Puzzle Doctor

She Shall Have Murder by Delano Ames

Dagobert Brown has a plan – and it involves murder. Basically, he intends to be a detective and solve one, but in the meantime, he is making do with persuading his girlfriend, Jane Hamish, to write a mystery set in her law firm. While they enjoy speculating who associated with the firm should be bumped off, Dagobert is more than a little shocked when the “wrong” person dies. But while everyone else is happy to write it off the death as an accidental gas leak, Dagobert soon becomes convinced the death was murder.

With everyone in the law firm a suspect, Jane becomes just as involved in the investigation as Dagobert, who is content to keep his activities under wraps from the suspects. But with little evidence for the killer’s identity and nobody else suspecting murder, can the killer be unmasked?

Kate over at Cross Examing Crime is to blame for this one. She’s been reviewing a number of Ames novels recently so when I was in the market for a new (but affordable) classic author, and I came across a job lot on eBay, I decided to give him a go.

Ames was an American writer, who then moved to England (and then later Spain). He wrote eighteen or so works of detective fiction – it’s a little unclear as various sources seem to differ. For example gadetection lists this as the second Dagobert mystery, whereas Goodreads makes it the first. It feels as if it could be the first, although Dagobert and Jane are dating at the start, so we don’t see how they meet. Gadetection’s alternative first title in the series, The Cornish Coast Conspiracy, has virtually zero web presence, so we’ll have to leave that question for another day.

After reading Quick Curtain, I was a little concerned about another humorous mystery – I didn’t get on with the sense of humour in that one – but thankfully that wasn’t the case here. Ames writes with a casual charm and an entertaining line in humour. The relationship between Jane and Dagobert sparkles and Jane makes a hugely enjoyable narrator.

The suspects are a fun bunch as well – Ames keeps the cast small but distinctive – and despite the whodunit element being a bit of a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game at the end, allied with a bit of a weak motive, this doesn’t undermine the fun that the reader (and the writer) had getting to that point.

I’m rather glad to say that I’ve got four more books from Ames lined up for the near future – he’s certainly an author that would benefit from the Dean St Press treatment. Highly Recommended.

By the way, there’s a 1950 film of this one out there – it’s not on Youtube though. Bad luck…

19 comments

  1. I always thought this was the first in the series. Fantastic Fiction class The Cornish Coast Conspiracy as a non series novel from 1942. Also they have him down as having written 20 novels – the four non series ones having no internet presence.
    Nevertheless glad the humour worked for you in this one and I hope you go on to like the others. This book in the series is thankfully not that hard to get a hold but there are number in the middle of the series which are difficult, if not impossible finds, so I would definitely second your suggestion of Dean Street Press reprinting the whole series.

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    • I’d love to read more of his books, and I second (third?) the suggestion for the Dean Street Press to consider it. FYI, the now sadly-defunct Rue Morgue Press did republish three of the books, including “She Shall Have Murder,” “Murder Begins at Home,’ and “Corpse Diplomatique,” all of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

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      • According to the introduction Tom and Enid Schantz wrote for “She Shall Have Murder,” Ames “wrote one thriller in the Sexton Blake Library.” His first novel (not, apparently, a mystery), written in 1936, was “a philosophical look at the Greek gods, entitled ‘A Double Bed on Olympus.” Words fail me…

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      • I guess the Cornish Coast Conspiracy is the Blake book. gadetection also misidentifies No Mourning For The Matador as a non series book, when it’s definitely a Dagobert & Jane book.

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  4. I quote Barzun and Taylor (A Catalogue of Crime) regarding this book:

    “Despite rather perilous balancing on the edge of forced humour, this tale of murder in London, with a solicitor’s office setting, succeeds most of the time in being funny as well as serious detection. Dagobert Brown at his best.”

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  6. I primarily read the paperback reprints by the Rue Morgue Press and an old, beaten up paperback edition of For Old Crime’s Sake, but She Shall Have Murder was my personal favorite, which made a good attempt in matching Kelley Roos for sheer enjoyment. So I would fourth the suggestion of Dean Street Press picking up Ames for a second round of reprints.

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  7. This book also deserves a tick under the heading “Unusual Cultural References in Mystery Novels” – for the concert Jane and Dagobert attend at which Michael Tippett’s first piano sonata is played.

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  10. I just saw this, and can’t resist the opportunity to say that our tiny press, Manor Minor, has published She Shall Have Murder as well as Corpse Diplomatique, both annotated, in paperback and Kindle editions. We’re hoping to go on to publish any other out-of-print Delano Ames books we can. Ames was a favorite of my mother, so it’s a little personal!

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