The Arsenal Stadium Mystery

October 1, 2018
In this entertaining golden age whodunit, originally published in 1939, thousands are on hand in London’s Highbury Stadium for a historic football match pitting league champion Arsenal (whose real team members appear as themselves) against the Trojans, an amateur team comprised of “carpenters and electricians, chemists and insurance brokers, clerks and salesmen,” assembled to demonstrate that such a squad could compete against the best of the professionals. The hard-fought match is marred, however, when John Doyce, the most recent addition to the Trojans, collapses on the field for no apparent reason. Doyce dies soon afterward, and Scotland Yard, in the form of the redoubtable Inspector Slade, finds evidence that he was poisoned by something in a package delivered to him in the dressing room at halftime. Those who appreciate solid prose, masterful pacing, and authors who play fair with their readers will hope to see more reissues from the undeservedly obscure Gribble (1908–1985) in the British Library Crime Classics series.

October 1, 2018
A noteworthy soccer match becomes even more memorable when a player dies halfway through in this 1939 reprint from prolific golden-age veteran Gribble (1908-1985).Everyone involved thought the most distinctive feature of the match between the Arsenal Football Club and the Trojans was the all-amateur status of the second team, whose members play their hearts out in the hope of besting the pros. But those hearts seem to go out of the Trojans after their right half, John Doyce, is carried off the field shortly after kicking a penalty goal that ties the match. Not only do they end up losing, but Doyce never recovers consciousness and dies. Arsenal owner George Allison calls on Scotland Yard, who sends out Inspector Slade, a Gribble regular, along with Dr. Meadows, who at length indicates that Doyce was poisoned subcutaneously with aconitine. Even though whatever device poisoned him arrived along with an anonymous note that makes elliptical reference to a girl's drowning, Slade initially focuses his investigation on Doyce's teammate Philip Morring, who, as the partner in Doyce's insurance business, is suddenly 10,000 pounds richer because of his death. The plot thickens with the news that Morring's fiancee, Pat Laruce, has lied about her relations to Morring and Doyce, her whereabouts on the night a mysterious woman was seen at his flat, and almost everything else she's ever done. Unfortunately, delectable Pat's star fades almost as dramatically as Doyce's, leaving Slade and Sgt. Clinton to wait until they're in a position to unmask a killer who's both unguessable and routine.A truly arresting first act--murder on the field of play, with 70,000 witnesses!--followed by a slow slide into the humdrum. If you've ever wondered why the golden age came to an end, Gribble provides some persuasive evidence.

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September 1, 2018
The best-remembered book by the prolific Gribble, this genteel Golden Age mystery pits wily Inspector Slade of Scotland Yard and his phlegmatic assistant, Sergeant Clinton, against a real puzzler: Who killed soccer player John Doyce, mid-game, in front of 70,000 witnesses? First published in 1939, it's an easy-reading whodunit, but the real fun for many modern readers will be the setting (Highbury, original home of Premier League powerhouse Arsenal), the marketing hook (actual Arsenal players are featured as characters), and the look at how the game was played before salaries went stratospheric (players train like boxers and bob like corks in a communal tub; one is described as lithe as a cat in his grey suede training-suit ). Also of interest will be the close competition between a professional team and an amateur one, something truly unthinkable today. Actual game description is sparse, perhaps for the best, as the on-field action can be hard to follow. In the end, Slade gets his man, and the reader wins a pleasant diversion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)