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Sir Clinton Driffield
Sir Clinton Driffield is a fictional police detective created by the British author J.J. Connington. He was one of numerous detectives created during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, making his first appearance in ''Murder in the Maze'' in 1927. He appeared in four subsequent novels by 1929 when Connington apparently wished to write him out following ''Nemesis at Raynham Parva''. However, his replacement Superintendent Ross failed to gain the same level of popularity over two novels and Sir Clinton returned in the 1931 mystery ''The Boathouse Riddle''. He went on to appear in a further eleven novels. The last entry '' Common Sense Is All You Need'' was published the year of Connington's death in 1947 and is set in wartime Britain. Character biography Driffield is a former colonial official in South Africa who on returning home has taken over the role of Chief Constable of a rural English county. His cases revolve around the market town of Ambledown and the nearby country ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder In The Maze
''Murder in the Maze'' is a 1927 detective novel by the British author Alfred Walter Stewart, published under his pseudonym J.J. Connington. It was the first of seventeen novels featuring his best-known character the Golden Age Detective Sir Clinton Driffield, Chief Constable of an English county. It takes the form of a classic country house mystery. First published in Britain by Ernest Benn, it was released in the United States by Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ....Reilly p.346 References Bibliography * Evans, Curtis. ''Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961''. McFarland, 2014. * Hubin, Allen J. ''Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Squire
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Boys served a knight as an attendant, doing simple but important tasks such as saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. Terminology ''Squire'' is a shortened version of the word ''esquire'', from the Anglo-French itself meaning ("shield bearer"). Other terms include ''scutifer'' and the Latin ("arms bearer"). Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire could be a knight's servant that fought with his lord. It could also refer to sub-knightly Men-at-Arms and was used interchangeably with valet. Over time it referred to a broad social class of men, just below the rank of knight. Eventually, a lord of the manor might come to be known as a "squire". Duties A squire was typically a young boy, training to become a knight. A boy became a page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In Whose Dim Shadow
''In Whose Dim Shadow'' is a 1935 detective novel written by the British author Alfred Walter Stewart, published under his pseudonym J.J. Connington. It is the tenth in his series of novels featuring the Golden Age Detective Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield, the Chief Constable of a rural English county.Reilly p.346 The title comes from a line in ''The Battle of Lake Regillus'' in Thomas Babington Macaulay's ''Lays of Ancient Rome''. It was published in the United States by Little, Brown under the alternative title ''The Tau Cross Mystery''. Synopsis A man is shot dead in an empty apartment in the block of flats where he lives. Investigations soon prove he was a leading a double life, married to two different woman and a victim of blackmail. It appears he lay in wait in an attempt to kill his blackmailer, but was got at first. Sir Clinton tries to whittle down those potentially linked to the crime including the dead man's original French wife, her brother-in-law, a charisma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ha-Ha Case
''The Ha-Ha Case'' is a 1934 detective novel by the British author Alfred Walter Stewart, published under his pseudonym J.J. Connington. It is the ninth in his series of novels featuring the Golden Age Detective Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield, the Chief Constable of a rural English county. A traditional country house mystery, the title refers to a Ha-ha a sunken fence hidden to the naked eye common on country estates. Unlike the other novels in the series which are set when they are written, this is dated a decade before its publication in 1924. In a review in the ''Sunday Times'' Dorothy L. Sayers wrote "There is no need to say that Mr. Connington has given us a sound and interesting plot, very carefully and ingeniously worked out."Evans p.228 Synopsis A complex property inheritance comes to the fore when the youngest member of a family is killed in an apparently accidental shooting accident after he is discovered in a Ha-Ha with his head blown off. Inspector Hinton, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Castleford Conundrum
''The Castleford Conundrum'' is a 1932 detective novel by the British author Alfred Walter Stewart, published under his pseudonym J.J. Connington. It is the eighth in his series of novels featuring the Golden Age Detective Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield, the Chief Constable of a rural English county.Reilly p.346 It makes passing reference to one of the earlier stories '' Mystery at Lynden Sands''. Synopsis The young Mrs Castleford holds the purse strings over her husband, half-sister, stepdaughter and former brothers-in-law due to the wealth she inherited from her late first husband. When she is found shot dead on a chalet on the edge of her country estate, Inspector Westerham is called in to investigate. He discovers the deceased had recently destroyed her first will and was in the process of replacing it with a second, favouring her brothers-in-law rather than her current husband for whom she had grown contemptuous. Gradually the Inspectors suspicions point towar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sweepstake Murders
''The Sweepstake Murders'' is a 1931 detective novel by the British author Alfred Walter Stewart, published under his pseudonym J.J. Connington. It is the seventh in his series of novels featuring the Golden Age Detective Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield.Reilly p.346 It uses a tontine murder theme, which recurs in detective and mystery stories. Synopsis After a night of cards a group of men agree to invest in a pool on a coming sweepstake In the United States, a sweepstake is a type of contest where a prize or prizes may be awarded to a winner or winners. Sweepstakes began as a form of lottery that were tied to products sold. In response, the FCC and FTC refined U.S. broadcast .... The group are successful but before they can claim their winnings, one of their number is murdered. The prize money is due to be shared amongst the group, but further members are then killed. Sir Clinton Driffield is involved both professionally and privately, as his close friend Wendover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Case With Nine Solutions
''The Case with Nine Solutions'' is a 1928 detective novel by the British writer Alfred Walter Stewart, published under his pseudonym J.J. Connington. It is the forth in his series of novels featuring the Golden Age Detective Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield. It was published in London by Gollancz and the following year in Boston by Little, Brown and Company.Reilly p.346 Synopsis Doctor Ringwood, acting as a locum in a small town while the GP is away, is called out one very foggy evening to attend to an urgent case. By accident goes to the house next door and finds a dying man who has clearly been shot. He goes next door to telephone for the police, and examines the patient he had been called out to tend to who is suffering from scarlet fever. He returns to the other house to stand guard until Sir Clinton Driffield and his colleague Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mystery At Lynden Sands
''Mystery at Lynden Sands'' is a 1928 detective novel by the British author Alfred Walter Stewart, published under his pseudonym J.J. Connington. It is the third in a series of novels featuring the Golden Age Detective Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield. It was published in London by Gollancz and Boston by Little, Brown and Company. It received a generally positive critical reception, with one reviewer going so far as to say it "may just fail of being the best detective story of the century" comparing it to ''The Cask'' and ''The Mysterious Affair at Styles''.Evans p.21 In ''A Catalogue of Crime'' by Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor describe it as "early but not first-class Connington". Synopsis While holidaying at a new hotel at the coastal resort of Lynden Sands with his friend Westover, Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield is drawn into a murder case revolving around the large Fordingbridge inheritance including a country estate near to Lynden Sands. Two subsequ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tragedy At Ravensthorpe
''Tragedy at Ravensthorpe'' is a 1927 detective novel by the British writer Alfred Walter Stewart, published under his pseudonym J.J. Connington. It is the second in a series of seventeen novels featuring the Golden Age Detective Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield following on from ''Murder in the Maze''. The American edition was published in Boston by Little, Brown and Company.Reilly p.346 Synopsis During a fancy dress party at the country estate of Ravensthorpe, an attempt is made to rob the museum room of the house containing the house's valuable collection. The main target seems to be some medallions about to be sold to an American millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. Many national currencies have, or .... Sir Clinton, an old friend of the family and a guest at the party, takes over t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cecil Street
Cecil John Charles Street (3 May 1884 – 8 December 1964), also known as John Street, was a major in the British Army and a crime fiction novelist. He began his military career as an artillery officer and during World War I, he became a propagandist for MI7. During the Irish War of Independence, he acted as an Information Officer for Dublin Castle alternating between Dublin and London and working closely with the British official Lionel Curtis. He later earned his living as a prolific writer of detective novels written under several pseudonyms including John Rhode, Miles Burton and Cecil Waye. Early life, education, and career Street was born in Gibraltar to General John Alfred Street CB of Woking, and his second wife, Caroline, daughter of Charles Horsfall Bill of Storthes Hall, Yorkshire, head of a landed gentry family. Caroline had married comparatively late and her only son was born when she was thirty-five. General Street, having retired from the Army at the age of s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freeman Wills Crofts
Freeman Wills Crofts FRSA (1 June 1879 – 11 April 1957) was an Irish engineer and mystery author, remembered best for the character of Inspector Joseph French. A railway engineer by training, Crofts introduced railway themes into many of his stories, which were notable for their intricate planning. Although Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, and authors of the so-called golden age of detective fiction are more famous, he was esteemed by those authors, and many of his books are still in print. Birth and education Crofts was born at 26 Waterloo Road, Dublin, Ireland. His father, also named Freeman Wills Crofts, was a surgeon-lieutenant in the Army Medical Service but he died of fever in Honduras before the young Freeman Wills Crofts was born. In 1883, Crofts' mother, née Celia Frances Wise, married the Venerable Jonathan Harding, Vicar of Gilford, County Down, later Archdeacon of Dromore, and Crofts was raised in the vicarage at Gilford. He attended Methodist College and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julian Symons
Julian Gustave Symons (originally Gustave Julian Symons, pronounced ''SIMM-ons''; 30 May 1912 – 19 November 1994) was a British crime writer and poet. He also wrote social and military history, biography and studies of literature. He was born in Clapham, London, and died in Walmer, Kent. Life and work Julian Symons was born in London to auctioneer Morris Albert Symons (died 1929), of Russian-Polish Jewish immigrant parentage, and Minnie Louise (died 1964), née Bull. He was a younger brother, and later the biographer, of writer A. J. A. Symons. Like his brother, due to the family's straitened financial circumstances, he left school at 14, having attended a "school for backward children" owing to his severe stutter. He was subsequently mainly self-educated, whilst working as a typist and clerk for an engineering firm. He founded the poetry magazine ''Twentieth Century Verse'' in 1937, editing it for two years. His crime writing in the 1930s was incidental; later he became a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
