The Thing Beyond Reason / Echo of a Careless Voice / Blotted Out

by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, Curtis Evans (Introduction)

THE THING BEYOND Lexy Moran is the secretary to innocent, young Caroline Enderby, whose mother watches her like a hawk, always concerned about a possible scandal. So when Caroline doesn’t come home one night and her mother doesn’t seem worried, Lexy is surprised at her reaction. It seems that Caroline has eloped. But how did the sheltered Caroline find time to meet a suitor, much less arrange a marriage? When Lexy is approached by a young man who claims to be her fiancé and is looking for Caroline, Lexy knows something isn’t right. That’s when she decides to find out what really happened to Caroline Enderby. ECHO OF A CARELESS Basilda has been hired by Doctor Ferrier to educate his young daughter, Marty. It is a pleasure to get to know Marty, but her older sister Hope is another matter entirely. Hope is willful and arrogant, and wants nothing to do with Basilda. And their young stepmother, Alma, is no help at all. But when Hope’s lover, Ramon, kills himself, she reluctantly must ask Basilda for help. Every part of Basilda’s upbringing rebels against being brought into Hope’s desperately selfish world. Should she show kindness where none has been shown in return—risk her very future—or fly back to the security she knows? BLOTTED When James arrives in New York he doesn’t know a soul. But before he can leave the ship, he receives a message from an Amy Solway, claiming to be his cousin and asking for his help in posing as her new chauffeur. The first thing he discovers when he is ushered into the house is a dead body under the sofa. He decides to hold his tongue and meet Amy before saying anything, but finds that Amy has been expecting a different James Ross. Since no one has acknowledged the dead man, and Amy is clearly in need of his help, he decides to stay. But will Ross’s will be enough to see him through this most perplexing situation?

Kindle Edition

Published July 15, 2021

About the author

Elisabeth Sanxay Holding (1889-1955) was born and brought up in New York and educated at Miss Whitcombe's and other schools for young ladies. In 1913 she married George Holding, a British diplomat. They had two daughters and lived in various South American countries, and then in Bermuda, where her husband was a government official. Elisabeth Sanxay Holding wrote six romantic novels in the 1920s but, after the stock market crash, turned to the more profitable genre of detective novels: from 1929-54 she wrote eighteen, as well as numerous short stories for magazines. In 1949 Raymond Chandler chose her as 'the best character and suspense writer (for consistent but not large production)', picking The Blank Wall (1947) as one of his favourites among her books; it was filmed as The Reckless Moment in 1949 (by Max Ophuls) and as The Deep End (with Tilda Swinton) in 2001. After her husband's retirement the Holdings lived in New York City. Her series character was Lieutenant Levy. Holding also wrote numerous short stories for popular magazines of the day.

Reviews

[Rita Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I acquired "The Thing Beyond Reason" as a novella from Project Gutenberg, but have not read the other two stories. I hope I can find them somewhere because the first story was delightful. It was a little bit sentimental, but that was more than offset by the intrigue, disguises, and other classic mystery elements. I especially appreciated the strong heroine; no fainting for this gal.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my full review see the links below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...