A Hanging at Hanover: The Dartmouth Murders (1929)

Could there be a thriller
in this gent's pocket?

After a long hiatus the Passing Tramp has returned!  I have a bit of news about this year's writing projects, but I will let that wait for a few days, because I think a review is long overdue.

And since in the United States the New Hampshire primary for both major political parties is today, what better choice than a vintage detective novel set in New Hampshire?

I think many people today regard classical, or so-called "cozy" detective fiction, as something appealing more to middle-aged and older readers, so it's interesting to note that during the Golden Age of detective fiction, between the two world wars, classic mystery was seen as something of a college campus craze, like wearing raccoon coats and swallowing goldfish.

In the United States, detective novelists John Dickson Carr (1906-1977), Todd Downing (1902-1974) and Milton M. Propper (1906-1962), for example, were avid mystery readers in college, as was another detective novelist I hadn't written about on the blog before, Clifford Orr (1899-1951), Dartmouth, Class of '22.

Clifford Orr (1899-1951)

All four of these men published their first detective novels at relatively young ages for neophyte authors, as you can see by the publication years:

Carr, It Walks by Night (1930)
Downing, Murder on Tour (1933)
Propper, The Strange Disappearance of Mary Young (1929)
Clifford Orr, The Dartmouth Murders (1929)

Carr was only 23 when his first novel detective novel was published, Propper a year younger.

Downing and Orr, on the other hand, knocked about a bit after college before settling down to novel writing: Downing attended graduate school, earning an MA, and became an instructor at the University of Oklahoma, while Orr after college worked for the Boston Evening Transcript newspaper and the publishing company Doubleday, Doran before going freelance as a writer in 1928.

After publishing The Dartmouth Murders, Orr would publish The Wailing Rock Murders  in 1932 and the same year he was said to have The Cornell Murders in preparation, but the latter novel never appeared (too bad, a line of college titled mysteries could have kept Orr in gravy for some time).  Orr later went on to become an editor at the New Yorker, where he remained until his untimely death in 1951.

The Dartmouth Murders was filmed as A Shot in the Dark in 1935, a poverty row production that nevertheless has its modern admirers.  Orr's first novel holds up well for fans of classic mystery, though his second one, Wailing Rock Murders, is, in my view the superior book of the pair. The latter novel is extremely rare, but happily a new edition is forthcoming from Coachwhip, who will be publishing the novel as a twofer with The Dartmouth Murders.

North Mass, Dartmouth
(setting of the first death in
The Dartmouth Murders; note modern fire escape)

The Dartmouth Murders starts with the suicide--or is it?--of well-liked student. Rather gruesomely he is discovered hanging from a rope fire escape outside his living quarters (the real life North Mass, where Orr himself was a resident). Somewhat like the Ellery Queen mysteries, which debuted the same year, we have something of a father-son investigative team, the son being the dead boy's roommate and best friend and the father a rather meddlesome and officious attorney who just happens to be visiting the Dartmouth campus on the fatal weekend.

In classic tradition, the local sheriff allows the father to more or less run the investigation for him, Ellery Queen or Philo Vance presumably not having been available for amateur consultation that week.  Unfortunately, two more deaths will follow the first before a murdering fiend is found.  In classic fashion, the trail of the mystery seems to lead to Boston and old sins that have cast long shadows....

Rollins Chapel, Dartmouth
(scene of the second murder in
The Dartmouth Murders)

The Dartmouth Murders is an enjoyable mystery tale (one key element in the murders anticipates a John Dickson Carr novel, as I recollect) and, better yet, fans of classic mystery will soon be able to read it right in the same volume with The Wailing Rock Murders, one of the rarest Golden Age mystery titles around.

I'll have a separate post on the latter novel coming soon!