Walter Tyrer - A Writers` Life

 

Regular visitors to this blog can hardly be unaware of my fondness (some would say fascination) with the works of Walter Tyrer. Whether it`s The Strange Affair of the Shotgun Sniper, The Crime at Fenton Towers or one of his many other SBL titles, Walt`s the man for me.

Until recently, I have known little about the life of our witty wordsmith but now I am in a position to do something I`ve long wanted to do, which is to provide the world with a potted biog of Mr Tyrer.

I`ve previously referred to Walter as having grown up "in a tough part of Liverpool" and engaging in a highly lucrative writing career which eventually saw him  set up home in swish Kingston Upon Thames.

I`ve since been fortunate to hear from one of his daughters, retired journalist Jennifer de Fries, who was able to correct the impression I had formed ;

"It wasn`t quite the rags-to-riches story the blog mentions but the family did struggle when his mother was widowed. He must have won a scholarship (I never thought to ask) and became a 16 year old Midshipman in the Royal Navy in World War One."

War service over, Walter turned his hand to writing, initially penning some of the schoolboy stories which were popular at the time. I believe he had his first book published in 1921.

 He was later to reflect with wry amusement on the stories he wrote at that time, stories which reflected a world he had, presumably, never encountered in real life ;

"For years I wrote about mysterious public schools with neither discipline nor lavatories, where everything happened in the same queer place called the Quad and my characters never emerged from an odd form called the Shell."

Having cut his teeth on schoolboy stories it was soon time for some stylistic diversification. He pursued a lucrative career as a freelance writer of short stories, embracing a number of different genres as he did so. While it`s true that he penned a number of novels, it seems that his work for short story magazines financed his upward mobility. He contributed cowboy stories to the Western Library series and romances to the Miracle Library.  He also wrote for the Lucky Star Library under the name Raven Head*.

Now came World War Two. I am indebted once again to Jennifer de Fries  for her recollections ;

"When we moved (to Kingston Upon Thames) I was aged seven, my sister eleven ,and we spent nights of the Blitz in the large wine cellar in the garden, complete with electricity and tiny cooker. My father did ARP (acted as an Air Raid Precaution warden) and fire-watching but worked in Fleet Street most days, not forgetting the Press Club."

In the post-war period writers like Walter Tyrer and John Hunter may have begun to seem a little old-fashioned. The Sexton Blake Library was also undergoing something of a crisis. The world had seen  Hitler and Stalin and had no more appetite for super-villains. SBL mysteries became lower-key, often with regional settings and crimes that were less exotic than in the past.

Many freelance writers of the pre-war period found a new home writing for the SBL, but few did so with the wit and ingenuity that characterised Walters` works at this time. It`s true, as Jennifer de Fries comments "he was never at a loss for a plot and I think he was very good at dialogue" but to my mind it`s more than that  - he had class.  

                                                      Walter Tyrer 1900 - 1978






   
Footnotes

*Other pseudonyms used by Walter are J T Lang and Oliver Seed. I am not aware of any others.

As ever, thanks to Keith `Chap O`Keefe` Chapman, Ray Elmitt and Jennifer de Fries.

Walter Tyrer - A Professional Job

Visitors to this blog can hardly fail to have noticed the warm regard I have for writer Walter Tyrer and the many classic stories he contributed to the Sexton Blake Library in the post-war period.

It gives me great pleasure to tell you that a previously unpublished Tyrer tale is about to see the light of the day due largely to the efforts of Keith `Chap O`Keefe` Chapman, who may be known to you for his past involvement with both the Sexton Blake Library and the Edgar Wallace Mystery Magazine.

It gives me even greater pleasure to tell you that I played a part in helping bring the book into the public gaze. Not in a big way, but still it`s something.

The story, entitled `A Professional Job` is not a Sexton Blake story, but is firmly in the crime/suspense category and is well worth a read.

To learn more about the unearthing of this long-forgotten gem, see my article `Walter the Wordsmith`, posted at http://bookshelvesandbrownale.blogspot.co.uk earlier today.

 

 

Thanks to Ray Elmitt for this photo of Walter Tyrer circa 1956

 

Tales From the Tainted Archive

Its` always interesting to encounter another Walter Tyrer fan online, particularly when said fan is also complimentary about this blog.

Such is the case with Gary M Dobbs, who has recently blogged about the joys of finding Walters` 1952 Sexton Blake Library title  `The Hire Purchase Fraud` in a second-hand bookshop in Cardiff recently (see http://tainted-archive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/sexton-blake-and-secondhand-books.html ) .

I`m sure Garys` blog will be of interest to many Sextonians and booklovers generally, so give it a look when you have a couple of minutes to spare.

Additionally, his comments have served to remind me that this blog hasn`t been getting my full attention lately.

There are reasons for that, but none that I choose to share with you ! Instead, I shall apply myself to the matter of rectifying the situation.


Happy detecting,

Nick

Thanks to Keith Chapman (aka Chap O`Keefe) for drawing my attention to Garys` blog.

Walter Tyrer - The Crime at Fenton Towers - Sexton Blake Library

Walter Tyrer - The Crime at Fenton Towers - Sexton Blake Library - 3rd Series, Number 243  - July 1951

Artwork by Eric Parker.

One additional feature, an unsigned  single-page true crime article `The Black Coupe`.

As I`ve explained before, Walter Tyrer was a successful freelance writer and occasional novelist in the years before World War Two and spent much of the  post-war period writing for Fleetway / Amalgamated (amongst others - see my article The Cowboy and the Detective at http://bookshelvesandbrownale.blogspot.com ). He contributed cowboy stories to the Western Library series, romances to the Miracle Library and, best of all, crime and detection to the Sexton Blake Library.

This tale of felonious thespians, star-crossed lovers and murderous manouverings is a very worthy effort, combining elements of the locked-room mystery, traditional whodunnit and country house murder.

The house in question is peopled largely by theatrical types, giving Walter plenty of scope to introduce an array of characters he can gently poke fun at. It also gives him scope for scattering red herrings throughout the plot, something he does copiously. I have to admit I thought I`d guessed the ending correctly but no, Sexton would never want me as an assistant, I was completely wrong.

Blake is portrayed as unflappable with a dry sense of humour and a bit of a romantic at heart. His assistant Tinker is portrayed (as usual) as somewhat susceptible to female charms, but is not portrayed as a lightweight, in contrast to his treatment at the hands of other writers.

The more polished turns of phrase that sometimes characterise Walter`s work are less in evidence here, but then it does not suffer from the occasional lapses that his high work-rate brought about.

Thankfully, the proof-reading and editing have been done to a reasonable standard, which is not always the case with `40s and `50s SBLs.

A pedant might find one or two incongruities in the plot, but who wants to be a pedant ? Buy, read and enjoy, that`s my advice.

Walter Tyrer - The Strange Affair of the Shot-Gun Sniper - Sexton Blake Library

Walter Tyrer - The Strange Affair of the Shot-Gun Sniper - Sexton Blake Library - 3rd Series - Number 339 - July 1955

Once again, I`ve neglected posting a review of this title until some weeks have passed since reading it !

While that inevitably compromises this review a tad, I do have some general observations that may be of interest. 

I have to say that this story demonstrates the late Walter`s versatility. Having cut his teeth writing schoolboy stories during the `30s, he pursued a lucrative career as a freelance writer of short stories, embracing a number of different genres as he did so. While it`s true he penned a number of novels, it was actually his work for short story magazines that financed our lad`s move from humble origins in a tough part of Liverpool to a decidedly swish home in Kingston Upon Thames.

Many of his post-war Blakes do show the influence of his earlier styles, their humour a little dated for the time, and the plots often rather quirky.

As I`ve commented before, there were occasional departures from the standard Tyreresque territory and this `50s thriller is a case in point. While the two principal villains are rather Machiavellian and one is arguably larger than life, this is quite different in many ways from  previous Tyrer tales and the plot is free from sinister hypnotists, cantankerous recluses, Dickensian lawyers and missing anglers.

In their place we get an intelligently-plotted 1950s thriller that would have seemed pretty much bang up to date to SBL readers of the time, with interesting characters and an ingenious story. There are points that could have been made a touch more convincing  with only a little more attention to detail, but in general it is not carelessly written.

I`ve looked at the review of this story on Blakiana and see that your man Mark gives it only 2 out of  5. There we must differ as I thought rather highly of it. My only real reservation

would be that if your taste runs to `Tyrer doing what Tyrer did` then you might be disappointed. I myself am no purist in these matters and would describe this as a pretty classy `50s detective story with a touch of romance thrown in for good measure.

The cover design , you may be interested to know, is my favourite piece  of  SBL artwork but at present I gather the artist remains unknown. A pity. If anyone does know, I`d be glad to hear from you.

Walter Tyrer - The Mystery of the Swindler`s Stooge

Walter Tyrer - The Mystery of the Swindler`s Stooge - Sexton Blake Library - 3/299 -  Nov 1953

Illustrator - Eric Parker

I must admit I read this some weeks ago and have only just got round to penning a review. While it isn`t entirely fresh in my mind I do recall enough about it to merit jotting down a few obsevations.

Firstly, this story was something of a departure for our Walt. The plot, and in some ways the writing style, is markedly different from what I would call `classic Tyrer`.

The first and most obvious difference is that his trademark wit is noticeable by it`s absence. That`s not to say that the story is written in a particularly dour style, but the little flashes of rather old-fashioned humour which give his other Blakes such a distinctive favour is nowhere to be found.

Also unusual is that, although we see the principle villain and his associates going about their activities, we are quite a way through the story before the crime contemplated is fully apparent, and the full explanation of motives etc takes even longer to appear.

Compared to some other Blakes we see rather more of the villains than we do of Sexton and Tinker, though that is not so unusual for SBLs of the immediate post-war period.

Does it work ? In my view, yes it does. Although the style of storytelling is not as Tyreresque as the reader might have expected,  his talent for creating eccentric characters is given it`s full rein ; catankerous recluse Barney Howlett is the first character we meet and hot on his heels come Machiavellian solicitor Josiah Symes, his alcoholic clerk Potter, aspiring thespians Cedric Courtland and Elise Howlettova (real names  Willie Brown and Elsie Howlett), explosives- expert- turned- criminal Joe Lowden and deluded would-be businessman Willie Langford, along with a host of minor characters. This impressive cast-list  could be a bit overpowering, but because of the way in which the story unfolds it never seems too `crowded`.

For admirers of the mighty Walter`s SBLs, this title will provide a welcome chance to encounter him doing something a little different. For those who are new to Walt-watching, or to Blake generally, this would no doubt be a cheap and cheerful introduction.  It`s good fun, and that`s what counts !

Book review : Walter Tyrer/The Case of the Cottage Crime (Sexton Blake Library)

Walter Tyrer - The Case of the Cottage Crime (Sexton Blake Library 3rd Series, #212)

Definitely a case in which it`s not so much the tale as the telling of the tale that counts. The plot may be daft, but Tyrer is on top form in this prime slice of vintage detective fiction.

As ever his particular brand of humour, whilst now rather dated, is both charming and funny ("Alf Beckett did not like women drinking to excess ; it left less liquor for the men") and he is capable of a polished turn of phrase ("Now over his ruddy countenance spread the dawn of understanding like the sun shouldering upwards over a bleak and deserted landscape").

Only once is he apparently let down by the sloppy editing and proof-reading that could mar some SBLs of the period, when one of his descriptions is somehow mangled to include the bizarre phrase "the petulance was stringy" !

If I had to find a fault it would be the author`s (and Blake`s) contrasting of Italian and English characters ; "That`s the difference between the cool northern temperament and the impulsive Italian style" opines Blake at one point. It probably seemed very worldly then - now it just sounds silly and parochial.

I`ve only read this one once so far but feel sure it`s destined to become a personal favourite.