jobs, then get cracking. If I hit a snag, I can always do some more housework, as it's fairly endless, and mull things over at the same time. If they gave out gold stars for ironing, I'd have a constellation by now! However, I think the real writing heroes are those who have a "proper" job as well. I find that really impressive.

Q: Is there any element of fantasy at work here? I know Dorothy Sayers, when she was struggling financially, gave Wimsey a butler and a glamorous life so she could live vicariously through him. What's especially appealing to you about 1922?

A: Fantasy? In a way, yes. I've always loved the Agatha Christie/PG Wodehouse type world and can't help thinking that the stork stopped off at the wrong address when he dropped me in the middle of the Twentieth Century rather than the end of the Nineteenth. I should have been partying in Mayhem Parva by 1922. However, we can't have everything in this life!

Why the Twenties? It was war that changed everything (you get the same idea about the South in Gone With The Wind). The Twenties, marked by a reckless love of sensation, sense of fun and deliberate flouting of previous shibboleths is an attempt to drown out the memory of mud, blood and heartbreak. At the same time, the old world of convention and formality is vigorously alive. What emerges is an edge; a clash of two worlds and the idea that nothing is ever quite what it seems. It's heady stuff.

Q: And finally, any contemporary writers you especially admire? (I say "contemporary" because I was tired of getting the answer "Jane Austen" when I asked this question).

A: One of the nice things about going to Crime-writing festivals is meeting new (to you) authors in the flesh. I try to read as much as I can before I go and have discovered some real stars. Louise Penny was one, with her richly imagined world of Three Pines, Suzette Hill, with her very funny "Bones" books, Lesley Horton with compelling stories of Yorkshire crime with a racial element and another Yorkshire woman, Jane Finnis, who writes terrific stories set in Roman Britain. Terry Pratchett is an absolute favourite. Discworld is a stunning creation, a place to lose yourself in, wise, moving and very funny. The Counting Pines in Mort are up there with the best of Wodehouse. And did I love Harry Potter? You bet. Oh, and by the way, I love Jane Austen too!

 

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Robin Agnew

Aunt Agahta's Bookstore

As if by Magic by Dolores Gordon-Smith

Before you skip ahead, after seeing this is an historical novel in hardcover by a virtually unknown author, take into account that Gordon-Smith was recommended to me by no less than Louise Penny. While I had to work my way through a gigantic reading pile before getting to Gordon-Smith's book, I was chastened when I finally picked it up, as it was several months after Louise had recommended it, and after I started I wanted to slap my forehead in disgust at myself. This is the long way of saying that this is a terrific book.

This novel may have one of the better opening sequences that I've read almost ever. It's 1922 London, and a starving, ill man named George Lassiter is lurching around Mayfair when he sees a warm looking, cozy kitchen that seems to call to him for some reason. When he sees all the servants leaving, he looks under the mat, finds a key, and lets himself in, to get warm by the fire, eat some sandwiches, and where he eventually falls asleep. When he wakes up in the darkened kitchen he thinks he sees a murder, but when he runs into the street, virtually into the arms of a policeman to report what he's seen, the body is gone. Shortly after, the seriously ill George collapses, and from there Gordon-Smith's storytelling wizardry takes hold and the book is off and running. You'll be seriously hooked at this point.

Gordon-Smith's series character is one Jack Haldean, a crime writer who, it turns out, served in the war with George Lassiter. Jack takes George in as he has nowhere to go, and from there the story is almost Dickensian in terms of coincidence, though as you're reading it it probably won't strike you as a bit far fetched. You'll be too caught up in the story. I imagine that someone who possesses as strong a narrative gift as Gordon-Smith obviously does has so much fun thinking up the details of her story, it's hard to leave juicy plot points out, and indeed, they do nothing but enhance the novel.

I don't want to give too much more away of this ingeniously constructed novel other that it say it involves early aviation, a lost fortune, a dodgy club, and an apparent serial killer that has the police completely stumped. Throw in a little romance and the ebb and flow of two old friends sharing a small flat and the resulting book is a wonder. It's structured in a very traditional way, and the historical detail provides just enough background, but not too much—it feels natural. Any fan of either the traditional British mystery or of the historical mystery should be in heaven.

 

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Mystery Women magazine

By Linda Regan

As If By Magic by Dolores Gordon-Smith:

It is a depressingly cold night in London in the early twenties when this book opens and Dolores Gordon-Smith wastes no time in drawing the reader in to the atmosphere of that ever popular bygone era. Her attention for detail remains impressive from the start to the finish of this clever and unique murder mystery. If you are a fan of this period, you will love this book, if you aren’t, I would still highly recommend it, Gordon- Smith is a great story weaver.

George Lassiter is ill, destitute and desperate enough to break into a house in London for warmth and hopefully something to eat. I could almost taste and smell the smog on the streets of London as this happened. But why does he feel this strong sense of déjà vu, once inside this house? And is the murder of the beautiful girl a hallucination, a sign of his desperate plight, and need for immediate medical attention? His very old friend Jack Haldean, who flew with him in the war, then comes to his aid, and helps investigate George’s claim of witnessing this murder; but, along with the police, Jack believes that it was indeed a figment of George’s imagination brought about by his illness, as every bit of evidence has vanished- just- as if by magic. The consequences of this then move the story on and take Jack and George on a long journey involving the theft of George’s rightful inheritance, as well as tracking down a ruthless killer. The plot is clever, it’s full of red herrings and wrong turnings and keeps us guessing. Gordon-Smith is a fine craftsman of crime-writing, as well as a first class story teller. Her writing is clear, and so atmospheric one can almost smell the smoke from the cigarettes in their long holders and the strings of pearls on the flappers. Next Gordon-Smith book eagerly awaited.

 

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From Amazon

5.0 out of 5 stars

'As if by Magic', 5 Jan 2010
By LornaM "LornaM"


I am an avid Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Georgette Heyer and Dorothy L Sayers fan and this is the best detective story I have read since I finished reading all of the books of all of the aforementioned authors! Couldn't put it down! Have just ordered 'A Fete Worse Than Death' and can't wait for it to arrive!

 

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This is Kim Malo, writing on the Mystery Blog HEY, THERE'S A DEAD GUY IN THE LIVING ROOM on 24th January 2010.



Dolores Gordon-Smith’s Jack Haldean series falls in the same category of fun, light reading that brings to life and left me interested in a setting that wouldn’t on its own pique my interest. The books have a strongly Golden Age (Allingham, Sayers et al) feel but stand on their own and are not blatantly derivative.

A big part of why they made me interested in the setting is Haldean himself, who is not just a popular part of the social scene but also someone who carries his own scars from the recent war. Scars (mental and physical) which didn’t leave him the sort of deeply, visibly tortured person Charles Todd depicts with Ian Rutledge, but scars nonetheless. The fact that they are largely buried gets you thinking all the more when they do appear about comparable not so visible scars that period must have left on countless other regular people, including the sort of person you or I would have been and known. They come out in small ways, such as when Haldean suggests a friend who is acting very strangely "see someone (i.e. a shrink of some sort)", and the friend looks at the confident, well adjusted man saying this and asks what he knows about such things, since he’s never... Haldean just smiles... oh. It leaves the reader with an impression of how much well hidden damage that time must have done to how very many people, in a way that all the more obviously scarred Rutledges of the world can't, because this could be me or you.

 

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Mad About The Boy

1st May 2008

Kirkus Reviews


Murder winnows the guests at a country-house party. World War I pilot-turned-mystery author Jack Haldean is attending his Aunt Alice and Uncle Philip's Silver Wedding ball at Hesperus, their country estate, when the murder of Jack's old friend Tim Preston disrupts the festivities. Down on his luck, Tim's been working as a secretary for Lord Lyvenden, an obnoxious munitions manufacturer who made a big enough bundle during the war to buy a peerage and a well-bred wife to go along with it.

Tim's death looks like suicide, but Jack is suspicious, and when Lyvenden is discovered in a pool of blood he springs into sleuthing mode again (A Fete Worse Than Death, 2007). Jack's shell-shocked pal Arthur Stanton, who was found standing over the body, has decamped, but Jack wants to believe him innocent. Also staying at Hesperus is his beautiful cousin Isabelle, who despite her recent engagement to wealthy banker and sportsman Malcolm Smith-Fennimore is a little in love with Stanton and sure he's innocent; Smith-Fennimore himself, who takes a shot at the fleeing Stanton; Lyvenden's unconcerned widow Lady Harriet and her companion, Lyvenden's former mistress; Lady Alice's swaggering stepson; and sundry other guests and servants. Perhaps several mysterious and threatening Russians, some missing papers and tales of Czarist gold may hold a clue. A classic postwar country-house mystery with a Christie-like denouement.

 

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By email

I live in Kansas City, Missouri USA. I just obtained Mad About the
Boy and read it in one sitting. I have thoroughly enjoyed both of your books
and look forward to the next installment.


--Gregory W. Vleisides, P.C.--

 

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MyShelf.com

Rachel A. Hyde


Dolores Gordon-Smith made her literary debut last year with A Fete Worse Than Death (also reviewed on this site), a book that I chose as one of my Crime Thru Time Top Ten historical whodunits. Now debonair sleuth-about-town Jack Haldean is back with a second helping of murder and mystery as he celebrates the silver wedding of his aunt and uncle at their country house Hesperus. Jack’s cousin Isabelle is trying to decide between the sympathetic but shell-shocked Arthur and the glamorous, reckless Malcolm. They both love her, but she is not sure which man she would prefer to marry. Soon there is a rather more pressing problem to think about when a guest commits suicide – or did he? Another death soon afterwards would suggest not, but surely the guilty man must be somebody else?

I love classic era mysteries with Bright Young Things in grand country houses and this is a good one with plenty going on at all times. The author has researched the period thoroughly, and the shadow of the Great War hangs over everything, as it should do for historical accuracy. Jack is a sympathetic sleuth with a living to earn and a genuine affection for his friends but a sensibly impartial view when he has a case to solve. As such, he makes a good protagonist who stands a little aside from the entanglements, which allows him to get on with finding whodunit as well as lifting the spirits of the story. There is romance in here as well as abundant action, and despite the anguished Arthur and war reminiscences this is still a cozy in the broadest sense of the term. Ignore the mention of “torture” on the flyleaf as there isn’t any; this is just not that type of novel. Instead, sit back with a pot of tea an enjoy a real classic era novel that will doubtlessly make my Top Ten again.

Blackwells Online

Completely brilliant!
I loved this book! A stunning return for the hero of last summer's release, A Fete Worse Than Death, with romance, Russians and fabulous evening dress thrown in. The plot races along, and you never guess what's going to happen next. Awesome book!

Penny Wallace

 

   

   

This was on the website, DorothyL

Welcome to Dolores Gordon-Smith, author of the delightful Jack Haldean
mysteries, set in post-World War I England. If you've not yet made the
acquaintance of Jack and his creator, the first book, A Fete Worse Than Death
came out last year, and the second, Mad About the Boy?, just came out in the
US. I haven't had a chance yet to read the new book, but I read Fete last year
and thought it an excellent read. It's a nice companion to the Charles Todd,
Maisie Dobbs, and Kerry Greenwood series.


Dean James (aka Jimmie Ruth Evans and Honor Hartman)

 

 

The Richmond Times-Dispatch

29th June 2008

Oh, sigh the mystery fans: If only someone would write an English house-party novel, set in the Golden Age and infused with its sensibilities.

Someone is. And Dolores Gordon-Smith brings the setting and the story alive in Mad About the Boy? (288 pages, SohoConstable, $24.95), the second in her Jack Haldean series. It's 1923, and Jack, a World War I veteran who writes detective stories, is visiting his cousin Isabelle Rivers at her parents' stately home, where the parents have gathered a crowd for their silver-anniversary festivities.

But the party turns ugly when a guest is found shot to death. An alleged suicide note is found nearby, but Jack suspects murder. When another guest is discovered stabbed to death, Jack goes on the hunt. Complicating matters are a veritable school of red herrings, Isabelle's being torn between two suitors and the appearance of some communist revolutionaries.

With vision and vigor, Gordon-Smith pulls off another Golden Age delight -- one touched with contemporary concerns -- that will have readers longing for the return of the era, and for Jack and his pals.

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Amazon

Intelligent Nostalgia, 29 Jun 2008
By Suzette A. Hill


Mad about the Boy? (Hardcover)


In his play "Forty Years On", the inimitable Alan Bennett refers to "that school of Snobbery with Violence that runs like a thread of good-class tweed through twentieth century literature". Well, Dolores Gordon-Smith's latest novel "Mad About The Boy?" certainly has the texture of good-class tweed, but the snobbery is only mild and the violence comfortably refined! In short, this is an eminently civilized and reassuring pastiche of the classic English detective genre: good style, fiendishly orchestrated plot, plucky protagonists, foreign assassins and suave villains. Furs, Abdullahs, balls, butlers and Bugattis (Spykers and Bentleys,actually),set the social scene and provide an authentic background to the bizarre events. Yet the sombre spectre of the Great War casts its long shadow, and thus the mixture of gaiety and threat, decency and cynicism produces an ethos of moral ambiguity - a fusion which gives the novel both its realism and its intrigue

 

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By email

I was very pleased to get the following email from Toby. Toby and Bill Gottfried are well-known to many as very kind and hugely energetic organizors of Crimefest etc. When I say energetic, I mean it. You never know quite where in the world they're going to turn up next! I had the luck to be on a panel moderated by Toby at the Bristol Crimefest 2008 and her insight, comments and questions made it a very enjoyable experience, both for the panellists and the audience. Bill, who was in the audience, helped with his very perceptive comments.

From Toby Gottfried

Dear Dolores:
Mad About The Boy was really a “good read”. I didn’t guess who did the murders! You are one clever lady for good plotting. But I especially appreciated the tie in with Stanton’s war experiences and the historical feeling for the 1920s. But of course that’s what good writing is all about. Bill and I find that Soho Press publications are always excellent from the cover to the content.
A copy is going to my cousin who started reading the book at a picnic when I left the book unguarded on the table and couldn’t put it down!
Hope the next episode in the life of Jack is on the way.
Sincerely,
Toby

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Eurocrime

 

MAD ABOUT THE BOY? is the second book to feature 1920s crime writer Jack Haldean who made his first appearance in A FETE WORSE THAN DEATH.

Jack has been invited to the country house residence of his cousin Isabelle whose parents are celebrating their silver wedding anniversary in grand style with illustrious house-guests and fireworks. However it's not long before things go pear-shaped with the apparent suicide of one of Jack's friends, Tim Preston, who ran with an expensive crowd including fellow guest, racing driver Malcolm Smith-Fennimore and was employed as a secretary to the fireworks provider and munitions dealer Lord Lyvenden.

It's very rare in crime fiction that a suicide is actually a suicide and Jack is soon on the case, calling it murder, helped by an observation from his shell-shocked friend Arthur, a young man with a tendresse for Isabelle. Unfortunately he has strong competition in the dashing Malcolm.

Matters become further complicated with a second death, a disappearance and the involvement of Russians. Jack and his friend Superintendent Ashley have their work cut out to get to the truth of the matter.

I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but MAD ABOUT THE BOY? has an absolutely stunning jacket (by Ken Leeder). Thankfully, I enjoyed the inside of the book as well. The 1920s atmosphere seems effortlessly conjured up and the repercussions of the Great War are strongly presented. Jack Haldean is a decent chap and I'd like to know a bit more about those detective stories he writes. The plot is nicely convoluted and there's a homage to the 'locked room' mystery sub-genre. Though this is set mainly in a country house, it's not one of those typical country house mysteries, where the protagonists are trapped by snow - the protagonists move about the countryside and up to 'Town' as required. This is an absorbing period mystery.

Karen Meek

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Amazon

Jack does it again!!, 18 Aug 2008

By Barbara Edwards

Completely brilliant!
I loved this book!
Lots of romance, a fabulous evening ball and menacing Russians thrown in.I love classic era mysteries in grand country houses with plenty going on at all times. MAD ABOUT THE BOY? also has an absolutely stunning jacket (by Ken Leeder)which sets up the anticipation for a delicious, right good read! I loved the way Dolores G.S. has researched the 1920`s period ,the atmosphere seems so effortlessly brought to life and the repercussions of the Great War are continual undercurrents throughout the story. I felt that I could easily have slipped into the party at Hesperus(in a beautiful ballgown of course!) and had a wonderful evening,lucky Isabelle enjoying the company of both Jack and Arthur. I Can`t wait for the next Jack Mystery!!

 

By email


Hello. I found your books purely by chance and I am so glad that I
did, they are wonderful and I must tell you that they have been the main reason
for my losing weight (I can't put them down and then miss dinner). Is there a
third book currently in production and if so when do you hope to have it
finished? So looking forward to your future work.


I only wish writing could lose weight as effectively as reading! Now where did I put that bar of Cadburys....

kind regards

Michael Kent.

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Amazon

A very enjoyable British cozy mystery., October 2, 2008
By andiesenji (SoCal,USA) - See all my reviews


This story caught my interest in the first few paragraphs and I simply could not put it down until I finished it. It is very evocative of the era and the references to the aftereffects of "The Great War" are very similar to the stories I was told by my great uncles who lived through it.
The characters are well developed and very believable and sympathetic.
This book is as good as any from the masters of the genre.

______________________

By email


Hello! I recently ran across A Fete Worse Than Death at my local library -- I picked it up because of the witty title and the '20s timeframe -- and I fell hard for Jack Haldean. I then bought Mad About the Boy?, and I finished it this morning. It's such a pleasure to spend time in your books. I feel as though I'm reading a series from a contemporary of Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh or Margery Allingham.

I hope you have many plans for store for Jack? I was just mentioning to someone that I wish there were already ten books in the series, with more on the way. Simply waiting for the third book to arrive will be difficult. Smile I want to learn more about your wonderful protagonist and his world!

Thank you for some very enjoyable reading, and for a new mystery series to love.

Best,

Diane Coffin

 

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A Fete Worse Than Death

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Myshelf.com


A Fête Worse Than Death

Jack Haldean, former RAF pilot and now a promising crime writer, is staying with his cousins, the Rivers, at their stately home in Sussex . Attending a fête on a glorious summer day, he reflects how he dreamed of this sort during the war, but surely his idyll did not include a murdered man in the fortuneteller's tent? Nor another body in the local inn? Jack has tried his hand helping Scotland Yard before and had some success – can he solve the murders and prevent any more happening?

Old sins cast some long shadows in this highly promising debut. The early years of the Roaring Twenties are sketched lightly in, instantly bringing the era to life without overdoing too much extraneous detail. It is a rattling good plot too, with plenty of plot-appropriate period detail, the necessary red herrings and constant action of some sort or another. It is a remarkably polished work for a first novel, and I look forward to reading more in the series. Perhaps inevitably Jack is not a terribly interesting protagonist, but he is amiable and makes a decent detective who manages not to make the obvious mistakes that mar many books of this type. All in all, highly recommended and the best crime series debut of this year to date.

Rachel A Hyde

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Historical Novel Magazine

A summer's day in 1922, a village fete being enjoyed by Jack Haldean, crime writer and ex-Royal Flying Corps pilot. is then spoilt by the appearance of the obnoxious Jeremy Boscombe, also ex-RFC. Boscombe is permanently removed, shot while sleeping off his excesses in the fortune-teller's tent. Later that day another murder happens in Boscombe's room at the local inn.

Jack, in these days of innocence, teams up with the local police and soon realises that the anser belongs to a time during the Battle of the Somme and an incident of great betrayal there. As he delves into the past, many secrets are revealed. People are not what they seem and motives proliferate.

Reminiscent of the style of earlier crime novels, this one has been thoroughly researched both for the details of the war and the social conventions of the late (sic) 1920s. Jack is an attractive slueth and there are plenty of possible suspects, danger in abundance and a cleverly contrived denouement. An enjoyable read.


Mariana Oliver

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RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH (USA)


The "Golden Age" of British mystery fiction -- dominated by Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy L. Sayers -- expired with its creators. Gone are the days of the English village, the manor house, the upper crust, the baffling murder -- and the drawing-room explanation at the end.

Or maybe not.

Dolores Gordon-Smith's A Fete Worse Than Death (288 pages, Carroll & Graf, $14.95), the first in her projected Jack Haldean series, re-creates the good old days.

At a village fete during the "long weekend" between world wars, Haldean encounters a former officer from the Royal Flying Corps. The meeting isn't pleasant -- Haldean detests Jeremy Boscombe. When Boscombe is found murdered in the fortune teller's tent, and when the body of one of his sleazy associates is found at the village inn, Haldean -- a crime novelist and amateur detective -- feels compelled to help the police with their inquiries. He concludes that the killings stem from a case of treason during World War I.

Gordon-Smith incorporates all the traditional elements into this stylish whodunit, including Haldean's drawing-room explanation. Fans not content to let bygone be bygone will have reason to cheer for this sparkling and intelligent mystery.

JAY STRAFFORD
STAFF WRITER
MYSTERIES

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The Posioned Pen Mystery website

It's summer, 1922, and the Red Cross fête is in full swing in a sleepy Sussex village. Former Royal Flying Corps pilot Jack Haldean is annoyed when a man briefly under his command turns up. But soon Boscombe is found shot in the fortune-teller's booth and another Londoner is found dead down the pub. Jack, having made a stir as a crime writer, is recruited by Ins. Ashley. Both realize the murders are linked to the Battle of the Somme and the tunnels beneath Augier Ridge.  Good humored, well written—a kind of cross between Dorothy L. Sayers and Charles Todd, not dark like Todd, but unflinching.

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Tangled Web UK

Review August 2007


The title conjures images of Christie and Sayers at their most trivial, a text full of 'jolly good' and 'I say', and probably a cat thrown in as well. The use of a protagonist who is a professional crime fiction writer and amateur sleuth only confirms these expectations, preparing readers for a male equivalent of Ariadne Oliver. There is also a country fair in a fictional Home Counties village, a manor house, and a cast of upper class characters who harbour sinister secrets. "By crikey!" is, in fact, never far from the lips of Jack Haldean, a tall, dark, and handsome Royal Flying Corps major turned author. But Haldean is more Biggles than Thomas Beresford and this is a carefully crafted, pacy Golden Age detective story rather than a cosy mystery.
With a complete absence of cute animals, feline or otherwise.
Four years after the First World War Haldean is visiting his uncle – Lord Rivers – and his family in Sussex. He and his cousin, also a veteran, run into a third ex-RFC pilot by the name of Boscombe. Boscombe is an unsympathetic individual, with a reputation for cowardice, and his murder at the fête passes unlamented. Superintendent Ashley recruits Haldean because of his previous assistance to an inspector in the Metropolitan Police, and because Ashley realises the solution to the murder may lie in the struggle for the Augier Ridge, part of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. In addition to Boscombe and Haldean, several local characters are connected to the battle: Colonel Richard Whitfield won his Victoria Cross there; Mrs Anne- Marie Verrity is a French widow who owns the land on which the battle was fought; and Marguerite Vayle is the daughter of a disgraced major accused of treason during the battle.
Such are the ingredients of this murder mystery, expertly mixed in a delicious cocktail of crime full of twists, turns, and two more murders.
For a first novel Fête is impressive and Mrs Gordon-Smith is to be congratulated for a spectacular debut. Other than the title – which may well attract more readers than it puts off – there is only one obvious criticism. As the denouement approaches, Haldean's thought processes are explained in the form of a conversation between him and Isabelle Rivers (another cousin). He naturally dominates the conversation as he takes her through the steps of his reasoning. The device is a handy one, but overused when he explains his deductions in greater detail immediately after the climax. It is a small flaw, however, only noticeable because of the style and panache of the rest of the narrative.
Jack Haldean is a very welcome addition to the annals of crime fiction. He will be a series character, with the second instalment due next year. Mrs Gordon- Smith's likeable characters, taught structure, and spine-tingling foreshadowing will appeal to a broad audience, from cosy mystery lovers right the way through to hardboiled detective enthusiasts. She is no doubt at the beginning of a distinguished career as a crime writer.

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Mystery Website


Reviewed by Anne K. Edwards, New Mystery Reader

If you love a well-plotted mystery with characters you won't want to leave, then A Fete Worse Than Death by talented author Dolores Gordon-Smith is just the book for you. This is a tale with all those things that make for a great read.

Jack Haldean is attending a fete on the grounds of the manor house owned by relatives, enjoying himself in spite of the heat and noise. While he's relaxing he spies one man he does not wish to see, but the man has seen him and accosts him.

An unpleasant sort, the intruder is given short shrift and Jack does make his escape to resume his pleasure. Unfortunately, it is cut short by an unexpected death that Jack sets out to solve. The odds seem against his finding a killer as other bodies start turning up and they are all connected.

Set in a period of not-too-distant history, the intrigue of this tale takes place in a period the author convinces us is yesterday with description that puts us in the time so we feel as if we actually visited the fete. Lifelike characters carry the plot with their motives and personal agendas. Are they all who they seem to be? Lots of action and tension in this tale that has its roots in the past, proving that things done today will affect tomorrow.

Guaranteed a fun read worth the time and you'll be looking for more stories by this imaginative author. Enjoy. I sure did.

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People's Friend Magazine

The People's Friend didn't do a review, exactly, but named "Fete" as their book of the month for September.

 

Indigo Online

Penelope Wallace comments:

A gripping debut novel!
I thought this book was really fantastic. An enthralling plot told with characters you'll love that never loses its sense of humor, Jack Haldean has the wit and brains to be far more interesting than the average square-jawed hero whilst his cousin Isabelle is beautifully drawn - as are the rest of the cast! There are enough murders, mysteries and tangled motives to keep you guessing until the end, and it all pays of fantastically when you do. All in all, a gripping debut, I can't wait for number two!

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Amazon

Champagne writing!,
By J. Whitbourn "JAW" (Surrey, England.)


Apparently this is a debut novel but you'd never know that from the author's assured style and masterly plotting. Add to that an attractive, intriguing, main character and evident deep authorial knowledge of the period (though always lightly conveyed). This bids to be the start of a not-to-be-missed series. A highly recommended buy.

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Ewan Wilson. Waterstones, Glasgow


This captures beautifully the sense of nostalgia for the post war Twenties frivolity and but still haunted by the traumas of the Great War which form a central plank of the plot. This may be a debut but the author writes with an admirable control of her plot and characters and whilst the denouement may be a shade straining towards a melodramatic finale it is an effortless read with a very satisfying conclusion. The upper crust cast of characters around the former Royal Flying Corps hero, Jack Haldean will be addictive to all history mystery fans! If Mrs Gordon-Smith can keep this up she's bound for major stardom!

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Mystery Women Magazine

 

Dolores Gordon-Smith is a new author in detective fiction with this first adventure starring Jack Haldane, a crime writer in Sussex in 1922. The story has its roots in the recent conflict - the Great War - in which Jack was a participant as a Royal Flying Corps pilot, so he is well qualified to attempt to puzzle out the causes of two deaths. The first body is found in a tent at the local fete and the second is discovered soon after at the village pub. Quintessentially British, you might say, and this impression is increased when it transpires that Jack is staying with cousins in the equivalent of the village manor.

All the attributes of a country house mystery are enhanced by the book’s idyllic-appearing cover with Jack in his striped blazer against a sunny 1920s fete background. I am not sure that this cheery cover doesn’t do the book a disservice by making it seem lightweight when in fact the mystery is deep and dark with its origins in a battle in the network of tunnels under part of the Somme in 1916. The title also seems insouciant and trifling, unlike the events depicted. Perhaps the contrast between the frenetic 1920s and the appalling experiences of WW1 are meant to be brought to mind. Lots of 1920s cliches appear and some are turned on their heads as love, money, blackmail and revenge come to figure largely in the story. This is a good read - characters are varied, developments are fast and the denouement is superb. Jack is a well developed personality whose rationalisations are fascinating to follow as evidence piles up to point in directions he is reluctant to go.

Jennifer Palmer

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Rachel Reads (Website)


Just a well-written mystery


A Fête Worse Than Death by Dolores Gordon-Smith was a random read for me. I saw the second book in the series in the library, liked the cover and the plot description, so I decided to read the first book.

Set in post-WWI England, this mystery features Major Jack Haldean. He's visiting his relatives in the countryside when a murder occurs. As a mystery writer and sort of an amateur crimesolver, Jack offers his help to the local police. As Jack and the local inspector delve into the mystery, links to an incident from The Great War start to emerge--but links to his own family's involvement also emerge, making this mystery quite personal.

I thought the book was really well-written. It was one of those books that I'd periodically say to myself, "I'm impressed; this is good writing." There's no romance; just straight-up mystery. As always, the ending surprised me but made perfect sense.

I tend to like more romance in my mysteries, so I may not read the next one...or I may, just because I like Gordon-Smith's style. It was true to the era--the 1920s--and yet not annoying at all. Nicely done, Mrs. G-S.

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By email

I absolutely loved the story. I loved how you allowed me to almost touch the answer but just kept it out of my immediate grasp! It was so much fun working out the roles of each character and their parts in the 'murders'. It rewarded me by letting me be 'right' on many occasion, but never let me win that victory too easily. Yes, it was great fun!
My Mum was equally impressed, she 'couldn't put the book down', and she loved the twists and 'can't wait for your next book to come out'. We will be having a telephone book review tonight, she wants to talk about the book more but because I hadn't finished it, she said she would wait. I share the eagerness for your next release. Can't wait for the next murder mystery explored by our dashing ' Jack Haldean'! What a man! Quietly confident, adventurous, intelligent and just a bit brave to boot! Thanks, Dolores. A truly 'cracking yarn'! Well done to you! Thanks, again - Loved it! Loved it! Loved it!

Anne Laing

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Saga magazine for August 2007 put "Fete" together with Suzette A Hill's "A Load Of Old Bones"

Two delicious murder mysteries hark back to the golden age of English crime fiction, when bodies were discovered in vicarage libraries or murder was done in marquees. Gordon-Smith's clean-cut hero plays a straight bat; Hill's characters are more whimsical - a dog, a cat, a clergyman. To be read while eating strawberries and listening to a brass band.

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Amazon

Star Quality!, 10 Jul 2007
By Wiggley "Worm" (South Yorkshire)

Dolores Gordon-Smith clearly has researched this book very well and has an excellent writing style. The main character Jack Haldean is fantastic -as you read the book you can see how easily this could be made into a TV Murder Mystery series.

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Amazon

A brilliant read, 18 Jun 2007
By Barbara edwards -summers "bookworm" (England)


I really enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down! I loved the main character Jack he seems so perceptive and gentlemanly and treats a lady just as one would wish to be treated! The characters are drawn with such clarity and they jump off the page.I also loved the red herrings along the way to put the reader " off the scent!" The explanation at the end was so well thought out and so cleverly constructed. Can`t wait for the next one!

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Mystery Women magazine

Ewan W. Wilson
Crime Buyer for Waterstones, Glasgow.

 

The unmissable Dolores Gordon-Smith is fast becoming my favourite with her Jack Haldean series in “A Fête Worse Than Death” and “Mad About The Boy?”

This author does exemplify what it is that attracts us back time after time to the interwar years and the Twenties especially. Mrs Gordon-Smith captures the schizophrenic nature of that era. There are skittish, hedonistic Bright Young Things with their facetious banter and conscious repudiation of their elders’ more starchy, very conventional pre-War ways. However, it’s a sadly febrile sense of desperation after the horrors they have been through on the Front continues to haunt this generation and in the Haldean novels impinge directly on events.

Her “Mad About The Boy?” in quite straightforward and unsentimental manner poignantly conveys the tender bonds forged in military comradeship, all the more powerful for being so reticently expressed, and the tragedy of the bloodshed that was the Great War. Indeed, its denouement leaves one with the usual sense of Justice Done but mingled with great sadness. Her characters act and speak convincingly which lends the motive great authenticity and both her novels move along at a fine, energetic pace and teem with nice misdirections and deviously planted clues.

I’d place her as cream of the crop in the current Twenties-set mysteries. Jack is an admirable character but no prig or paragon, just very human. Grab the books – they’re great reads.