"I know it's impossible, but impossible things have happened... before this. I should know—I'm becoming something of an expert on them."- Dr. Sam Hawthorne (Edward D. Hoch's Diagnosis: Impossible: The Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne, 1996)
Arthur
Porges was an American mathematics teacher, assistant professor
and an author of hundreds of short stories, covering a wide breadth
of genres, but most impressively is that he was one of the most
productive writers of locked room mysteries in the detective genre –
eclipsed only John
Dickson Carr and Edward
D. Hoch. I assume Bill
Pronzini and Paul
Halter have, in recent years, come close or even surpassed the
number of impossible crime stories written by Porges.
However,
even more impressive than having written forty-five locked room
stories is the sheer originality of the problems and solutions, which
demonstrated Porges was a clever and inventive writer. A writer who
possessed a first-rate brain. Yes, in my world a writer of top-drawer
locked room mysteries qualifies as a genius.
The
impossible crime fiction of Porges is scattered across a handful of
series, and a number of standalone stories, which were published in
such periodicals as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred
Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine,
but only a couple of them reappeared in (locked room) anthologies –
only two series were book-formed as short story collections in recent
history. Richard Simms of the Arthur
Porges Fan Site, as Richard Simms Publications, has been
collaborating with the estate of Porges to bring as many of his short
stories back into the print as possible.
So
far, these reprints have mainly consisted or work from other fields
of popular fiction, such as science-fiction
and fantasy,
but also includes a now almost ten-year-old collection of truly
excellent detective stories.
The
Curious Cases of Cyriack Skinner Grey (2009) is an almost
complete collection of short stories about the titular,
wheelchair-bound, character whose extraordinary scientific-mind is
often consulted when the police is faced with a seemingly impossible
crime. And as great as the plots are the (supporting) characters.
Particularly, the genius, but good humored, teenage son of Grey who
does most of the legwork for his father. The stories made you yearn
for more, but we had to patiently wait for nearly a decade before we
were being treated for a second volume of Porges' impossible crime
fiction.
No
Killer Has Wings: The Casebook of Dr. Joel Hoffman (2017) is an
incredibly slender, almost booklet-like, volume of only 86-pages and
gathered all six short stories in the short-lived Dr. Joel Hoffman
series – which originally appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery
Magazine from 1959 to 1963. So one of the stories was actually
published during the twilight years of the genre's Golden Age.
Dr.
Joel Hoffman is the Chief Pathologist at Pasteur Hospital, situated
on the Californian coast, where he acts as "a one-man crime lab"
and consultant to his personal friend, Lieutenant Ader, who can't
always rely on the local coroner because he's "a political
hack." As a result, Dr. Hoffman is called in as an unofficial
consultant on all the interesting, seemingly inexplicable, cases in
the district. And five of the six of his recorded cases qualify as
impossible crimes. So let's start digging into them!
The
first story in the collection, "Dead Drunk," is absolutely
excellent from start to finish, which opens with Dr. Hoffman and Lt.
Ader being on the spot of deadly roadside accident.
A
drunk driver killed an eight-year-old boys, who was standing with his
mother at the crossroad, but the driver is "a playboy of fifty
plus," Gordon Vance Whitman III, who has used his millions and
diabetes as a Get Out Of Jail Free Card in previous automobile
accidents – collisions that have left several people seriously
maimed. However, this is the first time he left a body in his wake.
But, once again, he appeared to have gotten away with it. As the
courts only suspended his driving privileges.
One
year later, Dr. Hoffman is requested by Lt. Ader to perform an
autopsy on the body of a man who was found inside "a locked,
third-floor apartment." The name of the victim is Gordon
Whitman and he had been on "a long binge behind a bolted door,"
but Ader has his suspicious and the postmortem examinations reveals a
surprising cause of death. Someone had directly introduced phosgene
gas into the lung's of the victim! So this is not merely a locked
room puzzle, but also a scientific conundrum and the explanation
deftly combines a practical locked room gimmick with a first-rate
scientific trick.
What
really makes this an excellent story is the murderer's fate. A
character who, no doubt, will have the sympathy of most readers.
The
second story, "Horse-Collar Homicide," has arguably the most
gruesome murder method in this collection and begins with "the
mysterious death of Leonard Bugg Lakewood," which initially
looks like a stroke. Lt. Ader doesn't like "the overall smell of
the situation" and decided to consult his old friend, Dr.
Hoffman.
Lakewood
was a not so benevolent family tyrant, in his sixties, with a deep
rooted pride in the family history and, once a year, he would throw "a family party in the old style." During these parties,
the old man loved to revive "ancient diversions" and bully
his "long-suffering relatives into participating for prizes."
So these parties were only pleasant for one person, but that changed
during the last gathering with an 18th century May Day celebration
theme. One of the old-fashioned games "the rural sport of
grinning through a horse-collar," but when Lakewood stuck his
head inside the horse-collar he immediately had an epileptic fit and
fell to the ground – deader than "a salted mackerel."
A
second-rate hack would have explained this sudden and inexplicable
death with a charge of electricity or a well-timed dose of some sort
of obscure poison, but Porges was not a hack. Oh no. The murderous
trick he imagined is the stuff of nightmares and, while fast-working,
must have really, really hurt like hell. I winced in admiration when
I read the solution. A great story that is, perhaps, more of an
howdunit than a proper impossible crime story, but perfectly
demonstrates that Porges, above all else, was a true original when it
came to plotting detective stories.
The
next story, "Circle in the Dust," is a non-impossible crime story
and tagged by Richard Simms as his personal favorite. As a rabid
locked room fanboy, I can forgive Simms for preferring this charming
crime story over the brilliant classic that is "No Killer Has
Wings." Anway...
Lt.
Ader brings Dr. Hoffman "a simple murder" involving "the
traditional blunt instrument." The victim is a harmless old
lady, Mrs. Valerie Antoine, who lives in a mortgaged house stuffed
with trashy furniture, junk and bric-a-brac. Only the termites eat
three meals a day there. So who would want to cave in the head of an
old, inoffensive widow with barely a penny to her name? Obviously,
there was something of value in the house, but the only clues they
have to go on is a circular outline in the dust and a sun-blasted
shape on the wall opposite from where this object was taken.
An
object that turns out to be a genuine rare item that would appear to
be completely worthless to everyone except a particular kind of
expert. Very clever. So, yes, a good and solid crime story, but
somewhat out of place in this series.
"No Killer Has Wings," AHMM, Jan. 1961 |
The
fourth story, "No Killer Has Wings," is a shimmering gem of an
impossible crime tale and arguably the best no-footprints story ever
penned within the locked room sub-genre. This brilliant story opens
with Lt. Ader taking his niece, Dana, to Dr. Hoffman and ask him to
help them clear the name of her fiance, Larry Channing, who's
neck-deep in trouble and currently being held "on a first degree
murder charge" by the lieutenant – since only he was in a
position to kill his uncle, Colonel McCabe.
Colonel
McCabe was bludgeoned to death, while dozing, on his private beach
and the physical evidence points an accusatory finger at his
twenty-four year old nephew, Larry. On the beach, there were prints
of the victim going from the stairs to the water and back to the
blanket where he lay down when he was assaulted. A second track of
prints, belonging to Larry, lead from the stairs to the body and back
again. There are no other prints except those belonging to the
victim's dog and the beach is accessible only from the house and the
sea.
So
that leaves the primary suspect, Larry, in a very tight spot.
Luckily, Dr. Hoffman comes up with a devilish clever explanation
based on the murder weapon with blood and hair on the wrong spot! You
have to read this one for yourself, but take my word for it, the
problem of the impossible absence of footprints have never been
played better than in this story. And that includes the work by Carr
and Hoch!
The
fifth story, "A Puzzle in Sand," is a sequel to the previous
entry in this collection and even takes place "on that very same
stretch of sand" as where Colonel McCabe was beaten to death.
Once again, the murder could very well be "another impossible
stinker."
After
the previous story, the house and private beach were let to Myron
Crane. The new tenant was a banker, philanthropist and a church
elder, but this respectable pillar of the community has a secret in
his past and this made him blackmail material. A man, known as
Garrison, was overheard having a violent quarrel with the victim and
the murder weapon, "a P-38 war souvenir," was found in his
possession, but what appeared to clinch the matter is that only his
footprints lead to the body and back. However, Garrison claims he was
framed and Lt. Ader is inclined to believe him.
The
solution to the impossibility surrounding the murderer's lack of
footprints on the beach sand is not as original as in the previous
story. As a matter of fact, the solution here is a variation on a
rather disappointing, time-worn, ploy that rarely satisfied when used
in an impossible crime scenario, because the answer comes across as a
cop-out and is soul-crushingly disappointingly. So this story
deserves praise for how it handled this particular ploy without
disappointing the reader or giving the idea you were cheated. Once
again, Porges knew how to write a detective story even when it wasn't
as original as his top-drawer work.
Arthur Porges (1915-2006) |
Finally,
the collections ends with, somewhat, of a whimper, titled "Birds of
One Feather," but the problem lay more with me than with the story.
Dr.
Hoffman is asked to explain how a man and his pet bird, which was
always perched on his shoulder, could simultaneously expire from
cyanide poisoning while the victim was simply changing a flat tire –
a problem complicated by the fact that not a trace of the poison was
found in the stomach content. I immediately figured out how the
poison-trick was accomplished, but this had very little to do with my
own cleverness. The clue of the poisoned bird reminded me of an
episode from the 1975 Ellery
Queen TV-series, which had a similar kind of problem that
involved a dead bird. I would not at all be surprised if the
scenarist of that specific episode had been aware of this story,
originally published in AHMM in 1963, and reworked the main
gist of the trick when he wrote the episode.
So,
all in all, No Killer Has Wings: The Casebook of Dr. Joel Hoffman
is a very short, but excellent, collection of detective stories with
four of the six entries being top-notch examples of either the locked
room mystery or the pure howdunit – such as "Dead Drunk," "Horse-Collar Homicide" and the superb "No Killer Has Wings."
These stories alone is what makes this volume a must have for (locked
room) readers like myself. Only real downside is that these half
dozen stories constitutes the entirety of the Dr. Hoffman series. And
that's hardly enough.
On
the upside, the next collection in this series by Richard Simm might gather some, or all, of the impossible crime stories in the
equally neglected Professor Ulysses Middlebie series. I would love to
be able to finally read such tantalizing-sounding short stories like "The Puny Giant," "These Daisies Told" and "Blood Will
Tell." So here's hoping!
Thanks for the review. My copy is on its way.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Anon. I hope you'll enjoy the stories as much as I have.
Delete[I]n my world a writer of top-drawer locked room mysteries qualifies as a genius.
ReplyDeleteWell, of course. Are you saying other people don't think this? Wow. What do they do all day?
This sounds great, I'm really pleased the other stories keep 'No Killer has Wings' in such good company. I was really excioted to see this was available recently, and as soon as I wrangle my TBR down from Behemoth status this is right at the top of the TBB. Richard Simss, you're doing wonderful work!
Oh, the title story is in great company, alright. I know you liked the Cyriack Skinner Grey stories. So you'll probably love "Dead Drunk" and "Horse-Collar Homicide" for the same reasons. Only problem, as said, is that there are only six of them, which is hardly enough.
DeleteThanks so much for this wonderful, detailed review of the book! My love of "Circle in the Dust" may be due in part to this being the very first Arthur Porges mystery story that I ever read. Still, it's a great story anyway! I am planning collections of Porges' informal essays (originally published, very obscurely, in his local paper). In addition to this a collection of his non-series hardboiled crime stories is something I definitely wish to compile. But your comments have made me seriously consider a collection of the Ullyses Price Middlebie "locked room" mysteries (I think, like the Hoffman tales, there may be some non "impossible crime" tales among those). Details will appear on the Arthur Porges Fan Site about any future book collection. Thanks again for the review. I read it on my smartphone at work and it made me forget I was at work :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I loved this collection and would like to thank you, in return, because without your efforts most of these stories would probably have kept eluding us. So keep up the good work!
DeletePorges actually wrote hardboiled crime stories? Like the ones Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler wrote? I would actually like to see a plotting machine, like Porges, stroll down those mean streets and have a tussle with tough, hard-bitten gangsters, but not as much as that collection locked room mysteries about Prof. Ulysses Middlebie. ;)
I remember reading "No Killer Has Wings" a while back and being very interested in the "Circle in the Dust affair." Good to know this collection is out, I'm sure I'll get to it in thirty or so years.
ReplyDeleteAlso, considering the Dr. Same reference here, I was interested if you knew that there's a new Dr. Sam collection out, and it didn't take a decade this time. I've mentioned this in a previous comment, but you didn't respond so I'me being careful. :P
--The Dark One
Oh, somehow, I missed that comment. Sorry about that. But yes, I know there's a new Dr. Hawthorne collection out. And, yes, I was very surprised it was published only three years after the previous one.
DeleteAt this rate, we might end up with a complete set of Dr. Hawthorne short story collections over the next ten years when the last two, or so, volumes are published to complete the series.
There are only 15 stories to go, and each volume has about 15 stories, so only one more Hawthorne volume is needed to finish the set. But I don't care about Hawthorne. Where is the Simon Ark volume that has been promised for 15 years?
ReplyDeleteWas it really announced fifteen years ago? I guess you could say that volume has been clouded by a deep fog of anticipation. Get it?! :D Please, don't stab your screen. It won't hurt me.
DeleteSeriously, the titles on the C&L list of upcoming releases have the tendency to linger on there before they finally appear in print. So be patience.
"Funeral in the Fog": got it.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realise Crippen and Landru had released another Hawthorne collection so quickly. I loved the last one, only read it last year in fact. I like the Hawthorne tales and all the other series characters Hoch created, Leopold, Nick Velvet, etc. This new collection will hit my bank balance, but I'm a Hoch fan, so I have to have it :)
ReplyDeleteOn Porges' hardboiled stories...he did write a few in that vein, and had a talent for the conte cruel type of story. Not really mafia/gangster/private eye stuff, but he did pen a handful of stories with more of a hard edge to them than his "locked room" mysteries. They include a little more of a human element, with some of them bordering on psychological horror. Stories such as "The Price of a Princess", "Bet With a Witch" and "The Emperor's Dogs". Porges also wrote some great fantasy horror stories, so he was not averse to writing disturbing stories from time to time. There will be about 13 or so of these included in a collection of his noirish crime short stories which I hope to publish, possibly next year.
Well, I hope Porges' hardboiled stories will surprise me as much as Edmund Crispin's "The Pencil," from Fen Country, which was a sudden, but pleasant, detour into the hardboiled genre amidst a collection of puzzle-oriented detective stories.
DeleteThey definitely have a different tone to his more typical puzzle stories, although admittedly the hardboiled ones sometimes have a trademark Porges clever gimmick :)
ReplyDeleteI ordered the new Hoch collection as an ebook to my phone. Nice introduction by Douglas Greene.