Murder Underground

by Mavis Doriel Hay

Overview

An unpleasant spinster meets her end on the stairs of the Belsize Park Tube station.

All of the residents of the Frampton Private Hotel in Hampstead knew that Euphemia Pongleton was in the habit of walking one stop closer to the center of London to save a penny's fare on the Underground. But they hardly expected to hear that she was found on the stairs at Belsize Park, strangled to death with her terrier's leash on her way to a dental appointment. Her death sends shock waves through the boardinghouse. Betty Watson and Cissie Fain are all agog. Mrs. Daymer regards the murder as fodder for her latest psychological thriller. The landlady, Mrs. Bliss, frets about how she'll get dinner done with the maid, Nellie, crying her eyes out because the police have detained her boyfriend, Bob Thurlow. Gerry Plasher is in a tizzy because the question of whether his fiancee, Beryl Sanders, will or won't inherit her aunt's fortune depends on what vindictive Euphemia wrote in the latest version of her will. Meanwhile, Basil Pongleton, the other claimant to the family fortune, tells the police a cock and bull story about traveling to Hampstead from his own boardinghouse in Tavistock Square when he was actually in Belsize Park at the time of his aunt's death. He's so rattled by his own blunder that he seeks advice from Joseph Slocum, another Frampton tenant whom young Basil regards as a man of the world. All the while, Mr. Blend sits at his table in the living room, cutting his newspaper placidly into strips.

How this band of halfwits will solve a murder will surprise, and perhaps amuse, readers of this Golden Age classic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781456636470
Publisher:	eBookIt.com
Publication date:	02/01/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	440 KB

About the Author

Mavis Doriel Hay (1894–1979) published three detective novels in the 1930s that are now extremely rare.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter I: Miss Pongleton on the Stairs
Chapter II: The Frumps
Chapter III: Gerry Blunders In
Chapter IV: A Confession
Chapter V: Mr. Slocomb Advises
Chapter VI: The Press Does Its Duty
Chapter VII: Basil Elaborates
Chapter VIII: Basil Appeals to Betty
Chapter IX: Basil Think of Gloves
Chapter X: Tuppy Performs his Trick
Chapter XI: Mrs. Daymer Decides to Investigate
Chapter XII: Hunt the Pearls!
Chapter XIII: Mamie Turns Up
Chapter XIV: Betty Decides to Cook the Evidence
Chapter XV: Basil Reports Progress
Chapter XVI: Gerry Causes Anxiety
Chapter XVII: Discoveries
Chapter XVIII: Clues in Coventry
Chapter XIX: Conspiracy!
Chapter XX: What Nellie Heard
Chapter XXI: “Some Valuable Information”
Chapter XXII: Mr. Slocomb is Surprised
Chapter XXIII: Comments by the Frumps

Editorial Reviews

This detective novel is much more than interesting. The numerous characters are well differentiated, and include one of the most feckless, exasperating and lifelike literary men that ever confused a trail.

Sunday Times - Dorothy L. Sayers

It's more a comedy of errors than a puzzle-type mystery, and the story had a humorous, lighthearted tone.~~~Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable novel.

Goodreads - Deborah White

I love to find and read these reprints of practically lost novels because it shows the bones and skeletons which writers who came after someone such as Mavis Doriel Hay built upon to get to where we are today in crime novels.

NetGalley - Judith Lesley

In this republished mystery from 1934, some fairly standard components of classic crime mystery—a disputed will, a stolen brooch, and a broken heart—are transported to twin settings unusal for the time: a London boardinghouse and a Northern Line Underground station. The boardinghouse device, which throws together people of varying ages and fortunes who are either stable, broken, or on the make, is a marvelous way of bringing the country-house mystery into the city and the Depression. One of the Frampton Hotel's boarders, a Miss Euphemia Pongleton, an annoying, nastily frugal elderly woman disliked by all, is found strangled to death with a dog leash at the top of the stairs leading down to Belsize Park Underground station. The other boarders react with keen interest, but not grief, to the news of the murder and set about solving it, sussing out which of their fellow boarders may have murdered Miss Pongleton. In terms of plot, the novel is almost pure puzzle, making it a prime example of a Golden Age mystery, but Hay injects humor and keen characterization into the mix as well. As Dorothy L. Sayers wrote in the Sunday Times: “This detective novel is much more than interesting.” With an insightful introduction by British mystery writer Stephen Booth, this is another winning entry in the British Library Crime Classics series. Connie Fletcher

Booklist - Connie Fletcher

Another marvelous novel from the British Library Crime Classics, this time a story set on the Northern Line. It is my opinion that dog Tuppy is the star of the story and I would very much like one just like him!~~—The reprints of the Library portfolio are very welcome and I aspire to collect them all.~~~very highly recommended.

Goodreads - Eileen Hall

The English have a way with mysteries that makes them very popular in the States. The author of this intriguing mystery wrote during the Golden Age of British crime fiction. Her three detective novels were well received at that time and are still worth a read.

Bookloons - Mary Ann Smyth

I guessed the identity of the murderer almost immediately, but enjoyed the gentle humour here nonetheless.

Swiftly Tilting Planet - Guy Savage

This is a book rich with the humane compassion and love of people that makes for character-driven humor and mystery. If you love the classic British mystery, this is one Deep Cut you should definitely enjoy. It inspires confidence in me that the entire series will be enjoyable.

Tonstant Weader Reviews - RuthAlice Anderson