Joseph Jefferson Farjeon

Joseph Jefferson Farjeon was an English crime and mystery novelist who is best known for his Detective Ben series of books. He was also the creator of the Detective X. Crook character that appeared in Flynn’s Weekly Detective Fiction. Farjeon was known for his crime novels of which Dorothy L. Sayers said that he was “unsurpassed in creepy skill”. One of his better known works was the play, No. 17 which was made into film including one by Alfred Hitchcock. All of the Ben the Tramp books have been reissued by HarperCollins over recent years and enjoyed new life. No. 17 is the first book in the Ben the Tramp series. The book introduces us to Ben as a lovable, humorous ex-sailor who can’t seem to keep himself out of trouble. Ben has returned from the Merchant Navy and is now broke in London. He takes shelter at an abandoned old house when he comes across a dead body. After running into Detective Gilbert Fordyce, he is convinced to help investigate the mystery of the corpse. Things get weird when the corpse itself disappears. Ben finds himself among a gang of villains at the abandoned No. 17 with no way of escape.