The Studio Crime in Reading the Detectives

Jul 03, 2015 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

First published in 1929, this is the first of two Golden Age mysteries penned by author Ianthe Jerrold. “The Studio Crime” was so well respected that it gained her immediate entrance into the famous, “Detection Club,” whose founding members included Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and Anthony Berkely. Sadly, Jerrold only penned two mysteries; this and the sequel, “Dead Man’s Quarry.” Although she wrote many other novels until the 1970’s, it is wonderful to have her two classic mysteries back First published in 1929, this is the first of two Golden Age mysteries penned by author Ianthe Jerrold. “The Studio Crime” was so well respected that it gained her immediate entrance into the famous, “Detection Club,” whose founding members included Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and Anthony Berkely. Sadly, Jerrold only penned two mysteries; this and the sequel, “Dead Man’s Quarry.” Although she wrote many other novels until the 1970’s, it is wonderful to have her two classic mysteries back in print.

Jerrold’s sleuth is a typical amateur detective of the time; John Christmas is the leisured son of a wealthy man, who can spend his days investigating crime. Inspector Hembrow is the official police officer, but, as with Lord Peter Wimsey, his help is happily accepted. Lawrence Newtree, a friend of Christmas, acts as a link between the characters and it is his studio where the storyline starts. Newtree is hosting a Christmas party on a foggy day in London. His guests include Christmas, Miss Serafine Wimpole, her aunt Miss Imogen Wimpole, psychologist Simon Mordby, Sir Marian Steen, a wealthy philanthropist, and local practitioner, Dr Mereweather.

Newtree is a caricaturist for Fleet Street and he has an invitation to take his guests upstairs later, to his neighbour, Mr Gordon Frew’s, studio. Mr Frew is a collector and has a number of visitors during the evening, including a young model named Pandora Shirley and a wonderfully exotic gentleman in a fez. During the course of the evening, Mr Frew is found murdered and the hunt is on to solve the crime. There are a good cast of possible suspects and many motives, and false trails, to untangle before the end of the book.

This is very much an early example of the Golden Age era and, as such, relies more on the plot than characters – most of which are quite stereotypical. Saying that, I enjoyed Christmas as sleuth and also liked his sounding board, Newtree. It was a shame that Serafine Wimpole did not have more chance to shine – apparently her character was based on that of the author – as she seemed to have more depth to reveal. I will certainly read Jerrold’s second mystery and think it is a shame that she only wrote two. Sadly, the kindle edition of this book was marred by quite a few typo’s and a missing section – I read this as a group read and another member posted the missing pages. It is a shame, but did not mar my enjoyment of the novel overall. This is a good example of a crime novel written in this era and was great fun if you enjoy Golden Age mysteries.
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Aug 23, 2022 Susan rated it really liked it

First published in 1929, this is the first of two Golden Age mysteries penned by author Ianthe Jerrold. “The Studio Crime” was so well respected that it gained her immediate entrance into the famous, “Detection Club,” whose founding members included Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and Anthony Berkely. Sadly, Jerrold only penned two mysteries; this and the sequel, “Dead Man’s Quarry.” Although she wrote many other novels until the 1970’s, it is wonderful to have her two classic mysteries back First published in 1929, this is the first of two Golden Age mysteries penned by author Ianthe Jerrold. “The Studio Crime” was so well respected that it gained her immediate entrance into the famous, “Detection Club,” whose founding members included Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and Anthony Berkely. Sadly, Jerrold only penned two mysteries; this and the sequel, “Dead Man’s Quarry.” Although she wrote many other novels until the 1970’s, it is wonderful to have her two classic mysteries back in print.

Jerrold’s sleuth is a typical amateur detective of the time; John Christmas is the leisured son of a wealthy man, who can spend his days investigating crime. Inspector Hembrow is the official police officer, but, as with Lord Peter Wimsey, his help is happily accepted. Lawrence Newtree, a friend of Christmas, acts as a link between the characters and it is his studio where the storyline starts. Newtree is hosting a Christmas party on a foggy day in London. His guests include Christmas, Miss Serafine Wimpole, her aunt Miss Imogen Wimpole, psychologist Simon Mordby, Sir Marian Steen, a wealthy philanthropist, and local practitioner, Dr Mereweather.

Newtree is a caricaturist for Fleet Street and he has an invitation to take his guests upstairs later, to his neighbour, Mr Gordon Frew’s, studio. Mr Frew is a collector and has a number of visitors during the evening, including a young model named Pandora Shirley and a wonderfully exotic gentleman in a fez. During the course of the evening, Mr Frew is found murdered and the hunt is on to solve the crime. There are a good cast of possible suspects and many motives, and false trails, to untangle before the end of the book.

This is very much an early example of the Golden Age era and, as such, relies more on the plot than characters – most of which are quite stereotypical. Saying that, I enjoyed Christmas as sleuth and also liked his sounding board, Newtree. It was a shame that Serafine Wimpole did not have more chance to shine – apparently her character was based on that of the author – as she seemed to have more depth to reveal. I will certainly read Jerrold’s second mystery and think it is a shame that she only wrote two featuring John Christmas. ...more

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Jul 03, 2015 Judy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

As a fan of Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham, I've often thought it would be fun to discover another detective with some of the qualities of their heroes, Lord Peter Wimsey and Albert Campion respectively.

So I was delighted when a member of a Goodreads group suggested this book by a now-forgotten author, which has a witty amateur detective hero, John Christmas. The book was actually published the same year that Campion made his first appearance. Jerrold writes beautifully, with sharp dial As a fan of Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham, I've often thought it would be fun to discover another detective with some of the qualities of their heroes, Lord Peter Wimsey and Albert Campion respectively.

So I was delighted when a member of a Goodreads group suggested this book by a now-forgotten author, which has a witty amateur detective hero, John Christmas. The book was actually published the same year that Campion made his first appearance. Jerrold writes beautifully, with sharp dialogue and delightfully witty descriptions which kept making me want to linger over the book - though I did feel that characters too often "murmured" instead of just saying!

The book is set in a fog-bound 1920s London and has interesting descriptions of several areas, from the then artists' quarter of St John's Wood to slums in West Kensington. The large cast of characters was a little confusing at the start and I would have liked the ability to flip back and remind myself who was who, which is difficult to do when reading on Kindle. However, they soon became distinct from one another.

Some of the characters are somewhat stereotyped and at times there is the element of snobbery also seen in other writers of this genre. The plot is a fiendishly complicated puzzle which I completely failed to unravel before the detective explains it all, though I did guess the killer correctly - as did others in the group I read it with.

Christmas himself isn't quite as intriguing a character as Wimsey or Campion because he seems to be more straightforwardly cheery. Sadly, he only features in one more book, as Jerrold moved on to other types of novel, but I'm wondering if he develops more in the second book. There are one or two hints of more below the surface, like a romantic interest in the writer Serafine Wimpole, who is one of the most interesting characters in the novel. According to Curtis Evans' introduction, Serafine might have been based on Jerrold herself.

The first chapter of the second Christmas mystery is included at the end of the Kindle edition, and I'm now hooked on that one too, so will be buying it shortly and reading on!

Unfortunately, the Kindle edition had a section missing, but the publisher is trying to make sure that in future Amazon sends out a complete text with the missing bit restored. If you do have a copy with the bit missing (after "Laurence gave a sigh of relief when the door had finally"), here's a link to the missing bit at Google Books:
http://tinyurl.com/oq2cu6t ...more

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Aug 16, 2022 Susan in NC rated it liked it

Shelves: tbr-with-gr-groups, det-club-2022

Started off with a wonderful atmosphere, an interesting group of characters at a party in an artist’s studio on a foggy London night. A strange cry is heard from the studio above, and a man is found dead.

John Christmas, wealthy young man about town and amateur sleuth, is at the party, sees the body, and ends up investigating with his old friend, Inspector Hembrow of Scotland Yard. Christmas definitely felt like a Peter Wimsey, as he is wealthy (father owns a chain of stores), and free to follow Started off with a wonderful atmosphere, an interesting group of characters at a party in an artist’s studio on a foggy London night. A strange cry is heard from the studio above, and a man is found dead.

John Christmas, wealthy young man about town and amateur sleuth, is at the party, sees the body, and ends up investigating with his old friend, Inspector Hembrow of Scotland Yard. Christmas definitely felt like a Peter Wimsey, as he is wealthy (father owns a chain of stores), and free to follow his inclination to be an amateur detective. He appears, however, to have none of Lord Peter’s baggage - no PTSD, no aristocratic expectations, indeed, the author describes him as a happy-natured, friendly young man. He doesn’t actually investigate much with Hembrow, instead following his own ideas, often dragging his friend Laurence, the host of the party, along as his Watson.

The foggy night of the murder, a mysterious foreign-looking man in a fez was seen asking directions of several people, including a couple guests at the party. This was a red flag for me, my first inkling of where the case was headed. Turns out I was right, but no spoilers!

Considering this was written in 1929, I thought it was pretty well done, even with clues that might seem dated, like a villainous, squinting foreigner in a fez! There was another flaming red flag in the behavior of one of the party guests, which raised the official alarm of the police and caused him to be arrested, before Christmas explained a mysterious and “shocking” plot twist (but to GA mystery buffs paying attention to John Christmas’ investigation, it became fairly obvious who he suspected). One of my pet peeves is telling, not showing, and the last two chapters are all telling, first Christmas explaining to his Watson buddy and Hembrow how he figured it all out, who was who and who did what. Then, the last chapter is the wrongly arrested man explaining his role - most of the mystery is about the past history of several characters, and the desire of the murdered man to blackmail or inflict emotional revenge on others - a thoroughly nasty individual.

An interesting, well done GA mystery, I’d say Jerrold earned her spot in the Detection Club! I don’t know that I’d be in a big hurry to read more, Jerrold does a little too much “telling, not showing” for my taste, but she uses several interesting and entertaining characters in her books, according to the introduction. ...more

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Sep 14, 2022 Carolien rated it liked it

Shelves: english-mystery, 2022

A group of people hear a noise and eventually finds a neighbour stabbed. He turns out to have been a thoroughly unpleasant, but rich character. John Christmas is not sure the police have the correct suspect in mind and starts his own investigation. A pleasant early example of the Gold Age mysteries.

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Jul 03, 2015 Jan C rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, between-the-wars, 2015

Back to the early British detective stories. I was not at all familiar with this author. But she was immediately accepted into the then-fledgling Detection Club. This was the day of murder occurring offstage and relatively non-violent. A number of the characters profess anti-capital punishment theories. Relatively common for the time. Post-WWI Britain had already had too much of blood due to the war.

This was an enjoyable fairly light read. Not sure I actually figured out who the killer was but w ...more

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Aug 26, 2022 Jill rated it liked it

I thought this started very well, with the murder of the victim almost at once, on a foggy night in London. Guests of a gathering, finding a locked room where a scream was heard earlier in the evening, but passed off as being another noise rather than a scream. After gaining admittance to the room through force, an extremely wealthy man is found stabbed by one of his own daggers. The investigation of the murder showed a number of people had visited the victim that evening before the scream had b ...more

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Feb 16, 2016 Jenn Estepp rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindling, sleuths-and-gumshoes

I don't know that this would've made me immediately usher Ianthe Jerrold into the Detection Club (no, it doesn't really rival Christie or Sayers), but it's a decent enough classic mystery with only a smidge of the regrettable old school xenophobia. Will read others by the author and not only because I've already bought them. I mean, her name is Ianthe Jerrold and her amateur detectives name is John Christmas. Come on, now. ...more

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Sep 01, 2022 Sandy rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery-detective-grp, own, mystery-classic, z2022-own-24, z2022-ga-challenge, rread-2022

A good golden age mystery with an appealing detective, a very likeable "Watson" but a less likable female friend. (I wonder what he sees in her.) I didn't particularly like the resolution, but the journey was enjoyable. Unfortunately, there is only one more book with this detective. ...more

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