The Maynard family had a good life, on the surface at least. They had a servant, Spencer, who knew her place and Edward, the patriarch of the family, was the local mayor. But when the bombs start falling, and they run for the air-raid shelter, things take a dark turn.

In the panic, they quickly lock the door, thinking Spencer has been locked outside, As the power goes out and water starts to fill the shelter, it looks as if the end is here and secrets come tumbling out… and when the lights come it, the family realise with a  shock that Spencer did make it inside and has heard everything. And after decades of being stepped on by the family, Spencer has decided that it’s time she gets everything that she deserves…

James Sandys is an author of a number of mysteries and thrillers but there is very little information about him on the internet – basically this bibliography on classiccrimefiction.com and that’s it. Nothing for sale on Abebooks in the UK. And to quote the bibliography, “James Sandys is a mystery author with a mystery life”. So over to KH Genealogy for some actual information.

James del Sandys turned to writing when he retired to Monmouthshire after a long career in the foreign civil service. Born in Derby in 1885, the son of a Captain in the Royal Navy, he began his professional life as a railway clerk before joining the Sudan Civil Service, where he served for 25 years and was ‘well known as a polo player’. He married Annie Maria Blogg (nee Allen) in Surrey in 1913. In August 1931, he was awarded the Order of the Nile, Third Class for his service in Sudan. On his retirement, the Sandys moved to Moorcroft House in Penalt, Monmouthshire where James was active in local governance. He died at Moorcroft House on 18 March 1954 at the age of 67. His obituary, published in The Times two days later, recorded that he ‘wrote a total of 18 thrillers, detective, and secret service novels under the pen name of James Sands [sic]’.

Anyway, on to the book. It’s a really interesting experience reading a book when you know nothing about the author and hence have no idea what style of mystery novel that you’re going to read – I had the same experience with my second nomination for Reprint Of The Year, They Can’t Hang Me, come to think of it.

Is it a whodunnit? A revenger thriller? An inverted mystery? Are there clues? Is it going to be any good? Well, I wouldn’t tell you, but as I seriously doubt you’re going to see a copy of this any time soon, I’ll give a little detail.

It starts off with Spencer getting more and more power over the family, making them do the cleaning while she starts to live a more luxurious life. Needless to say, things come to a head and someone disappears only to be found later shot to death. There is definitely a whodunnit here, although due to one clumsy misdirection, it’s not a massive surprise when the killer is revealed. That doesn’t stop this from being a very readable and enjoyable book – and an author I will be coming back to when I get the chance.

A quick plug for KH Genealogy as they didn’t just find this info on Sandys above. You can thank them for the Brian Flynn reprints as they tracked down his rights holders, so if you’re in the hunt for similar information, you know who to get in touch with.