Reviews for Sleuth of St. James's Square

The average rating for Sleuth of St. James's Square based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-04-09 00:00:00 Tony Nurtoin The sleuth who lives in a large house in St. James's Square, London, is Sir Henry Marquis, head of the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard. He also owns a country mansion and a villa on the French Riviera and internal evidence suggests he was educated at Rugby's famous public school and Oxford University. He previously ran the English secret service in the India-Burma border area and had also been busy in unspecified places in Asia, although there is reason to suppose he is familiar with Mongolia. Sir Henry belongs to the Empire Club in Piccadilly and apparently goes to the opera now and then. He is enthusiastic about scientific methods for solving crimes, mentioning dactyloscopic (fingerprint) bureaus and photographie mitrique in particular, but also laments lack of "intuitive impulse" in the men under his command. However, not all the cases in this collection of short stories are solved by deduction or even intuitive impulse, and indeed one or two end in triumph for those on the wrong side of the law. Oddly enough, although Sir Henry is the titular sleuth, in some stories he is not directly involved and in a couple he is referred to only in passing.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-11-27 00:00:00 Lynne Kellerman The Sleuth of St. James's Square is a collection of short mystery stories, each with a different protagonist and not related to each other in any way except that each are about some sort of mystery, rarely dealing with murder. I believe that the Sleuth is Sir Henry Marquis. I didn't see his involvement playing much of a role in the book. A rather odd way to present stories, in my opinion. The writing is very Victorian so somewhat archaic in style. The stories start off rather vague and lacking in direction which I suppose is the writer, Post's, style. It takes a few pages to come to realize what the actual mystery is. For most of the tale one is wondering what is going on or about to happen. However they all quickly converge into a crystal clear and profound, if abrupt conclusion at the very end. All in all, a quick, and, if not Holmes or Lord Wimsey or Father Brown, still an enjoyable read.