Forgotten Book - Dramatic Murder

Dramatic Murder is a pretty obscure book that was published by Hodder in 1948. The author was Elizabeth Anthony, but that was a pseudonym for Barbara Rubien. She'd previously published one novel that wasn't a mystery and a couple of years later Hodder published her Made for Murder. But there - apart from one short story published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1957 - is where her crime writing career ended.

This is a pity, because she could write well. Dramatic Murder is a lively story, with a generous helping of four murders and a low-key Scotland Yard detective with the suitably nondescript name of Smith. The first victim is a well-known playwright, known rather oddly as Dimpsie, and this explains (in part) the title of the book. He is electrocuted by the lights on a Christmas tree, so this is in one sense a Christmas mystery, although most of the action occurs after Christmas.

There is an interesting and well-assorted group of suspects, including a big-game hunter, the dead man's secretary, and an actress. Suspicion is juggled quite nicely between them, although in some respects this isn't entirely a 'fair play' puzzle. But it kept me entertained all the way to a fittingly dramatic finale in a theatre.

I don't know why such a capable writer didn't produce more books. My guess is - like so many others before and since - she lost heart when a significant level of commercial success proved elusive. I wonder, also, whether she felt overshadowed by her younger sister's achievements in the genre. For Elizabeth Anthony was born Barbara Courlander and her sister, Nancy Courlander, is better known to crime fans as Shelley Smith, of whom I've often written on this blog.