The Woman In Red by Anthony Gilbert

'Anthony Gilbert' is a pillar of detective fiction, alongside Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. The pen name of Lucy Beatrice Malleson, there are over 65 "Arthur Crook" mysteries, The Woman in Red (aka The Mystery of the Woman in Red) being number nine. This theme has certainly been done since, but this feels like the classic first.

Julia Ross is an unemployed twenty-three-year-old in wartime London, where jobs are at a premium. On her last shilling, her only hope is a temp agency that has but one position to fill: secretary companion to a Mrs. Ponsonby, Mayfair. The plump, red-wigged lady is imperious, eccentric, and insists her employee have no family ties, no fiancé or husband, indeed no entanglements at all—the last woman left abruptly for her sick mother. The rate is 100 per year plus board, and weak from missing meals, Julia has no choice but to accept. She begins that night but is told not to unpack; they are leaving for a country home in the morning. They drive for hours to a quiet place where there are no neighbors—and they have forgotten her bags. Right away, she feels trapped, and between Peters, the butler, and Sparkes, the cook, she is never left alone. They lend her toiletries and clothing, all monogrammed 'S.P.' The next day, everyone insists she is Mrs. Ponsonby's niece, Sheila Campbell—all evidence points to it, including her identification. She is told she is suffering from a breakdown, so if she thinks she is another person or suddenly screams, that is only to be expected. Panicked to escape, she realizes she is a complete non-entity, a pawn in a game she doesn't understand. Julia Ross has disappeared.

There is one flaw: Julia befriended a man in a tea room, Colin, awaiting his Irish bride. When he reads an obituary in the paper of a Julia Ross, he contacts freelance detective Arthur Crook of Bloomsbury Court. Unsophisticated and slightly unethical, Crook and his assistant Bill Parsons pull out all the stops to find her, discover what happened to Sheila Campbell, and thwart Mrs. Ponsonby's appalling plan.

One of my favourite classic noir films is My Name Is Julia Ross (1945) starring Nina Foch. The Woman In Red was the basis for the film but changes direction with a different motive. Dead of Winter (1987) starring Mary Steenburgen is a loose remake, again twisting the theme in a unique way.

Malleson also wrote 22 mysteries under the name Anne Meredith - Portrait of a Murderer and Death in Fancy Dress have been reprinted by the British Library's Crime Classics.

This has been republished in 2019 and is widely available in print and ebook.

1941 / Tradeback / 199 pages