The Case of the Silver Skull

by Scott Corbett, Paul Frame (Illustrator)

Inspector Roger Tearle, always ready and eager, reports for duty at Mrs. Hargrove's house the day of the Gracious Homes Tour. Officially, his role is to tend the guest book, but he is keeping an unofficial eye on her priceless collection of silver and a sharp lookout for any suspicious characters. After all, what thief could resist both the silver collection and the Chadburn porcelains in another Gracious Home?
Sure enough, two prime suspects show up — and turn out to be very respectable antique dealers,. Disgraced by his mistake, Roger vows to give up the sleuthing business and devote himself to his lucrative egg route. It is one of his customers, silver-haired Colonel Byrd, who sets him solidly back on the trail, and this time it leads to more than Roger expected.
Scott Corbett's newest Case book is tricky enough to make even Inspector Tearle consider retirement.

120 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1974

About the author

Scott Corbett (July 27, 1913 – March 6, 2006) was an American novelist and educator. He wrote five adult novels, the first published in 1950, and then began writing books for children. He retired from teaching in 1965 to write full-time. His best known book is The Lemonade Trick, a children's novel.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars -- This mystery involving Roger "Inspector" Tearle is much better than the first one I read. Clues are interspersed throughout the novel - indeed, even the title is a clue! - as well as a red herring or two as Roger (and his twin sister, Shirley, & his best friend, Thumbs) solves the mystery of thefts that have been occurring in neighboring areas, only to wind up in his own community of East Widmarsh. While I still don't like Roger's snarling & growling at his friends showing his bad temper, I did like his thinking & working through the case. He would clearly show his thought process & mull through why one decision was better than another. This left no way for the reader to think 'well, what about this?' It was truly well done. Despite its clear improvement in creating a mystery, however, this has no checkouts, has condition issues, & mine is the only copy in the district. #33 in the 2026 Search & Purge is weeded. Farewell.

[Danielle Routh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second and possibly final book of Vintage Fiction Week 2019 (unless I can squeeze in an S.E. Hinton novel before Friday). We return to East Widmarsh and Roger "Inspector" Tearle in 1974, five years after The Case of the Fugitive Firebug, which is nicely evidenced by an illustration of Inspector wearing bellbottoms.

The mystery here is less complicated and (in my opinion) less intriguing. Inspector thinks that a valuable silver collection will be stolen, only to find out that it's simply being borrowed for a museum show. BUT THEN he finds out that a valuable furniture collection will be stolen and must overcome his embarrassment from the silver misunderstanding in order to save the furniture.

As far as Scott Corbett's mysteries go, this one seems pretty unremarkable. The fake-out in the first half of the book is a nice touch, especially since Inspector is rather puffed up after the Firebug case, but there's just not much substance to this mystery. There's also the unfortunate inclusion of Kito "Kiddo" Nockamura, a Japanese cook, whose scant dialogue is given in the racist fashion of slurred letters and mispronunciation. (Between Kiddo and Fidel, the South American gardener from the prior Corbett mystery, East Widmarsh must be a happening place for minorities.) The illustrations are also less detailed, although I did find a penciled note reading "Roger is cute" from a prior reader.

Unless you're a big Inspector/Scott Corbett fan, you can probably skip this one.

Sign it was written in 1974:
"Roger, assisted by Shirley and Thumbs, had contracted to sell and deliver these eggs all over East Widmarsh. The profits were helping greatly to build a college fund for the three of them."

[Rodney Haydon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid entry in the Inspector Tearle mysteries series, and I enjoyed re-reading this one. The Paul Frame illustrations are wonderful.