She Shall Have Murder

By Delano Ames

Book Overview

Dagobert Brown's always got a new interest, Gregorian chant, wildflowers, sixteenth-century French poetry. His latest hobby, however, is murder-or at least, the murder mystery he wants Jane Hamish to write. Jane is the practical one, a no-nonsense girl, who has one weakness: Dagobert, who exasperates her and intrigues her in equal parts. "Dagobert is my hero," she says, "but he persistently refuses to act like one." So, together they start looking at people in Harriet's office for plot ideas. Mrs. Robjohn seems like the perfect victim for Jane's book: a lonely, delusional spinster who haunts the law offices where Jane works, telling everyone who'll listen that sinister men are following her. When Mrs. Robjohn's found dead of gas poisoning in her flat, Dagobert won't believe it's an accident. Dragging Jane with him through 1940s London, from pub to nightclub to deserted warehouse district, Dagobert throws himself enthusiastically-if eccentrically-into sleuthdom, determined to track down a real-life killer. In their easy camaraderie and witty banter, Dagobert and Jane bring to mind Dashiell Hammett's Nick and Nora, but Jane is every inch Dagobert's intellectual equal and partner in detection. A classic Golden Age mystery, She Shall Have Murder, the first in Delano Ames's Dagobert and Jane Brown series, stands up to the best in its genre today. But its absorbing portrayal of life in London between the wars adds another dimension, highlighted in this annotated Manor Minor Press edition.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1942024045
• ISBN13: 9781942024040
• Release Date: November 2014
• Publisher: Manor Minor Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

An easy, elegant whodunit

Delano Ames was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio in 1906. His father worked at the local newspaper, and his mother was a descendent of the Mayflower settlers. His great-grandfather was Interior Secretary to President Grant. He also had ties to FDR, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ulysses S. Grant, Conrad Aiken, and Alan Shepard. The family moved to New Mexico in 1917, then Ames moved to Greenwich Village upon his first marriage. He later moved to England and married a second time. He worked for British Intelligence during the day and took part in the North Africa invasion in 1942. He eventually ended up back in New Mexico, but traveled between London, Paris, and an "unspoiled Spanish village." He eschewed work, but managed to publish a considerable body of work during his lifetime. Although sleuthing couples were rare in the literature of the time, Delano Ames created the British detecting couple Dagobert Brown and Jane Hamish. SHE SHALL HAVE MURDER is their first escapade, and interestingly enough it takes place in the law office where Jane works. One of their elderly female clients dies suddenly of a supposed accidental death by gas. Dagobert and Jane are both skeptical, and they embark on their first full scale sleuthing exercise: "'Meet me at the corner of Church Street in three minutes,' he said. And he rang off to avoid argument. I was at the corner of Church Street in three minutes. He said hello briefly and tucked my arm through his. He strode along so quickly I had to take two steps to his one, and he didn't say anything. We entered Kensington Gardens. We had them to ourselves, for it was a grim day. We found a deserted bench and for the first time Dagobert spoke. 'Jane,' he said quietly and without a trace of his usual enthusiasm, 'I'm afraid Mrs. Robjohn was murdered after all.'" It is always a pleasure to read The Rue Morgue Press mysteries. They take us back to another genteel, in many ways more intelligent, time. Delano Ames creates an easy camaraderie between Jane and Dagobert, making for an easy, elegant whodunit. Shelley Glodowski Senior Reviewer

Classic British "amatuer" mystery

Ames was a top notch practitioner of the Amatuer sleuth school of British Mystery. His series featuring Jane and Dagobert Brown is great fun. This early case starts off the romance as Dagobert helps Jane find the truth behind the mysterious but little noted death of an middle aged lady of limited means.