Friday, May 1, 2015

Shady Doings: The Dusky Hour (1938), by E. R. Punshon

"Do you think young [Oliver] Moffatt left the lipstick behind as well?"
"Couldn't say, sir, if that's likely," answered Bobby.  "I've never seen him.  It might be true of some at the Cut and Come again [an arty, and disreputable, London nightclub]."
"Well, he's not that sort, anyhow, that's definite," declared the colonel.

                                                                 --The Dusky Hour (1937), by E. R. Punshon

The lipstick in the case lay next to the murdered man, who was found shot dead in his car.  Is the above an unexpected transvestism reference?  Either way, this is an interesting novel that, although disliked by Jacques Barzun, was highly praised by Milward Kennedy, a member of the Detection Club and successor to Dorothy L. Sayers as Sunday Times crime fiction critic.  Sayers too was a great Punshon fan.  More on the novel, which is to be reprinted this year, on Saturday.

2 comments:

  1. Wow, I wish I had stumbled across this one. Very eager to read all about it.

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  2. Well, it's an aside, but I must admit an unexpected one! Hope to have the full piece uploaded today.

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