Mon 21 Jan 2008
CHARLES TODD – A False Mirror. Harper; paperback reprint, January 2008. Harper hardcover edition, January 2007.
Some facts first, some of which you probably know already, but if so, please bear with me. Or not, if you prefer, if your interest in mystery fiction consists more often of espionage thrillers, comic heists and/or high grade private eye dramas, none of which applies here.
According to Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, “Charles Todd” is the joint pen name of the (I believe) unique mother-and-son writing team of David Charles Todd Watjen & Carolyn L. T. Watjen. A Test of Wills, their first mystery novel, was also the first case solved by Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard. The book appeared in 1996, and they’ve averaged close to a novel a year ever since. A False Mirror is their 10th, and Rutledge has appeared in all but one of them, a standalone entitled The Murder Stone.
From here it gets complicated. As a survivor of World War I (as yet unnumbered in 1919 and the 1920s, when the stories take place), Rutledge carries bitter memories of the conflict wherever he goes. In particular, in his head he hears the voice of Hamish MacLeod, a young Scottish soldier he had executed for refusing to obey orders during the worst of the war. The irony is that Rutledge now knows that given one more day of battle and the bloody onslaught, he would have refused orders to keep fighting on as well.
Such is the background if not the underlying theme, and for folks like me, who pick up the ninth one as the first one, it takes some time for the explanation to be worked into the opening pages without disrupting the flow of the new tale being told. Hamish acts not only as a nagging conscience, but also as a Watson upon whom Rutledge tests his thoughts and observations, except that this particular (and antagonistic) Watson is not at all interested in telling the tale himself.
It’s an interesting concept, and the Todds’ books have attracted a lot of attention, including mine, although until now only in terms of curiosity, having not picked one up to read until now. My first reaction: This is a dark and gloomy tale filled with sharply drawn characterizations.
In the small coastal town of Hampton Regis, a man Rutledge knew not well (and not favorably) in France has taken a woman as a hostage in her home, and he refuses to budge until Rutledge arrives. The man is believed to have attacked the woman’s husband, once of the Foreign Service, and left him near death on the shore.
Rutledge arrives, and my second reaction is this: Very few detective stories can withstand the weight of nearly 400 pages of small print. Rutledge seems to do a lot, but very little gets done; and what seems as though should have been done as standard procedure seems to get little thought. Such as (primarily) the failure to keep a guard over the badly wounded victim, who disappears into the night soon after he begins to gain consciousness, leaving the doctor’s wife bludgeoned to death.
The ending – the revelation of the killer’s identity – is equally mismanaged – not badly, but without the sureness (and brilliance) that one expects (and hopes for!) after several nights of intense reading just before bed. (It took me around eight installments averaging fifty pages each.)
To be more precise, the tale is not strong on fair play detection, although the opportunity’s there. It could have been done. Toward the end an accusing finger is pointed at each of the possible killers in turn, but to do this well, an expert is needed. When the strings trailing from the authors’ hands begin to show, that’s when you’ll know the authors aren’t that kind of expert yet. (Or at least, not this time.)
On the other hand, I wouldn’t have kept reading if the authors who write as Charles Todd didn’t know people, and knew how to make them come alive, as often in anguish (mental) as they are. Noir? You bet. All the way.
January 21st, 2008 at 5:36 pm
For another mother-and son writing team, you would probably have to go back over a hundred years to Kate (1851-1935) and Hesketh (1876-1922) Prichard; they published (among others)books about Flaxman Low (a psychic detective) and the adventurous Don Q. Hesketh (reportly the model for Hornung’s Raffles) also wrote November Joe, the Detective of the Woods, which was included in Queen’s Quorum.
January 21st, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Jerry
So the Todds are not unique, after all. What do you know about that? The Prichards are new to me, but you’re absolutely right. Thanks!
Here’s what The Ash-Tree Press has to say about them:
“In 1951, Ellery Queen published ‘Queen’s Quorum’: a listing of what, in the authors’ opinion, were the 106 most important books published in the field of the mystery/crime story since 1845. Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard, one of the co-creators of the first ‘psychic detective’, Flaxman Low, takes his place on this list; but for another creation, the backwoods detective November Joe. Low does not receive a mention; instead, the first ‘ghost breaker’ (to use Queen’s own term) in detective fiction is noted as being William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki the ghost-finder, who did not appear on the scene in bookform until 1913, some fifteen years after Flaxman Low debuted in the pages of Pearson’s Magazine in 1898.
“Low was the joint creation of Hesketh-Prichard and his mother, Kate, who published the tales under the pen name ‘E. and H. Heron’. Six stories appeared in Pearson’s in 1898, and a further six followed in 1899, whereupon the tales were collected together in bookform and published complete later that year. In the introduction to the first story, the authors asked ‘Have ghosts any existence outside our own fancy and emotion?’, and wrote that Low ‘approached the elucidation of so-called supernatural problems on the lines of natural law’. Just as Sherlock Holmes was the court of last appeal for those who had exhausted more official channels, so Flaxman Low is the last hope for those unfortunate people who are faced with a mystery that seems beyond all natural laws, and which imperils not only their bodies, but in some cases their very souls.”
CONTENTS: Introduction by Jack Adrian; The Story of the Spaniards, Hammersmith; The Story of Medhans Lea; The Story of the Moor Road; The Story of Baelbrow; The Story of the Grey House; The Story of Yand Manor House; The Story of Sevens Hall; The Story of Saddler’s Croft; The Story of No. 1 Karma Crescent; The Story of Konnor Old House; The Story of Crowsedge; The Story of Mr Flaxman Low
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Here’s a little bit more information on the Prichards. Their character Don Q (described as a “Spanish Robin Hood”) first saw print around the turn of the last century in short stories. Two collections were printed (The Chronicles of Don Q, 1904, and The New Chronicles of Don Q [apa Don Q in the Sierrra}, 1906, as well as one novel, Don Q’s Love Story, 1925. The novel was the basis of a 1925 film Don Q, Son of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Astor. For those who would like to sample the Prichards, Don’s Q’s Love Story was reprinted as recently as 2005; the two collections are available online through Google Book Search.
As you noted, the twelve Flaxman Low stories have been reprinted recently by Ash-Tree Pree Press. The first six stories were first published in Pearson’s Magazine in 1898; the remaining six in 1899. The entire series was published as Ghosts, Being the Experiences of Flaxman Low in 1899. It was then published in two volumes (as Ghost Stories and More Ghost Stories) in 1917 under the byline “E. and H. Heron”. Some of the stories are available in various anthologies that have been published recently, and six of them are currently available online at Horrormasters.com under the “Heron” by-line. The stories I have read dated but very enjoyable.
Two other novels by the Prichards are available online (at Google Book Search): A Modern Mercenary (1899) and The Cahusac Mystery (1912).
Although November Joe, the Detective of the Woods is out of copyright, I have not been able to find it online, nor has it been recently reprinted. Ditto, the Pritchards’ first collection of stories, Roving Hearts (1903). Their story “The Fever Queen” (which I believe came from the Roving Hearts collection) has been reprinted by Hugh Lamb in his anthology Tales from a Gas-Light Graveyard.
A check of Amazon.com shows that two non-fiction books by Hesketh Prichard have been reprinted fairly recently: Sniping in France with Notes on the Scientific Training of Scouts, Observers, and Snipers (evidently a classic of its type) and Where Blacks Rule White: A Journey Across and About Hayti.
Amazon.com also shows a 1925 biography by Eric Parker: Hesketh Prichard, D. S. O., M. C.: Hunter, Explorer, Naturalist, Cricketer, Author, Soldier. A Memoir.
All this is probably way more information than you would ever possibly want to know…
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Thanks, Jerry. When it comes to mystery writers, there’s no such thing as too much information! –Steve
June 2nd, 2010 at 7:16 pm
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