Thu 2 Mar 2017
Archived Locked Room Mystery Review: JOHN SLADEK – Black Aura.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[8] Comments
JOHN SLADEK – Black Aura. Walker, US, hardcover, 1979; paperback, 1983. First edition: Jonathan Cape, UK, hardcover, 1974.
Thackeray Phin, two years an Englishman and bemoaning his lack of a career as an amateur detective, decides to undertake an investigation on his own into the psychic medium business. His ensuing encounter with the Aetheric Mandala Society also, but not unexpectedly, brings him into another murder case at last.
A sense of humor is both a requirement and the redeeming virtue here. Several deft jabs at the conventional murder mystery land none too gently. Several disappearances from locked rooms and one faulty attempt at levitation enter into the spirit of the occasion.
The closing explanations are obviously written by an expert choreographer of such matters — the master, John Dickson Carr himself, would be well pleased — but do be warned that the characters are otherwise strictly of the stick figure variety.
Bibliographic Notes: A second and final case (**) for Thackeray Phin was Invisible Green, published in this country by Walker, also in 1979. John Sladek himself was primarily known as a science fiction writer.
(**) Not quite so. See the comments for information about two cases that Phin solved in short story form.
March 2nd, 2017 at 9:20 pm
I remember very little about this one, other than what I said in the review itself. As soon as I can find my copy of the book, I’ll read it again.
If you’re interested, another longer review can be found on the Only Detect blog:
https://onlydetect.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/john-sladek-black-aura-1974/
March 3rd, 2017 at 10:04 am
Steve – There’s also a short review in which Sladek explains why he didn’t write more locked room stories here:
http://carrdickson.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-case-of-falling-pop-star.html
March 3rd, 2017 at 11:36 am
Thanks, Mike. Here’s a brief excerpt:
“Those two novels suffered mainly from being written about 50 years after the fashion for puzzles of detection. I enjoyed writing them, planning the absurd crimes and clues, but I found I was turning out a product the supermarket didn’t need any more — stove polish or yellow cakes of laundry soap. One could starve very quickly writing locked-room mysteries like those. SF has much more glamour and glitter attached to it, in these high-tech days.”
What’s embarrassing, though, is the review you found of both books by Jeff Meyerson on this blog:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=2090
I”d forgotten all about it!
March 3rd, 2017 at 12:12 pm
I know what you mean, Steve, about forgetting about stuff. If I didn’t have access to a search engine I’d never find anything.
March 5th, 2017 at 12:08 am
I recall this one and his SF pleasantly.
March 5th, 2017 at 4:03 pm
“Second and final case” is not strictly true; while there are only the two Phin novels, he does also appear in two or three short stories.
Incidentally, I knew John Sladek (very slightly) via the local (Minneapolis) science fiction scene, and attended his funeral, which featured light jazz and many humorous anecdotes from his friends.
March 5th, 2017 at 6:48 pm
Thanks for the correction, Denny!
March 5th, 2017 at 7:00 pm
Given the impetus provided by Denny, I’ve come up with three locked room short stories Sladek wrote, two with Phin:
“By An Unknown Hand”
Detective: Thackeray Phin
Collection: The Times Anthology of Detective Stories (1972); Maps: The Uncollected John Sladek.
“It Takes Your Breath Away”
Detective: Thackeray Phin
Originally printed in theatre programmes for a London play, 1974 (now included in Maps).
“The Locked Room”
Detective: Fenton Worth
Collection: New Worlds Quarterly No.4 1972; Keep The Giraffe Burning (1977)