[6] Thev Daily Telegraph said "Afford has worked out his murders and an ingenious mystery plot with painstaking diligence, and although his scholarly, if colorless, sleuth, Jeffery Blackburn, jumps to many astonishing conclusions on hopelessly inadequate data, he is capable at times of very sound deduction".
[7] The Australian Woman's Mirror called it "a good and gripping yarn, with the killer kept hidden to the last chapter, and even the weaknesses in the story- are explained or covered very plausibly by the chief free-lance sleuth, who does most of the talking."
[8] The Melbourne Herald said "Afford has the necessary skill, knowledge and material for a good yarn, but he has not yet learned to mix thrso Ingredi ents In the right proportions.
"[9] ABC Weekly later wrote "in his first adventure, titled Blood On His Hands, there were suggestions of Ellery Queen’s mentality; and his drawl was rather patterned on that of Philo Vance.
Under certain lights his profile blatantly implicated Lord Peter Wimsey, while his passion for neatness was inherited from Hercule Poiret.