I was pleased to find a hardcover copy of The Agony Column by Earl Derr Biggers for my Charlie Chan collection. The spine was tight and the pages unmarked in this second printing of the original edition. This is slight and fanciful, filled with intrigue and budding romance. Written in 1916 (before he wrote the Charlie Chan novels) it is still an entertaining read and can now be enjoyed by everyone on a digital reader. You can download it here for FREE from ManyBooks, a digital book website I always choose first as they offer many different file types, and integrated book covers.
London, that historic Summer, was almost unbearably hot. It was 1914 and the Great War was about to break out. Germany was mobilizing!
Geoffrey West breakfasts as usual at the Carlton hotel, when a very beautiful young lady and her father enter the dining room. He was just enjoying a plate of strawberries as she exclaims to the waiter how much she dislikes them. He notices they are both reading the same paper, in fact the Agony Column - another name for the personals, where lovers could make arrangements or communicate secretly. "The one who calls me Dearest is not genuine or they would write to me."
Wanting to get to know her, he places an ad she is sure to see, saying he will send a letter to the hotel every day for a week and then she can make up her mind if they should meet. The kind of girl who would read the column is looking for an adventure, and he relates a strange tale of spies and murder that took place in his very apartment building. Captain Fraser-Freer had returned from Rangoon, India and that night had been stabbed - indeed, right above his flat.
He becomes involved with the police, helping them as best he can, before their suspicion falls on Geoffrey himself!
Each successive letter draws Marion into the mystery - along with the reader! Will he clear his name before she returns to Texas? Will he find the true killer? The conclusion of the mystery was meant to surprise and I must say I was!
Being written in 1916, the language was a little dated, sure, but that just added to the atmosphere. A mystery with opium dens, international spies, the breakout of war, and several players all confessing to the murder at once - what else can you ask for? It is short but well packed!
Clever and charming, I recommend you download it online for free - it's perfect for an afternoon on the deck or curled up on the couch.
1916 / Hardcover / 193 pages
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