Keep it quiet

by Richard Hull

Paper Book, 1954

Status

Available

Call number

823.91F

Genres

Mystery

Fiction

Publication

Harmondsworth : Penguin Books, 1954.

Description

It was just like Morrison to be a nuisance even when he was dead. Ford, the harried Secretary of the Whitehall Club, is desperate to please even the most disagreeable members just to be left in peace. So, it is a huge inconvenience for Ford when one of the club's most vexatious members is found possibly poisoned and most definitely dead. It will be terrible for the club's reputation and it seems easier for all if he finds a way to keep it quiet. Dr Anstruther is enlisted to help him cover up the death. He finds Ford irksome and ultimately useless but the Club means too much to him to see it dragged through a media frenzy. And besides, Anstruther was the victim's doctor: as far as he's concerned, Morrison may have even had a heart condition... But Cardonnel, the club lawyer (and stickler for protocol), is sniffing too close to the cover-up. And when Ford and Anstruther start receiving blackmailing notes, they begin acting very odd indeed. With so many eyes on them, will they really be able to keep it quiet?… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member SomeGuyInVirginia

Members of the Whitehall Club in London are dying and the Secretary is behaving oddly. If that weren’t bad enough, someone is stealing books from the club’s library. If a member isn’t made of sterner stuff than to die where he will cause the most bother then it’s only his reputation to

suffer, but a book thief must be brought to ground- a club member takes it upon himself to discover the culprit.

Less a convincing mystery than a look at club life in the 30s, this is still a sound, readable book. As with ‘The Murder of My Aunt’, there is an unsettling element of madness running throughout and, though ‘Keep It Quiet’ does not have that book’s comic elements, it’s still a light and entertaining murder mystery.

Show Less

3 more

LibraryThing member mstrust

Ford, the secretary of the Whitehall Club in London, is the most amiable and spineless of men, prone to agreeing with all and resigned to the daily complaints and scoldings he endures from the club members. But things get much worse after Morrison, one of the most annoying members, is found dead

after his dinner, and the chef confesses that he may have accidentally slipped some poison into the man's meal. Ford begins receiving letters and it's clear that someone knows about the murder other than himself and the club doctor who went along with the cover-up.

This mystery is set in the thirties London of upper class society in a world of older men. I had read Hull's previous book, The Murder of My Aunt, and loved it as it's a hilarious story of an ineffective and skittish young man attempting to find a way to kill his over-bearing aunt without actually touching her. Keep It Quiet doesn't have the same amount of humor, it's more about getting on with the murder, and then the confession, but it does have funny lines, such as the doctor being so disgusted with the secretary's weight that he can hardly keep from slapping the back of the man's fat neck. A good, gentlemanly read.

Show Less

LibraryThing member EdGoldberg

This is written like a typical British 1935 mystery, a little tough going but interesting. It certainly doesn't have the noir impact of the U.S. pulps nor the grit of current mysteries.

Two people died at the Whitehall Club and everyone wants to keep it quiet...hence the title. Can the inept club

secretary Ford figure it out or the pompous but smart Cardonnel or the smart, but probably alcoholic Dr. Anstruther? Also who is sending the blackmail letters. (I must admit I figured this part out early on.)

Richard Hull was a Chartered Accountant before starting his literary career. If you're looking for a change of pace, read it.

Show Less

LibraryThing member RedQueen

Odd story where the mystery is only a small part of the story. An old-fashioned psychological which never quite gets to thriller. The twists are well done & the story well-written, but I have to say I didn't like any of the characters, which makes it hard to like the whole. A great example of

between-the-wars Golden Age mystery, which should be judged as such.

Show Less

Fewer