First published in 1922,
The Lyttleton Case by R.A.V. Morris went through some seven printings through 1930, before lapsing into obscurity, possibly because the author wrote no follow-ups of the detective adventures of Chief Inspector James Candlish. In 1971, in their
Catalogue of Crime, Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor called it "an early specimen of the well-written, slow, carefully plotted puzzle," and concluded "this is an acceptable tale of murder, impersonation, and abduction, withe entertaining asides about the contemporary scene."
Ronald Arthur Vennor Morris (1877-1943) was the older brother of the classic fantasist Kenneth Morris (1879-1937). R.A.V. Morris published only this one book.
The Lyttleton Case is now republished (on May 18th) by HarperCollins in their Detective Story Club series
about which I have written previously. I wrote a short introduction for this reissue, which is a nicely done hardcover at the low price of £ 9.99 from
Amazon in the UK. The cover of the new edition is above. Below I'll post some of the early dust-wrappers from early editions.
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| 1922 edition |
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| Third Impression, 1923 |
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| 1927 two shilling edition |
First published in 1922, The Lyttleton Case by R.A.V. Morris went through some seven printings through 1930, before lapsing into obscurity, possibly because the author wrote no follow-ups of the detective adventures of Chief Inspector James Candlish. In 1971, in their Catalogue of Crime, Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor called it "an early specimen of the well-written, slow, carefully plotted puzzle," and concluded "this is an acceptable tale of murder, impersonation, and abduction, withe entertaining asides about the contemporary scene." 
Looks like a fun read, thanks for sharing it! Undoubtedly easier reading than his brother's books.
ReplyDeleteKenneth's tales, collected in The Dragon Path, are as easy reading as anything. They are much like Dunsany's tales, with a philosophical tinge of Blackwood.
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