Safe Custody

Safe Custody is a 1932 novel by the English author Dornford Yates (Cecil William Mercer), first serialised in The Saturday Evening Post (10/10/1931-7/11/1931, as Your Castle of Hohenems, illustrated by F. R. Gruger).

Safe Custody
1940 H&S dustjacket
AuthorDornford Yates
GenreNovel
PublisherHodder and Stoughton[1]
Publication date
1932[1]
Media typePrint
Pages317[1]

Plot

The protagonists travel to the Castle of Hohenems in Carinthia, and attempt to gain possession of the carved jewels of the Borgias, walled up within the dungeons.

Background

The author, living in France at the time, seems to have been homesick, as the dedication reads "To the finest city in the world incomparable LONDON TOWN".[2]

Critical reception

Mercer’s autobiographer AJ Smithers, writing in 1982, suggested that "his public ought to have become disenchanted by now with such well-worn stuff, but it cannot be denied that Safe Custody came as fresh as any of the others".[2] It sold well, as usual.[2]

The original dustjacket included the following quotes -

  • Morning Post: "A romance full of adventure."
  • Howard Marshall in the Daily Telegraph: "Swift-moving and entertaining."
  • Evening News: "A grand story'"
  • Sphere: "Amazing and breathless incidents...Mr.Yates at the top of his form...a most capital yarn."
  • Ralph Strauss in the Sunday Times: "A really good yarn."
  • John o' London's Weekly: "A masterly tale of adventure."
  • Norman Collins in the News Chronicle: "An entirely delicious 'thriller.' "
gollark: Don't tell anyone or they might notice.
gollark: Also, there's an unprocessed application.
gollark: I am ABSTAINING, bee.
gollark: So just me, more or less than 22.7%, or 22.7%, of the time.
gollark: I think it's entirely waiting on me and heav.

References
  1. "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  2. Smithers 1982, p. 161.

Bibliography
  • Smithers, AJ (1982). Dornford Yates. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0 340 27547 2.
  • Usborne, Richard (1974). Clubland Heroes. London: Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 0 214 20012 4.
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