The Secret Vanguard

"The Secret Vanguard" (1940) is an early Appleby, and almost pure adventure. Nazi spies communicate with each other by quoting poetry aloud on the British Rail system (I found this is a bit unbelievable---why didn't they just slip notes to each other in the lavatory?)A poet is murdered near London after hearing himself misquoted on a train, and Inspector John Appleby of New Scotland Yard is delegated to solve the crime.On another train in Scotland, this story's heroine, Sheila Grant notices that the Swineburne poem quoted by a traveling companion had a couple of extra lines added to it. She makes the mistake of pointing this out to another man in her compartment:"'It was odd," said Sheila, "that he should put in four lines of his own.'"'Lines of his own?' The man opposite looked at her in large astonishment."Sheila nodded. "'Where the westerly spur of the furthermost mountain/ Hovers falcon-like over the heart of the bay.'"'They began like that. And if you happen to know about Swinburne of course they stick out a mile.'"Of course.Sheila's misplaced erudition involves her in a desperate chase across Northern Scotland. She is abducted, escapes, meets a blind poet who explains the meaning of the false Swinburne, and finally encounters Appleby, who is chasing poetical clues of his own.There is a bang-up climax involving the British Army, a very well organized group of Nazi sympathizers, and a gaggle of little old ladies who happen to be lunching at the castle where everything falls apart for the bad guys.H.R.F. Keating in his 1987 book, "Crime & Mystery: the 100 Best Books," says this about our literate Detective-Inspector:"To Appleby one could well apply the words which Michael Innes, writing under his own name [J.I.M. Stewart] in the novella "The Man Who Wrote Detective Stories," employs to describe that hero: 'He loved tumbling out scraps of poetry from a ragbag collection in his mind - and particularly in absurd and extravagant contexts.' " Still---Nazi spies who quote Swineburne's "Forsaken Garden" on a British train----really, Professor Innes!