by Thomas F. Schwartz
With very few exceptions, most mysteries on the shelves at Camp Rapidan reflect what is often called “the golden age” of mystery writers who published in the decades of the 1920s through 1930s. Writers such as Agatha Christie and G.K. Chesterton already were well established in both Britain and America. Mary Roberts Reinhard and S.S. Van Dine also had dedicated readers on both sides of the Atlantic. Other titles reflect writers who were trying to make a name for themselves as serious popular writers of mysteries. In the case of Peter Baron, The Round Table Murders (1931) and Milton Propper, The Strange Disappearance of Mary Young (1929), both began with promising careers that never developed a popular following.
Peter Baron wrote several murder mysteries but so far has not found a biographer. A search engine typically turns up a character created by novelist Bruce Cassidy. The Round Table Murders begins with the theft of jewels and ransom money. The thief, George Teyst, is fatally wounded but has time to hide the stolen items and write clues to find the hidden location. The paper with the clues is torn into four pieces and a call is made to each of his brothers to meet at his home. Each brother is given a section of the clue before George dies. Like George, the brothers have criminal backgrounds and are unlikely to willingly work together. Instead, each begins to mysteriously die, each brother thinking the deaths were caused by a rival sibling. The plot is further complicated by an unknown character called “Poacher” who is also after the hidden loot. It is up to Scotland Yard’s Inspector Keating to unravel the murders, identify Poacher, and find the stolen jewels and money.
Milton M. Propper has drawn attention by biographers largely because his own life and death had dramatic elements. His family built a successful furniture business in Philadelphia, where many of his mystery settings take place. He attended a private boarding school and then the University of Pennsylvania graduating at the age of 19. Propper then attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School and served as the associate editor of the Law Review. Graduating in 1929, he never practiced law. Instead, he published his first mystery novel, The Strange Disappearance of Mary Young, that year. Hoping to be able to support himself as a writer, Propper realized that he needed to assume other work. He took a federal position in Atlanta, Georgia where he worked for ten years only to return to Philadelphia after the death of his parents. He continued to publish mystery novels but none ever had sales to support a living. Police found him dead in his car at the age of 55 from an overdose of sleeping pills.
Propper followed in the writing style of Freeman Wills Crofts, whom the Hoovers also read. Tommy Rankin, a young smart detective in the Philadelphia Homicide Bureau, is assigned to investigate the murder of a young woman at a local amusement park. Mary Young recently arrived only months before to Philadelphia and no one knows anything about her past. During the investigation, Rankin learned she ended an engagement to one young man, spurned the affections of another, and rejected the advances of her employer. All three become prime suspects. But the real mystery for Rankin involves Mary Young’s background. He was able to trace her origins back to Gary, Indiana. It is here that Rankin discovered her real name and the true motive behind her murder. Like Crofts, Propper is methodical in providing the evidence and chasing down all the facts, even if they go down rabbit holes.