Digital List Price:	$9.99
Kindle Price:	$7.99 Save $2.00 (20%)
Sold by:	Amazon.com Services LLC

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Elizabeth Daly

+ Follow

More books from this author

Unexpected Night: Henry Gamadge #1 Kindle Edition

by Elizabeth Daly (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.0 663 ratings

Book 1 of 16: Henry Gamadge

See all formats and editions

An antiquarian book dealer spends his vacation investigating murder in this series opener from Agatha Christie’s favorite American author.

New York handwriting and rare book expert—and a gentleman sleuth—Henry Gamadge is vacationing in coastal Maine when the police there need his help. It’s a strange case involving a seemingly natural death, a large inheritance, a mysterious nighttime rendezvous, and a troupe of summer stock actors who start dying off. Something is clearly afoot, but nothing quite seems to fit. With an eye for frauds, Gamadge is just what the local detective needs to throw the book at a killer . . .

“Daly offers the reader a challenging case with a believable pair of sleuths, all set in a beautiful and distinctive context.” —Margot Kinberg, author of A Matter of Motive

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Elizabeth Daly was the author of sixteen novels in the Henry Gamadge series set in New York of the 1940s. She was awarded an Edgar for her body of work, and is said to have been Agatha Christie’s favorite writer.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00H8B5DII
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Felony & Mayhem Press; Reprint edition (December 15, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 15, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 990 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 221 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #182,085 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,612 in Traditional Detective Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- #1,753 in Private Investigator Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- #2,142 in Private Investigator Mysteries (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.0 663 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Elizabeth Daly

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4 out of 5

663 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Mike Riggs

Unexpectedly well plotted

Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2021

Verified Purchase

This is the first book in a series that I must confess I have never heard of before. I enjoy a good mystery book and am always seeking out a well written series. This book gives me high hopes for the rest. Although there are notes of a "first" in a series here and there in the book, it was a thoroughly delightful and diverting read.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

stewartbenner

Solid first novel by Christie's favorite American mystery writer

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2022

Verified Purchase

Unexpected Night is the first novel by author Elizabeth Daly, a woman who reportedly was Agatha Christie’s favorite American mystery writer. The novel introduces her series detective, Henry Gamadge, who business seems to relate to book and manuscript authentication.

The novel opens without Gamadge, with the Cowden family traveling in the fog trying to get to their destination. The son in the family, Amberley, is about to turn 21 that night and suffers from a life-threatening heart condition. He is the heir to a large sum of money that will go to distant relatives in France if he dies before his 21st birthday. We are introduced to Gamadge that evening when the Cowden’s meet him and the Barclay family at a resort. Amberley is found dead the next morning at the base of a cliff, and so begins sorting out motives and opportunities. State detective Mitchell, perhaps recognizing in Gamadge a man of intelligence and poise compared to his team of operatives, involves Gamadge from the start.

For her first novel, Daly’s characterization is first rate. Amberley’s interest in a summer stock theater company opens up a whole different angle to the investigation. Gamadge is likeable and not infallible like some amateur sleuths from the Golden Age. This is a solid first effort, probably a 7 on a scale of 1-10, meaning I will round to 4 stars. I have already read her second novel Deadly Nightshade, and I enjoy the books enough that I will continue the series. The first two books are set in New England, and I will be interested to see if that trend continues.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Gary F. Taylor

Relentlessly Mediocre

Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

Elizabeth Daly (1878-1967) wrote more than a dozen murder mysteries featuring Henry Gamadge, an expert in antique books and autographs. Published in 1940, UNEXPECTED NIGHT is the first of these works, and it might be best described as “relentlessly mediocre.”

The plot is convoluted. A young man will inherit a great fortune on his twenty-first birthday—but he has a terminal heart condition which might cause his death at any moment, and if he dies before his birthday, the fortune will pass will to distant relatives in France. The man and his family arrive safely at a Maine resort hotel, and at midnight he becomes twenty-one and the inheritance is safe. At morning he is found at the base of a seashore cliff, dead of a fatal heart attack. What was he doing when the heart attack struck? The question intrigues Henry Gamadge, who joins forces with local police to investigate the matter.

Daly writes with a formal correctness, but her characters are lifeless and it is often hard to tell one from another, and while the plot has a sort of technical interest, the book as a whole lacks anything you might describe as zip or excitement. UNEXPECTED NIGHT is my first foray into her works, and while it was okay, it doesn’t encourage me to read her other books.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

20 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kindle Customer

Very much like an Agatha Christie mystery. Ingenious solution and an amiable hero

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2021

Verified Purchase

Recommended. It's nice to have a Maine setting for a golden age mystery. American take on a country hotel visit.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

RMWARZ

Superb Whodunit Plot

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2022

Verified Purchase

Though I’ve read mysteries for decades, I had never heard of Elizabeth Daly or her sleuth Henry Gamadge. I’m glad I stumbled on this first book in the Gamadge series. Published in 1940, the novel is a whodunit in the classic style. Picturesquely set at a summer resort in coastal Maine, it features a varied cast of well-drawn characters, a trio of dead bodies but no graphic violence, and a plot focused solely on solving the puzzle of whodunit. When a sickly young man dies just as he comes of age to inherit a vast fortune, the question of whether his was a natural death or murder arises. When two other characters die clearly unnatural deaths, the authorities become even more suspicious that all might not be as it seems. Enter vacationing manuscript expert Henry Gamadge to assist the professional detectives in their analysis of the documents in the case. Gamadge, a sort of American version of Lord Peter Wimsey, but without the affectations, is urbane and erudite. (How many amateur sleuths have you run across who can knowledgeably discuss obscure one-act plays from the Irish Literary Revival?) Yet he is able to connect with characters from all walks of life, including Detective Mitchell, whose volunteer sidekick he becomes. It is Gamadge who unravels the fair-to-the-reader, brilliantly intricate mystery plot. If your taste in mysteries runs to non-stop action, this book is not for you, but if you enjoy a leisurely, rather cerebral approach to crime solving, Unexpected Night should be right up your alley.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jane A

Very well done

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2021

Verified Purchase

I can see from this yarn alone why Elizabeth Daly was Agatha Christie's favorite American mystery writer. It's also a rather charming period piece.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

carol b.

4 Stars for Elizabeth Daly's No. 1

Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2013

Verified Purchase

It is one I enjoyed very much in this (Henry Gamadge) series. It is a who-done-it, light in tone and with many characters, well-drawn with insight and humor. I have chosen to read many mysteries written primarily by women British authors. So, I sometimes forget, when I am reading these, that Elizabeth Daly is American and her stories usually take place in and around New York - state and city. This one has fun with language and slang and although written in 1941 makes no mention of WWII. The plot involves an old hotel in Maine, a golf game and Irish theatre.

27 people found this helpful

Helpful

Marcy Casterline O'Rourke

Forgettable

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2014

Verified Purchase

Good, but not great. Probably won't buy another Elizabeth Daly unless I'm desperate. Just seemed very half baked. The characters, including Gamadge, were vague and kind of lifeless. The murder solution was very unsatisfying. I think the problem is the lack of passion of any kind. I'm a huge Agatha Christie fan, so unlikely solutions don't bother me, per se. But the plot and the story just were limp, flaccid, and forgettable.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful