Sat 26 Dec 2020
Reviewed by Ray O’Leary: EDWARD D. HOCH – Diagnosis: Impossible.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[9] Comments
EDWARD D. HOCH – Diagnosis: Impossible. Sam Hawthorne; collection #1. Crippen & Landru, hardcover/paperback, 1996.
I’m a great fan of locked room/ impossible-situation crime fiction, and it’s always a pleasure to come across some enjoyable examples of same. This is a collection of the first dozen stories in the Dr. Sam Hawthorne series, set in the 1920ss. Hawthorne is a country doctor practicing in the town of Northmost Connecticut, where he encounters vanishing buggies, murderous ghosts, escaping prisoners, murder in a voting booth and killer trees – among other things.
The one I enjoyed most had a time capsule, about to be buried qt the county fair, found to have a body in it…. this despite the fact that it was in plain sight and empty when the various articles were deposited in it a few hours before.
Since the stories run about 15 pages or so, there isn’t such room for character development, though recurring characters do round out in reading twelve in a row. It’s the ingenuity of the stunts and their explanation that matter most, and here Mr. Hoch is quite clever.
At the end Marv Lachman (to whom this volume is dedicated along with his wife) provides a checklist of 59 stories (through July 2000) with their dates of publication in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and the time in which the story is set. Since I didn’t read the stories when they appeared in the magazine, I can only hope that further volumes will be published.
December 26th, 2020 at 10:11 pm
I think but I am not sure whether Crippen & Landru have finished collecting all of the Sam Hawthorne stories.
In fact, I have not yet found a list of all of the ones they have done. Any assistance here would be welcome!
December 26th, 2020 at 11:23 pm
I seem to recall something about a final book of the last Hawthorne stories, but I can’t promise.
They are among his cleverest tales, and probably his best loved and known series, certainly in later years he seemed to devote most of his time to Dr. Sam.
I admit I prefer Nick Velvet, Simon Ark, Captain Leopold, and Rand, but the Dr. Sam stories are probably the most accessible to classic mystery readers and among the finest of their kind.
Despite the historical setting, someone missed a good shot not doing the Hawthorne stories as a series on television, and what a great radio series they would have made in the day.
December 27th, 2020 at 1:24 am
A radio series would have been a great idea, if Sam had been around at the time. But at the moment, a proposed TV series is intriguing me even more. My big stumbling block, right at the start though, is who would we get to play Sam?
My problem is, I realize, is that I have a well-formed picture of what Sam looks like, but it’s one that’s only floating around in my brain. When it comes to details, it’s awfully nebulous. Suggestions welcome, if anyone has any ideas.
December 27th, 2020 at 8:27 am
IIRC, there are some audio dramatization’s of the Dr. Sam tales, at EQMM’s podcast page. I haven’t listened to any:
https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/the-crime-scene/podcasts/
Crippen & Landru have collected the entire Dr. Sam series in books.
My impression: these are some of the most popular C&L books.
Diagnosis: Impossible, The Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne
More Things Impossible, The Second Casebook of Dr. Sam Hawthorne
Nothing Is Impossible, Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne
All But Impossible, The Impossible Files of Dr. Sam Hawthorne
Challenge the Impossible, The Final Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne
Matt Bomer of WHITE COLLAR could convey the brain-power of Dr. Sam.
December 27th, 2020 at 12:25 pm
Here’s a direct link to one of the Hawthorne dramatizations, “The Problem of the Whispering House”
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/eqmm/episodes/2016-04-01T07_33_51-07_00
Thanks, Mike. I did not know about these.
Most of the EQMM podcasts are readings. The Hawthorne ones all appear to be full cast recordings.
December 27th, 2020 at 12:31 pm
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Matt Bomer in anything. He’s not how I picture Dr. Sam, but perhaps he has the voice and mannerisms:
December 27th, 2020 at 8:55 am
Yes, they did (as Mike listed) publish five volumes with all of the Hawthorne stories, whose quality doesn’t falter from beginning to end.
It’s my favorite of Hoch’s series.
December 27th, 2020 at 1:17 pm
Matt Bomer doesn’t look at all like my vision of Dr. Sam either.
But he can really play intelligent men.
He also has a deft sense of comedy and verbal wit.
December 27th, 2020 at 1:55 pm
We’ve seen Bomer in THE NORMAL HEART and THE BOYS IN THE BAND. We watched CHUCK but I don’t remember his role in that.