Forgotten Book - The House on Tollard Ridge

The House on Tollard Ridge, first published in 1929, is regarded by some authorities as one of John Rhode's best detective novels. It is one of the two Rhode titles that was published as a green Penguin, so you might think that it's relatively easy to find. However, at the time of writing this post, only five copies on the book were on sale on Abebooks, at prices ranging from £50 (for the paperback) to over £1000 for the first American edition. 

Rhode is a highly collectible author, as these figures demonstrate, even if the reasons for his massive popularity with collectors, as compared to other, equally talented, writers has never been entirely clear to me. But there's something about his books that obviously has considerable appeal. I was extremely lucky to be offered the chance to buy the signed Detection Club copy of this book (again the American edition) from a kind person at a price that didn't break the bank, despite being rather more than the price for which it was auctioned off when, alas, the Detection Club sold its library twenty years or more ago.

The eponymous house is lonely and rather forbidding. It's the home of a wealthy man called Sam Barton, who is likeable but highly reclusive. The death of his wife and estrangement from his son have had a severe impact on him, and he has become interested in spiritualism, in the hope of making contact with his late wife 'on the other side'. So far, so very conventional in traditional detective fiction, but an up-to-the-minute touch involves Sam's interest in the wireless.

When Sam is found dead - murdered with a marline-spike - Superintendent King, a likeable and industrious country policeman, leads the investigation. He is almost as meticulous in his approach as Freeman Wills Crofts' Inspector French, and bit by bit, he builds a case against one particular individual. But when Dr Priestley takes an interest in the case, he wonders if there's more to it than meets the eye.

Rhode's technical expertise and ingenuity are central to this novel. One can see that he came up with one particular idea, no doubt deriving from his knowledge as an electrical engineer, and built a story around it. There's some decent writing in this story, but the problem with it, from my perspective, is that Rhode's lack of interest in criminal psychology means that he doesn't foreshadow the culprit's motivation and personality adequately. Viewed as a howdunit, this is a good mystery. As a whodunit, it's rather lacking in the element of surprise.