Sexton Blake Bibliography: 1970

Notes: When Jill Barratt, who works in a Brighton photo kiosk, is picked up by a youth named Johnny, she agrees to drive with him to London. He brags that he is delivering a drug that is desperately required by a dying woman. In truth, he has been commissioned by a crook named Hoffman to deliver the smuggled drug to the Syndicate. However, in his desperation to get the girl into a hotel room, Johnny allows her to anonymously drop off a vial of the drug at the hospital. This attracts the attention of Superintendent Grimwald, who knows that the criminal organisation has been illicitly dealing the drug. Meanwhile, Johnny and Jill have departed the hotel leaving behind an envelope Johnny had been carrying. Grimwald, hunting for the girl who left the drug, finds it, and discovers it to be an example of industrial espionage. He manages to identify Jill as the girl seen with Johnny and tells Sexton Blake that she is certainly in danger. Back in Brighton, members of the Syndicate corner Johnny aboard a pleasure boat, the Skylark, and murder him for his carelessness. Their leader then sends a henchmen to kill Jill. He is twice foiled and is executed for failing to do his job. However, there are plenty more Syndicate operatives in Brighton, and they all befriend the girl intending to do away with her at an opportune moment. Tinker, having been sent by Blake to keep an eye on her, doesn't spot the peril she's in. Neither does she until she's taken out on the Skylark. Fortunately for her, Blake arrives in Brighton, Tinker spots a vital clue, and they realise the people she's with are a Syndicate cell. Jill is thrown overboard but is rescued by a police launch directed by the two detectives. The villains make a getaway on bicycles.

Trivia: Sexton Blake and Paula Dane make only fleeting appearances. This is Tinker's case ... but even he doesn't get much "page time."

According to Paula Dane, Tinker is still in love with Selma James (see BATTLE SONG (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 4th series, issue 371, 1956).

Tinker gives his birthdate as March 20th.

This is a hardback reprint of THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 4th series issue 374 (1957).

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Jack Trevor Story is the most stylised and eccentric of the Blake writers. In this case, the style rather overwhelms the substance, making for a less than satisfactory tale.

Notes: When Richard Tarbut enters the bank at the little country town of St. Harping and stands on his head in order to impress the lovely Daphne, a clerk therein, he starts a chain of events destined to have far-reaching, and, in four instances, fatal results. For Tarbut, an author, not only wrote stories of crimes, he committed them as well. The outcome of Tarbut's extraordinary conduct is a most unfortunate marriage, because under her husband's corrupting influence Daphne, normally a decent law abiding young woman, becomes afflicted with the same crooked tendencies. Prompted by Tarbut, she robs the bank of fifty thousand pounds. It is when the banknotes, wrapped as an ordinary brown paper parcel and addressed to a destination in Paris, to be picked up later by the astute Dickie, go astray, that complications set in. These are still further extended when Daphne meets and falls for Jack Yates, the handsome assistant headmaster of St. Harping Secondary Modern School, who turns out to be an even bigger crook than her husband. Feminine interest is strongly represented, not the least interesting character being Lucy Locket, a long-haired, blue-eyed creature. She is the means of bringing Daphne to justice by reason of her tendency for scratching at newly dug earth, thereby presenting the police with a most valuable clue. Yes, Lucy was a cat, but in so being differed little from the rest of the feminine characters introduced, with possibly two exceptions. (Review notes reproduced from THE COLLECTORS' DIGEST vol.11 issue 131).

Trivia: This is a hardback reprint of THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 4th series issue 394 (1957).

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Sexton Blake snatches a sword from a bracket on the wall and faces the huge bear. Suddenly Ned Blagden appears with a revolver but, instead of firing at the bear, he shoots at Blake. The bullet ricochets off the sword and hits the bear. The creature collapses and is exposed as a thug in a costume. The detective tackles Blagden but at that moment the spectre appears floating through the air. Blake slashes with the sword, cutting a wire on which the ghostly figure is walking. The phantom falls to the ground. The young prisoner proves to be the rightful heir to the Bleake treasure. Blagden and his cohorts — all circus performers — are arrested.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: Sexton Blake and Tinker are returning from their climbing holiday in the Lake District when they get lost in a storm on the Yorkshire Moors. They encounter another driver — a man named Anthony de Vere — and decide to accompany him to his destination: Loxton Grange, which he has just inherited. As they proceed, headlights come out of the darkness and drive straight at them. However, instead of the expected head-on crash, the other vehicle mysteriously vanishes. Exiting his car, Blake finds that they are outside Loxton Grange. The three men enter the house and are greeted by an old servant named Josiah Beadle. Suddenly, outside the window, they see the eerily glowing figure of the Phantom Friar.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: Sexton Blake leaps out to confront the phantom but it vanishes. Anthony de Vere takes the detective and his assistant on a tour of Loxton Grange. As they pass through a great hall, one of the ceiling timbers plummets towards them. They leap out of its path, de Vere diving through a dark archway. As the dust settles, Blake catches sight of the Phantom Friar but, once again, it quickly vanishes. He and Tinker pass through the archway and see de Vere being carried away by the ghostly figure.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: Blake charges at the Phantom Friar but it vanishes. Hearing a voice screaming from behind a closed door, the detective rushes in and rescues de Vere who is on the verge of disappearing through a secret panel. De Vere's servant, Beadle, appears and announces supper. They follow him to the dining hall where they are observed through the eyeholes of a portrait.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: Blake notices that the eyes of the portrait are watching them. He leaps up but suddenly vapour shoots out of the picture's frame. As they all start choking on the fumes, the candles are extinguished by a sudden breeze. In the darkness, there's a sudden shrill scream. Blake recovers his senses and lights a torch. He sees only Anthony de Vere — Tinker has vanished! The detective believes that his assistant has been kidnapped by mistake; de Vere was the intended target. Taking a knife, he slashes the portrait but finds only a solid brick wall behind it. He and de Vere move towards the stairs and see a shadowy figure up on the gallery. Blake leaps to a hanging chandelier to swing across the intervening space but the figure reaches up with a knife and slices the rope holding the chandelier.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: Blake leaps to a nearby balustrade and pursues the shadowy figure, which proves to be Josiah Beadle. However, this is a disguise beneath which Blake finds de Vere's cousin, Ralph Felton, who confesses that he was trying to scare de Vere away so that he could claim the Grange. Suddenly the Phantom leaps among them and a cloud of smoke envelops them. Felton tries to escape under this cover but Blake knocks him down. He then tackles the Phantom and finds, beneath the costume, de Vere's lawyer, who had conspired with Felton.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: While on a fishing trip, Tinker nets a message in a bottle. In it, there's a note which reads Help me! I am a prisoner of the Blue Knight. A local inn keeper tells them that the knight is supposed to haunt the nearby Scarne Castle. The investigators go to explore the ancient building. As they approach, the surface of the lake by which it is situated is disturbed. A glowing blue knight rises up and walks across the surface to the castle. Blake and Tinker race after it but the figure turns and slashes with its sword at the chains of the portcullis. The great iron gate crashes down towards the two detectives.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: The glowing Knight's sword slashes through the chains causing the portcullis to crash down towards Blake and Tinker. They leap aside, escaping by a hair's breadth. The detectives find a small door and they ascend the staircase beyond until they reach the balcony of a baronial hall. Here, Tinker tumbles through a secret panel and vanishes. Hearing a noise, Blake looks down into the hall and sees his assistant surrounded by pike-wielding suits of armour ... and the Blue Knight closing in on him!

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: As Blake and Tinker watch, the Blue Knight walks across the surface of the lake and then slowly sinks out of sight. They try to find a route out of the castle but Tinker notices that the eyes of statues are following their every move. Blake smashes one of the figures and discovers that it is hollow. Behind it, there is an opening, which he enters. He descends a stone staircase but it suddenly pivots and he plunges into a dark chamber where the spectral figure of a knight awaits. It hits the wall with its sword and water begins to flood in.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: As the water rises in the room in which Sexton Blake is trapped, Tinker starts to search for him. He descends a staircase and a step clicks beneath his feet causing the stairs to pivot, exposing a secret opening. Water gushes from it bringing with it Tinker's guv'nor. An evil-looking man watches from the shadows as the detectives recover from their ordeal and explore further. They find a door behind which is stacked large cannon balls. As they turn away, a hand reaches out and unbolts the door. An avalanche of metal thunders towards Blake and Tinker.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: As the cannon balls crash towards them, Blake and Tinker leap across an opening that appears in the floor before them. The iron balls fall into the trap as the detectives watch from safety. They continue their search of the castle. From behind a corner, a man tries to attack them but is overpowered by Blake. Before the Baker Street detective can question him, he is distracted by Tinker who has seen, from the window, the ghostly Blue Knight walking on the water of the lake.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: While Blake's attention is diverted by the sight of the Blue Knight, the old man runs away. Blake and Tinker gives chase down a passage leading out to the lake. The old man appears to run across the surface of the water but Blake realises that there is a submerged causeway, so follows. Just as he catches the man, the ground beneath his feet opens and he and his quarry fall into a steel box. After the water drains away, the old man leads Blake through an airlock and into an underground lair filled with equipment for a counterfeiting operation. The gang leader, in the costume of the Blue Knight, raises a pistol at Blake but the detective shoots first, disabling his opponent. The rest of the gang are rounded up and their prisoner, who had sent the message in the bottle, is liberated.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: Tinker clings desperately to the cliff-face. Blake clambers down and helps his assistant to climb up to safety. They return to the inn, unaware that their movements are being observed. That night, Black Ben appears outside Tinker's window. Blake chases the ghostly figure but, at the edge of the cliff, it vanishes. The next day, the investigators visit Logan's circus. As they arrive, Black Ben materialises near the lion keeper.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: The lion keeper flees from the spectre, leaving the door to the lion's cage open. The big cat leaps at the detectives but Blake swings a crate into its head, sending it sprawling. An uppercut finishes it off and, as the unconscious lion is returned to its cage, circus owner Harry Logan declares that the recent run of mysterious events are ruining him. Early the next morning, Blake and Tinker find themselves face to face with the ghost of Black Ben Bartram.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: Sexton Blake leaps at the ghostly figure of Black Ben but finds himself grasping at thin air as the figure vanishes. After an unsuccessful hunt around the cliffs, the detective and his assistant return to Logan's Circus where they take a ride on the roller coaster. When the ghost reappears, the brake man collapses from fright, leaving the ride out of control. Blake manages to save the passengers but they complain about the levels of safety at the circus. Logan believes that he'll be put out of business if such incidents continue. Suddenly, Tinker sees a horrifying sight.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Notes: Tinker points to the weird figure of Bartram which glows at the top of the switchback. Blake runs up the slope of the ride intent on catching the apparition. As he flings himself at his quarry, the figure floats to one side and the detective plummets from the track. He manages to grab one of the structure's supports and thus saves himself. There is no sign of the spectral figure and Tinker declares that it must be a real ghost. However, Blake finds a trail leading to a cave and follows it into the darkness. Meanwhile, outside, Tinker finds himself face to face with Black Ben!

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆