Baynard Kendrick

Baynard Hardwick Kendrick (1894–1977) wrote whodunit mystery novels about Duncan Maclain, a blind private investigator who worked with his two German shepherds and his household of assistants to solve murder mysteries. The novels were the basis for two films starring Edward Arnold, Eyes in the Night^[1] (1942) and The Hidden Eye^[2] (1945). Kendrick was credited by Stirling Silliphant for being the source of the Longstreet (TV series) character about a blind insurance investigator. He also wrote using the pseudonym Richard Hayward.

His book Lights Out was filmed as Bright Victory.

Biography

Kendrick was born in Philadelphia and traveled to Canada as the first American citizen to enlist in the Canadian Army during World War I.^[3] He served in England, France, and Salonika. During his service, a fellow Philadelphian serving with the Canadians was blinded. When Kendrick visited him at St Dunstan's he met a blind English soldier who had a remarkable ability to tell him things about himself that a person who could see may not have noticed.^[4] The Tommy fingered Kendrick's buttons, uniform and insignia and accurately and rapidly stated Kendrick's war service record.^[5]

Following the war Kendrick sold his first story to Field and Stream magazine while earning his living at Bin and Big's Hotels in New York. In 1931 he was let go from the company a week before Christmas and, vowing never again to work for an employer, began supporting himself by writing. After three books Kendrick started writing for pulp magazines, which paid well.^[6]

Kendrick's writing reflected two personal interests that he had developed - an interest in blind people and their coping skills and an interest in the history of Florida.

During World War II, Kendrick served as an instructor for blinded veterans giving him the material for his book Lights Out.

The true story behind Kendrick's 1959 Hot Red Money was the basis for John Barron's Operation SOLO: The FBI's Man in the Kremlin.^[7]

Kendrick was one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America and held its first membership card.^[8]

He died in 1977.

Duncan Maclain novels^[9]

• The Last Express (1937)
• The Whistling Hangman (1937)
• Odor of Violets (1941) (aka Eyes in the Night)
• Blind Man's Bluff (1943)
• Death Knell (1945)
• Out of Control (1945)
• Make Mine Maclain (three novelets) (1947)
• The Murderer Who Wanted More (Dell Ten-Cent edition, 1951, one of the three novelets from Make Mine Maclain, q.v.)
• You Die Today (1952)
• Blind Allies (1954)
• Clear and Present Danger (1958)
• Reservations for Death (1958)
• The Aluminum Turtle (1960) (aka The Spear Gun Murders)
• Frankincense and Murder (1961)

Miles Standish Rice novels

• The Eleven of Diamonds (1936)
• The Iron Spiders (1936) (aka The Iron Spiders Murder)
• Death Beyond the Go-Thru (1938)

Non-series novels

• Blood on Lake Louisa (1934)
• Flames of Time (1948)
• The Tunnel (1949)
• Trapped (1952) (under the pseudonym of Richard Hayward)
• The Soft Arms of Death (1954) (under the pseudonym of Richard Hayward)
• Hot Red Money (1959)
• Flight from a Firing Wall (1966)

Further reading

• John Barron (1996), Operation SOLO: The FBI's Man in the Kremlin, Washington, Regnery.

External links

• Works by or about Baynard Kendrick at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions color illustrated)
• Eyes in the Night, public domain film at Internet Archive.

References