"Interesting As a Clever Example of the Sherlock Holmes Type of Story"

THE STORY BEHIND THE VERDICT.
By Frank Danby [Julia Frankau, 1859-1916].
Dodd, Mead & Co.
1915. 330 pages. $1.35
Online HERE and HERE.

[Full review] The Story Behind the Verdict is the relation of a series of triumphs by a young Londoner of wealth and culture, who, through a singular chance, becomes involved in a murder case, and develops a talent for the detection of crime, or at least for the piecing together of odds and ends of evidence and their weaving into a garment of truth.

There is one amazing occurrence after another, and it is only under coercion that any reader will lay the volume aside until finished.

Frank Danby has a clever, brilliant style admirably suiting her subject. She invariably keeps her climax for the end of her story, and as invariably she astonishes her reader while satisfying him. "A corking book" is what people will say, recommending it with fervor one to another. — "Notable Fiction," THE BOOKSELLER, NEWSDEALER AND STATIONER (November 15, 1915)

[SPOILERS IN REVIEW: Excerpt] The series of mysterious crimes hidden behind bungling verdicts by coroner's juries makes up the contents of Frank Danby's new volume which, while interesting as a clever example of the Sherlock Holmes type of story, is a curious and radical departure from the customary methods of the author of Pigs in Clover.  . . . — Frederic Taber Cooper, "Some Novels of the Month," THE BOOKMAN (November 1915; go to page 320, right top)

Resource:
- A Wikipedia article about Julia Frankau is HERE.

Category: Detective fiction