Bloodshed in Bayswater

Inspector Shelley #1

by John Rowland

Readers of mystery thrillers will find much to please them in this highly exciting story. It tells how Marjery Latimer living in a Bayswater boarding house was awakened one night by a scream. Slipping from her bed and crossing to the window she was in time to see a man hurrying down the street.The first of a series of crimes, which was to horrify the public and baffle the authorities had been committed!
The mystery was further deepened by the strange behaviour of Marjory’s employer who, in the apparent effort to be rid of her, told her of another and more lucrative position.
Marjory acccepted, but to her dismay recognised in her new employer the man she had seen hurrying away from the scene of the crime. Then a second murder was committed and the hue & cry reached fever pitch as the re-doubled efforts of the police failed to bring the guilty to justice.

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

John Herbert Shelley Rowland was a B.S.c with Honours in Chemistry.

Reviews

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A first of many forages into the world of John Rowland - what a delight he is! And an exceedingly clever writer of golden age crime to boot. I was on tenterhooks through this, half guessing the twist, then not, then guessing and having a jolly good laugh along the way. Great fun!

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first of the author’s books featuring Inspector Shelley is a fairly typical second/third tier 1930s British detective novel which fits into the heavily-romantic “woman-in-peril”type. There is not much by way of detection and not a great deal of mystery about who lies behind the deaths of three men linked with motoring and of the butler of one of them.

Although Rowland does spring a slight, if rather far-fetched, surprise, in general terms this is pretty run-of-the mill,and perhaps not quite as puzzling as the two BLCC reprints of his works.

Margery Latimer is a reasonably strong character, if a a little incurious and impetuous at times .There is,near the beginning, a seeming contradiction , with her description as “secretary to a not-too-prosperous solicitor” and as “secretary to a solicitor with one of the most extensive criminal practices in the country”.

Galileo Publishers deserve credit for producing a reprint relatively free of errors at a reasonable price. Since an author’s debut is often interesting only if one can then go on to view developments in the recurring characters and/or the plotting skills of the writer , I hope they will republish further instalments in the series

3.25 stars.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up. It is said Rowland wrote this book to surprise his parents. His mom must have been a devotee of afternoon movie serials of the Perils of Pearl White type. It's very obviously a first novel with its stilted dialogue, mysterious foreigners, and elevators and doors that open and close all by themselves! (quite modern for the 1930s) It's not too bad until the "plot twist" at the end; I had figured out who the baddy was in the first quarter of the novel, but seeing how Rowland played that out was pretty cringe. I did a bit of skimming when I hit the "don't tell anyone and do exactly as you are told" part and to be honest I didn't miss a thing. The ending was obviously written with those 1930s romantic mysteries in mind. You could almost hear the orchestra and see "THE END" blazoned across the screen--uh, I mean page.
I understand Rowland wrote several books. I hope his style and plotting improved. This was light and all, but one does like a little less cheese and more actual mystery. Don't get me wrong, I didn't actually hate it, but it is what it is.

[SuedePuzzler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thriller with not much detection for the reader to do. But it was a fun read, with a sympathetic heroine as a main character. Heavy on the romance.

A number of character actions are a bit baffling.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...