MURDER BY AIR
First Published in book form in August 1937 - 252 pages
Originally published in THE THRILLER magazine on 16th
and 23rd January 1937
with the two parts entitled ‘Prisoner of the Dope Ring’ and ‘The
Dope Smugglers’
Also published in FLYING
magazine in April and May 1938
This replica dust wrapper shows an
original price of 3/6 on both the spine and the front flap. I assume this is the first edition. I don’t know if there was also a 2/6 reprint.
The Latimer edition reprint dust
wrapper showing the price of 6 shillings on the front flap. I believe this was published on 16th
July 1951.
And finally, the original French edition
dust wrapper showing the title “La Piste du Chien
Blanc” which translates as “The Trail of the White Dog”
Again,
the narrator, Eric "Tubby" Wilde, tells this story in the first
person. A year has passed and Steeley is over from
America and having a reunion meal with Tubby and Brian Ballantyne, although
Brian is late. Brian has been delayed at an inquest into the death of an ex-RAF
pilot working for the police by the name of Brance. Brance has been killed in a plane crash and his last words
were, bizarrely, "mind the dog, the white dog". Inspector Wayne
arrives and discusses the case and asks Steeley,
Tubby and Brian to help him solve it. Steeley goes to
investigate the scene of the crime and finds strange depressions in the ground,
as if made with the end of a heavy cane or walking stick. Flying away, our
heroes see another plane land near a remote cowshed and they go to investigate.
The pilot is a girl who has just returned from France bringing with her she
says, a very dear friend, a white dog. Steeley
withdraws gracefully, but he is convinced that the "girl" was really
a man. Returning to their base at a nearby flying club, our heroes have their
first encounter with Count Cortusoides, a Greek
millionaire. He is a man who walks with a heavy walking stick and various other
clues point to him having been at the scene of Brance's
death. When the Count leaves, Tubby has cause to lend his aircraft to one of
the club's instructors called Jerry Larkin. Jerry is killed in a crash and it
becomes clear that Tubby's plane had been sabotaged. Steeley
decides to go and investigate Gartholme Towers, the
home of Count Cortusoides, as it is quite close to
the cowshed where the "girl" with the white dog landed. Unexpectedly
they meet the Count in his grounds and find themselves invited in for a drink. Steeley lets slip that he himself was a villain and tells
some true tales of what they have got up to in the past. As they leave, a
strange female throws them a note claiming to be a prisoner and asking to be
saved. The Count has a number of aircraft on his property and when one of them
flies away, Steeley gets Brian to steal another of
his planes in order to follow it. Arranging to meet Brian when he returns at
the field where Brance was murdered, Steeley and Tubby are astonished to see Brian's plane
return but with the Count on board! Returning to the clubhouse, Brian is there.
The Count plays cat and mouse with them all and obviously knows a lot more than
he is letting on. Our heroes all return to Gartholme
Towers with the Count where one of the Count's pilot's called Bromfelt causes a scene and the Count has him killed in a
clever way. The Count asks Steeley to work for him
and Steeley agrees. Our heroes all stay the night and
in the morning, Steeley and Tubby are sent to the
South of France whilst Brian is held back at the Towers, clearly as a hostage.
On their return they are arrested by the police as they have ten pounds of
drugs on board, the Count has set them up! The Count then sends his men to help
them escape but now, as Steeley and Tubby are
"wanted" men, he has a hold over them. The Count then reveals the
extent of his operations to Steeley and Tubby. The
next job that the Count has for them is to take a mystery man referred to only
as "Mr. X" to Germany. This Steeley and
Tubby do, but they are forced to land in France. When Steeley's
aircraft is shot at by French Air Force planes, "Mr. X" is killed. Steeley searches his body and finds some top-secret plans
of a new aircraft. Eventually reaching their appointed rendezvous, Steeley and Tubby find the Count already there. He is
furious at what has happened. The Count is with his 'daughter' who is called
Helene, and she is the "girl" that Steeley suspected
was a man, the one who had the white dog. Helene flies the Count, Steeley and Tubby back to England but the Count discovers
that Steeley has the plans that "Mr. X" was
carrying and had been lying when he said he knew nothing about them. Needless to
say, there are problems in the plane and it lands near the French coast. Here
the Count murders a French gendarme and escapes with Helene in the plane. Steeley and Tubby are forced to steal a plane to get back
to England. Steeley knows they have to return to Gartholme Towers but firstly goes to investigate the
cowshed nearby. At some nearby ruins a secret passage to the Towers is
discovered when the mysterious woman prisoner at the Towers appears. Brian has
helped her to escape and he is still at the Towers. This woman is the real
Helene and she is not the Count's daughter, but his cousin. The Count has
stolen her fortune and kept her prisoner ever since. Tubby is sent to take
Helene to safety and get Inspector Wayne and the police. The Count captures Tubby
but Helene gets away. Tubby is locked in a tower room but by climbing out on
the window ledge is able to get to another room and escape. Tubby finds Brian
and sets him free. Trying to escape via the secret passage, they meet with Steeley coming the other way. He is being pursued. A tricky
situation is resolved by the arrival of Wayne and the police. The Count and his
gang try to escape by plane but they are killed in a plane crash.
Murder by Air
Subtitle - none
Publication Details - originally published by George Newnes