If you haven’t been following this blog for long the chances are that you will not be familiar with the work of James Harold Wallis. He has been largely forgotten as a mystery writer with most of his eight novels having been out of print for decades and little-reviewed on the internet. When he is remembered it is usually in connection with The Woman in the Window, an early film noir movie adapted from one of his final novels (which reminds me that I really should write about that film on this blog at some point).

Since first discovering Wallis’ novels about two years ago, I have worked to track them down and have now reviewed almost all of them. This novel was the only Inspector Jacks story I had not read which means that after this I will only The Woman He Chose, a legal thriller, left to read. It’s a strange feeling given how much time I invested in this project to be nearly at its end. Happily I can say that I feel that time was well-spent as I have enjoyed all of the books and the only disappointment I feel about the project is that the obscurity of these titles means that I have little opportunity to hear what others make of them.

Cries in the Night begins with a man being woken in the early hours of the morning by a woman’s scream. He recognizes that the sound came from the water and, upon investigating, discovers a man, Whitney Sinclair, who claims that his boat was stolen by pirates and that they either kidnapped or murdered his wife, the actress Daphne Eden. Sinclair is taken back to his rescuer’s home but before calling the Police he places a call in which he is overheard saying that he can’t have something uncovered.

The New York City police connect Eden’s disappearance with several previous cases also involving actresses, though they were much less publicized. No ransom demands were ever received, nor were any bodies discovered in those cases. Fearing more disappearances may follow, Inspector Jacks is assigned to the case and to test the theory that there may be some connection between these different cases.

Of all of the scenarios Wallis creates in his Inspector Jacks novels, I think that this is one of his most grabbing. Part of the reason for this is that this is his only case where we begin the book at a point at which the crime has already taken place, throwing us directly into the story. Not only that but because we join the story with the fifth crime, it means that a considerable amount of information has already been gathered, allowing Jacks to quickly focus on the most interesting aspects of the case.

I also think that the lack of information we have about exactly what has happened to those women helps to elevate the sense of mystery and tension. We may wonder whether the women are still alive and whether Jacks stands any chance of possibly recovering them all of which ties into the book’s most crucial question – why were these women kidnapped in the first place?

While the wide scope of this mystery may seem to suggest that anyone might have done the crime, the reader will likely find themselves focusing on a small group of suspects. These characters each have quite strong and distinct personalities that make enough of an impression that they can be easily distinguished from each other.

One of the things that struck me most while reading this was the way Wallis acknowledges the role race plays in how characters have been treated. This is most directly addressed in the way that the disappearances of four actresses, though each were talented and quite successful, were met with little attention. Daphne Eden, it is suggested, received more attention and media coverage as she was the first white victim. Similarly Wallis recognizes further inequalities in discussions about the victims’ careers and the opportunities they have been given. He would return to this theme much more forcefully a decade later in his final novel The Niece of Abraham Pein which discussed antisemitism.

In a passage later in the novel Wallis takes us to Harlem and describes the community and life there. I should say that while it seemed clear to me that Wallis intended to celebrate Harlem, there are a couple of descriptive phrases that do evoke some stereotypical ideas (principally that all Black people are happy and carefree). On the whole though I think these passages evoke a sense of respect for the community and the characters we encounter feel as dimensional as their white counterparts which is not always the case in Golden Age works…

As much as I appreciate the social context of this story, which also includes some reflection about the damage that the Great Depression has done to some personal fortunes and businesses in New York, the primary draw here for most will be the mystery and I am pleased to report that I think this one of the author’s most successful efforts.

Wallis’ approach here is to blend elements of the thriller and the fair play detective story which I feel is highly effective. While there are a few sensational developments, particularly in the final few chapters, Wallis does provide the reader with enough information to make the necessary deductions before they reach the Challenge to the Reader page. I will not claim that I think that every aspect of the solution here is likely or realistic, but I did find it to be entertaining and largely satisfying.

Overall then I found this to be one of the best examples of Wallis’ mystery writing I have encountered. The scenario he creates is intriguing and raises some interesting questions for the reader to solve. Unlike some of his other mysteries, this moves at a pretty slick speed, helped by the crime having already been committed at the start of the novel, and the inclusion of some thriller elements work well to raise the stakes and ensures that the book builds to an exciting conclusion.

The Verdict: The blend of thriller elements and fair play detection works well and makes this one of his most successful efforts.

I was introduced to the works of J. H. Wallis a few years ago when Kate at CrossExaminingCrime suggested I might be interested in one of his novels based on one of Todd Downing’s reviews collected in Clues and Corpses. I really enjoyed that book – The Servant of Death – and so slowly over the past couple of years I have worked to acquire affordable copies of each of his other novels. Finally this week I was able to track down the only one I was missing, completing my collection!

The Mystery of Vaucluse is part of Wallis’ Inspector Jacks series although readers should be aware that he is not the novel’s primary detective. Instead most of our time is spent following Devaney, a detective from New Haven, as he tries to make sense of this crime. While the series can be read in any order, I would suggest that this would be best enjoyed after reading some of Jacks’ earlier cases as I think that enhances a key moment late in the story.

This story is set at a college that has been set up as part of Yale University for adult students looking to spend time away from the world in academic pursuits. All students are required to be over forty years old and they are seeking personal enrichment or a chance to spend time with other prominent individuals rather than career qualifications.

One of the key figures at the college is Professor Dart, an internationally renowned scholar who has several significant academic projects on the go. During a dinner being held for the new intake of students, the Dean mentions two such projects that he considers tremendously exciting. One is a pesticide. The other, which he begins to describe, involves the refinement of sugar into a fuel that will replace oil.

Dart is uncomfortable talking about this and instead deflects their attention by talking about the history of the building they are in. We learn it is an exact copy of the Abbey Margawse on the Orkney Islands and was built from its original stones. Dart tells the story of a strange murder that took place six hundred years earlier in the room that is now his study in which a monk was found murdered with a stab wound in his back and a pool of water next to the body. The monks never learned which of their number did the crime or how it was committed.

After the speech Dart meets with the Dean in his study and shares his misgivings about his discovery. He wonders if it would be right to develop this process given that it will almost certainly cause enormous economic turmoil in the short term. The Dean presses him to ignore these misgivings and focus on the good it will do. He refuses however to learn where Dart is keeping the secret to the process – a fact known only to him – and leaves him in his study. As he departs though he has a sense of a figure lurking in the darkness. A short while later he is stabbed to death in the exact same location and way as the monk centuries earlier with the same mysterious pool of water near the body.

Quite by chance the police are summoned to the college at about the time the dean leaves as a student has reported a theft. Thanks to this coincidence, they are able to establish that no one had entered or left the building after the Dean which limits our suspects to just the ten individuals staying in the Abbey. Devaney, a detective from New Haven, is assigned the case and examines each room and person in turn but cannot find any sign of the murder weapon.

Devaney is shown to be a diligent detective, if not a hugely imaginative one. Throughout the case he takes actions that are designed to increase the pressure on those ten students, forcing them to spend time with each other and eat their meals in the room where the murder took place. Tempers inevitably flare between some members of the group, allowing Devaney and the reader a greater sense of each of their personalities.

This attention to characterization is one of the book’s strengths as Wallis clearly provides us with some biographical information about each of the ten students staying in the Abbey. He even produces a table at an early point in the novel summarizing their relationships, backgrounds, reasons for attending Vaucluse and the types of investments they hold.

Each character has some distinctive personality traits and in several cases we are aware of some mystery surrounding them. For instance, a married couple have accompanied their wealthy neighbor to the college but Devaney is unsure about the nature of their relationship and whether they are pests or welcome companions.

Some are more interesting and entertaining than others. Dentzer, a 112 year old who bores many in the party with his insistence on talking about centenarians at length, overstayed his welcome with me. The rest however each have their moments and were mysterious enough to leave me in some doubt about the killer until close to the end.

Let’s turn to focus more specifically on the plotting itself. Wallis’ invention of the historical crime is fun although it is perhaps not used to its full potential. I had expected some question about whether the room itself might kill but this is never really considered by Devaney. Still, it added to the atmosphere and it is used to unsettle the students before they even hear of Dart’s murder.

The decision to provide us with a pretty clear motivation for the murder is an interesting and fairly effective one. Dart’s discovery is so clearly the cause, the question is not why but whether it actually applies to the suspect and whether they had the means and opportunity.

One specific element of the crime will likely be quickly solved by most readers as it has been used frequently over the years. This is unfortunate but as that element of the mystery is not the primary focus, I think the experience isn’t spoiled if you immediately guess it.

Another however would be almost impossible to predict, particularly given that the circumstances of the murder seem to suggest it was a suddenly conceived plan. This unfortunately has the effect of making that part of the murder seem highly contrived (and it really, really is), but I think some observations can be inferred prior to the reveal that at least clue the reader in as to the nature of that element.

As to the killer’s identity – I think there are reasonable clues given that point to their identity. One piece of evidence is held back from the reader but I did not feel cheated – their identity can be reasonably inferred without that by the point you reach the challenge to the reader. I felt the reveal was strong and enjoyed the sequence in which they were caught.

Overall I found The Mystery of Vaucluse to be an interesting read and enjoyed the challenge of identifying the killer. It is not the author’s best work – I prefer his next book Murder Mansion or his early inverted mystery The Servant of Death – and one part of the solution feels well-worn, but the setting is interesting and Wallis’ stakeout sequences are tense and thrilling.

The Verdict: An interesting setting and colorful characters but unfortunately one part of the solution is all too easily guessed.

Having selected The Servant of Death as my most recent Book of the Month I was keen to return to Wallis as quickly as I could. Given that his books are out of print and owned by relatively few libraries in the United States, this proved a little more challenging than I had hoped but I managed to track down a copy of his first mystery novel, Murder by Formula.

While the title may have you expecting a case of poisoning, the formula referred to in the title is actually a somewhat fourth wall-bending reference to the conventions and tropes of mystery fiction. Right before the murder takes place, the victim engages in a conversation in which they all discuss the common plot elements, devices and tropes that they think make for a good crime story. One of these is that the crime should take place by the end of the second chapter. Wallis obliges almost immediately and within a few paragraphs our victim has been murdered.

That victim is Andrew Wingdon, a celebrated writer who is a member of his club’s Arts Committee. The group meets to discuss a proposed theme for a new exhibition but following a fine dinner they sit in The Asylum – a large and dimly lit room which is housing a collection of medieval weaponry. The group share their opinions of mystery fiction and the most enthusiastic of them describes how he would murder someone in that very room. Wingdon is found the next morning, seemingly killed in exactly that way.

On the case is the enthusiastic young Inspector Jacks, a college graduate who joined the Police hoping that he would be able to become one of the leading men of his field. He seems reasonably smart and does a decent job following his leads, even if he does seem to write off two possible candidates for murderer far too quickly. I was pleased that he is at least challenged on this later in the novel and he does at least give a decent reason for why he had opted not to investigate one of those two characters. His failure to look into the other, the widow of the victim, is much harder to accept and she quickly becomes a (strikingly inappropriate) romantic interest for him.

Wallis’ story unfolds at a steady pace with several further attempted murders but while this should retain the reader’s interest, none of these developments are particularly shocking or outrageous. In fact, those who were paying close attention to the discussion in The Asylum should be pretty clear about who the second victim will turn out to be.

The second killing does spin the investigation off into a more interesting direction and while I had little difficulty in figuring out the solution, I did enjoy the process of getting there. The only review I have read of this at Mystery*File implies that the mystery does not play fair which I do not entirely agree with, though it would be accurate to say that some of the most critical evidence is kept back until very late in the story.

I think it would be fair to say that Murder by Formula is hardly a classic in the field of detective fiction but it is a solid, entertaining read. If you can stomach the holes in the investigator’s approach and some slightly pulpy storytelling developments, it has some fun moments. It is nowhere near the quality of The Servant of Death though and if you are able to track down either of these I’d strongly suggest starting with that later title.

Vintage Mysteries Challenge: A Journalist/Writer (Who)