The Baron is in Trouble by Curtiss T. Gardner

Book Details

The Baron is in Trouble — Bill ‘Baron Munchausen’ Tolliver tells some very tall tales while he investigates insurance claims against the Imperial Casualty Company. Along the way he solves the murders that accompany some of the insurance fraud cases he is assigned.

The Baron Gets A Cable (1947) —An Insurance Sleuth Takes the Trail of a Killer and Gets a Bit Too Close for Comfort

A Spur For The Baron (1947) —Bill “Munchausen” Tolliver does his duty by Imperial Casualty even when it means facing the peril of a grim, crushing death!

The Baron Is In Trouble (1945) —Bill ‘Baron Munchausen’ Tolliver stumbles into a death trap on the strange trail of a thousand pair of stolen pants!

The Baron Ducks An Oily Death (1946) —Bill Tolliver Settles an Insurance Complaint and Runs Head-on into a Case of Murder!
Chapter I Two Claims
Chapter II Mystery Crash
Chapter III Woman in the Closet
Chapter IV Fiery Finish

Very little is known about Curtiss Tarring Gardner. He was born in Maryland about 1898, he was a graduate of MIT and he lived in Tice, Florida. Gardner wrote fifteen Bill ‘Baron Munchausen’ Tolliver stories, primarily for G-Men Detective in the middle 1940s.

The Baron Is In Trouble has 6 illustrations.

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1. TheBaronIsInTrouble.epub

Excerpt: The Baron is in Trouble

THE clock in the Live and Let Live Lunchroom stood at a quarter to five. Bill “Baron Munchausen” Tolliver picked up Johnny Rutgers’ quarter from the glass top of the pinball machine.

“Shoot another?”

Rutgers shook his head.

“You’re too lucky. Besides it’s near quitting time.”

The Baron turned his small, sharp features toward two other members of Imperial Casualty Company’s claims staff.

“Luck!” he snorted. “What I just showed you is skill. Acquired through thousands of hours of practice. Why, I’ve even thought of telling old Mehary what he could do with my job as claims investigator. I could make a swell living just playing these boards.”

“When do you start, Baron?” Rutgers asked.

“The war killed my idea,” the Baron replied. “Not enough men left to win from. Take a look around the office sometime. Except for you three men, nobody’s in the department now but women.”

“You could play with them,” Rutgers suggested, grinning.

“I got a picture of me winning dough from some gal like Ivy Thomas.” A twinkle lurked behind the Baron’s shrewd, black eyes as he mimicked the new adjuster’s Boston accent. ” ‘Reahly, I’m far too engrossed with my professional duties to squander time on games of chance.’ “

“That Thomas dame!” Rutgers exclaimed. “She sure thinks she’s the queen bee. ‘Poison Ivy,’ that’s what I call her.”

A chunky, bare-legged girl of about sixteen came into the lunchroom. She was Imperial Casualty’s replacement for the long-vanished office boy.

“Mr. Mehary sent me down to find you,” she said to the Baron.

“Quitting time,” the Baron remarked. “Now, as usual, comes the rush assignment.”

FROM behind a tall stack of folders on his desk in a glassed-in private office, Ellis Mehary, district claims manager for Imperial Casualty, looked up with small, bloodshot eyes as the Baron walked in.

“So I was right,” Mehary remarked. “You were downstairs swilling coffee instead of getting your reports up to date.”

“I was buying aspirin for the pain these new female adjusters give me,” the Baron said crossly.

“I didn’t know there was anything inside that thick skull of yours to ache, Tolliver. If our claims women worry you, what do you think about me?”

“Boss,” the Baron replied, “it would cost my job to tell you.”

“None of your cracks,” Mehary snapped. “I’ve got something big for you.”

“That’s what I like,” the Baron said with enthusiasm. “Big things. Did I ever tell you about the time I was consulted by the State Department about the Bolivia-Chile border claims?”

The claims manager’s bushy brows drew together in a grey-black line.

“Don’t waste my time with your Baron Munchausen yarns, Tolliver. They’ve earned you a nickname around the office, but I haven’t noticed them adding anything to your pay check. You’d better put that wild imagination to some constructive use.”

“I do,” the Baron complained sadly. “But when I get through kidding myself that the insult I get twice each month is supposed to be a pay check, I have no inspiration left.”

Mehary ignored the remark.

“Here’s what I want you to do. Imperial Casualty has a burglary policy covering the Metropolitan Men’s Shoppes. Last week, their warehouse was entered and a thousand pairs of pants were stolen. If you can find the thieves, Tolliver, it’s your big chance to cover yourself with glory.”

“And cover a thousand other guys with pants,” the Baron murmured. “I heard about that loss. But I thought you’d assigned it to dear little Poison Ivy Thomas.”

“I did,” Mehary admitted, frowning. “But Thomas hasn’t made the progress I want. In fact, she hasn’t even reported to the office for the last two days. These girls seem to think we’re running some sort of a ladies’ club instead of an insurance business.”

The Baron pushed an unruly lock of mouse-colored hair from his eyes.

“The boys are beginning to think so too. We’re even wondering when the company is going to send a matron to take over the claims manager’s job.”

“Mehary glowered suspiciously. He pitched a folder across the cluttered desk.

“Here’s the dope on your assignment. Take it and get busy. I want you to work independently of the Thomas girl. Don’t even tell her I’ve put you on the case.”

Excerpt From: Curtiss T. Gardner. “The Baron is in Trouble.”