FFB: The Mystery Of The Hidden Room

It is rare that I can't dig up something on an author for a Friday's "Forgotten" Books feature. I came across a book online by Marion Harvey (quite possibly a pen name), who was reported to have been born in 1900. There aren't any biographies or obituaries as near as I can tell, but due to early publication information and some performance data, the author appears to be American and the author of several mystery novels and plays, including:

The Mystery of the Hidden Room (E.J. Clode, 1922)
The Vengeance of the Ivory Skull  (E.J. Clode, 1923)
The House of Seclusion (Small & Maynard, 1925)
The Arden Mystery (Brentano's, 1925)
The Dragon of Lung Wang (E.J. Clode, 1928)
The Clue of the Clock (E.J. Clode, 1929)The Clue of the Clock (E.J. Clode, Inc., 1929)
The Inner Circle. A Mystery Thriller in Three Acts (New York 1930)
Footsteps: A Breath-taking Mystery Play by Marion Harvey & Nancy Bancroft Brosius (Fitzgerald Pub., 1931)


At least three of these works, Hidden Room, Ivory Skull, and Inner Circle, feature Graydon McKelvie, a Sherlock Holmes-worshiping detective. In addition to noting that the criminal device employed in Hidden Room is noteworthy,  SS Van Dine once noted (in The Great Detective Stories, 1927), "The deductive work done by Graydon McKelvie is at times extremely clever."

The Mystery Of The Hidden Room is told from the viewpoint of Carlton Davies, whose former fiancee Ruth Darwin was blackmailed into leaving him by the man she ultimately married, powerful banker Phillip Darwin. When the husband is murdered and Carlton finds Ruth standing over him with a gun in her hand one night, she is promptly arrested, tried, and packed off to prison.

Carlton never lost his love for Ruth and is steadfast in believing her innocent of the crime, but the New York City police don't share his convictions. He decides to do his own investigating, but since his butler happens to work with Graydon McKelvie, Carlton begs for McKelvie's help, and the chase is afoot. It doesn't take long for McKelvie to learn that practically no one involved with the case is being honest about their activities on the fatal night and several of the bit players are AWOL.

The hidden room of the title makes its appearance relatively early in the story, thus it's not much of a spoiler for it to be headlined in the title. The room in which Darwin was killed appears to be a locked room scenario, with burglar alarms on the windows, but even after the secret room is discovered, there remain many mysteries to solve, including a stoneless ring, a new Will naming a mystery woman as the beneficiary, Darwin's missing nephew, and puzzling sachets sprinkled along the investigative trail. McKelvie also has to solve the mystery of a second bullet that can't be found and a lamp that seems to turn on by itself.

Harvey's writing is de rigueur for her day, with dialog tags now considered passe and a bit comical ("'Well, I'll be hanged!' I ejaculated"), and hints of racism regarding a black servant and some "chink" goons. But the story runs along at a relatively jaunty clip and, although the eventual culprit isn't a huge surprise if you've been paying attention, the journey to the unveiling is entertaining.

If anyone can find more biographical details about this mystery (and I mean that literally) author, please feel free to add them. I did find newspaper accounts of Harvey's plays being performed in New York, Alabama and Pennsylvania in the 1930s, but very little details beyond 1935. 

Comments

[J F Norris]

Never in a million years would I expect someone other than me to dig up Marion Harvey! I have all these books, except the Arden Mystery which I think might be a retitled version of a book Harvey wore in the 1920s. Someone once speculated that Marion Harvey, the mystery writer, and a minor actress from Broadway with the same name who worked during the 1920s and 1930s are the same person. They aren't. This Harvey, first of all, is a man. The only biographical info that exists online is at the FictionMags database:

"Born in Rio de Janeiro; graduate of Hunter College and Cleveland Law School; practiced law in Ohio until moving to L.A."

The Brazil birth place makes sense since two of his books take place in South America and are redolent with authentic cultural details.

I enjoyed reading about Graydon McKelvie and his arrogant adventures. He pre-dates Philo Vance but they have a lot in common. McKelvie, I think, is a lot more entertaining in his know-it-all style of detective work.

Some corrections to your mixed up bibliography: Alias the Eagle and The Clue of the Clock are the same book. I've read the US version under it's original title The Clue of the Clock and it's about a master criminal called "The Eagle". Also, The House of Seclusion was published in the US first, ten years prior to the date you have listed. 1925 is the date of publication in my copy put out by Boston publisher Small & Maynard. Similarly, The Dragon of Wang Lung was published by Clode in 1928, much earlier than the London edition. Clode was the original publisher for most of his books published in the US during the 1920s. You have Grosset & Dunlap for the first two, but that's a reprint house.

[BV Lawson]

Thanks John! I've updated the references accordingly, and thanks very much for your assistance with the research!