Sand on the Gumshoe

VINCE KELLY

Vincent Gatton Kelly was born on 26 December 1898. Formerly an editor with Smith’s Weekly in Melbourne, he came to Sydney where he worked for The Sun newspaper and became something of a legend among the city’s journalists.

In a professional sense, he was far better known as a political commentator than as a writer of fiction. On his death in April 1976, many of the state’s top politicians and civil servants, including the Premier, Sir Robert Askin, and a former Commissioner of Police, Norman Allan, publicly voiced their regrets while a special contingent of police escorted the funeral cortege.

Kelly is well known as the author of 15 books, many dealing with crime cases or famous police. These include The Shadow: The Amazing Exploits of Frank Fahy (Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1954), The Bogeyman: The Exploits of Sergeant C.J. Chuck, Australia’s Most Unpopular Cop (Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1956), Rugged Angel: the Amazing Career of Policewoman Lillian Armfield (Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1961) and The Shark Arm Case (Sydney, Horwitz, 1963). He also edited a history of Woollahra Municipality and wrote a biography of the Governor-General, Sir William McKell.

Kelly’s fictional works are less well known. The Mail newspaper group in Adelaide published a number of cheap paperback titles, including All Sorts (1944). In 1943 the company released The Last Minute Clue, the hero of which, Inspector Price, returned the following year in The Sinister Street. The latter work, from which ‘The Passing of Pansy’ is taken, was a collection of stories with a common theme – the life and crimes of Hutchinson Alley, a run-down, crime ridden part of the big city.

Kelly displays considerable talent as a writer of fiction and many of his characters could well be drawn from life. Detective-Inspector William Price has the feel of the Australian career cop of the period, and his young partner is suitably wet behind the ears.

In 1958 Angus and Robertson published The Greedy Ones, another thriller with police as the central characters. Here Kelly utilises a crooked cop, Detective Porkreth, and a noble hero, Inspector Rogerson, as the protagonist. The Greedy Ones reads well after 30 years and it seems a shame that Kelly didn’t continue to write fiction.

Kelly worked with the New South Wales Department of Communications following his retirement from The Sun, although he was chief book reviewer with the newspaper until his death.

‘The Passing of Pansy’ best illustrates the diverse character of Kelly’s fictional output. The leading characters are sympathetic and well drawn and to some degree predate the English police detective exemplified by John Creasey’s Commander Gideon.