The House that Jack Built / Murder in Amber: (Inspector Timothy Fowler, Golden-Age Detective Mysteries)

The House that Jack Built: Arriving in the peaceful vacation retreat of Witch Harbor, Maine, for their honeymoon, Timothy Fowler and bride get their first glimpse at what the locals called the House that Jack Built, looming huge and dark and lonely on the craggy hill. It was a rambling old house, originally built by a brilliant physician, Dr. Albert Jack, so that he could perform his mysterious experiments in secrecy. The doctor was long gone, but the house and its secrets remained. An atmosphere of mystery and suspicious activity permeating the village comes to a head when a young girl is found murdered. A 1935 reviewer noted: Mrs. Harris has handled her characters well and makes the ‘natives’ of the town recognizable. There is a novel aspect of the tale providing a momentum in the early chapters that increases in pitch until the end.

Murder in Amber: Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Fowler are aboard the S. S. Orion, returning from a trip to China, when they find themselves once more at the center of a mystery, this one surrounding an amber necklace. From a 1938 review: A necklace, a blood-stained knife, two notes from a dead man and a lump on the detective’s head are among the baffling clues which Timothy Fowler, gentleman sleuth, has to go on. And it all takes place on board ship, just one night out of Shanghai. With good characterization and a clever denouement, this should prove interesting to most of the fans.

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