(5. - 1247.) The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes 2 selected and introduced by Alan K. Russell (1979) - Part I - Books come to readers in various ways. Just after Christmas a year ago Sharon, our older son Jonathan, our granddaughters Hannah (7) and Hazel (5) and myself went to the Fair’s Fair used bookstore in the Inglewood area of Calgary. I gave the girls $20 each to buy books. Both of them carefully added up the books they could buy with $20. Hazel desperately wanted an additional book for $5. She worked out with her Dad that she could use $5 from her saved allowance money to get the extra book.
I wandered the store and came across The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes 2 which contains 46 stories from “a Golden era of crime and detective fiction”. The stories from 18 different authors were published in the magazines that abounded around the turn of the 20th Century. Illustrations that accompanied the stories when published are included.
The collection began with The Spawn of Fortune by Angus Evan Abbott. In 7 pages, including 2 pages of drawings, Abbott recounts an intense encounter on the London underground. For this one story I will provide a spoiler which reveals the ending.
Arthur Brackenbridge has entered a first class compartment with a gun so that he can commit suicide. He is facing a warrant for fraudulent bankruptcy and his fortune is gone. He is certain his fiancee will forsake him. A brawny stranger rushes in disturbing Brackenbridge’s privacy. Brackenbridge wants him to leave so he can kill himself. The stranger, in conversation with Brackenbridge, establishes that Brackenbridge can prove his innocence and does not know if he has lost his fiancee. It was shame and embarrassment that were causing the suicidal plan. The stranger convinces him that only being a murderer justifies suicide. Brackenbridge leaves his gun with the stranger and departs. The stranger, who has just committed murder, takes the revolver and kills himself.
It is a brilliantly crafted haunting story with an all too credible ending.
The second sleuth is Romney Pringle (author Clifford Ashdown). In the introduction he is described as a type of Raffles - a gentleman thief. Last year in A Gentleman and a Thief by Dean Jobb I read of a real life Raffles in Arthur Barry who was a jewel thief in Long Island and around New York City in the 1920’s.
Robert Barr’s story featured Monsieur Eugine Valmont “formerly high in the service of the French Government”, and now a private detective in London. A brilliant dapper man, I was reminded of Hercule Poirot though Poirot debuted 16 years after Barr’s detective appeared in Pearson’s Magazine.
I was struck that there were stories where there was a clever heist and the thief was never caught. The pleasure was in seeing how the crime was committed. It is exceedingly rare in the modern crime fiction I have read for the villain to be successful.
The stories are well written with interesting characters. I was struck that they are not filled with dramatic shifts and twists. Modern crime fiction seeks out drama.
There are a series of Professor Van Dusen stories by Jacques Futrelle. The professor, looking vaguely like Albert Einstein before Einstein was known, is a master of logic. His motto is:
“.... Remember that two and two always make four - not sometimes, but all the time.”
He rigorously follows logic and finds solutions.
Futrelle is deft with a phrase. He describes a master criminal as “so smooth that he made ice feel like sandpaper”. Sadly Futrelle was gone at 36 in the sinking of the Titanic.
One of my favourite stories involved a lawyer. In The Tragedy of a Third Smoker by Cutliff Hyne an experienced barrister, the Q.C., recounts defending a Mr. Guide charged with murder. Despite compelling evidence Guide claims he did not kill Mr. Walker and the murder must have been done by an unknown third party. Recognizing the defence of the unknown stranger is virtually impossible, the Q.C. sets out to find a plausible alternative killer. The police allow him to review the evidence as “they were not exactly anxious to hand over a poor wretch to the hangman if he was not thoroughly deserving of a dance on nothing”. Following the path of all good counsel the Q.C. carefully examines the evidence and considers how Walker died.
I noted that none of the sleuths killed a villain. They were arrested and brought before the courts.
The book prompted so many thoughts I will have a series of posts concerning the book.
I'm very glad you enjoyed this collection, Bill, and I can see how there's a lot to say about it. The stories do sound interesting, and I like that they're different stories with different main characters and so on. That can make for a nice variety. And yet, I can see the common threads, too, among the stories. Interesting!
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