Israel Zangwill - The Perfect Crime - Collins Detective Club - 2015 - The Big Bow Mystery

 

Israel Zangwill - The Perfect Crime - Collins Detective Club - 2015

(also known as the Big Bow Mystery)

Also contains Edgar Allan Poe - The Murders in the Rue Morgue

NOTE

Poe`s The Murders in the Rue Morgue is said to be the first locked room mystery. Zangwill`s The Perfect Crime aka The Big Bow Mystery is said to be the first full-length novel LRM (though in fact it is in the area of being a novella/a long short story/a short novel, whichever term you prefer).

The publication of the two in a single volume has generally been received with enthusiasm by lovers of old-style detective fiction. 

To my complete surprise, I didn`t enjoy this as much as others have !

It certainly has all the usual ingredients - a man is found dead in a locked room. Investigations show that he has not committed suicide, but as he was alone in a room with the door and windows apparently locked from the inside, how did the murderer first gain access and then escape ? 

Just to complicate matters, it seems he has no known enemies, certainly none with a motive to kill him. 

So far, so good. Initially, I was surprised to find that Zagwill treated his story in a humorous way, but I quite enjoyed it. 

I would describe his style as light humour with a dollop of satire. Agreeable though it is at first, for me personally it did start to become quite wearing. It`s also becomes apparent that later on in the story, an attempt at a change of mood as an innocent man faces possible execution, does not really work. 

The eventual solution of the case was quite unexpected, so you have to give him credit for that. 

A quick skim of the internet shows an overwhelmingly favourable response to this book, so please feel free to ignore me if you feel inclined to give it a try.

As regards, The Murder in the Rue Morgue, that is a much-loved short story that was genuinely ground-breaking in it`s day and many feel it marks the birth of the detective story as we know it. Sorry, but I`ve never liked it ! For me, the eventual solution of the case is quite ridiculous and undermines the rest of the story. 

Once again, though, others feel very differently about it, so don`t let me deter you from giving it a whirl.  

 

Third World Maxi Ossie Scott Blue Moon TWDIS 21

Lynn Brock - The Deductions of Colonel Gore - Collins Detective Club - 2018 - (aka Alister McAllister aka Anthony Warton)

 

 Lynn Brock (aka Alister McAllister aka Anthony Wharton) - The Deductions of Colonel Gore - Collins Detective Club - 2018

This book has it`s detractors, but for me it was a very enjoyable introduction to the world of Colonel Gore and left me wanting to sample some of his subsequent adventures. 

This was the first Colonel Gore book (published 1924) and at the time the author was probably not considering a series. 

In this story, Col G has not yet become a private investigator and has no experience of solving mysteries. In fact he walks into this case quite by chance and in places  is motivated less by a desire to crack the case than to protect his childhood friend Barbara Melhuish, known by the nickname Pickles.

It may be as well to address some of the criticisms/misunderstandings that have been written about this book. 

For a start, I cannot see that it is intended as a satire on Golden Age detective stories. At the time of publication, the Golden Age was hardly yet underway, so not really ripe for satire.

Neither do I feel it is particularly cliched, in fact it`s quite unusual for that or any other era. 

It`s probably true that Colonel Gore and/or his creator were not entirely free from the snobbery and prejudice of the time and place. A degree of snobbery can be detected in the character and possibly his creator. As regards prejudice, I personally think that`s probably there, but it`s not always wise to assume a writer agrees with statements made by fictitious characters he has created. In any case we are talking about maybe two sentences in a 273 page book.

Gore is not an infallible detective - he builds up one scenario after another in his pursuit of truth, most of them mistaken, some of them expounded at some length. It doesn`t bother me, but I can see some would find this frustrating.

The solution when it did come was a total surprise to me.

Included in this volume is a later Col Gore long/short story. In this one he has become a professional investigator. The writing is better and shows more maturity. It`s maybe not a classic but certainly enjoyable.  

EVER-G - Son of the Most High [Official Video 2015]

David Stuart Davies(ed) - Spinechillers - CRW/Collectors Library - 2012

 

David Stuart Davies - Spinechillers - Collectors Library - 2012

Note `Collectors Library is/was an imprint of CRW Publishing Ltd, London NW1

Will I ever get tired of collecting anthologies of classic ghost stories and/or detective fiction ? Probably not !

Here we have 22 short stories in an anthology compiled by the excellent David Stuart Davies. 

Any collection overseen by DSD is going to be out of the ordinary and this was no disappointment. 

Inevitably (for me) there were a couple of stories I already have, and a couple I didn`t care for, but the great thing is that still leaves 18 I`d never encountered before and thoroughly enjoyed.

If I have one criticism, I would single out the inclusion of Elizabeth Gaskell`s The Grey Woman. Not just because I personally don`t like it - (though I do think it`s overly long and carelessly written) , but because I just can`t see how it belongs in a collection of this sort - it doesn`t chill the spine because it wasn`t, as far as I can see, intended to do so. 

On the positive side, I would single out four stories for special praise - F Marion Crawford`s For the Blood is Life, E F Benson`s Mrs Amworth, R L Stevenson`s Markheim and Barry Paine`s The Glass of Supreme Moments. Obviously that`s personal choice, and they certainly aren`t the only good stories in this collection.

It`s easy enough to find a copy of this fine collection online, and I recommend  you do so. 

Gordon Ashe (John Creasey) - Come Home to Death - Mystery Book Guild - 1958

 

Gordon Ashe   - Come Home to Death - Mystery Book Guild - 1958

Gordon Ashe was a pseudonym used by John Creasey for a series of novels featuring his character Patrick Dawlish.

This is the first Dawlish novel I have read, but I understand that in the preceding novels he is portrayed as a former intelligence officer turned freelance crime fighter, possibly a man of action rather than a man of reflection. 

This book must have been something of a departure. 

As the story begins, Dawlish and his wife are preparing to go on holiday. She has been seriously ill and he feels both would benefit from a break. Only as the story proceeds do we realise how much of a toll his wife`s illness has taken on him. 

Reluctantly, he becomes involved with a case brought to him by a young woman who believes she is being followed. He does what he can do help and arranges for some of his associates to deal with the matter while he is away.

Returning to England he finds himself the suspect in a murder case. Those senior Police Officers who he has had dealings with in the past have either been transferred to other work or are keeping him at arm`s length. Only a couple of rank-and-file P.Cs show any friendliness or sympathy. 

Worse, his key investigator has departed abroad leaving no message, and he finds himself doubting the loyalty of his team. Who can he trust ? Do they even trust him ?

So far so good. However, his own handling of the case seems clumsy, a fact that he himself seems to realise.

While he does uncover many of the facts in the case, in fact he is not the person who eventually finds the solution. 

John Creasey`s status as a legendary crime writer is well-deserved and it was probably his skill as a storyteller that kept me engrossed to the end. 

I enjoyed the book. I will doubtless read it again and still enjoy it, but I don`t think this is his best work by any means.