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MURDERER AT LARGE is a 1965 entry in the Sexton Blake series after it moved from digest-sized novels to mass-market paperbacks. That title is the name of a low-budget true crime TV show in England that focuses on unsolved homicides—cold cases, although I don’t think that term was used that early—in which the killer appears to have gotten away with it.
One of the cases that the show will cover in an upcoming episode is the
Primrose Ballet Murder, which occurred three years earlier when a 15-year-old
dancer was strangled. The show has two researchers, one a former cop and the
other a journalist, and when one of them is murdered, probably because he got
too close to the identity of the Primrose Ballet Killer, private detective
Sexton Blake is drawn into the case. Not surprisingly, another killing occurs,
so ultimately Blake has to solve three murders and pick out the killer from a
very large cast of characters that includes writers, producers, casting
directors, and aristocrats from the upper levels of society and finance.
Not only are there a lot of suspects to sort through, but many of the series
regulars also appear, including Blake’s assistant Edward Carter (aka Tinker),
his beautiful secretary Paula Dane, his likewise beautiful receptionist Marian
Lang, his journalist friend Arthur “Splash” Kirby, and even his faithful dog
Pedro.
The plot of MURDERER AT LARGE is a little on the thin side, which may explain
the large number of characters involved. Even with so many people running
around, the author still needs to fill some pages with humorous digressions
such as this one early on:
The writers’ office was small, shabby, and tucked away on the most remote
corridor of the top floor of ATN House [the production company that makes the
series]. This was usual for no large entertainment organisation loves writers.
When they can be replaced with electronic machines they will be replaced.
[Shades of ChatGPT!]
Machines suffer from none of the disabilities of writers, such as
unpunctuality, debts or intoxication. Machines do not pinch the bottom of the
managing director’s secretary or borrow ten shillings from the doorkeeper. Machines
do not, above all, regard their employers with anarchistic contempt between
spells of obsequiousness when pay-checks are due to come round.
But until machines are made the organisations have to make do with writers,
faults and all.
Whoever wrote that knows writers, that’s for sure! Sure sarcastic asides run
all through the book, poking a lot of fun at the TV business. When Blake
finally exposes the killer and the murderer tries to flee, the action becomes
pure slapstick, and it’s pretty darned funny despite a rather grim ending. This
whole book is a slightly unsettling blend of bleak and hilarious, but I really
enjoyed it.
Which brings us to the question of the author’s identity. The book is bylined
W.A. Ballinger, a pseudonym normally used by W. Howard Baker, the
author/editor/packager who was in charge of the Sexton Blake series for many
years. Baker often had uncredited collaborators doing first drafts for him, so
his actual contribution could range from plot/light edits to plot and heavy revisions.
In addition, other editors sometimes revised manuscripts. A friend of mine who’s
familiar with the series and authors suggests that Wilfred McNeilly might have had
something to do with this one, but that’s far from certain. I have a couple of
Blake paperbacks credited to McNeilly and intend to read them soon to see if I
can pick up any similarity in styles.
None of this really matters, of course, no matter how interesting I find it.
What's important is whether or not a book is entertaining, and MURDERER AT LARGE
certainly is. By the way, I apologize for the quality of the cover scan. I read
the novel as a PDF file, and this is the only cover image I could find on-line.
