Eden Phillpotts-Lyncanthrope: The Mystery of Sir William Wolf (1938)

"...there is a chance that the monster may be local, when in bodily shape, so I come to you."

"I don't know a were-wolf among my patients, if that's what you mean, Bill."

Is something horrific stalking the grounds of Stormbury estate? Sir William Wolf, the recent heir, certainly believes that there is despite the skepticism and protestations of his closest friends and family. William, melancholy, superstitious and with an interest in the occult, is certain that a poem contained in an old book of legends discovered in the Stormbury library has a prophetic significance for him and that a lupine vengeance for an unknown family wrongdoing will occur on New Year's night. As the omens contained in "Twilight of the Wolf" appear to be coming true, William is urged to disregard the poem or leave the estate altogether but he is determined to confront what he believes will be a werewolf.  And if his morbid and fatalistic resignation and occult beliefs aren't troubling enough to those around him, the Stormbury heir believes that he himself is slowly turning into a werewolf  and that, as the poem prophesizes, "wolf shall meet wolf."

The basic plot of Lycanthrope emphasizes the horror elements but the novel is actually a horror and detection hybrid (although most of the detection occurs "off-stage") and is rather lacking in atmosphere and chills. While the novel has a setting contemporary to the publication date, the florid style of the writing and the languid pace of the storytelling give it a decades-earlier flavour (the author was 76 upon publication) so that the novel is best recommended to the patient reader who values the old-fashionedness of the tale.

Verdict: I enjoyed it but could have used a little more meat on this lyncanthrope.

Creaseymania 4: Introducing the Toff

Some more sharp-looking covers and one title which would raise a few eyebrows today. Note the Saint-esque stick logo.

Creaseymania 3: Meet the Baron

Some covers for the Baron (or is it Blue Mask?) series featuring jewel thief John Mannering.

 

 

 

 

 

Creaseymania 2

Two entries from Creasey's Department Z series. I  like the subdued colours of the artwork. The League of Dark Men has both a front and back cover illustration.

Creaseymania!

I purchased some vintage (mostly 1960s) John Creasey paperbacks this week from a local used bookstore. I got first crack at them although I'm not sure if this means that I have preferred customer priveleges or that no one else is interested in them (I suspect the latter). I'm going to make a few posts featuring my favourites from the lot in what is probably an inauspicious revival of this blog...

Acquisitions--Canadian Style!

Normally I don't post about new paperback purchases (the vintage purchases are so much more interesting) but it's Canada Day and these acquisitions might hold some interest for the Canadians who read this blog.

Indigo, a Canadian bookstore chain, is currently having a sale on Arcturus Crime Classics, a bargain publishing line. At $2 a book, I couldn't resist buying the following:

Also available were titles from Anthony Berkeley (two of them!), Andrew Garve, Erle Stanley Gardner and Margery Allingham. So if you're in the vicinity of an Indigo you might want to mosey on over and grab a few titles for yourself.

S.S. Van Dine - The Winter Murder Case (1939)

"You live for crime and suffering. And you adore worrying. You'd die of ennui if all were peaceful."

The Winter Murder Case, the last entry in the Philo Vance series, is a much shorter book than the other mysteries of Willard Huntington Wright (alias S.S. Van Dine), running about 160 pages. As an introductory essay explains, Wright developed each of the Philo Vance mysteries in three stages; a long synopsis, the development of the synopsis into an approximately 30,000 word manuscript, and finally a further working of character, dialogue and atmosphere resulting in the finished mystery. Owing to Wright's death on April 11, 1939, The Winter Murder Case never received the final fleshing-out so that some of the trademarks of an S.S. Van Dine title are absent, such as the pseudo literary footnotes and long-winded Vance lectures. This removes some of the insufferability and humanizes Vance (which might be an inducement for some readers, I prefer Vance's full-on conceit), although some of the events of the novel also accomplish this. It's hard to imagine the Philo Vance of the earlier novels acting as the master of ceremonies for an amateur winter carnival variety show, but he does this in The Winter Murder Case--and on ice skates no less!

In The Winter Murder Case, Vance is invited to a house party hosted by wealthy Carrington Rexon who is mistrustful of some of his other guests in proximity to his fabulous emerald collection. His suspicions are given extra weight when one of the estate guards is found dead. This final S.S. Van Dine mystery is an improvement over its predecessor, The Gracie Allen Murder Case which, like that book, was written with a specific movie actress in mind--in this case, Olympic skating champion turned movie star Sonja Henie. While there are many scenes involving skating, the winter theme is merely window dressing and doesn't play an appreciable part to the mystery (it easily could be The Summer Murder Case). Nobody is stabbed or has their throat slit with an ice skate (alas!). In addition to the shortness of the novel, the economy of the mystery itself gives The Winter Murder Case the feel of a short story blown up to novella length. A brisk read but inessential to the S.S. Van Dine canon. (The publication is also padded out with Van Dine's Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories and it's amusing to see how many of his own rules Van Dine transgresses).

I have now finished all the Van Dine novels (and basically in order. I suspect The Greene Murder Case was the only one I read significantly out of sequence) with my favourite being The Kennel Murder Case. Seeing some of the divergent opinions on that title makes me want to reread it as it's at least ten years since I completed it .