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Bulldog Drummond #9
Bulldog Drummond at Bay
While Hugh ‘Bulldog’ Drummond is staying in an old cottage for a peaceful few days duck-shooting, he is disturbed one night by the sound of men shouting, followed by a large stone that comes crashing through the window. When he goes outside to investigate, he finds a patch of blood in the road, and is questioned by two men who tell him that they are chasing a lunatic who has escaped from the nearby asylum. Drummond plays dumb, but is determined to investigate in his inimitable style when he discovers a cryptic message.
327 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1935
9 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Sapper
267 books37 followersSapper was the pseudonym of Herman Cyril McNeile, whose father was Malcolm McNeile, a Captain in the Royal Navy and, at who was at the time, governor of the naval prison at Bodmin, the town where Herman was born.
McNeile was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1907. He went to France in 1914 when World War I broke out and he saw action at both the First and the Second Battle of Ypres where he displayed considerable bravery, was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in dispatches.
His first known published work was a series of short war stories based on his own experiences, and published under the name 'Sapper' in the Daily Mail and in the magazine 'The War Illustrated'.
These stories were immediately successful and later sold over 200,000 copies within a year when subsequently republished in book-form. His realistic writing proved most popular at a time of great stress and Lord Northcliff, the owner of the Daily Mail who recognised his talent, was so impressed by that he attempted, but failed, to have McNeile released from the army so he could work as a war correspondent.
After the War was over, in 1919, McNeile resigned from the army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and became a full-time author, publishing his first novel, Mufti, in that year.
In 1922, he moved to Sussex and lived there for the rest of his life, having married Peggy Baird-Douglas with whom he had two sons.
He began the series for which he now best remembered, that of Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond in 1920 and thereafter he wrote 10 novels featuring his eponymous hero. The public took to Drummond and McNeile had great financial success.
The first book was adapted for the stage and produced, to great success, at Wyndham's Theatre during the 1921-1922 season with Gerald du Maurier playing the main character. Films followed and the first talkie BullDog Drummond film in 1922 was reputed to have earned McNeile the vast sum of $750,000. There were 26 films made of his books.
As well as Drummond, he wrote about Ronald Standish but the majority of his work was short stories that were published in various popular monthly magazines and continued to earn him good money. Indeed, in addition to his novels, many of his books were short story collections.
He was reputedly an unremittingly hearty man, who even his good friend and collaborator Gerard Fairlie, who continued the Drummond series after McNeile's death with seven further books, described as "not everybody's cup of tea". He died on August 14, 1937 at his home in Pulborough, West Sussex.
His funeral, with full military honours, took place at Woking crematorium.
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2010
McNeile was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1907. He went to France in 1914 when World War I broke out and he saw action at both the First and the Second Battle of Ypres where he displayed considerable bravery, was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in dispatches.
His first known published work was a series of short war stories based on his own experiences, and published under the name 'Sapper' in the Daily Mail and in the magazine 'The War Illustrated'.
These stories were immediately successful and later sold over 200,000 copies within a year when subsequently republished in book-form. His realistic writing proved most popular at a time of great stress and Lord Northcliff, the owner of the Daily Mail who recognised his talent, was so impressed by that he attempted, but failed, to have McNeile released from the army so he could work as a war correspondent.
After the War was over, in 1919, McNeile resigned from the army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and became a full-time author, publishing his first novel, Mufti, in that year.
In 1922, he moved to Sussex and lived there for the rest of his life, having married Peggy Baird-Douglas with whom he had two sons.
He began the series for which he now best remembered, that of Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond in 1920 and thereafter he wrote 10 novels featuring his eponymous hero. The public took to Drummond and McNeile had great financial success.
The first book was adapted for the stage and produced, to great success, at Wyndham's Theatre during the 1921-1922 season with Gerald du Maurier playing the main character. Films followed and the first talkie BullDog Drummond film in 1922 was reputed to have earned McNeile the vast sum of $750,000. There were 26 films made of his books.
As well as Drummond, he wrote about Ronald Standish but the majority of his work was short stories that were published in various popular monthly magazines and continued to earn him good money. Indeed, in addition to his novels, many of his books were short story collections.
He was reputedly an unremittingly hearty man, who even his good friend and collaborator Gerard Fairlie, who continued the Drummond series after McNeile's death with seven further books, described as "not everybody's cup of tea". He died on August 14, 1937 at his home in Pulborough, West Sussex.
His funeral, with full military honours, took place at Woking crematorium.
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2010
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 20, 2025
It all starts when Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond stays in the cottage of his former nanny to do some duckhunting. A rock is thrown through the widow and some unwelcome visitors repelled.
And thus start an investigation which will bring Drummond all over the country in his fight for justice and country. Of course, while there are numerous criminals against him, there are also some friends who will stand by his side during the - for some - deadly chase of spies and murderers.
Sapper has established with Bulldog Drummond an amateur-detective who belongs between the great detectives of all times. A well worked-out plot, complex but since the reader gets more info than the main characters not so very hard to unravel and follow the plotlines to their climax. Sapper grabs the attention of the reader and does not release it until the book can be closed at the end.
In this book we meet for the first time a young journalist who will play also a part in other books in the series. It all plays in a different time and place, old England between WWI and WWII. We, of course have hindsight and realise that this is not so far-fetched and certainly not purely fiction. Since what the author lets his characters refer to, weak politicians (busy with technical details on the race track while the world risk to be put on fire), abandoning most means to be able to defend oneself in favour of endless talks... is actually the start of WWII and the way England will be dragged into it, completely unprepared and basically a sitting duck.
That brings us back to the duck-hunting of the Bulldog - which will be cancelled since there is more interesting game to hunt.
Witty dialogues, plenty of action, fistfights, gunfights, car chases, getting locked up and trying ot escape, poisonings....
A somewhat funny part is where a "new" Mexican drug is introduced: Marihuana and the author gets that quite wrong - obviously he mixes that up with some hard drug as far as the effects go.
Good food and a lot of drinking helps to create a feelgood atmosphere that brings us back to the years of our innocence when this kind of books were the best of the best.
They still are.
And thus start an investigation which will bring Drummond all over the country in his fight for justice and country. Of course, while there are numerous criminals against him, there are also some friends who will stand by his side during the - for some - deadly chase of spies and murderers.
Sapper has established with Bulldog Drummond an amateur-detective who belongs between the great detectives of all times. A well worked-out plot, complex but since the reader gets more info than the main characters not so very hard to unravel and follow the plotlines to their climax. Sapper grabs the attention of the reader and does not release it until the book can be closed at the end.
In this book we meet for the first time a young journalist who will play also a part in other books in the series. It all plays in a different time and place, old England between WWI and WWII. We, of course have hindsight and realise that this is not so far-fetched and certainly not purely fiction. Since what the author lets his characters refer to, weak politicians (busy with technical details on the race track while the world risk to be put on fire), abandoning most means to be able to defend oneself in favour of endless talks... is actually the start of WWII and the way England will be dragged into it, completely unprepared and basically a sitting duck.
That brings us back to the duck-hunting of the Bulldog - which will be cancelled since there is more interesting game to hunt.
Witty dialogues, plenty of action, fistfights, gunfights, car chases, getting locked up and trying ot escape, poisonings....
A somewhat funny part is where a "new" Mexican drug is introduced: Marihuana and the author gets that quite wrong - obviously he mixes that up with some hard drug as far as the effects go.
Good food and a lot of drinking helps to create a feelgood atmosphere that brings us back to the years of our innocence when this kind of books were the best of the best.
They still are.
February 9, 2026
An unusually complicated plot, where the ending is at least plausible given some foreshadowing.
Bulldog Drummond is sitting alone in a rented place in the Norfolk fens, when a rock is thrown through his window. He then hears a shot and, on going out into the road to investigate, he finds a large puddle of blood on the road. Rock? Blood? Enter a damsel in distress who attempts to drug Drummond's tea, and it isn't long before the Froth Blowers are together again, and an adventure ensues.
Running two plotlines is pretty easy when you're writing in third person (omniscient, for the purists out there), so this one moves along pretty rapidly. Furtjher, when events contrive to undo one plot, another one leaps in to take its place, and the author covers himself reasonably comfortably.
Two things stuck in my mind:
Kids, say 'No' to drugs.
The other was the passage that begins with "Why have you gone out of your way to make another European war inevitable?” (p 185) and ends a few pages later with “You seem to have definitely made up your mind that sooner or later it is unavoidable.” (p. 189) These ruminations on the nature of war, its roots and its consequences if you like, match well the ideas running in many people's minds in 1935 when this was written. The author couches the philosophy in the mouths of two European millionaires, but the ideas might be the author's himself. If more people had rad this and believed it then, a lot of the appeasement so fashionable then and again now might've been avoided.
Something to think about.
Bulldog Drummond is sitting alone in a rented place in the Norfolk fens, when a rock is thrown through his window. He then hears a shot and, on going out into the road to investigate, he finds a large puddle of blood on the road. Rock? Blood? Enter a damsel in distress who attempts to drug Drummond's tea, and it isn't long before the Froth Blowers are together again, and an adventure ensues.
Running two plotlines is pretty easy when you're writing in third person (omniscient, for the purists out there), so this one moves along pretty rapidly. Furtjher, when events contrive to undo one plot, another one leaps in to take its place, and the author covers himself reasonably comfortably.
Two things stuck in my mind:
Known to drug addicts as Mary Jane, its effects are literally terrible. As a general rule it is made into cigarettes, but it can also be administered subcutaneously. And after a while it reduces a man to such a pitiful condition of nerves that he ceases to be a man. He becomes a gibbering wreck, scared out of his life by the slightest trifle. His brain refuses to act; terror of he knows not what holds him in its grip, until in the end he puts a bullet through his brain or else ends up in a lunatic asylum. (p. 215)
Kids, say 'No' to drugs.
The other was the passage that begins with "Why have you gone out of your way to make another European war inevitable?” (p 185) and ends a few pages later with “You seem to have definitely made up your mind that sooner or later it is unavoidable.” (p. 189) These ruminations on the nature of war, its roots and its consequences if you like, match well the ideas running in many people's minds in 1935 when this was written. The author couches the philosophy in the mouths of two European millionaires, but the ideas might be the author's himself. If more people had rad this and believed it then, a lot of the appeasement so fashionable then and again now might've been avoided.
Something to think about.
February 14, 2018
Was between 3 and 4 stars for this one. I definitely think it's better than the other Sapper book I have, Tiny Carteret. Bulldog Drummond is a much more compelling character and there are some parts of this book I love.
The beginning is excellent in every way. The first quarter of the book is phenomenal, I was hooked immediately. After that though, the middle of the book is somewhat weak. It finishes a little stronger but was never able to recapture the intensity of the opening, so that was an unfortunate letdown - though not too much of one.
Still a great book.
The beginning is excellent in every way. The first quarter of the book is phenomenal, I was hooked immediately. After that though, the middle of the book is somewhat weak. It finishes a little stronger but was never able to recapture the intensity of the opening, so that was an unfortunate letdown - though not too much of one.
Still a great book.
April 26, 2018
Bulldog Drummond At Bay is another ripping yarn in Sapper's famous series. However it's very much a book of two halves (the clue's in the title) when Drummond is held at bay the book switches focus to the bad guys and they're not half as much fun as Drummond and Co. the rotters.
June 26, 2025
1935 and very prescient. Predicted that another war in Europe was imminent. Drummond foils plans to sell a nerve gas formula and a new monoplane design to foreign powers. Germans, Russians, Spaniards and even a dead Italian thief. Tres international. 🇬🇧
July 11, 2018
A really entertaining story. Very enjoyable from start to finish
January 14, 2013
Terrific, apart from the marijuana.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews