Sat 7 Jan 2023
An Archived PI Mystery Review by Doug Greene: POUL ANDERSON – Murder Bound.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[5] Comments
POUL ANDERSON – Murder Bound. Trygve Yamamura #3. Macmillan, hardcover, 1962.
Authors better known for other sorts of writing have occasionally produced good detective novels. Tales by A. A.Milne, C. P. Snow, Antonia Fraser, Isaac Asimov and William F. Buckley (well kind of) come immediately to mind.
Poul Anderson, the accomplished science fiction and fantasy author, tried his hand at three detective novels between 1959 and 1962. It’s not surprising that the strongest sections of his third mystery, Murder Bound, contain some fantasy elements, especially the scenes connecting Norse sea-legends with modern mystery.
The book opens with Conrad Lauring returning to America aboard the liner Valborg and listening to tales of Draugs, the ghosts of men drowned st sea. A sailor named Benrud then unaccountably starts a fight and disappears overboard. When Lauring reaches San Francisco, his life is threatened by apparent manifestations of a faceless Draug (Benrud’s ghost), dripping seaweed and all.
Though Anderson gives some fine atmospheric descriptions of San Francisco, he remainder of Murder Bound is a letdown.· For one thing, it’s difficult to take seriously the investigations of someone named Trygve Yamamura. I’m not kidding; that’s really’ is the name of Anderaon’s private eye. He’s half-Norwegian,. half-Hawaiian, a judo expert who collects Samurai swords.
Maybe if Anderson had made Yamamura’s Aryan Hawaiianism part of the story, the detective would be acceptable; but in fact; he’s just a normal P,I., and one who seems a bit slow on the uptake. Second, not only is the identity of the Draug obvious, but the solution assumes an amazing amount of incompetence from a former Gestapo agent.
There are enough good sections in Murder Bound to justify spending a few hours with it, but it is not really worthy of an author who could produce such-splendid fantasy novels as A Midsummer’s Tempest and Three Hearts and Three Lions.
The Trygve Yamamura series —
Poul Anderson: (novels)
Perish by the Sword. Macmillan 1959.
Murder in Black Letter. Macmillan 1960.
Murder Bound. Macmillan 1962.
Poul Anderson: (short stories)
Pythagorean Romaji. The Saint Mystery Magazine, December 1959
Stab in the Back. The Saint Mystery Magazine, March 1960
The Gentle Way. The Saint Mystery Magazine, August 1960,
Karen & Poul Anderson: (short story)
Dead Phone. The Saint Mystery Magazine, December 1964
January 7th, 2023 at 7:48 pm
This book has been reviewed once before on this blog, the earlier time by Bill Pronzini, as a 1001 MIDNIGHTS review:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=23143
January 7th, 2023 at 9:25 pm
I disagree with both Doug Greene and Bill Pronzini on this series, though I admit MURDER BOUND is the weakest of the three books. Critics and readers apparently agreed with them more than me though.
PERISH BY THE SWORD was my personal favorite.
I won’t argue the name, and I admit Anderson could and should have done more with the unique background. I had a feeling despite not sharing the same exact background Trygve was pretty much a fantasy version of Anderson who was also married. There is a slight resemblance to the husband and wife team of Anderson’s OPERATION CHAOS in the byplay between the characters.
There is a short story/novella featuring Trygve Yammamura called “DEAD PHONE” co-written with Karen Anderson that is a foggy suspenseful story of an eerie phone call. As with the story here it flirts with hints of fantasy (more successfully) and was what turned me onto this series.
“Dead Phone” appeared in THE SAINT MYSTERY MAGAZINE. I’m not sure if it has been reprinted, but it’s a solid suspenseful story.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:57 am
I *think* but am not positive that I tried to read PERISH BY THE SWORD. In general I am not a fan of Poul Anderson’s work, and I have never been able to say why. All my best friends say I’m nuts, but I know better.
January 8th, 2023 at 9:41 am
“Dead Phone” was reprinted in two of Anderson’s collections — THE UNICORN TRADE (with Karen Anderson, 1984) and GOING FOR INFINITY (2002).
January 8th, 2023 at 2:44 pm
Thanks, Jerry. This makes sense. The description David gave of “Dead Phone” certainly made it sound as though the SF content was awfully high.