Thu 8 Jul 2010
Archived Review: GEORGE C. CHESBRO – In the House of Secret Enemies.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[9] Comments
GEORGE C. CHESBRO – In the House of Secret Enemies. Mysterious Press, hardcover, September 1990; reprint paperback: January 1992.
Quiz time. Can you think of another series character who began his existence in Mike Shayne’s Mystery Magazine and whose adventures eventually ended up in hardcover? (I don’t know the answer, if there is one. I’m only asking.)
This is the collection of such a man, Dr. Robert Frederickson, a/k/a Mongo the Magnificent. Mongo is a dwarf, a former circus acrobat, a Ph.D. in criminology, and a practicing private detective. There have been at least eight full-length novels chronicling his cases, and wide-open woolly cases they are, indeed.
In his introduction to this gathering of stories from Mike Shayne and Alfred Hitchcock, as well as one from An Eye for Justice (edited by Robert J. Randisi, 1989), Chesbro tells something of Mongo’s creation, and how the character developed.
Part of how Mongo began to take on a life of his own, Chesbro says, was his need to be respected, in compensation for his physical lack of stature. And I think that’s the reason the stories take the direction they do. These are not your ordinary PI bill of fare, none of them.
The first few Chesbro wrote deal with drug smugglers and espionage agents, but when the adventures begin to involve Mongo with agents of sensory deprivation, psychic healing and out-right witchcraft, you know they’ve become more than a step further out.
To tell you the truth, I don’t think there is a world for Mongo other than this. As a character he simply couldn’t live in the world of a Spenser and/or a V.I. Warshawski.
That said, I still have to admit that I liked the “every-day” adventures better — the occult underground really being no match for the much more believable terrors of reality. The final story, “Candala,” a story of the Indian caste system as it still exists today, is my case in point — and it’s the story Chesbro is proudest of also.
Previously on this blog:
Shadow of a Broken Man (A 1001 Midnights review by John Lutz, posted here on the occasion of Chesbro’s death.)
July 8th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Chesbro was one of the bright lights of the period he wrote in. Toward the end I didn’t care how preposterous the plot got as long as I was in the company of Mongo and company.
And how many other writers could have brought off a good mystery that borrowed the basic plot of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, right down to a talking ape called Golly? Much less a later title when Mongo relieves himself on a werewolf (more or less). I’m just not sure how Spenser or V.I. would handle that situation.
At some point the actual plots of the books took a back seat to merely being in the company of Mongo and Garth, but that was enough for me, by then the books had ceased to be an individual group of books and become a saga and Mongo’s stature as a character considerably greater than his height.
And though I agree that Mongo can only exist in his own world I would argue that was true of Nero Wolfe and Archie too — another series that in a different way transcended the individual titles to become a continuing saga. Like Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise Mongo goes beyond any individual title achieving the creation of its own world.
The best thing I can say of Chesbro and Mongo is that I miss them. Nothing else has taken their place so far I’m sad to say, and I’m sorry there will be no new adventures of Mongo to come.
And these collected shorts are a good intro for anyone who doesn’t know Mongo. Read them and then start on the books. But be willing to let yourself be carried along and you won’t care how wild the plots may get — just enjoy the company and Chesbro’s unique magic. There really hasn’t been anything like them.
And for those of you who insist on some realism Chesbro writes children — particularly children with problems — better than just about any writer I know of, without being cloying, condescending, or exploitive. Of course he was a successful and pioneering teacher of children with problems in his other profession, and it shows in his unique and humanistic way of dealing with those different that the rest of us.
Re MIKE SHAYNE, the only series that I can think of that was collected at all unless it was something by Ed Hoch was THE AMAZON by Mel D. Ames, and that’s hardly in a class with Chesbro and Mongo.
July 8th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
It’s not quite the same thing, but Dennis Lynds’ Slot-Machine Kelly stories in MSMM evolved into the Dan Fortune novels later on.
July 8th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
James
It’s an even better answer than that. Crippen & Landru published Lynds’ Slot-Machine Kelley stories in hardcover back in 2005, as by Michael Collins:
http://www.crippenlandru.com/books.php?bookID=71
David’s suggestion of Mel Ames is almost as good, except that the book came out in softcover only. A minor technicality.
And of course there’s James’ own collection of stories from Mike Shayne, OLD TIMES’ SAKE (Ramble House, pb, 2007), which again comes so close to qualifying that let’s say that it does.
This came up once before on this blog. See https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=100 .
Quoting myself at the time: There were four “Markham” stories, he [James] says, calling Markham “sort of a dry run for my private eye character Cody, who appeared in the novel TEXAS WIND.
Among other MSMM authors whose work might be collected, if anyone’s listening, is William L. Fieldhouse, who wrote a series of stories about Major Lansing, who as I recall was an Army CID investigator based in Europe.
— Steve
July 9th, 2010 at 12:05 am
David
Getting back to Mongo, you make me wish that I’ve read more of his adventures than I have. Easily remedied, of course, as I have them all.
— Steve
July 9th, 2010 at 6:00 am
Good to know about the Collins and James Reasoner’s series — those clearly go on the list.
And …
James
Who do we contact at Hard Case (or anywhere) to get TEXAS WIND back in print?
July 9th, 2010 at 7:47 am
I read this one almost 20 years ago so my memories are hazy. They are more vivid of Chesbro’s non-series Bone, which really impressed me.
July 9th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
BONE was an excellent stand alone suspense novel. It’s a shame Chesbro didn’t do more of them. He was a gifted writer and proved as capable with a stand alone as with his Mongo, Veil, and Chant series.
July 9th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
David
Backing up to comment #5, TEXAS WIND is in print. Amazon says it was published by Wildside Press in 2005, and they have it in stock. (I think it was reprinted first by Point Blank Press, but either that was a subsidiary of Wildside, or Wildside took them over later on.)
— Steve
July 9th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I remember that Crippen & Landru collection of the Slot-Machine Kelly stories but had forgotten there was a hardcover edition of it as well.
I thought of another one: Joe Lansdale’s Ray Slater stories were reprinted in a book called PRIVATE EYE ACTION AS YOU LIKE IT, along with some of Lew Shiner’s stories and a collaboration or two between them.
Point Blank Press has always been part of Wildside.