Propper: The Ticker-Tape Murder

Detective-Sergeant Daniel Gilmore of the Philadelphia police is tasked with aiding a local businessman—Philip Nixon, president of a large automobile corporation. Traveling by rail to meet Nixon at his summer house in Cape May, Gilmore is happy to be out of an evening storm. After the rain passes, the train stops in the middle of nowhere when the engineer sees a body on the tracks. Accident? Suicide? Something else? Gilmore finds himself investigating a strange and challenging mystery intertwined with family secrets and historical crimes. Gilmore is no super-sleuth, but he is a careful and thorough investigator chasing down leads and evaluating clues to identify a desperate and dangerous villain. Milton M. Propper's (1906-1962) The Ticker-Tape Murder (published in 1930) is a well-paced, clue-packed mystery with solid characterization.