Sat 11 Sep 2010
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: JOSEPH SAMUEL РThe Murdered Clich̩.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[2] Comments
William F. Deeck
JOSEPH SAMUEL РThe Murdered Clich̩. Quality Press, UK, hardcover, 1947. No US edition.
If this reviewer has any weaknesses, a charge he would vigorously dispute, revealing too much about a book would be foremost. That, of course, presupposes that he understands the book or pretends, if he thinks he can get away with it, that he understands the book.
Too much about this one won’t be revealed. In fact, I’m not sure what cliché was murdered.
Samuel’s dedicating the novel “To the Marx Brothers” ‘ should provide a pointer as to what sort of book it will be. The Marx Brothers, however, were lunatics in a sane world, or perhaps vice versa. Here, all is lunatic.
Basil Lord Maltravers, who never did anything with reason, being beyond that sort of pettiness, is found dead by his butler, not in the library or billiard room but in the bathroom, seated upon the commode for the most part, his head having been disattached and placed in the tub.
The butler contends to Lady Maltravers, in her “early plenties,” that it’s murder: “‘Well, I put it to you,’ he began argumentatively, ‘there’s a guy, sat down from his neck down and going to have a bath from his neck up. Now, that’s alright if he’s the kind of man who bathes stood on his head with a chair strapped to his seat. But I think I can say, Ma’am, his Lordship was always free from that kind of bias.'”
Into Elvers Towers, home of the Maltravers, comes Inspector Crimble, stolid, full of common sense, able to move swiftly despite his weight, to scratch his head in perplexity, to be out in all kinds of weather, to hang on with a “‘bulldop” grip, and for all his apparent simplicity not easily led up the garden path. We have seen his like before — and, I believe, since.
But Crimble, despite his many accomplishments, needs help to deal with Lord Maltravers’s wife and the weekend guests–the Hon. Percy Fitznoggy, old Lady Dewlap, young Jimmy Coker, Peggy Chumleigh, and old Amos Boustead, all of them certifiably bonkers, including Crimble. The servants aren’t much better.
Thus, Crimble calls upon Mercure Poitrine, whose waxed mustaches and idiosyncrasies may remind some readers of another Gallic detective. And I didn’t think Poirot could be lampooned! Poitrine solves the case, but–
Well, you wouldn’t believe the ending even if I were so brave as to reveal it. Full of bad puns, some of them amusing, and utterly strange conversations, this novel will appeal only to a few, say those who like me enjoy the early Max Shulman of Barefoot Boy with Cheek or Ross H. Spencer’s caper novels.
Bibliographic Note: This is the only book by this author to have warranted inclusion in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, unless of course Joseph Samuel is not his real name, and then all bets are off.
September 11th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
One the advantages of doing this blog is that I get to go hunting for books that come along and are reviewed here before everyone else.
I’ve found a copy, sans jacket and in only good condition, for less than $15. The next cheapest I found was in the $30 range. One with a jacket, such as the one shown above, might run you $80 or more.
Of course the last time I bragged like this, the seller couldn’t find his copy, and I had to hustle around for the next cheapest one.
But, as in this case, if you’re a fan of either Max Shulman or Ross H. Spencer (or both), what else are you going to do?
September 12th, 2010 at 8:05 am
Re Poirot spoofs my favorite is Leo Bruce in A CASE FOR THREE DETECTIVES, a Sgt. Beef novel. He also sends up Father Brown and Lord Peter in that one. Poirot, if memory serves, is Amer Picon.
And Poirot was himself something of a tribute to A.E.W. Mason’s Hanaud, as Seabury Quinn’s Jules de Grandin owed a good deal to Poirot.
Max Shulman and Ross Spencer — oh, my. Less Marxian than surrealistic I’d say. Sounds a bit like Eliot Paul’s Homer Evans, though less antic and perhaps a shade saner.
Those who like the send up aspect might enjoy Philip Wylie’s THE SMILING CORPSE (as by Anonymous) in which Dashiell Hammett, S.S. Van Dine, and Sax Rohmer solve a murder at a New York literary luncheon — or try to, or Corey Ford’s Philo Vance send up THE JOHN RIDDEL MURDER CASE with a group of authors the suspects and each chapter written in a different literary style.
More recently, James Bond fans might enjoy the Harvard Lampoon’s ALLIGATOR or the adventures of Oy Oy Seven by Sol Weinstein. There is also a delightful book by Laugh-In’s resident Englishman Jeremy Lloyd, THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN GREGORY DANGERFIELD, and Jack Smither’s COMBINED FORCES in which the aging heroes of Sapper, John Buchan, and Dornford Yates take on a final thrust by Irma Peterson from the old folks home.
Also from the period David Walker (WEE GEORDIE, HARRY BLACK AND THE TIGER …)had WINTER MADNESS about a Christmas party at a highland estate replete with a charming android, Nazi war criminals, Russian spies,the Mafia, an obnoxious genius child, his sexually precocious mother, and James Bond’s idiot fellow agent Tiger Clyde.
A bit saner, but not much, are Leo Rosten’s two books about Jewish p.i. Sidney Pinkus, SILKY and KING SILKY, a Kosher cross between Sam Spade, Cary Grant, and Jackie Mason. And much farther out, Michael Moorcock’s THE METATEMPORAL DETECTIVE featuring the adventures of Sir Seaton Beggs. Mark Gattiss Lucifer Box is a bi-sexual Victorian secret agent with a penchant for high adventure and surreal humor. Kim Newman’s stories of the Diogenes Club also fit the bill.
Though more or less straight mystery C. Daly King’s OBELISTS AT SEA and OBELIST FLY HIGH take a good many pot shots at the psychiatric profession while his attractive New York sleuth Captain Michael Lord does the real detection.
And if you aim you sense of humor a little lower the sixties are full of soft (and not so soft) porn spy spoofs like THE MAN FROM ORGY, COXEMAN, LADY FROM LUST, THE MAN FROM AUNTIE, and the highly collectable 0008 series by Clyde Allison. Behind the house names were some well known writers like Michael Avallone and Gardner Fox. And borderline in that category Lawrence Block’s Chip Harrison and Tanner series.
And of course a broad streak of humor ran in works by Craig Rice, Phoebe Atwood Taylor (also as Alice Tilton), the above mentioned Leo Bruce, Norbert Davis, Jonathan Latimer, Stuart Palmer, Richard Prather, the Ficklings, Joyce Porter, Francis Selwyn, the Lockridges, Kelly Roos, and too many more to list. For that matter Adam Hobhouse’s HANGMAN’S HOUSE (filmed by James Whale as REMEMBER LAST NIGHT) was pretty surrealistic itself.