Murder Most Ingenious

by Kip Chase

  ‘George,’ Carmichael interposed gently, ‘you’re sure you saw Tony shoot first? The policemen were returning his fire?’

  ‘Yes, goddamn it, yes. How many times do I have to say it? He fired first.’

  ‘All right. Could you have that typed up, miss, and bring it back? We’ll wait here.’

  The girl left the room, straightening her skirt as she walked through the door. The old man drummed the fingers of one hand lightly against the arm of his wheel-chair. Finally George said, ‘Well, I suppose you’re pretty proud of yourself, Carmichael.’

  There was no exaltation in Carmichael’s voice when he answered, ‘No, you can’t let yourself get emotionally involved in this business. Glad it’s over, yes. But not proud.’

  There was a moment of silence. Outside a heavy lorry rumbled by. The roar of its diesel engine reverberated about the small room long after the lorry had passed.

  It was George who broke the silence. ‘Say, Carmichael, there’s something I thought of this morning. What about the Gauguin?’

  ‘The what?’ Carmichael said absently.

  ‘The Gauguin, the painting.’

  ‘Oh, yes.’ The old man shrugged. ‘Tony hid it somewhere, I suppose. I don’t think he would destroy it.’

  ‘You mean you don’t know where it is?’

  Carmichael shook his head. ‘Haven’t the faintest idea.’

  ‘Aren’t you going to look for it?’

  ‘Sure. But I doubt if we’ll find it. It’ll turn up someday. Maybe next week, maybe ten years from now.’

  ‘You don’t seem very concerned’, George said inquiringly.

  ‘I guess I should be. But I don’t know, I just can’t get very excited over a missing picture. My job is done. Let the robbery detail or the insurance company worry about it. Sure, it would be nice to wrap the whole thing up, missing painting, killer and all in one neat package. But things don’t always work that way. Tony Ortega has been brought to justice. That’s what counts.’

  ‘Brought to justice’, George mused. ‘That’s a funny way of putting it. You almost sound as if you were glad Tony’s dead.’ A sudden spark of realization reflected itself in George’s face. He leaned towards Carmichael.

  ‘Say, something just occurred to me.’

  ‘Eh? What’s that?’

  ‘When did you have Tony’s place staked out?’

  Carmichael casually scratched at his nose. ‘Oh, yesterday afternoon.’

  ‘Why? You said yourself you didn’t have enough evidence to arrest him.’

  ‘Well, after we figured out how it was done, he was the prime suspect. Naturally we put him under surveillance.’

  George shook his head deliberately. ‘That wasn’t the main reason. You put those plain-clothes men there with guns, then you had me make my little speech.’

  Carmichael said nothing. George continued, ‘You figured when Tony found out he’d been discovered, he’d try and get away. You instructed those men to pull their guns and try and stop him. You were hoping he would resist. You were hoping he would get gunned down, because that would be the only way you could nail him. You sweet-talked me into luring Tony out on that street to get shot down!’

  Carmichael laid one hand on top of the other in his lap. He turned his head towards the window. The slanting rays of the afternoon sun struck his face and it was the face of an old man. He spoke, almost as if to himself, ‘You know, in a case like this, there’s a lot of people get involved. But you have to forget that. Forget all the bits and pieces of people’s lives that get caught up. All the nice people that get hurt and all the crummy people that should get hurt, but don’t. What you do have to remember is there’s a killer in the streets. As long as that man is loose, innocent people may die. You have to remove him from society. And you have to do it the best way you can.’ Carmichael paused, then went on in the same quiet tones: ‘I have no regrets about Tony. He was his own executioner. I am sorry about you, that you had to be a part of it. But I don’t owe you any apologies.’

  George stood up, his face dark with anger. Bitterness was strong in his voice. ‘I don’t want your apologies. I listened to you last night, and I believed in you. You with all your high-sounding morals! But you played it dirty, just about as dirty as you could. Oh, I’ll sign your damn paper so your cop heroes can come out with clean skirts. But please don’t preach to me. Don’t talk to me about justice and duty to society and all that. Because underneath you’re no better than those scum you throw in your jails. No better at all!’

  The old man did not answer. His eyes closed; he leaned back and wearily rested his head against the pad at the back of the wheel-chair. Outside, a steady stream of cars roared up and down the highway. Beyond the cars, the sun dipped into the waters of Santa Monica Bay, throwing a purple mantle over the foothills to the east. Dusk came to the city.

  As we are sure you have enjoyed this book may we recommend the author’s previous book

  Where There’s a Will

  Louis Delmar, Police Chief of the quiet Southern California town of San Margaret, is up to his ears in a sensational murder case and finds himself with too many suspects. Harassed to the point of desperation, he asks his old friend, Justine Carmichael, lately retired from the police, to help him.

  The murder victim – elderly rich Mrs. Constance DeVoors – was disliked by practically everyone – ‘friends’, servants, and relatives. Only Count Ivanov professed to have found the lady ‘charming’. But then, the Count’s veracity is open to question.

  Chief Delmar’s prime suspect is the murdered woman’s nephew. But the evidence is flimsy; practically any of Mrs. DeVoor’s house guests (characterized by the Chief as ‘a bunch of oddballs’) could be the killer. Nor are the employees – a surly chauffeur, a Bible-reading maid, a cheerful cook, and a tanned, blonde secretary – exempt from the list of suspects.

  Despite the complications, Carmichael has faith that the ‘system’ will untangle the case. Only when the murderer strikes again does his confidence waver. But murder will out, and Carmichael scores a triumph by fusing his years of police experience with a brilliant analysis of the case, to trap the killer.

  Of this book the critics said:

  ‘A real detective story on almost classic lines . . . refreshing in these nondetection days.’

  ‘A very well written and interesting first book.’

  ‘Readers will enjoy Where There’s a Will – a very capable whodunit by new author Kip Chase.’

  Obtainable from all good bookshops and libraries

  BRIAN CLEEVE

  Assignment to Vengeance

  A fast-moving story of the hunt for an ex-Nazi leader who had gone into hiding and was wanted on the one side by those who wanted to punish him, and on the other by those who wanted to use him for their dream of a revival of neo-Nazism. What would such a man become in fifteen years of hiding? What would he do when the double hunt closed in on him?

  ‘Don’t miss. Fast, exciting, and by no means incredible chase-thriller . . .’ – Maurice Richardson, OBSERVER

  ‘. . . one of the best spy thrillers to have come my way for quite some time.’ – BOOKS AND BOOKMAN

  ‘. . . it’s a story told with great confidence and considerable skill, and can be recommended.’ – IRISH TIMES

  Death of a Painted Lady

  The girl lay, as if asleep, on the long couch in the studio next to the easel with the portrait of Elaine. But when the charwoman put out her hand to shake her, the golden, beautiful head rolled unnaturally aside, showing the bruises on the pale throat. With growing terror, Mrs. Murphy stretched out a slow finger and touched one of the violet shadows unbelievingly. Then she drew back her hand as if the cold, still flesh had burned her, and began to scream. . . .

  ‘A thriller written in an intense, thick style that is unusually compelling; strong on atmosphere and suspense, lightened by some neat touches of characterization.’ – JOHN O’LONDON’S

  ‘The cast list announces that we’re in
Dublin. It’s the first time the fair city has been used as the setting for a murder mystery as far as I can recall – and a fine, deep piece of work emerges. . . . I have a feeling that this will be placed among the six best crime novels of the year.’ – Peter Phillips, DAILY HERALD

  Obtainable from all good bookshops and libraries

  S. H. COURTIER

  Swing High Sweet Murder

  Who murdered tennis coach Hugo Sweet, and then hung his body high up in the top of an enormous tree used as a fire-watch tower? There are suspects galore, all with alibis, and Inspector ‘Digger’ Haig has a tough time sorting out the puzzle.

  Australian setting

  ‘Splendid background, neat puzzle, adequate characterization. If tennis players are really like this, it’s a wonder murder isn’t done more often.’ – Julian Symons, SUNDAY TIMES

  ‘A distinctly lively whodunit with a new light on the higher tennis and higher tennis players.’ – Maurice Richardson, OBSERVER

  GEORGE HARMON COXE

  Error of Judgement

  A microphone hidden in a psychiatrist’s office meant many kinds of trouble to many kinds of people, but to Jerry Burton, ex-reporter, it brought death. And to Casey, ace photographer of the ‘Express’, it was a link in a chain of circumstances that involved the most insidious form of blackmail.

  ‘. . . an extraordinary crime-thriller. . . . The fact that so much is crowded into less than a week is a tribute to the author’s skill in maintaining a pace that is simply tremendous.’ – HULL DAILY MAIL

  FRANCES CRANE

  Amber Eyes

  On the face of it the child’s death was accidental, but Jean Abbott was not satisfied, and her misgivings were intensified when the child’s sister came to see her, saying she thought the child had been murdered, and would Pat investigate.

  ‘Frances Crane is another professional, and Amber Eyes is a highly competent production in her “Pat Abbott” series. It is an American drawing-room murder mystery set in San Francisco, and is highly readable . . .’ – IRISH TIMES

  Obtainable from all good bookshops and libraries

  DOROTHY CARRINGTON, F.R.G.S.

  This Corsica

  A Complete Guide

  Corsica, although only forty-five minutes by air from the French Riviera, has remained one of the most mysterious spots in Western Europe.

  Here, for the first time in English, is a complete guide to the island, written by one who knows it from end to end. Dorothy Carrington, writer on travel, art and archeology, has lived there for nearly ten years, has travelled the country from coastline to snow-line, bathed from its beaches, camped in its forests, and searched out its historic and prehistoric monuments. She reveals a Corsica which is no longer savage or bandit-haunted, but which offers, alongside comfortable hotels, the luxuries, so rare today, of magnificent unspoilt scenery, uncrowded beaches and the peacefulness of an earlier age. She not only advises visitors on where to stay, where to go and how to get there, but on what they can do in Corsica, pointing out the exceptional opportunities for such sports as undersea fishing, trout fishing, boar hunting and mountaineering. Herself closely associated with the archeological discoveries of recent years, she describes the strange, little-publicised Corsican antiquities, which include some forty spectacular stone statues belonging to a hitherto unknown civilization that flourished on the island some 3,500 years ago. Being as well acquainted with the islanders as she is with the island, she introduces the reader to the archaic festivals of remote villages, besides giving guidance on such matters as how a woman travelling alone should behave in a Corsican night-club.

  This is more than a guide book – it is a book about Corsica, its people, their history, character and customs. Food and wine and local music are among the many subjects reviewed by one who has experienced everything she describes and enjoyed whatever she recommends.

  With photographs by Blos Lewis

  Obtainable from all good bookshops and libraries