Classic Mysteries

Back for Round Three

Jen Forbus's take on March Madness continues at Jen's Book Thoughts with voting now under way in the third round of the Heroes & Villains tournament.

I regret to say that Sherlock Holmes didn't make the cut this time (blasphemy!), and, with Nero Wolfe already out, the "heroes" side of the card is remarkably slim on the classics. On the other hand, there are some good and interesting "villains" indeed - and Professor James Moriarty is still in the game. So is James Bond's old nemesis, Dr. No. And Hannibal Lecter. But then the villains often are more interesting than the heroes...

Go take a look and cast your ballots to winnow the sweet 16 down to the elite 8. Deadline is midnight Friday night!

"Sleuth's Alchemy"

The more I read of the mysteries written by Gladys Mitchell, the least known of the English Golden Age "Crime Queens" to American audiences, the better I like her. If you want to know why, and you'd prefer to experiment with smaller doses rather than a full-length novel, may I recommend "Sleuth's Alchemy: Cases of Mrs. Bradley and Others," edited by Nicholas Fuller. It's the subject of this week's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the full review by clicking here.

Mitchell is a marvelous writer, reveling in English eccentricities, giving us fascinating and frequently bizarre characters and situations. Her primary detective, Mrs. Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley, is a psychiatrist, called in frequently by police to help solve difficult cases. She is featured in some of the stories in "Sleuth's Alchemy," most of which were written in the early 1950s, but she is not the only detective - indeed, some of the stories don't really have a detective. They are narrated from a variety of viewpoints, some even being written by the criminals in the piece. They deal with a wide range of crimes, many with bizarre settings; one of the best Mrs. Bradley stories, for example, "The Spell," deals with a form of witchcraft - and Mrs. Bradley uses it to solve the problem and prevent a crime. Another favorite, "The Plumb-Line," which does not have Mrs. Bradley as a character, gives us a man who decides to commit a murder – but who dies before he is able to carry out his plan. Although he apparently dies of a heart attack, it is worth noting that he dies in the very place where he had planned to commit his murder – and by a variation of the same trick he had been planning to use to carry out his crime.

There are 31 stories in "Sleuth's Alchemy." Many are only a few pages long, as they were written originally for newspaper publication. They provide an excellent way to meet not only Mrs. Bradley but the characters, events and quirky humor that define the stories of Gladys Mitchell. A first-rate introduction is provided by critic and scholar Nicholas Fuller, who points out, of Mrs. Bradley, "Her morality is entirely her own, for she recognizes that every human being is a potential murderer, 'some in deed and some in thought[.]'" If that viewpoint intrigues you, you will find it very much on display in "Sleuth's Alchemy," which is another entry in the "Lost Classics" series published by Crippen & Landru.

According to Doyle

I have just finished reading Michael Dirda's excellent little book called "On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling," an appreciation of the multi-talented author who created Sherlock Holmes and, as Dirda reminds us, a great many other stellar and entertaining fictional characters.

Dirda is a Sherlockian, to be sure, but much of the book is spent talking about Doyle's other creations: supernatural stories, tales of Professor Challenger, stories of pirates and soldiers, largely (and, Dirda argues, unjustly) forgotten novels. Many of these are still available - even your local library may well have them on its shelves.

Dirda does spend much of his time, however, on the Holmes stories and related matters. Among the most entertaining chapters are those dealing with Dirda's welcome into the Baker Street Irregulars, the international society for Sherlockians. He writes with a quiet wit and a fine sense of humor - and also with an appreciation for that thrilling sensation of "the game's afoot," those Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson stories that remain today, as they have remained for more than a century, thoroughly exciting, well-crafted tales of mystery:

"Does anyone ever forget the insidious threat found in five orange pips, or the dog that did nothing in the night-time, or the cipher of 'the dancing men,' or the hideous death influcted by 'the devil's foot'? Who doesn't shiver at the mere mention of 'the band, the speckled band!' or shudder at the memory of the insidious Professor Moriarty, or yearn to know more of Mycroft Holmes, who sometimes 'is the British government'?"

Indeed. This and so much more awaits you in Michael Dirda's "On Conan Doyle." It's a fairly short book and a quick and entertaining read.

Another Wolfean Perspective

I've written here before about some of the activities sponsored by the Wolfe Pack, the organization dedicated to studying and discussing Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin and the work of author Rex Stout. The Wolfe Pack met again last Monday for its bimonthly book discussion program. I thought you might be interested in another blogger's perspective on the meeting (scroll down at the link). Ethan Iverson is a musician who blogs at the Do The Math blog. It's mostly about music, but there are several entries about mysteries and mystery writers as well, including some long and interesting reflections on Ross Thomas and Donald Westlake. He promises a future post on Wolfean matters.

Reading the Shorts

I just saw an interesting Facebook post from the good people at Malice Domestic, the conference of traditional mystery readers and writers that is coming up at the end of April in Bethesda, MD.

Attendees at the conference will be voting on the Agatha Awards, the prestigious awards named for Agatha Christie. I've noted the nominees for this year in recent posts. What I did not realize is that the five nominees for the Best Short Story are all available - free - for reading online. Just follow this link and you will find links to the individual stories, as well as a list of all the Agatha nominees in all categories.

If you'll be at the conference and voting, this is a chance to read all the nominees and vote accordingly. If not - well, here's a fine collection of mystery shorts for your reading pleasure. Sounds like a win for everyone.

Time to Rumble - or to Grumble

Hmf. Well, we're in Round 2 of the "Heroes and Villains" March Madness competition over at Jen Forbus's blog. The initial 64 - 32 heroes and 32 villains - have been reduced by half, based on your votes, and now it's time to vote again for the "sweet 16." (Can a contest in which 8 will be out-and-out villains be called "sweet"? Hmm.)

I am out of sorts because Nero Wolfe was ousted in round 1 - as was his arch-enemy, Arnold Zeck. Really, people, we classicists have to do better.

So much for the grumbling. On the rumble side of things, I see that both Sherlock Holmes AND Professor Moriarty survived the first cut. Whether they go further depends on you. Follow those links (Jen provides more links for those who, like me, may be unfamiliar with some of the contestants) and vote before midnight Friday night!

"Sealed Room Murder"

If you were giving an award for "truth in advertising" or "truth in titling," you would need to look no further than the book "Sealed Room Murder," a Golden Age classic from 1937 by Rupert Penny. "Sealed Room Murder" gives the reader precisely what it promises: a victim is assaulted and stabbed in the back while inside a room whose only entrances and exits are both locked and sealed. It is the subject of this week's Classic Mysteries podcast, and you may listen to the full review by clicking here.

In "Sealed Room Murder," we are presented with the murder of a particularly unpleasant woman named Harriett Steele who, as I said, is murdered by being stabbed in the back while alone inside a locked and bolted room. It is one of those apparently impossible crimes - but, as Inspector Beale points out, it can't be impossible because it quite clearly did happen. The trick, then, is to figure out how it happened.

If you want to know why it happened that way, Beale is quite clear: "The essential quality of a miracle is that it can't be explained, and what can't be explained isn't punishable." Certainy, the circumstances of the crime make its investigation far more difficult. Yet Inspector Beale, to his credit, is able to see through the artifices which make the crime appear impossible.

That solution will be presented to the reader in its proper place - after he or she has been given all the necessary clues. And, just before the final section of the book, the reader is challenged, in the best traditions of, say, Ellery Queen:

"The problem is now complete, the previous chapters containing all the data necessary to a full solution. Accordingly, who murdered Mrs. Steele? Or, for those readers who like hard work, how was the murder committed?"

Be forewarned. While the solution is fairly given, it is quite complicated, involving a number of diagrams, thoughtfully included in the last section of the book to help explain the "miracle." As with all "impossible crime" stories, there is the risk of disappointment when the reader learns how the trick was done. I think that's unfair. This is the first book by Rupert Penny that I have read, and it is now available thanks to Ramble House publishers. It will not be my last.

Marching Into (Mystery) Madness

As promised, Jen's Book Thoughts has begun its massive March Madness-style bracket faceoff. It's the opening round in an epic "Heroes vs. Villains" contest. Jen Forbus has come up with 32 mystery "heroes" and 32 "villains," and you get to vote for your favorites, thereby helping to determine which ones move ahead.

Go here to vote - first, you vote on all the heroes, then on the next screen you vote on all the villains. I should note that because I don't read that many modern mysteries - OK, OK, MY BAD - I don't recognize all the names. Not by a long shot. And some of the faceoffs seem a little strange - Nero Wolfe vs. Lisbeth Salander? Are you kidding me?

But it's all in good fun, and I can't wait to see how the brackets play out here. Voting in this first round will be open only until this Friday, March 16, and the winners of the round will be announced on Saturday.

You can find a full list of all the characters, and their place in the brackets, on Jen's site, where you can also download a copy for reference. Tomorrow (Wednesday), Jen will be posting a form where you can enter your predictions on the matchups in the Elite Eight, Final Four, and Finale rounds. You have to vote on those by this Friday, March 16!

"Made Up to Kill"

Let us pause for a moment to think of the great detective couples - husband and wife (or husband-to-be and wife-to-be) who find themselves caught up in a murder case and set out to solve it. It was a very popular genre during and after the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, particularly in the United States. There were Pat and Jean Abbott...Mr.and Mrs. North...Nick and Nora Charles...

And, of course, Jeff and Haila Troy.

The Troys starred in a marvelous series of mystery-comedies written by another detective couple, so to speak: Kelley Roos, the pen name of William and Audrey Roos. Jeff and Haila made their first appearance in 1940 in "Made Up to Kill," which is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast. You can listen to the entire review by clicking here.

So who were Jeff and Haila? Well, Haila, at the beginning of our story, was Haila Rogers, a young actress playing mostly small parts in Broadway plays. Jeff Troy wanted to marry her - but he had an employment problem of sorts: he found it nearly impossible to find and keep a job. At the beginning of "Made Up to Kill," in fact, Jeff has been invited to take an involuntary vacation from his job in advertising. Haila has been given a role in a play called "Green Apples." Unfortunately, another actress in the show, Haila's roommate, is very nearly murdered on opening night. And the very next night, the murderer strikes again, this time successfully, killing the leading lady. Jeff finds himself hired as a private detective to solve the murder - with Haila's help (if you define "help" rather loosely).

Like many of the other books about husband-and-wife teams, "Made Up to Kill" is as much a sophisticated comedy of manners as it is a mystery. The dialogue is funny and the book moves very quickly - it's quite satisfying. If you have fond memories of those black-and-white mystery-comedy movies that were so popular during the middle years of the 20th century, you'll very likely enjoy reading "Made Up to Kill."

In the Blood

Take two men – cousins and writing partners, creators of a series of enormously popular and tremendously influential mysteries. But while their books are quite successful, the two authors fight constantly over their creative processes. The only way they can work with each other is by a strict division of labor – and by a constant exchange of letters and telephone calls, often filled with bitter invective from each man about the other’s work.

Sound like the basis for a deep, psychological mystery? It’s not. It’s a true story –the story of what is still one of the most recognized names in mysteries, despite those books being largely out-of-print and neglected by modern readers: Ellery Queen. Joseph Goodrich has edited an amazing, often painful-to-read book called Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen, 1947-1950, which provides astonishing insight into the two men who created and were Ellery Queen.

Let me back up for a moment. The name “Ellery Queen” was the name its two authors agreed upon as both the name of the central character in most of their mysteries and the name they would use as the author. The two men were cousins, born nine months apart in 1905. Each man disliked his birth name and changed it; Daniel Nathan became Fred Dannay and Emanuel Lepofsky became Manfred B. Lee. Together, Dannay and Lee became Ellery Queen.

But the only way the two men could work together was by dividing their work into strictly separate realms. Dannay created the puzzles, plots and clues of the novels and short stories, sending long, detailed outlines to Lee, who would then flesh out the outline and turn it into a finished and polished book.

But, as we see in Blood Relations, Lee was deeply resentful, even contemptuous, of many of Dannay’s puzzle plots – and Dannay was infuriated by what he saw as liberties taken with his outlines by Lee when he actually wrote the novels.

Between 1947 and 1950, the two men exchanged a series of long, often furious, frequently painful letters, as they struggled with three books which are generally regarded today as among their finest: Ten Days’ Wonder, Cat of Many Tails, and The Origin of Evil. As with other books of this nature, it would be wise to read those works BEFORE tackling the letters in Blood Relations, because there is a great deal of discussion and argument about plot twists, the believability of plots and characters, etc. – in other words, there are of necessity a great many spoilers.

But what a trove of insights! Dannay and Lee fought bitterly over every detail – and yet each would inquire with genuine compassion, in the letters, about the health of the other’s family. And despite the bitterness, each letter begins “Dear Man” or “Dear Dan.” Think dysfunctional family. I think Lee sums it up perfectly in one of his letters:

“The truth of the matter is, irrespective of the merit or demerit of any given suggestion or objection from the other man, each of us jealously guards his individual contribution to the work and each of us resents any encroachment on his work by the other. The mere fact of a disagreement raises instantly an argument or arguments in defense of what is disagreed with. There is no acceptance of criticism because there is no wish for criticism. There is wish only for agreement…

“Oh, the hell with this. It’s giving you another case of insomnia and me a head like a watermelon.”

Joseph Goodrich has done a marvelous job putting the letters together and adding context to them with well-placed and judicious commentary. I cannot recommend Blood Relations highly enough for its revelations about the creative processes of two of the most important contributors to the American detective story – two men bound to each other by blood. It’s a marvelous and profound book.

Hat tip to Curtis Evans of The Passing Tramp blog for his excellent review of this book, which prompted me to buy it and review it myself. Be sure to read his review, which provides much more information about the book and about Ellery Queen.

(Post updated 11/12/17 with new links)