The Red Right Hand

This thriller, published in 1945, is regarded as a classic of crime fiction. Not only does it keep the reader in suspense as to who the murderer is, it also plays a trick on the reader by allowing them to make presumptions based on class prejudices.

The author, Joel Townsley Rogers (born 22 November 1896), was a prolific writer. Apparently at his peak he could write 40 pages a day. He launched his writing career while a student at Harvard. He left Harvard a year early in order to join the navy air corps. He undertook training as a pilot in Virginia and was keen to go to Europe to serve in the war but the armistice came before he could be sent overseas.

The plot centres on wealthy Inis and his young fiancé, Elinor, who drive from New York to find a state where they quickly can get married. On their journey, they stop to give a lift to a tramp. When they stop for a picnic in a secluded location, a murder takes place. The author enjoys being playful with language, such as the subtly macabre:
“They weren't going fast, just idling along well below the wartime speed limit, enjoying the wind and sunlight and the sight of the blue hills stretching roll on roll ahead. There was time enough to kill before they reached Vermont.”
Another example of this linguistic playfulness is that the murder is being investigated by a physician by the name of Dr Riddle. He happens to be on the lonely road when the murder takes place and finds himself embroiled in the aftermath. He desperately tries to piece the mystery together by drawing on one of the popular textbooks from college, Homicidal Psychopathology. Autobiographically, the author has Riddle, as narrator, explaining he was “scheduled for flight surgeon in the Navy air arm, two stripes and a half, next month, after battling for three years to get my release from St John's and S. and P.”