Thu 6 Dec 2018
A Pulp Fiction Review by David Vineyard: MAX BRAND – The Darkness at Windon Manor.
Posted by Steve under Pulp Fiction , Reviews[7] Comments
MAX BRAND – The Darkness at Windon Manor. Altus Press, 2018. Introduction by William F. Nolan. Originally serialized in Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 21 thru May 12, 1923.
Andrew Creel, the hero of this 1923 crime novel originally serialized in Argosy All-Story Weekly and not appearing in novel form until this Altus Press reprint, is a somewhat bored and disaffected young man whose chance acquaintance with a close look alike on board ship leads him to be mistaken for his near twin and then fall in with an audacious group of businessmen turned super criminals who have taken up residence in the title’s Windon Manor after a bank failure wiped out their fortunes eight years earlier. (The idea that successful businessmen were only one step away from crime has always been popular in American fiction.)
The mistaken identity and the hero who accidentally falls in with a gang of criminals and is forced to play along to foil them is also an old theme, and certainly Brand himself played numerous variations on the theme of the look-a-like hero, most notably in Montana Rides, but here the unique touch is that Creel soon finds he likes being Edward Ormonde, master criminal, and that it fits him all too well.
Far from reluctant victim, Creel embraces his new identity which frees him from his ennui and falls in love with Anne Berwick, the heroine of the story, herself a jewel thief whose father betrayed the group.
As the novel opens, James Ashe who formed the group, and who also loves Anne, has returned to Windon Manor suspected of murdering Ormonde, his rival, who managed to recover an important case stolen by Anne’s father and who is returning it as part of a deal to spare the senior Berwick’s life.
Creel, having been identified as Ormonde by one of the conspirators at dockside is taken to Windon Manor, where playing along he learns the backstory of this dangerous and murderous lot.
Creel soon finds himself with two unexpected allies in his charade, Anne, who goes along with him to protect her father, and Ashe, the dangerous leader of the gang who Creel bluffs by seeming to know more than he really does, then audaciously challenges that he will win Anne away from him in the two days’ respite he is given to live.
The style here is more E. Phillips Oppenheim than Dashiell Hammett. — Brand’s Anthony Hamilton stories were also influenced by Oppenheim, in fact, it is pretty much an Oppenheim plot despite the American setting — with more talk than action, but it is fairly bright conversation and moves at a pace. And Creel and Anne make attractive leads playing at dangerous games with Ashe and the others, and as Creel soon demonstrates he is more than a match for the criminal Ormonde at his own game.
Despite Brand’s penchant for one particularly annoying stylistic tic that grinds my back teeth whenever he employs it, as he too often does even in his best works (The jaw of Ashe set hard/ The eyes of Ashe wavered/The whistling of Creel continued…) Darkness at Windon is an entertaining crime novel moving swiftly and building up to an audacious bank robbery and down to the wire conclusion that admittedly is a bit more Leslie Charteris than Oppenheim despite the half-hearted reformation required by the norms of the era.
Historically that echo of anarchy and adventure was already changing British popular fiction with the rise of the gentleman adventurer Creel resembles and would transform crime fiction soon in the pages of Black Mask and others this side of the Atlantic (Brand included) albeit on the right side of the law.
December 6th, 2018 at 10:24 pm
My copy of the Altus Press book is on order and should arrive any day now. How would anyone like me (and maybe you) be able to find all four of those old issues of ARGOSY this novel first appeared in? In two words, im possible.
December 7th, 2018 at 4:13 pm
I once collected Max Brand and this is the sort of thing that would make me add yet another item to the collection. I think I will pass for the time being as I’m not likely to find the time to read it.
December 7th, 2018 at 7:27 pm
I don’t believe that Max Brand’s mystery stories are as good as his westerns, but after reading David’s review, I’m looking forward to thus one.
Of all pf his vast output, I’ve never read any of his adventures of Tizzo the Firebrand, which take place in 16th century Renaissance Italy. It’s not a time period that I find of any interest to me — in fiction, that is — and if I ever come across any of his western stories told from the point of view of a wolf or a horse I skip it immediately.
December 7th, 2018 at 8:56 pm
Brand’s crime fiction is a mix. This one is not bad, and he did one hardboiled mystery that has a decent reputation.
The Firebrand stories are good swashbucklers and remind us that Brand was also a classical scholar and well versed in history. If you like swashbucklers they are fun.
I actually like the Dr. Kildare stories, the early ones in particular are fast paced well written pulp.
December 7th, 2018 at 10:16 pm
I don’t know what it says about me, but I’d completely forgotten that Max Brand also wrote the Dr. Kildare stories. I don’t think I came across them until after the TV series was on, which meant of course there was no chance I’d ever read one of them. Not that the TV show was particularly bad, but I never watched MARCUS WELBY either, nor ER for that matter.
December 7th, 2018 at 10:28 pm
The first one, INTERNS CAN”T TAKE MONEY is a fairly tough tale that was the basis of the non-series film with Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck that kicked off the Lew Ayres/Lionel Barrymore series. It ran originally in ARGOSY.
December 10th, 2018 at 2:37 pm
Our public library had all of the Dr. Kildare books and I read all of them when I was in high school in the early 1950s. I started picking up the books for my collection later on and found the last title I needed (The Secret of Dr. Kildare, I think) at an antique book dealer’s at the MN State Fair. I was so elated the dealer thought I was nuts. No, he was sure I was.