Louis F Booth

The Bank Vault Mystery / Broker's End Louis F Booth

On the morning of the thirty-first three engineers accompanied by the manager visited the vault of the Consolidated Bank. Shortly after they left, it was discovered that a bag containing $180,000 in cash had disappeared. And so commenced the famous bank vault case in which Maxwell Fenner, the casual, dapper detective, made a list of six suspects and in tracking them through a maze of motives and two murders found a criminal genius. The Bank Vault Mystery is remarkable for the originality and logic of its complex plot. The setting, too, in and about Wall Street, Fulton Street, and the financial district is full of local color. Its finished, careful style makes it particularly enjoyable whether you read many or few detective stories. Brokers' End: It was a clever set up. The Treasurer of the great bond concern of F. W. Strong lay across his elaborate mahogany desk with a bullet hole in his forehead. His revolver was at hand, the ejected shell gleamed from the carpet nearby. Motive? The House of Strong after forty years of business "without loss to any investor" had, a few days previous, been declared insolvent by the Court and there were rumors in the air of "irregularities" in the books. It was a clever set up, but after Maxwell Fenner had looked it over and glanced significantly at Inspector Bryce, the latter expressed the thoughts of both when he remarked, "I smell something fishy-it's too damned neat." And then commenced the pursuit and detection of what was to become a string of the most diabolically ingenious murders in the experience of the dapper, casual, and disconcertingly naive Maxwell Fenner.

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