Thu 6 Feb 2020
Archived Review: BASIL COPPER – The Curse of the Fleers.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Reviews[4] Comments
BASIL COPPER – The Curse of the Fleers. St. Martin’s, hardcover, 1977. No US paperback edition. Published previously in the UK by Harwood-Smart, hardcover, 1976. Reprinted by PS Publishing , UK. hardcover, 2012.
There are mysterious things happening in an old manor house located in a remote corner of Dorsett, and a wounded army officer oon leave is called upon to investigate. The ancestral home of the Fleers comes intact with all the required trappings: decaying towers and battlements, endless passageways, underground catacombs and unexplored caverns, and of course, an ancient curse on the family living within.
Copper tries hard, casting suspicions far and wide, but he can’t add any life to this tale, many times told. Not my cup of tea. Maybe yours?
Bibliographic Update: Basil Copper was a prolific British author of both crime and supernatural fiction. He is best known for a long series of stories about Solar Pons, a Sherlock Holmes read-alike first created by August Derleth. Unknown to most readers in the US, he also wrote over 50 novels chronicling the adventures of American PI Mike Faraday.
February 6th, 2020 at 1:59 pm
Copper disowned the edition reviewed here, as it was badly tampered with by the publisher. The 2012 edition presents a reconstruction of Copper’s original intentions, based on manuscripts and notes.
February 6th, 2020 at 4:35 pm
Thanks for the update on this, Patrick. It’s something I certainly didn’t know when I wrote this review, and in fact didn’t know it yesterday when I posted it here on my blog.
I found a fellow blogger who reviewed the updated version, and quite favorably too. He ends the review by saying:
“It’s a well written and hugely enjoyable example of the gothic novel which lovers of Sherlock Holmes and Hammer will thoroughly enjoy…”
https://theblackabyss.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/the-curse-of-the-fleers-by-basil-copper/
February 8th, 2020 at 6:34 pm
I enjoyed Copper’s private eye books and his Solar Pons pastiche (of a pastiche), and a few of his horror books in a Lovecraftian vein, but he was more about reliable thrills than invention.
February 8th, 2020 at 8:36 pm
David
Your last statement is right on the money.
I’ve always considered his Solar Pons stories as readable, but they always felt to me as being copies of of copies, and never having the flair of true originality.
This may be because once again, he complained bitterly that his first US publisher of the Pons stories (Pinnacle) revised them badly without his permission.
This is why I wasn’t surprised to learn that the same thing happened with this FLEERS book.
His long-running PI books never caught on in the US, and I can see why. Quite derivative to a fault and never rising above C-level.