The Shadow Guest

Hillary Waugh was a successful author that wrote numerous novels including a police procedural series starring a Connecticut Police Chief named Fred Fellows. His stories were published in mystery magazines like Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen and the slicks like Cosmopolitan. Like so many accomplished authors like Gil Brewer, Jon Messmann , and Dean Koontz, Waugh delved into the gothic-romance and suspense marketplace in the 1970s. His novel The Shadow Guest was originally published in 1971 by Victor Gollancz in the U.K. and Doubleday in the U.S. However, Dell capitalized on the book by marketing it as a gothic paperback in 1972.

Waugh introduces readers to a prosperous 34 year-old New York architect named Howard. He meets a 20 year-old actress, Angela, and the two develop a relationship and eventually marry. However, Angela develops a mental condition that spirals into paranoia and depression. After working through the debilitating condition, Angela begins to get well and Howard moves the couple to London to work on a large building contract. But, it is Howard's turn to become ill after suffering a heart attack.

Angela finds a seaside cottage on the western shore of England and convinces Howard, who's now in a rest and recovery mode, that the two should move there. Hesitantly, Howard agrees and the couple move in to a previously abandoned home titled Heather Cottage. But, the house has a haunting history.

According to various townsfolk, Heather Cottage is haunted by an “angry man”. Three years prior a young couple had died in a horrendous car wreck on the winding road leading to the house. Howard is quick to dismiss the claims, but the two have a housekeeper named Beverly that is a rumored psychic. She has an incident upon first entering the home. But, the bulk of Waugh's narrative concerns sinister events that haunt the couple.

Howard typically is awakened each night by the sounds of macabre laughter downstairs. There's also a mystery surrounding the home's attic with a light that consistently turns itself on. Angela is haunted by nightmares and visions of a bloody man wearing an Army coat. Howard eventually sees the same man on the couple's front lawn. What is happening at Heather Cottage?

It is debatable on whether The Shadow Guest is a genuine gothic. It has the familiar tropes – vulnerable people moving into a rural dwelling and experiencing supernatural or mysterious events that are difficult to explain to side characters that aren't eye witnesses to these events. That's the mainframe of gothic-suspense paperbacks. However, Waugh mixes it up by having two main characters instead of one. There's also the structure with Heather Cottage being a much smaller house than the typical vast estate or mansion. Additionally, instead of just having one character experiencing strange events, there are two. These make the book a little bit different and unique compared to the standard gothic fluff. 

Whether it is gothic or not doesn't influence the quality – The Shadow Guest is a wonderful reading experience with a prevalent mystery that left me guessing until the very end. The book's finale and afterthought left me fully satisfied. The narrative breezes by with Waugh's easily readable prose and each detail in the novel ultimately pays dividends in the book's finale. 

You can watch a video of me and Nick Anderson of The Book Graveyard reviewing the book in great detail HERE. Also, you can purchase the book HERE. 

Ralph Lindsey #01 - The Venus Death

According to Allan Hubin's 20th Century Crime & Mystery Writers, Benjamin Benson (1915-1959) was born in Boston, educated at Suffolk University Law School, and served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945. He earned a Purple Heart, two battle stars, and was seriously wounded and confined to a hospital for three years. While hospitalized, Benson received numerous detective stories to read, which encouraged him to write as a form of therapy. 

Benson's first series character was Inspector Wade Paris, a fictional Detective serving the Massachusetts State Police. The character appeared in Benson's first three novels, Alibi at Dusk (1952), Beware the Pale Horse (1952) and Lily in Her Coffin (1954). But, my first experience with this author is his second character, Trooper Ralph Lindsey. The character debuted  in 1953's The Venus Death, and appeared in at least six further installments. 

Perhaps Benson's therapeutic writing or experience in country living influenced his use of characters in unique settings. Instead of placing his creations in familiar big city locales, Benson chooses the rural small-towns and byways of the rural American Northeast. Like Paris, Lindsey is also employed by the State of Massachusetts as a law enforcer, in this case he's a 23-year old “boot”, meaning a rookie in the State Police.

In the opening pages, Benson introduces Lindsey's brief history in quick one or two-page histories. He is a Korean War veteran, the son of a former State Police Trooper, and he has a routine girl named Ellen. The author invests in Lindsey's father, providing a little backstory on how the man was shot in the back on patrol and now remains paralyzed from the waist down. Because of his career being cut short, Lindsey's father is heavily involved in his son's career. He consistently asks Lindsey about firearms, current cases, his patrol, and is there to prod and poke his son for wearing scuffed shoes or having a shirt unpressed. The old man is a wonderful addition to the story.

While off duty at a bar Lindsey meets a young mysterious girl named Manette. She's new in town, works at the local mill, and desperately wants a man in her life. Lindsey takes her out a couple of times and is surprised one evening when he's called to his superior's office. Manette has been found murdered with a bullet in the brain. The murderer? Lindsey's girlfriend Ellen. Could this be a case of jealous rage?

The Venus Death hooked me from the beginning and really never let up. What's interesting about the setup is that Lindsey is mostly restrained from the murder investigation business. Remember, he's a State Trooper involved in highway crime, stolen cars, that sort of thing. But, his connectivity to both women allows him to team up as an apprentice with the  local detectives, a couple of hard-nosed sleuths named Newpole and Angsman, as well as a State Police Detective-Lieutenant named Granger. There's a lot of pressure placed on Lindsey not only because of the crime but due to his father's legacy – tough shoes to fill. 

Through 211 pages, the investigation digs into Manette's past in Chicago, her former husband, and a couple of seedy gentleman that are in town for what appears to be a big heist. How the police handle the preparation for the bust and work through procedural interviews and evidence examinations was really enjoyable. Comparisons can be made to Hillary Waugh's excellent police procedural series Fred Fellows, complete with the tight-knit mystery aspect and the Northeastern locale of Connecticut, a state where portions of The Venus Death takes place. 

Based on small sample size, this Ralph Lindsey series seems like a winner. Recommended! Get the physical book HERE and the digital ebook HERE.

Fred Fellows #04 - Born Victim

Here's what we know about Fred Fellows, the protagonist of 11 crime-fiction novels by Hillary Waugh, a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master. He is the Chief of Police in the fictional city of Stockford, Connecticut. His right-hand man is Detective Sergeant Sidney Wilkes with back-up assists in the stories from Sergeants Unger and Gorman. He likes milk and sugar in his coffee. I gained these significant details from reading the series first two installments, Sleep Long, My Love and Road Block.  I don't have the series third installment at the time of this writing so I had to jump ahead to the fourth book, Born Victim (1962). The order you read these books plays no part in the storytelling. 

In Born Victim, I discovered that Fellows has a wife named Cecilia, sons named Peter and Larry, and two daughters (no names provided in this book). The author makes note that Peter is age 13, which adds a personal connection. The plot for the book has Fellows and his men challenged with the disappearance of a 13-year old girl. 

In prior books Waugh would title each chapter a date and time of the investigation. In this novel he has elected to standardize the chapters numerically. The first chapter kicks off the story with Fellows receiving a call from his officers that Barbara Markle, the aforementioned girl, hasn't returned home in a few hours. Fellows initially dismisses the sense of urgency and importance due to the child only appearing to be tardy for a curfew - not a revelation of murder or malicious intent. He goes out to visit Barbara's mother Evelyn to gain any insight on the girl's disappearance.

Evelyn lives on a poor stretch of suburbia backed up to a river. She's a single mom that works long hours. Her response to various questions is alarming - she acts as if Barbara is already dead. Fellows can't quite grasp why the mother is assuming the worst. Over the course of several interviews Fellows learns that Barbara's family history is murky. As more and more time passes without the girl's return the case evolves from locating the girl to solving a homicide. 

Waugh's novels follow a standard formula of introducing the crime, typically murder, and then taking the readers along the police procedure of investigating every tip, clue, and piece of evidence. The running theme behind the girl's disappearance runs from dates for the dance to a mysterious truck idling beside her house. But, the focus of the investigation, which ties into the book's title, is Barbara's murky family history. Evelyn's secrecy on who Barbara's father is, a faked marriage, and a family dynasty in jeopardy of exposure. 

An aspect of the series debut was conflict with the press. Fellows often battles press leaks and aggressive reporters that seem to infiltrate his office. This novel touches on the police providing the public with details but not allowing the press to pressure his men. There is also a rare occurrence where Fellows loses his cool on one of his officers. Typically Fellows is level-headed and keeps an air of professionalism. As the case presents more challenges the pressure to find the girl's whereabouts - dead or alive - begins to weigh on his shoulders.  

Born Victim was another fantastic police procedural installment. Hillary Waugh has a knack for this style of storytelling and draws the readers into the investigation smoothly. It's an easy reading experience that delivers a few surprises and an emotional ending. The characters are interesting and persuasive, the crime is compelling, and the prose is ultra-tight and plot-propulsive. In other words, track down a copy of this one. Highly recommended. 

Buy a copy of the book HERE

Fred Fellows #01 - Sleep Long, My Love

In the non-fiction book Hillary Waugh's Guide to Mysteries & Mystery Writing, Waugh, a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, focuses the tenth chapter on police-procedural writing and some of the catalysts that drove him to write some of the best novels of that sub-genre. He says he was influenced and deeply moved by Charles Boswell's They All Died Young, which he remembers reading in 1949. He refers to books by Ed McBain, John Creasey, Roger West and Maj Sjowall and how the business of moving toward the police instead of away from the police was a radical shift in the character of the mystery story. Waugh's recognition of the police procedural genre, and it's creation, elevated his writing to the upper echelons among his contemporaries. Nothing exemplifies that more than his Fred Fellows series. 

I read the second installment of Waugh's Fred Fellows series in 2019, a book called Road Block. I remember liking it, but felt that it was too much of a procedure instead of a compelling narrative. Even though I gave the book a less-than-stellar review, I've always kept Fred Fellows in mind when I've read other police procedural books. No matter how many books I read that Fred fella just kept returning. After halfheartedly searching for more of the Fred Fellows novels I finally found some. I wanted to try Fellows again from the beginning with the series debut Sleep Long, My Love. It was originally published in 1959 and was later adapted into a British film titled Jigsaw (Pan reissued the book under that name in 1962). 

Fred Fellows is the Chief of Police in the small fictitious city of  Stockton, Connecticut. Not much is known about his background or personal life other than he is married, has a couple of sons, and only drinks his coffee with sugar and milk. His police force includes about 20 officers, of which the key characters being Fellows' right-hand man, Detective Sergeant Sidney Wilkes, as well as Sergeants Unger and Gorman. Fellows and his force sometimes work with the nearest big city, Bridgeport. 

In Sleep Long, My Love, Fellows and Wilkes investigate a possible tenant skipping out on a rental house lease. Upon investigation they discover body parts that were morbidly charred in the furnace as well as a human torso stuffed into a trunk. There are scummy blood stains in the bathtub and the remnants of a hacksaw and knife in the ashes of the fireplace. This is a 1959 novel that appears to be very modern based on the disturbing crime scene. The questions are two-fold: Who is the killer and who is the victim? That's the investigation that haunts the two men and the entire town of Stockton.

I've read my share of these procedural stories and I feel comfortable being thrust into the investigation. By having very little knowledge beyond what the police possess I was knee-deep in analyzing clues, evidence, suspects, and motive. The interesting part of the story is that there are two major mysteries here, who was killed and who's the killer. By having very little information the investigation has to comb a lot of streets, towns, and occupations to gather information. As tiny clues are presented the detective work eliminates them. Often I was left with at a dead end just like Fellows. Who was this girl? Why was she killed? The mystery was just so compelling and the various leads seemed so promising. 

This may be one of the better police procedural novels I've ever read. I love the Fellows and Wilkes characters and their system of bouncing ideas off of each other. Wilkes is the second-guess type and Fellows is a bit more diligent in never dismissing any little thread of detail. I couldn't put the book down and read it nearly in one sitting. After completion I thought more about why I didn't like the second installment, Road Block, as much. That novel is based on traffic and patterns of traffic after a heist places robbers somewhere on the real-life Merritt Parkway in Connecticut. I just found the “road work” dull and uninspiring where Sleep Long, My Love is a totally different type of narrative. If you love police procedural novels then look no further than this one. High recommendation. 

Buy a copy of the book HERE

Fred Fellows #02 - Road Block

Hillary Waugh (1920-2008), a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and a Navy Air Corp veteran, began writing his first novel, Madam Will Not Dine Tonight, in 1947. The book propelled Waugh's literary career forward and was followed by over 45 novels of mystery and suspense between 1947 and 1988. Along with series creations like Homicide North, Simon Kaye and Sheridan Wesley, Waugh authored 11 novels starring a small town Connecticut police chief named Fred Fellows. The series debut, Sleep Long My Love, was published in 1959 and adapted for the screen under the title Jigsaw in 1962.

My first experience with Waugh and his Fred Fellows character is the second installment, Road Block, published by Popular Library as a “Crime Club Selection” in 1960. The series can be read in any order, but there is a brief mention in Road Block recalling Fellows' murder investigation from the debut. The really interesting aspect of Waugh's writing is the emphasis on procedure. Known for his extensive detailing of investigations, the author divides Road Block into two point-by-point halves – one as a heist in planning and the other as the subsequent investigation of the heist.

The first 80-pages solely chronicles the actions of the criminals. Unlike his contemporaries, Waugh doesn't switch the perspective to various characters or alternate chapters between characters. The first half of the book centers around a criminal trio of Pete, Lloyd and Joe. During a temporary stop between jobs, Lloyd talks with a security guard in Stockton, CT (conveniently the jurisdiction of Fred Fellows) over beer. For $5,000, the guard is willing to leave a door unlocked at a nearby manufacturing plant. Lloyd's goal is to rob the payroll of its weekly $93,000 delivered by armored truck to a precise location within the plant. The trio then spends 40 or so pages planning the heist and building a crew to enact the plan.

The second half of the book, aside from one chapter, is solely devoted to Fred Fellows and his staff. After the reported heist, Fellows works closely with the state troopers to bottleneck Lloyd and his cohorts before they reach the expansive Merritt Parkway. While ordering the mandatory road blocks, Fellows interviews plant employees and guards to determine how the heist was executed and to forecast which back roads Lloyd will utilize for the getaway.

While certainly enjoyable, Road Block didn't overly impress me. I found it to be more of an event timeline (like Dragnet) than an actual story. Unless Sleep Long My Love served as an origin story, I felt that this second installment should have provided some backstory on Fred Fellows, as brief as that might be. His police procedures, including the geographical deductions, were entertaining but I never deduced that Fellows was necessarily the star of the show. In terms of police procedural novels, Road Block was an easy, quality read, but this isn’t a series I'd necessarily pursue.

Buy a copy of this book HERE