The Cases of Lieutenant Timothy Trant

by Q. Patrick, Curtis Evans (Editor), Douglas G. Greene (Editor)

This is the second collection of stories from Crippen & Landru to feature the works of Richard Webb and Hugh Wheeler, who were better known under their three pseudonyms, Q. Patrick, Patrick Quentin, and Jonathan Stagge. These stories, most of which were written between 1946 and 1955 primarily for This Week and Ellery Queen s Mystery Magazine, feature Lt. Timothy Trant, the New York homicide detective. Trant appeared in three novels early in the careers of the two men as works by Q Patrick, and would later return at the end of the Peter Duluth series under the Patrick Quentin name in Black Widow, where Duluth is the main suspect. As Webb s health declined, most of these short works (and the later novels,) would be written by Wheeler alone. This is the first time that many of these stories have seen print, since their original publication over 50 years ago.

406 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2019

About the author

Patrick Quentin, Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge were pen names under which Hugh Callingham Wheeler (19 March 1912 – 26 July 1987), Richard Wilson Webb (August 1901 – December 1966), Martha Mott Kelly (30 April 1906–2005) and Mary Louise White Aswell (3 June 1902 – 24 December 1984) wrote detective fiction. In some foreign countries their books have been published under the variant Quentin Patrick. Most of the stories were written by Webb and Wheeler in collaboration, or by Wheeler alone. Their most famous creation is the amateur sleuth Peter Duluth. In 1963, the story collection The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow was given a Special Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America.

Reviews

[Elisabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only two stories in this collection that come close to having any real literary substance are the longest ones, "She Wrote 'Finis'" and "The Wrong Envelope." Those are not bad at all. The rest are chiefly quick puzzle-pieces, some with rather clever solutions, but all populated by entirely cardboard, almost cartoon stock characters (i.e. lots of swaggering Gorgeous Blonde Dames).

[Kelvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories that include all 22 of the known Timothy Trant detective stories published by Richard Webb and Hugh Wheeler under their Q. Patrick pseudonym. Webb and Wheeler, who were very prolific and co-authored many stories, have multiple pseudonyms, including Q. Patrick, Patrick Quentin, and Jonathan Stagge. Most of the stories in this collection were written between 1946 and 1955 primarily for “This Week” and “Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine” and all feature Lieutenant Timothy Tregaskis Trant, the New York homicide detective. This collection also includes a very good introduction by mystery historian Curtis Evans, who gave a good background on the authors and provided a summary of the 22 stories.

Trant is a homicide police detective. He was born in 1914, graduated Princeton 1935 and joined the New York police department the same year. Q Patrick portraits Trant as an educated and high-class gentleman, just like Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey and S. S. Van Dine’s Philo Vance. Like Wimsey and Vance, Trant also is very smart and has expensive hobbies like collecting neckties and Italian art.

Out of the 22 stories, 2 are novellas (“She Wrote Finis” and “The Wrong Envelope”). I like the short stories a lot more than the novellas, both of which in this collection drag on way too long. The writings in general are efficient and clean. By and large, all the stories have quite ingenious plots and are interesting to read. The formula for the short stories is to bring Trant into a particular setting, where he can quickly (usually within the hour) solve the case by cleverly observing and interpreting the clues. Most of the stories have settings in New York City, although a few have European locales like Venice, Switzerland, and the French Rivera. There are also one where the crime was committed on a transatlantic ocean liner as well as one on a moving train. It is also interesting that two stories in the collection (“Girl Overboard” and “Murder in the Alps”) are essentially the same story (same characters with different names, almost identical dialogues, same murder plot) but are written so that one has a setting on an ocean liner and the other has a setting on a chateau in Switzerland.

The following are my ratings of the 22 stories.
She Wrote Finis 4 Star
White Carnations 5 Star
The Plaster Cat 4 Star
The Corpse in the Closet 3 star
Farewell Performance 5 Star
The Wrong Envelope 3 star
Murder in One Scene 5 star
Town Blonde, Country Blonde 5 star
Who Killed the Mermaid 3 Star
Woman of Ice 5 star
Death and Canasta 4 Star
Death on Saturday Night 4 star
Death on the Riviera 4 Star
Girl Overboard 4 star
This Looks Like Murder 5 Star
Death Before Breakfast 4 star
Death at the Fair 5 Star
The Glamorous Opening 4 star
Murder in the Alps 4 Star
On the Day of the Rose Show 4 star
Going... Going... Gone!
Lioness vs Panther 3 Star

[Theunis Snyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick Quentin one of my favorite authors and Trant one of my favorite detectives. Trant has a unique way to handle witnesses. Here are 22 short stories about him. These stories first appeared in different magazines, but are now collected for the first time. Each story has a unique situation and Trant shines in all of them. The story “The Wrong Envelope” is longer than the others but reminds me of the book length novels of Quentin. It is a real goody and very suspenseful. And Quentin just knows how to end a story. Every ending is a textbook example of how it should be done. I’m so glad that the publishers are planning a second volume of short stories by Quentin.

[Gabriela Galescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

American Golden Age of mystery

The Q. Patrick duo belongs to the American Golden Age of mystery. This collection is a showcase of their writing skills: bite-size mystery stories with a good plot and reasonably believable characters. Funny enough, the least accomplished literary portrait is the one of the main character, Lt. Trant. Nevertheless, this cold is a must read for Golden Age mystery fans.

[Cyn McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful short stories

There is nothing deep or heavy in these mid-20th century shorts, but they were fun to read. Lieutenant Timothy Grant likes unorthodox puzzles, and is able to solve them with relative ease.

[Umer Abbas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice introduction to Q. Patrick's CTrant range even though some ideas are recycled from one story to another the best of the lot is #She wrote Finis#.

[Lisa T. Ungerer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection

Great collection of short mystery stories. Some are tongue in cheek. Good hero. Plots are fun rather than believable. Enjoy.

[Kris Bock]

Good classic mysteries

Fun, easy reads of the puzzle style. Trant doesn't have much personality, but the mysteries are generally clever and fun.

[Macel Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't get enough of Lt. Trant!

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

She Wrote Finis--
White Carnations--3
The Plaster Cat--
*The Corpse in the Closet--
The Farewell Performance (aka Footlights and murder)--3
The Wrong Envelope--
Murder in One Scene--2
Town Blonde, Country Blonde--2
*Who Killed The Mermaid?--
Woman of Ice--
Death and Canasta--3
*Death on Saturday Night--
Death on the Riviera--
*Girl Overboard (aka The Marriner murder)--
This Looks like Murder--
*Death Before Breakfast--
*Death at the Fair--
The Glamorous Opening--2
Murder in the Alps--
*On the Day of the Rose Show (aka Revolvers and roses)--
Going Going Gone!--2
Lioness vs. Panther (aka The two deadly females)--