I've never read anything by Henry Holt until recently, but I've been vaguely aware of his work. There isn't much about Holt (1881-1962) in the crime reference books or on the internet, but he enjoyed a career lasting over 30 years, his last novel being published the year before his death. In his prime, he was good enough to be published by Collins Crime Club, and some of his books earned paperback editions. But he isn't discussed in any depth by John Curran in The Hooded Gunman, though images of the book covers and blurbs are reproduced. After 1940, he moved to Robert Hale, a typical (and very common) sign of gently declining literary fortunes.
Murder at the Bookstall was published by the Crime Club in 1934, shortly after the rather better-known Why Didn't They Ask Evans? The story features a Scotland Yard cop called Silver and a journalist chum, Tony Collinson. Their investigation is triggered by the killing of a woman whose body is found at the back of a bookstall on Charing Cross Station. The bookseller had been distracted by a talkative man in glasses who wanted to buy a couple of crime stories.
The dead woman is soon identified as Lola Fortescue. She'd been in Paris, but she was due to travel to a house party in England and has evidently been intercepted by her killer en route. There is a 'closed circle' of suspects, confined to those who knew something of Lola's travel arrangements, but it is some time before the motive for the crime becomes apparent.
In many ways, this is a typical product of the Golden Age, quite skilfully constructed - and shifting viewpoints are used to good effect - but written in a workmanlike rather than exhilarating way. I think some readers will enjoy it more than I did. I found it ok but at no point did I ever care much about the characters or their fate. Definitely one for those who love the 'humdrum' style.
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