 |
| E.W. Hornung author of the Raffles stories |
It was intrigued by the stories of William Le Queux about the Count’s Chauffeur. Written in 1906 it was at the dawn of the motorcar. The Chauffeur drives a large open car. He drives Count Bindo di Ferraris, a charming rogue who is the mastermind behind clever criminal schemes. Unlike most modern crime fiction the criminals are successful and are not condemned for their thieving ways.
It is the dawn of the age of motoring. Many motorcars have no top. Warm coats, rugs over laps and googles are needed in bad weather. There is a whole fashion for motor clothes. One day the beautiful Valentine dons “a silk dust-coat and the latest invention in veils - pale blue with long ends twisted several times around her throat” to go for a drive.
Two female authors are included in the book.
Mrs. L.T. Meade, the nom-de-plume of Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith, described as “prolific” by the editor, contributed two stories she wrote with Robert Eustache, the pseudonym of Dr. Eustache Robert Barton. They are well done. Most interesting was The Secret of Emu Plain set in Australia at the end of the 19th Century. What makes it special is that the solution of the mystery was not revealed. Instead, there was a contest organized by Cassell’s Magazine in which readers were invited to provide the solution. There were 386 entries from countries covering much of the world. Only 4 were correct. They still awarded the full 10 prizes of One Guinea with prizes going to 6 non-correct but ingenious answers. I did not have the answer. The authors’ solution submitted under seal to the publisher before the contest was suitably clever and felt plausible to me.
The second woman was Baroness Orczy who wrote The Old Man in the Corner stories. I read a volume of those stories and wrote a post in which Hercule Poirot and Nero Wolfe discuss the Old Man’s investigative approach.
In this book we have a murder mystery by Orczy featuring a barrister, Patrick Mulligan, known as “Skin o’ my Tooth” for his talent at gaining acquittals for clients in very sticky situations.
Mulligan is described as:
Funny looking man, too, old Skin o’ my Tooth - fat and rosy and comfortable as an Irish pig, with a face as stodgy as a boiled currant dumpling … Then, we all know that gentle smile of his, and that trick of casting down his eyes which gives him a look that is best described by the word “coy”; that trick is always a danger-signal to the other side.
I do not find many contemporary authors willing to provide their sleuth with an unflattering appearance.
A dramatic scene ensues when a letter from a murder victim containing an accusation from the grave is handed to the Coroner at an Inquest by the deceased’s sister.
In The Case of Major Gibson the unfortunate Gibson loses badly at baccarat. Later that night, contemplating a gloomy future as he has gambled away thousands of pounds, he observes a woman passing a necklet to a man. After she departs he confronts the man and gets the necklet. In turn, he is confronted over the necklet but refuses, as a gentleman, to slander the woman by saying she was involved.
Gibson’s reputation is destroyed. He goes to see Mulligan about a slander suit that he was not a thief.
The Orczy stories were published in The Windsor Magazine in 1903. I believe the author’s story of Major Gibson was inspired by the events of the famous Baccarat case of 1890 in which Sir William Gordon-Cumming rashly sued for defamation after being accused of cheating at baccarat.
The wily Mulligan advises Gibson a defamation action is ill-advised. Sir William Gordon-Cumming should have had similar advice.
Mulligan does engage in an ethically questionable meeting featuring abundant lies to gain Gibson’s vindication.
I loved Mulligan’s comment:
“Now, I am not one for believing that there is ever a truth without any proof …”
The story showed how a clever author can take a real life event and make it their own.
The Ides of March by E.W. Hornung introduced me to A.J. Raffles, “Cricketer and Criminal”. Late at night Raffles is accosted in his rooms by his old public schoolmate, Bunny, who cannot cover his losses at baccarat. He is a desperate man. Raffles calms Bunny, convincing him to lower the revolver, with which he was threatening suicide. Bunny reveres the suave Raffles saying he was “the most masterful man whom I have ever known”.
Unless they can raise money that night Bunny’s honour will be shattered. I was reminded again of the consequences for honour and status in English society of the 1890's as set out in The Baccarat Case mentioned above.
Raffles is a great cricketer. He explains to Bunny that It is important to have another career when a criminal:
To follow crime with reasonable impunity you simply must have a parallel ostensible career - the more public the better. The principle is obvious ... fill the bill in some prominent part and you will never be suspected of doubling it with another of equal prominence.
Raffles explains to Bunny that he lives by his wits, cricketing is not lucrative, and equally broke. Bunny is ready to do whatever Raffles proposes to raise money. Bunny is loyal but not swift of thought. Only when they are in a room above a jeweler’s store does he grasp that they will engage in burglary.
Raffles displays remarkable skill and knowledge in dealing with locks.
Raffles is a gentleman burglar. Two years ago I learned of the fictional Raffles while reading a book of non-fiction - A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue by Dean Jobb. Arthur Barry was a debonair real life rogue robbing the wealthy of New York City and Long Island often while they were eating dinner or asleep.
Raffles explains why he is a thief:
Why settle down to some humdrum uncongenial billet, when excitement, romance, danger and a decent living were all going begging together? Of course, it’s very wrong, but we can’t all be moralists, and the distribution of wealth is very wrong to begin with. Besides, you’re not at it all the time.
Arthur Barry was equally a man not to shrink from the limelight. He was a bon vivant in New York City’s best social circles and clubs in the 1920’s creating the impression he was a man of leisure with independent means.
Raffles and Barry both love diamonds and are eager to relieve the wealthy of them.
It has been a long time since I read the compact mystery stories of magazines. I had forgotten how intriguing magazine mysteries can be as they focus on the mystery having but a few pages for the story.
****
No comments:
Post a Comment