"Night of the Jabberwock"

The setting almost sounds hackneyed: a small-town weekly newspaper publisher/editor, putting his paper "to bed" one Thursday night complains bitterly that there's absolutely no news in the paper. By the middle of the night, he is overwhelmed with fabulous stories - murders, gangsters on the run, what-have-you - that could make sensational news for his paper if he can survive the night. Which is, unfortunately, far from certain.

But that's just the beginning of one of my all-time favorite mysteries, "Night of the Jabberwock," by Fredric Brown. This 1951 classic had been out of print for a long time, but it's available again thanks to the Langtail Press. It's the subject of this week's review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, which you can listen to by clicking here.

The newspaper editor, Doc Stoeger, is a devoted fan of Lewis Carroll, the marvelous author who wrote Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, among other books. In the latter, you'll find one of the masterpieces of nonsense verse (disguised as a heroic epic), "Jabberwocky." That poem, and Carroll's other works, are going to play a key role in the fantastic and deadly events that will happen in the book and put Doc's life at risk, not once but several times.

It's a fast moving, action-packed book. It's quite short - you can easily read it in one or two sittings - but it packs an enormous punch. It's funny, semi-hard-boiled, fairly blood-soaked, but - above all else - it is a traditional mystery. The clues are there for the reader to find and follow, just as Doc must do in the course of this amazing night. The book does honor to Lewis Carroll - and to the reader of traditional, vintage mysteries. Langtail Press has even made available in an inexpensive edition for the Amazon Kindle. Don't miss this one - as I say, it has long been one of my favorites.

Comments

[Patrick]

Well, Les, you've beaten me to it. I bought this from the Langtail Press, but just haven't gotten around to reading it yet. You make it sound wonderful, though! It's a very enticing review.

[Les Blatt]

Patrick, I do think you'll enjoy it.

[Bev@ My Reader]

Les, I found this one a couple of years ago at our local Red Cross Book Sale. It's been long enough ago (and pre-blogging/reviewing days) that I didn't have a good review for it. But I did feature it on my blog a little while ago in my Vintage Mystery Sundays meme: http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/search/label/Fredric%20Brown.

[Les Blatt]

Bev, I suspect a fair percentage of my library came from similar sources - I'm always amazed at what I can bring home from various book exchanges. I'm glad you enjoyed the book (just read your post) - as you say, this is a clear case of "be careful what you wish for"!

[Yvette]

Sounds good to me, Les. I'll see about getting a copy when I can.

[Les Blatt]

I think you'll enjoy this one, Yvette.

[Yvette]

Just got it on Kindle, Les. Even though I HATE reading online, all the other editions were just too expensive. :)

[Les Blatt]

I've been doing more reading on Kindle lately, Yvette. There is, happily, a growing selection of older mysteries turning up in inexpensive Kindle editions. I hope you enjoy this one.