EARL DERR BIGGERS – The Chinese Parrot. Charlie Chan #2. Bobbs Merrill, hardcover, 1926. Pocket #168, paperback; 1st printing, July 1942. Reprinted many times since, in both hardcover and paperback.

   The Charlie Chan stories are classics of detective fiction. However, classics of the past are not always to be read with enjoyment in the present. I reread The Chinese Parrot to see how well it holds its own with modern mysteries. My verdict is that it does so very well. The many details which are of its own time add to the interest rather than detracting from it: the use of the telegraph, the “flivvers,” the ubiquitous Chinese “boys” as servants.

   The story is one of murder surmised rather than known, an atmosphere of something wrong rather than a crime to be unraveled. It progresses as theory after theory put forth by young Bob Eden is proven wrong by Charlie Chan’s detective work.

   It is most unbelievable when Bob continues to bend to Charlie’s plea not to hand over the pearl necklace which he is supposed to deliver. Evidence of anything wrong at the Madden ranch is slim indeed; I have trouble believing that any impatient young man would procrastinate so on only the word of a Hawaiian detective he has never known before. However, it is necessary to the story that he delay, so delay he does.

   And delay at last brings the story to a smashing conclusion. Dated? Yes, of course, Outdated? Never.

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: It has been a while since one of Maryell’s reviews has appeared on this blog. Since that is so, let me reprint the following, which I wrote as a followup note to the first of her reviews here. This is from November 19, 2009:

   Maryell Cleary, who died in 2003, was an ordained minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church as well a voluminous reader and collector of detective fiction. I met her once while she was taking a trip by car through New England. She stopped here to look at my collection and to go through my duplicates, and of course we spent a long, wonderful afternoon talking about each of our favorite characters and authors.

   Maryell was especially fond of mysteries in the Golden Age tradition. In fact, she had a letter in the same issue of The Poisoned Pen as the one above in which she protested mildly that fans of private eye novels had taken over the pages of recent issues! More coverage, she requested, of authors like Martha Grimes, Ruth Rendell, Patricia Moyes, Charlotte MacLeod, Robert Barnard, Marian Babson, Dorothy Simpson and P. D. James.

   To that end she also wrote many reviews and articles herself for the mystery fanzines of 20 and 30 years ago, including the still late lamented Poisoned Pen, published for many years by Jeff Meyerson. I’ve conferred with Jeff, and we both agree that she would have liked her reviews to go on after her. They will appear here on a regular basis for some time to come — she wrote a lot of them!

MORIS FARHI – The Pleasure of Your Death. Omar James Baxter #1. Constable, UK, hardcover, 1972. No US edition.

   Meet Omar James Baxter, Turkish-Scottish-American stunt man and private detective. His client, Van Loon, received a threatening crossword (yes, that’s right), but is shot down despite Baxter’s presence.

   More killings follow, connected with a wartime resistance group, “The Crossword Veterans,” and somewhere there’s something for everyone (the ex-resistance, the ex-Nazis, British Intelligence, Baxter’s sexy girl friend Charity) is trying to find.

   The action is fast and furious, the sex scenes strangely impressive (maybe it’s me), and the twists in the plot sufficient to retain your interest. Distinctly offbeat, it fails by a short head to be really top class.

Bio-Bibliographic Update: An online seller of this books says: “Farhi is a Turkish-born author who has been vice president of International PEN and has campaigned for writers persecuted or imprisoned by repressive regimes throughout the world.”

   Farhi has one other book in Hubin, that being The Last of Days (Bodley Head, UK, hardcover, 1983). It does not appear to be a second adventure of Omar Baxter. There are less than a dozen copies of this book offered for sale on line, almost all of them with asking prices of $50 and up.

CHANDLER & CO. “On the Job.” BBC1, UK. 12 July 1994 (Series 1, Episode 1). Catherine Russell as Elly Chandler, Barbara Flynn as Dee Tate, Peter Capaldi as Larry Blakeson. Written by Paula Milne. Director: Renny Rye. Available in the UK on Region Two DVDs. This episode can be seen online here.

   Over the course of two seasons Chandler & Co. tells the story of a two-woman detective agency in London, starting of course at the beginning, with “On the Job” being the first episode. There is a little bit of back story that needs to be told ahead of time, though, and while it’s complicated, here it is: Elly Chandler is now divorced from her ex-husband, while Dee Tate is the man’s sister, who suggests to Elly (there are still close) that starting their own agency might help her through the breakup of her marriage.

   They realize that they are rather new at the game, however, so they call on Larry Blakeson to mentor them through the rough patches as they get started. Larry is the PI who Elly hired to get the goods on her now ex-husband. We’ve all been in situations such as this before, haven’t we, so we can relate.

   Their first two cases in “On the Job,” as they test their wings, involve marital infidelities – the kinds of cases that male PI’s always say they don’t take, and after watching this first episode, you can see why. The two ladies decided to take up the PI business because they like helping people, but after getting themselves involved in other people’s lives as much as they do in these two case, they are not so sure how much help they provided. In fact, there is a rift between them at the end of the show that is so severe that it makes the viewer wonder if there will be an episode two.

   But of course there was.

   All three of the main characters were extremely well chosen for their roles, and their roles were extremely well defined — an excellent show all around. It makes you wish that more episodes were available, just to be able to see the three of them in action more often. (In fact Peter Capaldi is not on often enough in this one.)

   It is also an interesting episode in another regard, which is to say that it starts out in semi-comedic fashion. The two women are klutzy at first, and getting some assistance from a real PI is obviously sorely needed. But as the episode goes along, the comedy aspects gradually disappear, as their choices of a new career start to look as though it were a big big mistake.

   Or in other words, very very interesting.

THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE. Warner Brothers.  Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Woods, Claire Dodd, Allen Jenkins, Barton MacLane, Warren Hymer, Olin Howland, Errol Flynn, and Mayo Methot. Screenplay by Tom Reed and Brown Holmes, from the novel by Erle Stanley Gardner. Directed by Michael Curtiz.

   A B-movie plot given A-movie class by Warners and Curtiz.

   If you only know Perry Mason from the TV show, prepare yourself for an enjoyable shock. Warren William plays Mason as a shyster par excellence, the kind of lawyer not above suborning perjury, manufacturing evidence, or hiding a witness when called for. In short, the kind of slimy-but-likeable rogue that was William’s stock in trade during his brief stardom. Just how brief we shall see shortly.

   The plot involves a lady-friend of Mason’s involved with a blackmailing bigamist who is promptly murdered, the lady’s milksop husband, his domineering dad, assorted minions of the law and the lawless, and Perry’s perennial friends and foes. And as plots go, this one is forgettable to the point of inducing amnesia.

   Fortunately, Bride is more than redeemed by the talents involved. Warners sprang for a top-notch supporting cast, location shooting in San Francisco, and the genius of director Michael Curtiz, who fills the screen with smooth camerawork, artsy dissolves, and a real sense of pace.

   More than this, though, Curtiz achieves a real sense of fellow-feeling and interaction among the players. When Perry trades quips with the coroner (Olin Howland) and Della Street (Claire Dodd) the affection between them comes right across the screen. And when moviedom’s arch-pugs Allen Jenkins and Warren Hymer meet, the atmosphere of imminent combat is so real you can feel the punches before they land.

   And there’s an interesting sidelight: When Bride was released, Warners was seriously considering Warren William for the lead in their upcoming Captain Blood. Instead, the part went to newcomer Errol Flynn, who spends most of his screen time here under a sheet, playing the murder victim. Flynn, of course, shot to stardom, while Warren William’s career began a slow spiral downward, a decline in the quality of his films that he handled with the grace he never failed to show on screen.
   

FRITZ LEIBER “The Sadness of the Executioner.” Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. First published in Flashing Swords #1, edited by Lin Carter (Dell, paperback original, July 1973). Collected in Swords and Ice Magic (Ace, paperback, 1977).

   Although this is nominally a Fahfrd and the Gray Mouser story, they don’t appear the ninth page of this 15 page tale, which is basically little more than long vignette. No, the main protagonist before then is Death, and in particular the death that services the World of Nehwon, and he has fallen behind on his duties. So far, as the story begins, he has to choose 200 of those now living to pass through to the other side.

   To that end, 196 have done so. He has four remaining, and two of them are our duly fated heroes, neither of who are aware of their upcoming destiny. Nonetheless destiny, or fate, has a way of stepping in, and Death being a sportsman, in spite of his inevitable cheating, decides to let it have its way.

   It was Leiber who is said to have coined the phrase “swords and sorcery” as a subgenre of the larger world of fantasy, and while a minor tale, “The Sadness of the Executioner” is a prime example.

   And as Lin Carter so states in his introduction to the story, Leiber’s finely tuned fantasy resembles in no way that of Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, among other similar and inimitably ruthless characters, and the other major author in the field. Which is why I still read Leiber’s work, while tales of Conan lie today with their pages unopened, at least by me.

   
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. 20th Century Fox, 1959. Pat Boone, James Mason, Arlene Dahl, Diane Baker, Thayer David. Screenplay by Walter Reisch and Charles Brackett, based on the novel by Jules Verne. Director: Henry Levin.

   At the heart of Journey to the Center of the Earth is a sense of childhood wonder. It’s a film that works best for those with a passion for exploration and a ripe imagination. After all, for a movie based on a Jules Verne work to be effective, it must stimulate those parts of the brain responsible for one’s imaginative faculties. One also has to suspend disbelief. Of course, there are no giant lizard creatures lurking about in the center of the planet. But imagine if only there were!

   The plot of this 20th Century Fox live action feature is simple enough. Professor Sir Oliver Lindenbrook (James Mason) of Edinburgh is a geologist by training. Ill-mannered and more than a little sexist, Lindenbrook is seemingly more passionate about rocks than his fellow man.

   When one of his star pupils, Alec McEwan (Pat Boone) brings him a curious geological specimen, Lindenbrook becomes obsessed as to its origins. As it turns out, the rock seems to point toward something much more profound than McEwan could have imagined; namely, that there is – somewhere in Iceland – a passageway deep into the center of the earth.

   Lindenbrook and McEwan, along with the widow of Lindenbrook’s rival, an Icelandic helper, and an adorable duck named Gertrude, set course on exploring the depths of the planet. Of course, such a story could not work unless there was an antagonist who is equally determined to stop the professor.

   Here comes the Icelandic nobleman Count Saknussemm (Thayer David). He is the typical Disney villain. Ready to kill when necessary, but not overtly evil – at least not the end of the film. The conflict between these two forces provides the necessary plot tension needed to make the movie work.

   That said, what makes Journey to the Center of the Earth such an enjoyable feature is not the plot per se. It’s rather the eclectic combination of myriad factors, each of individual import, that coalesce into a coherent whole. Film scenes involving people climbing through caves can only work if there is enough clever dialogue and witty banter.

   And let me assure you, of that there is plenty. Mason, with his distinctive accent and intonation, is pitch perfect. It’s sheer joy to listen to his portrayal of an arrogant professor, one gradually begins to change his tune once he realizes that he may not be as omniscient as he thought he was.

   Adding to the mystique of the movie are three other strong factors. First, the movie has an eerie score by Bernard Herrmann which can be heard here:

   In addition, the movie has great art direction and set design. Even at the beginning of the movie – the nominally boring part – you can clearly see the attention to detail that pervades this work. Be it in Lindenbrook’s home or laboratory.

   Similarly, there are numerous great set pieces throughout the movie, including a giant subterranean mushroom forest (with shades of psychedelia) and the sunken lost city of Atlantis which the exploration party happens upon at the very end.

   But don’t mistake my high praises for a lack of clarity as to the film’s weaknesses. There are quite a few, not the least of which was the decision to kill off the duck. Such a moment must have been quite shocking for young children who went to see a fun film.

   Equally disappointing – this time for adults – is the film’s refusal to depict any sign of sadness or grief on the part of the characters. They are all a little too staid, a little too bourgeois (it’s a term used in the film for a very specific reason).

   A little more passion, a little more anger on the part of the characters would have gone a long way in heightening the proceedings. Perhaps it would have removed some of the movie’s charm. But perhaps it would have given it a little more bite.

ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION. December 1966. [Cover by Kelly Freas.]   Overall rating: 2½ stars.

MACK REYNOLDS “Amazon Planet.” Serial, Part 1 of 3. See report following Feb 1967 issue.

BEN BOVA “The Weathermakers.” [Kinsman series] Novelette. A hurricane forces Project THUNDERBIRD to begin complete weather control in the East. Smooth, almost documentary style, but reasons for abandoning ship during storm are not clear. (3)

Update: Excerpt from the novel of the same name (Signet, paperback original, 1967). Included in many collections of Bova’s short fiction.

L. EDEY. The Blue-Penciled Throop. Twelve letter from Oswald Lempe, editor of a technical journal. (2)

Update: This was the author’s only work of science fiction.

KRIS NEVILLE “The Price of Simeryl.” Novelette. A Federation investigator considers a planetary government’s request for credit and guns. An interesting picture o what appears to be an entrenched bureaucracy, but the ending is dumb. (2)

Update: Collected in The Science Fiction of Kris Neville (Southern University Press, hardcover, 1984).

PHILIP LATHAM “Under the Dragon’s Tail.” An astronomer goes mad with the approach of the asteroid Icarus. (1)

Update: Reprinted in On Our Way to the Future, edited by Terry Carr (Ace, paperback, 1970).

JOHNSTON McCULLEY “The Murder Note.” The Green Ghost #5. Novelette. First published in Thrilling Detective, January 1935. Collected in The Swift Revenge of the Green Ghost, Altus Press, paperback, 2012. Reprinted in Shadow Justice: Classic and New Tales of Pulp Magazine Costumed Heroes, FuturesPast Editions, edited by ??, Kindle, 2016.

   I’m not exactly sure why it is that ordinary people take it up on themselves to dress up in costumes to fight criminals, but enough of them did for pulp collectors of our era to create a entire subcategory of hero pulps to include them in. (I’m not talking about comic books. They came along later and knowing a good thing when they saw it, then came the deluge.)

   It was probably an individual thing. In Danny Blaney’s case, he was framed by criminals and lost his official standing as a cop, and to get revenge on all such gangsters, takes his fight against the underworld by fighting them directly, putting on a green hood and gloves and becoming the Green Ghost. While doing the work of the law, he holds no good feeling for the cops who did not stand up for him, either.

   There were in all seven of his adventures that were recorded in the pages of Thrilling Detective, a second-rate detective pulp, between March 1934 and July 1935. If “The Murder Note” is an example, all of these tale were minor and undemanding. The idea of dressing up as the equivalent of a “caped crusader” was, however,  and still is, an idea that catches the imagination of many readers, then and now.

   In “The Murder Note” Danny is about to bring a mobster by the name of Rod Rordan to justice, only to find him dead in his apartment, already killed by another gang who plan on Danny being charged with the crime. A note so stating, mocking him, is left at the scene of the crime, a note that cannot be used as evidence, however, as it is written in disappearing ink.

   The story from here on out is pure action. Nothing more, and as the wise pundits always say, nothing less, with no particular twist to the tale in pages to come. It’s quite forgettable, in fact, but it doesn’t stop sellers from asking $494.99 and up for a copy of the Altus Press collection, now apparently out of print.

DOROTHY SIMPSON – The Night She Died. Inspecto Luke Thanet #1. Scribners, US, hardcover, 1981. Bantam, US, paperback, 1985. Originally published in the UK by Michael Joseph, hardcover, 1981.

   Dorothy Simpson’s Inspector Luke Thanet is a recent addition to the sympathetic-British-policeman school of detective fiction. Thus the book is somewhat derivative – Simpson has obviously read Aird, Rendell, and Thompson. – but she handles plot and character well. Especially engaging is her contrast between Thanet’s happy family life and the unhappiness of the suspects.

   The plot is about a young woman stabbed to death at her doorstep. It seems obvious that either her husband or her lecherous employer is responsible, but Thanet digs deeper to discover that the victim had witnessed a murder as a child twenty years earlier. Thanet believes that the two murders may be related.

   The solution, which is not revealed until the very end, is generally satisfactory, though it might have been explained more fully. Nonetheless Dorothy Simpson is a writer to watch.

Editorial Update: Doug knew well of which he spoke. There are in total 15 books in the series.

JANE ADAMS – Like Angels Falling. Ray Flowers #2. Macmillan, UK, hardcover, 2001. Joffe Books, UK, paperback, 2021, as The Unwilling Son.

   Ray Flowers has now resigned from the police force and is partners with his friend, George Mahoney, in a security and detection business. Eleven years ago, Ray was involved in investigating the murder of three young boys and Eyes of God cult leader, Harrison Lee, was convicted of the crimes. The cult headquarters exploded and only one young girl, Katie, survived but hasn’t spoken since that day.

   Now, suddenly, Katie proclaims “He’s coming back.” and runs away from the home of her foster parents back to the site of the cult. When a young boy disappears and his body is found in the same spot and position as Lee’s first victim, Ray is called in to help the police. Has someone taken over where Lee left off?

   Adams is very good at supernatural suspense. There is enough of each element to pull you in and keep you reading, but not so much as to be completely unbelievable. Because one can explain events either by reason or paranormal is what makes this book creepy. The tension is definitely there. The story is driven by plot, more than character, but it works because each character is strong and interesting enough to hold their own.

   Adams is bit hit or miss with me, but this was a definite hit.

Rating: Very Good.

   
      The Ray Flowers series —

1. The Angel Gateway (2000) aka The Apothecary’s Daughter
2. Like Angels Falling (2001) aka The Unwilling Son
3. Angel Eyes (2002)