"At 1:30"

Damon Gaunt had developed quite a reputation among criminal investigators as a detective who never failed to reach a successful conclusion in a murder case. That's pretty amazing when you realize that Gaunt had been blind since birth - although he had developed his other senses to the point where they told him more about the world around him than mere sight ever could. So perhaps it wasn't surprising that when Garret Appleton was shot and killed in his own house, members of the Appleton family called on Damon Gaunt to help them uncover the truth about the murder. They probably got more than they had bargained for. The story is told in At 1:30, by Isabel Ostrander, a classic first published 100 years ago, in 1915. It is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the entire review by clicking here.

In At 1:30, Garret Appleton's mother and brother call in Gaunt because they have no faith that the New York police will solve the crime, and they are hopeful that Gaunt can solve it and, at the same time, keep any scandal at bay. He is welcomed by Inspector Hanrahan of the police, though Hanrahan is hardly the not-very-bright police investigator of too many period novels. It appears at first as if an outside intruder must have committed the crime – the body clearly was robbed after the murder. It will come as no surprise to any mystery reader to learn that Gaunt quickly demolishes that theory - and that family members are less than pleased by what he finds. And we are off on an investigation which will peel away layer after layer of deceit and lying on its way to the ultimate solution.

Gaunt's blindness is central to the book. It was quite common in detective stories of the day for authors to endow their protagonists with some unusual and readily apparent trait. Gaunt's blindness serves that purpose for Ostrander's novel, just as other detectives of the period might be "psychic," or solve crimes by analyzing dreams. At 1:30 appears to have been the only book Ostrander wrote to feature Gaunt, although she did write a number of other books. It holds up surprisingly well after a century. It's available primarily as an e-book, along with a few of the author's other works in a single package. I'd be happier with it if the publisher had managed to get rid of some of the very many typographical errors that probably crept in when the book was converted to e-book format. But it's still an interesting read with an unusual detective.

The 2015 Bingo Challenge

I have already mentioned that I am participating in the 2015 Vintage Mystery Bingo challenge. The Bingo card has 36 squares to be filled by reading a book appropriate to each square's instructions. At 1:30 is my entry for the square (second row, fifth column) that calls for a book with a time, day, month, etc., in the title.

This post is also entered into another challenge. Rich Westwood, of the Past Offences blog, has begun the new year by challenging his readers to review a mystery book or film (or plurals thereof) that are 100 years old - meaning they first appeared in 1915. That's the original publication date of At 1:30, and it is my entry in that challenge. There are some interesting entries there this month - be sure to follow that link above and see what others have been reading and/or viewing.

Comments

[Margot Kinberg]

Les - Trust you to share an author who perhaps isn't well known, but who nonetheless had talent. Thanks; I think I'm already benefiting from your participation in the Vintage challenge :-)

[Les Blatt]

Thanks, Margot. Publishers are starting to find earlier authors, many of whom were quite popular in their day but who are now forgotten, and getting the rights to republish those books. It's a bonanza for those of us who love traditional mysteries. Tom Schantz of the Rue Morgue Press calls it rescuing them from biblioblivion.

[J F Norris]

Years ago when I first got interested in Isabel Ostrander you could buy any of her books for under $5 from any online bookseller. This may not be the case any longer. Sorry you got stuck with yet another bogus reprint stolen from the internet (bad OCR transfer text is a giveaway) and sold by an opportunistic "publisher". Reading of yet another digital book pirate hawking his wares on amazon burns me up. I don't think much of a "publisher" who uses a verbatim Wikipedia article posted on Ostrander to serve as the "About the Author" page. End of my mini tirade.

You ought to try THE CLUE IN THE AIR (1917), the first book featuring her series characters Tim McCarty and Dennis Riordan. You may know of them if you've read Christie's PARTNERS IN CRIME. The story "Finessing the King" is a spoof of the ex-cop and fireman detective duo. It's one of Ostrander's best books and one of her few impossible crime mysteries. ASHES TO ASHES (1919) is Ostrander's contribution to the inverted detective novel. For the era it's an exceptional study of a guilt ridden criminal. Dorothy L. Sayers praised it in her seminal introduction to the first OMNIBUS OF CRIME.

Just a heads up about two of those other novels in your anthology. THE FIFTH ACE and ANYTHING ONCE are westerns she wrote under her "Douglas Grant" pseudonym. They aren't detective novels.

[Les Blatt]

Thanks for the suggestions, John. And I too am VERY unhappy with the number of sloppy scanning jobs that are ruining too many e-book reprints. It's not necessary - there are a lot of e-book publishers who do a good job at it - in my experience, Felony & Mayhem and Open Road/Mysterious Press certainly are conscientious. I just finished reading a Resurrected Press e-book of Arthur Rees's "The Hand in the Dark" which had, as best as I could tell, just ONE typo in the entire book. It CAN be done properly. Now I'll get off MY soapbox too.

[Yvettespaintbox]

Interesting, Les. Remember the blind detective played by Edward Arnold in a movie whose name escapes me at the moment but which is available for viewing on youtube? If you haven't seen it, you must. I talked about it on the blog a while back.

I'm assuming that this film character was or might have been sparked by Isabel Ostrander's creation??

[Les Blatt]

I haven't seen the movie you're talking about, Yvette, but I can tell you that Ostrander's blind detective, Damon Gaunt, was one of at least three blind detectives from the same general time period. One was Thornley Colton, known as "The Problemist," the creation of Clinton H. Stagg - in fact, he's one of the detectives parodied in Christie's Tommy and Tuppence novel, "Partners in Crime." Another was Max Carrados, the blind detective created by Ernest Bramah. I'm sure other readers may know of other examples, too!