A rather small embezzlement by an unfortunate bank clerk spurred the managers at a branch of Silvesters' Bank to reach out to some of its clients who might have been affected by the crime. That's when the managers discovered that one of their clients, a man named Finloe Oates, seemed to have disappeared. When police went to Oates's house, they found a dead body - which, as it turned out, wasn't that of Finloe Oates. And from that point, the crimes just seemed to multiply - first with another disappearance, then on to an appalling number of deaths. And, lurking in the background, it seemed, was a mysterious person whose appearance was clearly dependent upon a pair of dark glasses that effectively disguised his face. It turned into quite a difficult case for Inspector Littlejohn and his assistant, Sergeant Comwell. You'll find details in Death in Dark Glasses, a 1952 mystery by the Golden Age author George Bellairs. It's the book we are discussing today on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to my audio review of the book by clicking here.
Death in Dark Glasses is really a police procedural which begins from the discovery of that body in Finloe Oates's house – for Finloe Oates has disappeared, and so, it would seem, has his brother, Lysander. Someone has forged Finloe’s signature and cleaned out what – in 1952 – was a very good sized account of about seven thousand English pounds. Who was the forger? Was it Finloe’s missing brother? What role was played by the disreputable owner of a small bookstore, a man suspected of being an art forger as well and who appeared to be frightened nearly to death of something or someone?
Inspector Littlejohn was the primary detective character in George Bellairs’s more than 50 mysteries. In Death in Dark Glasses, we accompany Littlejohn and Cromwell as they try to come to grips with an enormous and deadly plot – while each new clue they discover, each new person who may be involved, each new suspect, each new murder, all of these elements will change our perceptions of that plot. I have read and enjoyed several of George Bellairs’s books. Death in Dark Glasses is a very good one indeed.
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