| Author: | Ronald S. Harding |
| Publisher: | The Modern Publishing Company, London [1938] |
| Pages: | 254 |
| 1st Published: | 1938 |
| Dust Jacket by: | G.P. Micklewright |
| No.: | 657 |
| Synopsis: | John Tarren, secretary to the lecherous Sir Charles Dorsay, is in love with Dorsay’s step-daughter and ward, Elsie Mervyn. After their affair is discovered, much to the wrath of Sir Charles, who wants to marry Elsie himself, there is a quarrel after which Sir Charles is found murdered, his face obliterated by a shotgun. A dithering inspector rounds up and interviews possible suspects, in the meantime learning of a supposed family curse whereby for the last several generations the male Dorsays have had stakes driven through their hearts shortly after death, in order to prevent them from rising as vampires. In the end Sir Charles is discovered to have faked his own death, and he was planning to disappear to avoid bankruptcy after having squandered his family fortune. Some of the scenes are played for melodrama and thrills, but the characters are one-dimensional and clichéd, and their actions contrived and implausible. (Source) |
| Notes: |