Sun 13 Oct 2019
Archived Mystery Review: A. E. W. MASON – At the Villa Rose.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[7] Comments
A. E. W. MASON – At the Villa Rose. Inspector Gabriel Hanaud #1. Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hardcover, 1910. Scribner’s, US, hardcover, 1910. Serialized in nine parts in The Strand Magazine, beginning December 1909, as “Murder at the Villa Rose.” Reprinted many times, including Scribner’s Crime Classics, US, paperback, 1979, as Murder at the Villa Rose. Filmed four times: At the Villa Rose (silent, 1920), At the Villa Rose (1930), Le mystère de la villa rose [The Mystery of the Villa Rose] (in French, 1930), At the Villa Rose (1940). Also produced as a stage play (London, 1920).
A classic, as the Scribner’s paperback suggests? Consider the date it was first published, 1910, and here it is, back in print again. How many other books published in 1910 can you think of that you can say that about? And how many people of good taste must have read it by now? If it’s a classic, it will have had to have earned the title.
It is dated. If it were to be submitted to a publisher as newly written, there’s no doubt a revision would be demanded. Reading the first chapter relieves some fears, however — the symptoms of old age are there, but the book has not yet succumbed to the afflictions of rigor mortis.
In that first chapter, with precise pictorial writing, Mason described the first meeting of Mr. Ricardo with Mlle. Celie. She is on the verge of melancholy hysteria and despair outside a French casino; nest she is being soothed by the wealthy young English inventor, Mr. Wetherall.
On the very next night, Celie’s benefactress, whose companion she is, is robbed and murdered. The girl stands accused, at least of complicity. All the evidence, as well as the testimony of the maid, points directly to her. Nor does her background as a stage-variety spiritualist speak well on her behalf.
Mr. Wetherall asks that the famed M. Hanaud of the Paris Sûreté be called in. Hanaud is not only a gifted detective, but he is also a forerunner of all those other masterminds who know, or guess, and do not tell. Of course I know that Conan Doyle often allowed Holmes to lapse into this poor excuse for a storytelling device, but at least Holmes never insulted Watson, at least not directly, nor did he ever ridicule him for poorly asked questions, as Hanaud so badly treats Ricardo.
Speaking of whom — on pages 79-80 of the paperback edition Ricardo very nicely summarizes the eight salient features he sees in the mystery. Included in the replies Hanaud later makes to the questions that Ricardo happens to ask is one based on one of those very points. The latter (as a gentleman) accepts the rebuke when Hanaud loudly suggests that Ricardo has foolishly missed a vital point of the case.
The mystery is solved by page 145. The remainder of the books recounts that final version of the reconstructed crime, and Hanaud’s feeble attempt to explain the guesses in deduction that he made.
Well, as you can see, I was already biased. This may be too harsh a judgment, and by no account should you take this to mean that Hanaud’s version is impossible. It’s just that the facts, as described, I submit there is no reader who would have come to the same conclusion as Hanaud did by guesswork, pure and simple.
A classic? From a historical point of view, perhaps so. As a mystery, it’s an outdated one.They just don’t write them like this any more.
October 13th, 2019 at 8:39 pm
Not the best of the Hanaud books by my taste, that’s probably HOUSE OF THE ARROW, THE PRISONER IN THE OPAL, or THEY WOULDN’T BE CHESSMEN. Of his non series mysteries NO OTHER TIGER and SAPPHIRE have their moments, especially TIGER which includes some good detection.
Granted Mason is dated, best remembered today for these and his THE FOUR FEATHERS, but he was also a congenial writer with a storytellers gift, part of a fairly elite group of writing friends that included Joseph Conrad, Henry James, Stephen Crane, and Anthony Hope all of whom were invested with him in theater.
Barzun and Taylor agree with both of us on ROSE, the weakest of the Hanaud books even though based on a real crime (one of the reasons Hanaud’s forced solution seems so forced). Of course Mason is primarily a novelist and not a mystery writer so his interests are a bit different and he is well before the rules of the game had been established.
Hanaud was the model for Hercule Poirot according the Christie and you can see a bit of Hanaud and Ricardo in Poirot and Captain Hastings and in her mysterious Mr. Quinn and his Watson’s more contentious relationships.
October 14th, 2019 at 10:24 am
The only other book by Mason that I own is HOUSE OF THE ARROW, and while I’ve had it for over 50 years, I’ve never read it. I may yet someday!
It’s good to know that both you and B&T share my opinion of ROSE. I wondered when I posted this old review if I’d been too hard on it. I have to learn to trust my younger self a lot more than I sometimes do.
October 14th, 2019 at 4:15 pm
I’ve never liked AT THE VILLA ROSE or HOUSE OF THE ARROW, the only two Mason books read here. And am baffled by their status as alleged classics. Maybe the later books in the series are better.
October 14th, 2019 at 8:50 pm
One more vote against this book as being a very enjoyable detective novel to readers today. The last paragraph of my review sums it up rather well, I think.
October 15th, 2019 at 10:03 am
His best novel isn’t a mystery but THE FOUR FEATHERS.
October 15th, 2019 at 11:23 am
I was thinking that that might be the Mason book I’d try next.
October 15th, 2019 at 8:44 pm
ARROW was made into a very good film with Oscar Holmoka as Hanaud, and while dated, it is still a superior detective story, though my no means completely fair play.
Most of the Hanaud books feature he and Ricardo coming to the aid of a young woman in danger with perhaps too much romantic element for most mystery readers today, but ARROW and OPAL are worth reading, the one for its historical importance and the latter for a well handled whiff of the supernatural explained without losing the atmospherics. There is at least one short story featuring the duo that might serve as a better introduction for most readers today.
Mason, aside from his literary successes was an active operative of the British Secret Service whose Spanish Network survived and thrived from before the First World War until the 1960’s.