"The Vertical Line."
By Freeman Willis Crofts (1879-1957; Wikipedia HERE and HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the GAD Wiki HERE; and FadedPage HERE). Illustrations by W. R. S. Stott (1878-1939; HERE). First appearance: The Illustrated London News, November 20, 1935.
Reprinted in:
Detective Fiction Weekly, May 23, 1936.
Fifty Masterpieces of Mystery, 1937.
Murder for the Millions, 1946.
Rex Stout’s Mystery Monthly #9, 1947.
Horror and Homicide, 1949.
The 9.50 Up Express and Other Mysteries, 2020.
Short short short story (4 pages; 4 illos).
Online at Archive.org (HERE). (Note: Illos poorly reproduced but the text is legible.)
"His scheme was without a flaw, and he had carried it out with absolute precision."
YET another attempt at a perfect murder. Motives: Cherchez la femme (as always), blackmail (as always), and a depleted bank account (as always). Means: "a toy, in a sense; scarcely a serious weapon." Opportunity: It's all in the timing. Alibi: A broken glass beaker and a telephone off the hook. As for that police inspector, he shouldn't be a problem . . .
Main characters:
~ Arnold Wilde ("had been too clever for any detective who could be put on the job"), Alys Deane ("He could not take Alys Deane to theatres and on week-end excursions, nor give her the continuous presents she so obviously considered her due"), Hubbard ("knew the truth"), Hamilton ("The top of the desk bore a heterogeneous collection of personal treasures, which Hamilton guarded as the apple of his eye"), Sergeant Carter ("The beaker, the thread, the telephone," Carter murmured. "Something fishy about all three"), and Chief Inspector French ("The position of the body showed that it hit the desk in falling").
References:
- "it is a signal to the exchange":
"When a subscriber's phone is off-hook, it presents an electrical resistance across the line which causes current to flow through the telephone and wires to the central office. In a manually operated switchboard, this current flowed through a relay coil and actuated a buzzer or a lamp on the operator's switchboard, signaling the operator to perform service." (Wikipedia HERE.) Perry Mason, Murder: She Wrote, Columbo, and other TV show villains also used telephones to support an alibi.
- "The pen of the barograph vibrated":
"A barograph is a barometer that records the barometric pressure over time in graphical form. This instrument is also used to make a continuous recording of atmospheric pressure. The pressure-sensitive element, a partially evacuated metal cylinder, is linked to a pen arm in such a way that the vertical displacement of the pen is proportional to the changes in the atmospheric pressure." (Wikipedia HERE.)
Resources:
- When he was at his best, Freeman Wills Crofts got favorable notices. Here's a very short review of Antidote to Venom (1938), an inverted mystery, in The Illustrated London News, January 21, 1939:
Also see J. F. Norris's review at Pretty Sinister Books (HERE); the book is online at FadedPage (HERE). - We were wondering where Crofts's series character, Inspector French, got his name when we came across this from The Illustrated London News, January 22, 1881:
- We've encountered Freeman Wills Crofts a few times, his novels Many a Slip (HERE) and The Groote Park Murder (HERE), and his short stories "Unbreakable Alibi" (HERE), "The Greuze Girl" (HERE), and "The Mystery of the Sleeping-Car Express" (HERE).
The bottom line:
 |
From The Illustrated London News, April 27, 1957. |
Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~