AT the start of our next story the author issues a sort of Queenian "Challenge to the Reader" before those became fashionable. Will you be able to solve . . .
"The Lauriston Mystery."
First appearance: Munsey's Magazine, March 1929.
Novelette (22 pages; 3 illos).
". . . she made a gesture with the dagger as though she were stabbing, and her face was like a tigress."
YOU couldn't get a better candidate for prime suspect than young, beautiful, and vigorous Miss Mills, the mere suggestion of which young, handsome, and vigorous Dr. Manning can't abide. But let's face it: she did have two hundred thousand reasons for doing it, and that death threat ain't helping her case one bit. As always, though, there's more here than meets the eye . . .
Comment: Unnecessarily attenuated by needless repetition. As for the mystery . . . elementary.
Principal characters:
~ Dr. Cyril Manning ("liked to diagnose illness without his subjects suspecting it, and to prognosticate, from signs invisible to laymen"), Dr. Oliver Wakefield ("I said nothing about normal or healthy"), Draga Mills ("glanced around like a caged bird, as if seeking moral support"), Mrs. Sarah Lipton ("He was no good at all, and everybody hereabouts knew it"), Bayard Lauriston ("was lying face downward upon the floor in a small pool of blood, near the corner of a huge table. He lay in a litter of books, papers, broken bric-a-brac"), Inspector Fowler ("I can well believe there were extenuating circumstances"), Brunton ("I thought so. Love letters!"), Abbey Smith ("Her eyes bulged as she recognized Inspector Fowler's uniform"), the coroner ("And yet"—the coroner spoke slowly, impressively—"you said in the presence of three gentlemen, now in this courtroom, when one of them informed you of Mr. Lauriston's death, 'I'm glad to hear it'"), and the coroner's jury ("We find that Mr. Bayard Lauriston was stabbed to death on the night of Friday, August thirteenth, by Miss Draga Mills, and recommend that she be held for trial on charge of murder in the first degree").
References:
- "strabismus" (HERE).
- "the Irene Castle bob" (HERE).
- "Correct Posture League" (HERE).
- "runabout" (HERE).
- "an old-fashioned open victoria" (HERE).
- "Robespierre" (HERE).
- "a picaresque hero" (HERE).
- "the tabloids" (HERE).
- "a Florentine dagger" (HERE).
- "the muck-rakers" (HERE).
- "a 'morgue'" (HERE).
- "Sing Sing" (HERE).
- "the River Jordan" (HERE).
Resource:
- FictionMags in re Frederick John Jackson: "Playwright, novelist, producer for stage, screen and television. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; died in Hollywood, California."
The bottom line:
Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.
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