Classic Mysteries

The Clock Is Ticking...

December 31 is the LAST DAY to save on your registration fees for two first-rate mystery conferences coming up in 2012.

If you're a lover of traditional mysteries (as I would hope all my readers are), then the 31st is the last day you can register for Malice Domestic, home to hundreds of mystery readers AND writers who specialize in the traditional forms, and pay just 225 dollars for the whole conference. The price goes to $250 on Sunday - still a good bargain, but why not save yourself the extra money? The conference happens April 27th through the 29th, 2012, in Bethesda, MD.

And the same clock is ticking down for registering for Bouchercon 2012, the world's largest dedicated mystery conference of authors and readers, which will be held October 4th through 7th, 2012, in Cleveland, OH. This conference is about all kinds of mysteries - every genre and sub-genre. The price - right now - an unbelievable $150 for four days of activities. But the price goes up Sunday - just to $175, but, again, why not save your money for book-buying at the conference?

I plan to attend both this year (and I am registered for them both, thank you). You ought to be there - they are tremendous fun. I'd love to see you there. Why not save yourself some money, go to those sites through the links above, and register.

"The Hotel Majestic"

This week between Christmas and New Year is often a good time to relax and spend some time in introspection. So perhaps this would be a good time to read a wonderful - and decidedly introspective - mystery featuring Maigret of the French Surete.

Over the course of his long career, Georges Simenon wrote 75 novels (plus a couple dozen short stories) about Inspector Maigret, a hard-working, rarely inspired but generally successful and insightful police detective. "The Hotel Majestic," from 1942, is a very good entry in the series, and it's the subject of today's review on the Classic Mysteries podcast. You can listen to the full review by clicking here.

In "The Hotel Majestic," Maigret is called in to investigate the murder of an American woman, a guest at the very upscale Hotel Majestic. Her body has been found downstairs, jammed into a locker in the working areas of the hotel. Maigret must try to figure out what she might have been doing there. And there will be a second murder to be solved as well.

The world of the Hotel Majestic is a classic "upstairs/downstairs" setting: the upscale hotel seen by the public, with its rich guests, seems to have little connection with the hidden working areas of the hotel, whose employees struggle with the long hours and hard work as they try to survive. It is a fairly straightforward "police procedural," filled with sympathy for many of the people caught up in the story. Maigret himself is a fascinating character, gathering his facts and trying to weigh them and place them based on his own intelligence and past experience. "The Hotel Majestic" is a good place to meet Maigret, if you don't already know him. Once again, for those with e-book readers, there's a Kindle edition as well.

"A Rumpole Christmas"

"'Tis the season to be jolly" and all that. But it must be admitted that when Horace Rumpole tries to get into the Christmas spirit - for whatever reason - unfortunate things do seem to have a way of happening.

But perhaps that's pretty much routine for Rumpole, John Mortimer's marvelous British barrister who first appeared on television, in the "Rumpole of the Bailey" series and, later, in Mortimer's books. And what could be more timely than "A Rumpole Christmas," which is our book reviewed today on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the full review by clicking here.

"A Rumpole Christmas" is a collection of stories, mostly quite short, featuring Rumpole around Christmas time. In one longer story, "Rumpole's Slimmed-Down Christmas," Rumpole is dragooned by his wife, Hilda - known to him as "She Who Must Be Obeyed" - into attending a slimming spa for the holiday. Unfortunately, it quickly degenerates into murder - and it takes Rumpole's wit and technical knowhow to keep the wrong person from being unjustly accused. In another, quite timely story, Rumpole takes on the defense of a young man accused of being a terrorist and a murderer.

Rumpole is what most of us think lawyers should be - a man who dedicates himself completely and passionately on behalf of his client.

"Rumpole would defend anyone" said Archie Prosser - the newest arrival in our chambers - who had an ill-deserved reputation as a wit.

"If you mean anyone who's put on trial and tells me they're innocent, then the answer is yes."

That's Rumpole, in a nutshell - a defender (usually at considerable cost to his own career) of justice and a believer in the judicial system, particularly the jury trial, as the final arbiter of guilt or innocence. If you have never read or seen Rumpole, this is a splendid introduction. I see that the book MAY now be out of print, though Amazon seems to have lots of booksellers with available copies. Also, for e-book readers, there is an Amazon Kindle edition.

Watching Nero Wolfe

I must confess that I watch next to no television. I may watch a little news here and there, but, on the whole, I'd rather be reading. I particularly dislike most TV adaptations of classic mysteries, especially the ones which feel they have to "update" or "modernize" the stories.

But then along comes Nero Wolfe. Or, to be more accurate, along came Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin and a superb troupe of regular players to bring Nero Wolfe and his stories to the home screen via A&E TV. I've actually sat down and watched some of them. They are good. And - miracle of miracles - they are quite faithful to the original stories. The writers and producers had the sense to take Rex Stout's carefully written stories, which are first-person narratives for Archie Goodwin, and simply put the words into Archie's off-camera voice. It's like having Archie on hand to tell you the story himself.

With the holidays coming up, I want to call your attention to an Amazon deal: they are offering the whole series on DVD for a remarkably low price - it's only about a third of the original list price. You get all 20 episodes that were produced for the two seasons of the television show, including the original two-hour pilot based on "The Golden Spiders." There are assorted other extras in the package as well. Frankly, I think it's a present Wolfe fans ought to be giving themselves. (Yes, if you click through on my link above and order the package, I get a remarkably small cut. Full disclosure.)

Most of the earlier Wolfes and Goodwins on TV and in the movies ranged from awful to embarrassing, but the Chaykin-Hutton shows are really worth watching. Do yourself a favor and get them.

"Murder is No Joke" Revisited

One of the short Nero Wolfe novellas in And Four to Go rates some special attention from readers because it is one of the few Rex Stout stories to appear in two different versions.

According to Stout's official biographer, John J. McAleer, after Stout finished writing "Murder Is No Joke," he was asked by the Saturday Evening Post to revise and expand it for publication in the magazine. He did so, turning what McAleer says was originally a 48-page story into one that ran 79 pages. Surprisingly, it continues to exist in both formats. As "Murder is No Joke," it was published in the collection And Four to Go, but it appeared in the Saturday Evening Post as a three-part serialization - and, after Stout's death, in the posthumously-published Death Times Three - as "Frame-up for Murder."

Writing in an introduction to Death Times Three, McAleer says the revised version is much better than the original. I leave that decision up to you, as you can easily get both collections and compare the two stories for yourselves.

"And Four to Go"

Rex Stout's novels about Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are generally good-to-excellent. Rex Stout's novellas, as a general rule, are as good or better than the novels. Stout was a master of the novella, the elongated short story format, and some of Nero Wolfe's most memorable cases come in those stories.

And so we are presented with the collection of four novellas called "And Four to Go," our book reviewed today on the Classic Mysteries podcast. You can listen to the full review by clicking here. "And Four to Go" is an excellent group. It begins with a deadly "Christmas Party," attended by Archie Goodwin, where all the signs point to an anonymous Santa Claus as being the most likely killer. Only there's a problem with that theory - and I'll leave it at that.

Next, there's a murder at New York's "Easter Parade" down Fifth Avenue - and, naturally, Archie Goodwin is on the scene, attempting to carry out a rather secretive errand for Nero Wolfe. So, once again, the irascible and overweight genius finds himself forced to solve the murder in order to keep some things secret that, in his opinion, should remain secret.

Murder is on the menu at a "Fourth of July Picnic" - and, once again, it takes place practically in the presence of Wolfe and Archie - and Wolfe has plenty of reason to regret having left his house for a very rare public appearance.

And finally, in "Murder is No Joke," there's no holiday - but a murder which may have taken place while Wolfe and Archie were on the phone with the victim. Things are never quite as simple as they seem, of course.

Four stories, all written in the mid- to late-1950s. Four opportunities to enjoy Wolfe's genius tempered by Archie's wit. The inclusion of "Christmas Party" makes it particularly appropriate for this time of year. If you want to give yourself a present, "And Four to Go" will give you some good reading for a cold winter's evening.

Know Your Vintage Mysteries?

Here's a little something to keep you awake tonight. John, the (usually) genial host of the Pretty Sinister Books blog, has come up with a challenging - all right, fiendish - quiz about vintage mysteries. He's offering some prizes for the people who submit the most correct answers.

Follow this link to see the quiz and find details on how to enter. There are a lot of tough questions (yes, tough, John. Don't argue), but readers of this blog or other blogs that focus on traditional and vintage mysteries should do reasonably well. What are you waiting for?

Hat tip: Yvette's "In So Many Words" blog.

The Movie Hunt

Looking for movies to enjoy - for the holiday or any time? Hunting for videos to give as gifts? Amazon.com has a lot of interesting and inexpensive deals to offer. Please check them out at the link (and, if you do buy, you'll be helping me to keep this site going). Harry Potter? Wizard of Oz? King's Speech? These and a lot more - and the prices are pretty good, too.

Thank you.

"Friday the Rabbi Slept Late"

With less than two weeks to go until Chanukah and less than three weeks until Christmas, I want to spend the next couple of weeks talking about books that might help instill some of the holiday spirit in you. Let's begin today with Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, the first book in Harry Kemelman's series of books about Rabbi David Small, the rabbi of a small Conservative synagogue in the small, suburban community of Barnard's Crossing, Massachusetts. It's the subject of this week's review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the full review by clicking here.

Rabbi Small is a wonderful character. In this book, he finds himself at odds with a number of prominent congregants (which, speaking from experience, is hardly unique in most religious communities), who are trying to get him fired. But he also finds himself caught up in the murder of a young woman whose body is found in the rabbi's car, which was left parked but unlocked in the synagogue parking lot. A surprising amount of the evidence appears to point to the rabbi himself, but he winds up joining forces with the town's Roman Catholic police chief, Hugh Lanigan, to solve the murder - a feat he accomplishes by using traditional Jewish methods of scholarship and debate. In the course of doing so, he will teach some valuable lessons to his congregation, and to the larger town as well, about Judaism and about overcoming mindless prejudice.

"Friday the Rabbi Slept Late" won an Edgar from the MWA for the best first mystery novel of 1964. Rabbi Small went on to star in eleven more books. I don't know of many other mysteries starring a rabbi, and a believable one at that. Rabbi Small is a warm and wonderful character - and so, for that matter, is Chief Lanigan. The series has been out of print for a while, so it is good to see it coming back, courtesy of Rosetta Books, as an ebook.

Wrapping the Orchids

For a 125th birthday bash, the Black Orchid Weekend festivities in New York City were really pretty spectacular.

The Wolfe Pack celebrates Black Orchid Weekend every year over the first weekend in December, honoring Rex Stout's birthday. This was the 125th anniversary of his birth, and the events had an extra degree of entertainment and enjoyment because of the special holiday.

Friday night was a book discussion of one of the novellas - "Christmas Party," appropriate to the season. It's one of the four novellas in And Four To Go. Along with the discussion, attendees got to view an enhanced made-for-television version of the story produced for A&E television. This was a version produced for the overseas market and not generally available in the United States, with some added scenes not to be found in the U.S. edition.

Saturday afternoon, the group held its Annual Assembly, an opportunity to listen to four presentations on aspects of Wolfean lore. Among the topics was a fascinating discussion of Rex Stout's immigrant ancestors. As always, the presentations were lively, informative and amusing.

The highlight of the weekend was Saturday night's 34th Annual Black Orchid Banquet. The meal contained dishes from the different Wolfe books - the main course, for example, was Chicken Fricassee with Dumplings, based on a dish served in Some Buried Caesar. The group's Nero and Black Orchid Novella awards were presented (see the previous post), and the whole affair was enlivened by the usual run of song parodies, toasts and speeches.

The weekend concluded with an informal brunch gathering Sunday morning, highlighed by a pun contest - certainly not an affair for the faint of heart.

It was a weekend to savor for Wolfean fans.