Classic Mysteries

Inside With Mike Ripley

Another new month means it's time for another look inside UK and other European crime fiction through the eyes of UK crime author, critic and general man-about-town Mike Ripley. His latest Getting Away with Murder column for Shots Crime & Thriller e-Zine has now been released, and it's his usual witty look at a remarkable number of topics related to each other only by their fascination with crime. 

On the Ripster's mind this month, among other topics::

• A somewhat jaundiced report on Nordicana;
• Reflections on various TV series;
• A new book from Irish author Declan Hughes;
• Thrillers about skiing;
• A couple of thrillers from Austria;
• Reflections on the genetic deformities of Richard III;
• Republications of an English book about an American private eye;
• The disappearing Ellis Peters Award for historical mysteries;
• Silver jubilees for a couple of Mike's books and others;
• Word of a couple of new British Library republications of classic, if little-known, crime fiction (which will, eventually, be reviewed here!);
• Cheers for republication of some Ellery Queen novels;
• More about Ripley's new Albert Campion novel, based on Margery Allingham's character;
• novels from Australia and Cuba;
• and some new graphic art that might make a new logo for the Detection Club.

There's a lot to enjoy here, so dig right in!

 

 

Looking Back: A Little Jabberwocky, If You Please

It would be wrong for me to focus on a good Fredric Brown mystery such as Murder Can Be Fun without also telling you about what I believe was Brown's masterpiece. It involves more than a little jabberwocky.

You remember the poem "Jabberwocky," from the second of Lewis Carroll's books about Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass. The Jabberwock was a monster to be reckoned with:

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
  The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
  The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
  Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
  And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
  The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
  And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
  The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
  He went galumphing back.

And what does this have to do with mystery? Let me introduce you to Doc Stoeger, the hero of Brown's wonderful Night of the Jabberwock. Doc is the editor of the local weekly newspaper. He complains - constantly - that he never has any news to report. As he puts the paper to bed one Thursday night before publishing, he thinks how great it would be to have some really sensational news for a change.

Be careful what you wish for.

Doc – who is, by the way, a huge fan of Lewis Carroll (and given to quoting him in bar rooms) – is approached by a mysterious little man, who tells him that the fantasies of  Lewis Carroll, such as "Jabberwocky," are not fantasies at all. They are real, and very dangerous. And the man invites Doc Stoeger to a meeting late that night to demonstrate the truth of the story he’s telling.

That’s the beginning of what will be an incredible night for Doc Stoeger. Before it ends, there will be several murders and a run-in with some particularly brutal killers. And Doc will have more than enough news for his newspaper the next morning – if he can stay alive long enough to write it. Because, that survival is by no means guaranteed.

Let me stress one point: this is NOT a fantasy book. It's a murder mystery - a fairly hard-boiled one at that. It's also a traditional puzzle, for the reader is given the clues he (and Doc) need to make sense out of the story. 

And a wonderful story it is. I am delighted to see that the Langtail Press has a paper edition out; it's also available (pretty inexpensively, too) as an e-book. Do yourself a favor - get it and read it. Lewis Carroll certainly would have approved.

Mysterious Love

Love mysteries - any and all genres - and looking for new ones to read and enjoy? The latest bi-monthly edition of the I Love a Mystery Newsletter has been posted by editor Sally Powers. It includes (by my count) 94 separate reviews of new or newly-reissued mysteries. There's something here for just about any taste.

Yes, I have some reviews there as well - three of them this time, all grouped together in the Classic Corner section of the newsletter. If you haven't visited yet, use one of the links. It's free, and you're almost certain to find a new mystery and/or new author who would appeal to you. Please give it a try!

"Murder Can Be Fun"

It would be fair to say that Bill Tracy was not having a good day. Tracy, an ex-reporter now writing soap operas for radio, was not happy to pick up a newspaper and read about the murder of his boss, shot by some loon wearing a Santa Claus suit (in New York City in August). The problem for Tracy was simple: the killer had stolen the whole idea of the murder from one of Tracy's new radio scripts. One of his newly-written and still unpublished radio scripts. That was not going to make the police - or Tracy - very happy...

That's the start of a very funny and rather outrageous book called Murder Can Be Fun, by Fredric Brown, first published in 1948 under the title, A Plot for Murder. You can find a full audio review of Murder Can Be Fun on the Classic Mysteries podcast this week, and you can listen to it by clicking here.

As if that murder cribbed from one of his unpublished scripts weren't enough to give Bill a major headache, it quickly got worse: there was soon another murder - this time in Bill's own apartment building - where, once again, the method of murder was one taken directly from another of Bill Tracy's new scripts that had never left his apartment.

If you’re at all familiar with Fredric Brown's mysteries, most of which, sadly, are out of print, you should realize that he had a bizarre sense of humor, and this kind of plot is the kind that he did really well. Tracy, of course, will get deeply involved in the case – the police, after all, are kind of interested in how anyone but Bill might have known what was in his manuscripts. There are all kinds of complications arising from Bill’s "regular" work on the scripts for the soap opera called Millie’s Millions, particularly when he gets an attractive young stenographer to help him write the shows.

And then there's the drinking. Bill (and the other characters, to be sure) put away enough liquor among them to account for the output of a pretty good-sized distillery. I'd say he makes Nick and Nora Charles look like teetotalers. Tracy's usual condition might be described as ranging between slightly inebriated and "good and stinkingly drunk." 

What we have, overall, is a fine, complex comic mystery. I think the solution ultimately is a bit weak – but frankly I was laughing too hard to care very much about that. I think you'll enjoy Bill Tracy's company, share his fully justified concerns and fears - and read the book to find out just how the killer DID manage to steal those ideas from Bill's manuscripts.  Murder Can Be Fun has been reissued as a Print on Demand trade paperback by Blackmask Online. I think you'll enjoy it.

Murder Can Be Fun is another entry in the My Reader's Block blog Vintage Mystery Bingo reading challenge, fulfilling the requirement on the "Golden" score card for "a book published under more than one title."

 

What Left Coast Crime Will Be Talking About

Heading for Monterey, California, next month for Left Coast Crime 2014 - or, as the organizaers are calling it, Calamari Crime? If so - or even if you're still deciding ' you might enjoy seeing the many MANY panel discussions planned for the four days of the conference. I've been invited to join one of the panels called Mystery Aficionados: the Books We Love and Why. It should be a lively discussion. With up to five panel sessions going simultaneously all day every day, there should be more than enough information and entertainment for fans of every possible mystery sub-genre.

Of course, as always, there's more going on than just the panels; here's a tentative schedule for the other events as well. This will be my first time at Left Coast Crime, and I'm looking forward to it. Will I see you there?

The Ten Commandments of Father Knox

Writing at the Golden Age Detection group on Facebook, Jeffrey Marks reminds us that today is the 126th anniversary of the birth of Fr. Ronald Knox, a classic writer from the Golden Age of English Detective Fiction. Father Knox is perhaps best remembered as the author of the "10 Commandments of Detective Fiction," a list which is frequently more honored in the breach than in the observance (including by Knox himself). (And a hat tip to Jeff for the link.)

I reviewed one of Knox's mysteries, The Viaduct Murder, on this blog several years ago including a full review on the podcast. It's an entertaining book, quite in keeping with the Golden Age tradition of fair play puzzles. It is still available (at the link) as an e-book for the Kindle, although I'm pretty sure it's out there in other electronic formats as well.

"The Greek Coffin Mystery"

It began with the death of a respected art dealer. He was duly buried in the family vault. But then the dealer's will disappeared. No problem for brilliant amateur detective Ellery Queen, son of New York City Police Inspector Richard Queen: Ellery used logic to deduce that the will had to have been buried with the art dealer - in his coffin. So they went to open the coffin. And they found...

But that would be telling, wouldn't it? That's the very beginning of The Greek Coffin Mystery, by Ellery Queen. (To recap, for those who came in late, "Ellery Queen" was the pen name used by two cousins, Frederick Dannay and Manfred Lee, to write mysteries about "Ellery Queen" the detective character.) Originally published in 1932, it remains one of the best of the early Ellery Queen puzzle mysteries written by Dannay and Lee - a mystery so fairly clued that the authors include a "Challenge to the Reader," daring the reader to solve the puzzle before (or at least simultaneously with) the detective. The Greek Coffin Mystery is the subject of today's audio book review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the complete review by clicking here.

If there is a drawback to this kind of mystery, it is that the puzzle takes such prominence, there's not much room left for character development or atmospherics - although you will find a very entertaining book here. The puzzle is key: Ellery Queen comes up with several different solutions to the mystery - but each time he thinks he has solved the case, something happens to blow up his theories. Until the last time, of course...

Ellery does work with his father, who is the official police presence on the case. And young Ellery is so brash at times - particularly in the first half of the book - that everyone (including the reader) takes a certain amount of satisfaction when he's proven wrong. By the end of the book, when he finally does reach the correct solution, Ellery Queen is a chastened and far more palatable character than he was at the beginning. The peeling away of the final layers is, I think, very likely to provide quite a surprise when the guilty individual is revealed – but an honest appraisal leaves us feeling that we have not been cheated, that we should have been able to spot that individual earlier in the book. I know that I failed to do so…and I suspect you will too. If you like the classic, American Golden Age puzzle mystery, you will almost certainly enjoy The Greek Coffin Mystery. It is available in e-book formats from Mysterious Press and Open Road Media.

Once again, I am submitting this book for consideration in the My Reader's Block Vintage Mystery Bingo Challenge - this one to fulfill the requirements for "a book with a detective team." 

 

Extra: Mulling Over "Murder at Mullings"

An aristocratic British family, in the years just after World War I. A country manor home in a small English village named Dovecote Hatch. A staff of more or less devoted house servants below-stairs, headed by a smart and feisty housekeeper. A great number of family secrets. And murder. A couple of them, in fact.

Sound like the ingredients for a good classic mystery from the Golden Age of British detective fiction? Not quite. What you have is Murder at Mullings, a brand-new mystery along traditional lines by Dorothy Cannell, published by Severn House. It's available now in the UK, but I believe it is scheduled for release in the US on May 1. That's the day before this year's Malice Domestic conference opens, a conference which will be presenting Dorothy Cannell (and Margaret Maron) with Lifetime Achievement Awards.

As I hadn't read any Dorothy Cannell books, I asked Severn House if I could see a copy of Murder at Mullings, and they graciously provided me with a review copy. I'm glad they did - it's really quite well done. It is billed as being the first in a new series from Cannell featuring Florence Norris, the housekeeper at the estate known as Mullings. Smart, efficient, and deeply tied to the aristocratic (but hopelessly dull, as far as their neighbors were concerned) Stodmarsh family, Mrs. Norris does what she can to help and protect the family. She witnesses what she is pretty sure is a murder - though she cannot prove it - and, some years later, finds herself caught up in another case of murder within the family. Because of her position in the household, she finds herself able to work with the police to see past a fair number of red herrings and find the real culprit.

Oh, and did I mention the ornamental hermit, whose presence is critical to the story? And what, you may ask, is an ornametal hermit? An ornamental hermit is a person hired to add a certain amount of color and drama to an aristocrat's estate. The aristocrat would provide food and a hut somewhere on the grounds for shelter. According to the description in Murder at Mullings: 

"Essential requirements for an ornamental hermit included never cutting his hair, beard or nails, and upon leaving his shelter he meandered with his head bowed above an open Bible. The very air around him was steeped in saintly melancholy. It was a delightful fillip for house guests to espy him amidst the groves or by a woodland stream, as it was incumbent on him to ensure they did."

Yes, there really were such people. There's a great deal more to learn about ornamental hermits in general and about Mullings and Florence Norris too, for that matter, not to mention a couple of nasty murders. If you like traditional mystery plots with - forgive the word - "cozy" atmospherics, you'll find Dorothy Cannell's Murder at Mullings quite an agreeable way to pass an evening. I'm looking forward to hearing her speak at Malice Domestic in May.

"The Puzzle of the Red Stallion"

It was a beautiful morning for a horseback ride through New York City's Central Park. Too bad it ended in sudden - and most unnatural - death for the rider. As a result, the very considerable talents of schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers and her good friend, Inspector Oscar Piper proved to be essential in solving The Puzzle of the Red Stallion, by Stuart Palmer. It's the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the entire review by clicking here.

Stuart Palmer wrote more than a dozen novels and a fair number of short stories about schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers, whom he referred to as "that meddlesome old battleaxe." Hildy generally teamed up with her friend (and more than occasional rival), New York City Police Inspector Oscar Piper to solve mysteries which very often appeared impossible at first viewing.

The Puzzle of the Red Stallion, which was first published in 1935, was the sixth book to feature Hildy and Piper. It begins with a murder – a murder in which Miss Withers quickly becomes involved. The victim, a glamorous fashion model, had been riding her horse, a beautiful red stallion and former racing horse named Siwash. At first, there appears to be no good way to explain her death, as there is no evident wound on the body, though there is blood in Siwash. Miss Withers helps Piper solve that problem only to discover that, while there are plenty of suspects who might have had good reason to want the victim dead, none appeared to have had an opportunity to commit the murder. There is a great deal about horse racing in this book, and the sport does play a very important part in the solution of the mystery. There is more than one murder – and, I would have to say, a really nasty method for committing murder that almost evades detection.

While The Puzzle of the Red Stallion is not the strongest entry in the series, there are a couple of murders and some interesting characters. It was made into a movie called "Murder on a Bridle Path," but I don't think it's available for viewing at the moment. The book is a fairly quick, enjoyable read. There are used copies available from the usual sources, but it's also been published as a low-cost e-book from the Mysterious Press and Open Road Integrated Media.

This book is another entry for this year's Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge at the My Reader's Block blog. The challenge this year is to fill our "Bingo" - type cards with vintage mysteries (Gold = pre-1960 or Silver = 1961-1980) mysteries. On my Gold card, this book counts os "one book with an animal in the title.

 

Republishing Ms. Davis

Dorothy Salisbury Davis is a first-rate American author - one who, happily, is nearing her 98th birthday. The e-book publishers at Open Road Integrated Media just announced that 22 books by Davis - 21 novels and an anthology of short stories - are being made available as e-books.

I am not all that familiar with Davis's work - much of it done in the 1950s and 1960s - but she is very widely regarded as one of the leading American mystery writers, having received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America, not to mention lifetime achievement Anthony and Agatha awards from Bouchercon and Malice Domestic respectively.

The one work of hers that I have read recently is the short story "Lost Generation," which was included in Sarah Weinman's recent anthology, Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives. It is a profoundly disturbing and powerful story, and I do recommend it. I believe it is also contained in the anthology, Tales of a Stormy Night, which is one of the books being republished by Open Road. You can find most of them on her Open Road author page.

I have said many times that one of the things I hope will be accomplished by the widening availability and acceptance of e-books is the return to "print" of a great many fine authors in all mystery genres, for the enjoyment of a new generation of readers. It's a goal I'm happy to see being achieved by Open Road.