Sexton Blake Bibliography: 1931
Publishing: The first of the reprinted Criminals' Confederation stories is issued ... the first sign, perhaps, that the UNION JACK is beginning to (if you'll pardon the pun) flag.
Blake: This is the peak year of the "Gangster issues."
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 2nd series · Issue 269 · Jan. 1931 · Amalgamated Press · 4d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: This was reprinted under the same title in DETECTIVE WEEKLY issue 269 (1938).
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THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 2nd series · Issue 271 · Jan. 1931 · Amalgamated Press · 4d
Illustrator: Eric Parker
Other content: Blackmailed Crooks (article)
Notes: This story was reprinted in DETECTIVE WEEKLY issue 335 as THE CASE OF THE BORGIA'S VENGEANCE (1939). It also formed the basis for a non-Blake tale entitled THE KING CROOK which appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY 2nd series issue 717 (1940).
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Notes: None at present
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THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 2nd series · Issue 272 · Jan. 1931 · Amalgamated Press · 4d
Illustrator: Eric Parker
Other content: When Crooks Break New Ground (article); The Man Who Lost His Nerve by Anon.
Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer and Mary Trent. This was reprinted in DETECTIVE WEEKLY issue 333 as THE GALLOWS HILL MYSTERY (1939).
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THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 2nd series · Issue 285 · May 1931 · Amalgamated Press · 4d
Illustrator: Eric Parker
Other content: The Financier's Double by Anon.; Smuggled Fortunes (article)
Notes: Story features George Marsden Plummer and Vali Mata Vali. This was reprinted in DETECTIVE WEEKLY issue 315 as THE WOLF OF PARIS (1939).
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THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 2nd series · Issue 288 · May 1931 · Amalgamated Press · 4d
Illustrator: Eric Parker
Other content: The Island of Convicts (article)
Notes: A very late appearance for Aubrey Dexter, who was introduced back in 1914.
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THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 2nd series · Issue 291 · Jun. 1931 · Amalgamated Press · 4d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino. This was reprinted in an abridged form as Four to Die! (DETECTIVE WEEKLY issue 314, 1939).
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THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 2nd series · Issue 293 · Jul. 1931 · Amalgamated Press · 4d
Illustrator: Eric Parker
Other content: Crooks' Codes (article); Crooks' Cunning by Anon.
Notes: This was reprinted in DETECTIVE WEEKLY issue 308 as THE ISLAND OF LOST MEN (1939).
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THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 2nd series · Issue 294 · Jul. 1931 · Amalgamated Press · 4d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: 'A mystery millionaire's house surrounded by police --- a beautiful adventuress creeping silently upon the butler as he is about to open the door -- a down-and-out from a seat on the Thames Embankment whirled into the most baffling adventure of his life. In this brilliant detective novel, wherein a sinister doctor's machinations create a thrilling mystery, Sexton Blake tackles one of the most sensational crime riddles he has ever had to unravel.'
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THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 2nd series · Issue 301 · Sep. 1931 · Amalgamated Press · 4d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: When corrupt millionaire Rodney Quayne goes missing, the trail leads Sexton Blake to Folkestone. While there, he also looks into the disappearance of Jane Wetherby, who is engaged to one of Blake's friends, Bill Dufrayer, and who was supposed to have booked herself into a boarding house for a holiday break. When he discovers that the two cases are connected, the detective masquerades as Dufrayer and rents a room. He finds that the house is joined to the one next door by a short corridor and in this he sees two criminals — 'Thug' Sugden and Slim Colville — who are resident in the neighbouring house. The suspicious behaviour of another guest, Nina Lawton, convinces the detective that Jane is, for some reason, being held prisoner somewhere on the premises. After two attempts are made on his life, Sexton Blake confronts Nina. She will tell him nothing but admits that she wants to get away from the criminals with whom she has associated. Worried that she might be in danger, Blake sets Tinker to watch her. That night, she is removed from the boarding house at gunpoint by a shadowy figure and driven away. Tinker follows on a motorcycle and witnesses the driver leap from the car after steering it over a precipice. Nina is badly injured and is taken unconscious to hospital. Tinker, meanwhile, falls into a trap and is captured. The next day, Blake receives a note warning him off with a threat to his assistant's life. Later, he overhears one of the guests discussing Jane Wetherby and the missing millionaire. Blake now knows who is behind the plot but the villain, realising he has been exposed, responds by ordering Tinker's execution. The detective rushes to the rescue and rounds up the criminal's henchmen. Then, with aid from Detective-Inspector Martin and a number of constables, he raids the boarding house, discovers a secret cellar, liberates Jane and Quayne (who isn't all he seems) and reveals the real — and rather surprising — identity of the head villain.
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 2nd series · Issue 315 · Dec. 1931 · Amalgamated Press · 4d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: This was reprinted in DETECTIVE WEEKLY issue 280 as THE RIDDLE OF THE ROYAL OAK (1938).
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UNION JACK · New series · Issue 1,422 · 17/1/1931 · Amalgamated Press · 2d
Illustrator: Fred Bennett
Other content: Chicago's Slaughter Week (article); The Crooked Billet by Draycot M. Dell.
Notes: This is a novelisation of the 1930 stage play. Blake was portrayed by the British actor Arthur Wontner, whose photograph adorns the cover of this edition. The story's theatrical origins are very apparent, with the tale divided into four acts, each occurring in a single interior set. When reading the adventure, it's fun to imagine how the play was performed: Act one begins outside the murder victim's house. After some scene setting, the curtains whisk shut, the 'exterior' is carried off by the stage hands, then the curtains slide apart to reveal a bedroom with a body stretched out on the bed, a knife sticking out of its back. We now get to meet all the main players as the detective makes his initial investigations. They include a butler called Creek; the victim's secretary, Mr Cairns; Detective Inspector Coutts; and a bright young reporter, Leslie Waring. The evasive Mr Cairns immediately rises to the top of the suspect list. Act two begins in Blake's study and sees Mr Midnight setting a deadly booby trap while the detective, in turn, lays out bait for the master criminal. Even though the drama is increasing, there's still room for Mrs Bardell to give a nice turn. Her malapropisms must have been fun for the actress who played her: "There's a young lady, Sir, what wants to insult you proficiently!" Tension builds with the audience knowing that Blake is in great danger while he remains oblivious to the fact. The curtain comes down just as he trips the booby trap, setting off some carefully laid pyrotechnics that must have caused members of the audience to leap out of their seats! Act three is set in an empty house. The Midnight gang have gathered. Their leader, his face hidden by the cloak, hat and scarf, arrives dragging the tied and gagged heroine behind him. Tinker also gets captured but Blake, disguised as one of Midnight's henchmen, comes to the rescue. With the gang broken up and in custody, the final act, again set in Blake's study, brings the two main protagonists together for a last duel. Blake unknowingly swallows poison and the villain makes his getaway while the detective lies writhing on the floor. He's saved by Tinker and they set off in pursuit of Midnight who races away in a car. He tries to escape across a rail track and meets a nasty end.
Rating: ★★★☆☆ As far as the plot goes, this is fairly standard Sexton Blake. But if you visualise it in its original form, performed live on stage in a West End theatre, you'll come to the conclusion that MR MIDNIGHT must have been an absolute blast.
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 1,427 · 21/2/1931 · Amalgamated Press · 2d
Illustrator: Arthur Jones (cover), Fred Bennett (interior)
Other content: Capone Called a Halt to the Killing (article); The Crooked Billet by Draycot M. Dell
Notes: Story features Ah Wo.
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UNION JACK · New series · Issue 1,435 · 18/4/1931 · Amalgamated Press · 2d
Illustrator: Eric Parker (cover) & Fred Bennett (interior)
Other content: The Six Wild Sicilians (article); Chains of Fate by Phyllis Lewis
Notes: None at present.
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UNION JACK · New series · Issue 1,439 · 16/5/1931 · Amalgamated Press · 2d
Illustrator: E. F. Hiscocks
Other content: From Information Received; The Blue Envelope Mystery by Frank L. Packard
Notes: This is the first issue to contain the From Information Received feature, which would last throughout the rest of the UNION JACK's life and into that of the DETECTIVE WEEKLY.
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UNION JACK · New series · Issue 1,444 · 20/6/1931 · Amalgamated Press · 2d
Illustrator: Eric Parker (cover) & Fed Bennett (interior)
Other content: From Information Received; The Blue Envelope Mystery by Frank L. Packard.
Notes: None at present.
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UNION JACK · New series · Issue 1,467 · 28/11/1931 · Amalgamated Press · 2d
Illustrator: Eric Parker
Other content: From Information Received; Death on the Air by Herman Landon.
Notes: After seven years in jail, a gangster named Gat Masters has vowed revenge against Rainy Day Freece, a fellow member of the Double Six gang who allowed him to take the rap for a bank raid while he, Freece, made off with the proceeds. Freece fled to Europe, and Masters now follows, accompanied by a gang leader known as the Spieler. At the Daily Radio, Splash Page is told to investigate a series of car crashes near Mandeville and the rumoured presence of a "ghost lorry." Colonel Hannibal Smith, who presides over that village, is unnerved when he receives an envelope containing a double six domino. Page arrives at the local inn, as do the Spieler and Gat Masters. Meanwhile, in Baker Street, Sexton Blake receives a telegram from Ruff Hanson, who is due to arrive in England to hunt Spieler. He then gets a call from Page: the "Ghostmobile" has claimed another victim, a man Blake knew — the ex-governor of Bleakmoor Prison. Blake, Tinker and Hanson drive to the village in the Grey Panther and are almost run off the road by the Ghostmobile. Colonel Hannibal Smith meets with an inventor and psychologist named Novak in his observatory, and it is revealed that the colonel is, in fact, Rainy Day Freece. Together, they are planning to rob a bullion lorry but are interrupted when Gat Masters, having attacked a police constable and taken his uniform, bursts in and tries to kill Freece. They manage to overpower and kill him. Tinker, Page and Hanson are instructed by Blake to wait by a certain bridge at midnight. They do so and there witness the Ghostmobile materialising out of thin air and driving straight at the bullion truck. Three of Freece's cohorts come down an embankment. Hanson draws his guns on them and bullets fly. A bright light suddenly illuminates the scene and the phantom truck appears to explode. The trio of crooks is captured. In Freece's observatory, he and Novak have been guiding the Ghostmobile by remote control when Blake and Detective-Inspector Coutts break in and arrest them. The Baker Street detective explains to his friends how the trick of the phantom truck was done.
Rating: ★★★★★
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 1,469 · 12/12/1931 · Amalgamated Press · 2d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: The Round Table (ed.); From Information Received (article); Death on the Air by Herman Landon.
Notes: Sexton Blake learns from Detective-Inspector Coutts that criminals in Britain, Europe and America are mysteriously vanishing. Meanwhile, in a shabby lodging house, a recently released criminal dies of old age and a younger man, passing himself off as the nephew, makes off with his clothes to prevent the corpse being identified. Blake, however, establishes that the departed was known as Diamond Joe. The next day Coutts calls Blake to Dalling on the East coast where the body of the 'nephew' has washed up on the beach — shot through the heart. He is wearing a strange uniform with solid gold buttons marked "CC" and has in his possession the Carnby diamonds which Diamond Joe had stolen ten years previously. Also hidden on the corpse is a codeword and an address — which Coutts recognises as that of the Discharged Prisoners Association. A policeman is sent there to investigate and promptly vanishes. When Blake and Coutts follow, they find the house empty and the policeman tied and unconscious in the cellar. They hide in a cupboard when two men arrive — one being a recently released prisoner. The other proves to be Mr Reece, who offers his companion a position in the newly formed Criminals' Confederation, a massive organisation of crooks. Reece is a lieutenant in this Confederation. Blake and Coutts leap out of hiding and hold him at gun point. Blake narrowly avoids a booby-trap and Reece is taken into custody, vowing to be free within a week.
Trivia: Tinker owns a two-seater Cameron sports car which was given to him as a gift from Sexton Blake in recognition of work undertaken during THE RACING CAR MYSTERY (an unrecorded case!).
This is a reprint of UNION JACK issue 806 THE MISSING CROOKS (1919). The review is based on a reading of that issue.
Rating: ★★★★★
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 1,470 · 19/12/1931 · Amalgamated Press · 2d
Illustrator: Eric Parker
Other content: The Xmas Round Table (ed.); From Information Received (ed.)
Notes: Gwyn Evans, who by this time was the regular contributor of Sexton Blake Christmas tales, was unavailable this year, so this festive issue was penned by W. J. Elliot (his only contribution to the Blake saga).
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UNION JACK · New series · Issue 1,471 · 26/12/1931 · Amalgamated Press · 2d
Illustrator: Eric Parker
Other content: The Round Table (ed.); From Information Received (article); The Lives Between by Phyllis Lewis
Notes: Story features George Marsden Plummer and Vali Mata Vali.
Unrated