Salute the Toff

Toff #6

by John Creasey

Toff investigates the mysterious dissapearance of Fey Gretton's boss. The search leads him to a London flatand a man strangled with a soiled stocking. Danger for Fey.and for the Toff.

143 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

AKA Gordon Ashe, M E Cooke, Norman Deane, Robert Caine Frazer, Patrick Gill, Michael Halliday, Charles Hogarth, Brian Hope, Colin Hughes, Kyle Hunt, Margaret Lisle, Abel Mann, Peter Manton, J.J. Marric, Richard Martin, Rodney Mattheson, Anthony Morton, Jeremy York, Henry St. John Cooper and Margaret Cooke.

John Creasey (September 17, 1908 - June 9, 1973) was born in Southfields, Surrey, England and died in New Hall, Bodenham, Salisbury Wiltshire, England. He was the seventh of nine children in a working class home. He became an English author of crime thrillers, published in excess of 600 books under 20+ different pseudonyms. He invented many famous characters who would appear in a whole series of novels. Probably the most famous of these is Gideon of Scotland Yard, the basis for the television program Gideon's Way but others include Department Z, Dr. Palfrey, The Toff, Inspector Roger West, and The Baron (which was also made into a television series). In 1962, Creasey won an Edgar Award for Best Novel, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Gideon's Fire, written under the pen name J. J. Marric. And in 1969 he was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.

Reviews

[ShanDizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

said the Toff. “Let me get the essentials straight. Mr. Draycott was in business on Monday, returned to his flat that evening, and has not been seen since. The flat has been searched—”“No,” said Fay quickly. “I couldn’t get in, and there’s no one on the premises with a key. The people in the flat below said they heard him go out on Monday, and someone else said he was carrying a small attaché-case. But I can’t be sure that the flat is empty, and—” She hesitated, and then went on with a rush: “I’m scared.”By that time the Toff had formed a judgment of Fay, mostly in her favour.He imagined that she was about twenty-five, that she had spent several years in business, and that she would be capable. She would be unlikely to have inhibitions or obsessions: probably she was as mentally healthy as she was physically. He would not be surprised to learn that she had grown to think more of Draycott than a secretary should.

The Toff knew the chief cause of the trouble. He had not known when the case started, had been unable to get to the heart of it, and was compelled to keep following trails which might help him, yet might prove to be blind alleys.

[Graeme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent of its time romp involving murder, kidnap and thrilling derring do.

[patrick carolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast, nicely written escapism.

[Tbfrank · Rating 2 out of 5]

An Australian paper (the Examiner) published a serial by John Creasey under under this title in May, 1939 to June, 1939. However, the story is not what any of the synopses I have found describing "Salute the Toff". This story is about a crime syndicate, including the beautiful and deadly Irma Cardew, which executes a series of daring robberies on movie theaters. The object is to force the owners to subscribe to a protection scheme. The story is fairly complicated with lots of danger and narrow escapes with the mastermind behind the plot well-hidden. Creasey's writing is formulaic and hardly in the class of his female peers, Christie, Marsh, and Sayers. Yet his novels do capture elements of the times and portions of society his contemporaries shy away from.

[Delores Alger · Rating 4 out of 5]

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