tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post7836991426410775848..comments2024-03-27T22:32:02.739+01:00Comments on Beneath the Stains of Time: From the Gullet of the SerpentTomCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-23706710235292089872012-01-26T05:24:06.054+01:002012-01-26T05:24:06.054+01:00I just finished some research on Houdini and the m...I just finished some research on Houdini and the mystery fiction in which he plays a prominent role. There's quite a lot and probable a lot more I don't know about. Much of which also "stars" Conan Doyle. The fairies episode was made into a decent movie some time back called FairyTale: A True Story.Billhttp://traditionalmysteries.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-3114380648984421962012-01-16T09:05:48.587+01:002012-01-16T09:05:48.587+01:00Please, don't give me another excuse to buy ev...Please, don't give me another excuse to buy even more detective stories. Let Patrick tackle that collection, if he wants.TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-21169694099338255732012-01-15T20:19:05.251+01:002012-01-15T20:19:05.251+01:00Well, now someone will simply have to review the s...Well, now someone will simply have to review the short stories! Not me, though, I'm stopping with the novel.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-26254610101217490772012-01-15T18:17:24.057+01:002012-01-15T18:17:24.057+01:00To return to Elsa Barker...
I had a copy of this ...To return to Elsa Barker...<br /><br />I had a copy of this book years ago but I sold it before I ever had a chance to read it. Looks like I missed out on something I would've enjoyed. I was tempted to buy the only other cheap copy of REDMAN CAVE MURDER being offered online, but I resisted. I am supposed to read only books from my own shelves this year.<br /><br />I checked Pronzini's books and found a single mention of Barker's work. It's a quote used as an epigraph for the opening of Chapter 3 in GUN IN CHEEK and comes from <i>The C.I.D. Of Dexter Drake</i>: "You remember that Wall Street Philanthropist who was killed by a can of sauerkraut thrown at his head? ...What a pickle the police were in that day!"J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-73216139122712971392012-01-15T15:22:22.043+01:002012-01-15T15:22:22.043+01:00Patrick, I think a lot of quite intelligent people...Patrick, I think a lot of quite intelligent people over many decades have been interested in spirit manifestations and paranormal activity (even though there have been so many clear cases of frauds). But the faerie craze of the 1920s, that Conan Doyle got up in too, strikes me as just silly. Does Carr mention the faerie affair specifically? I used to have his Carr bio, don't recall whether I still do. Once one has come to believe in faeries, why not leprechauns and unicorns?<br /><br />And I'm not the most cynical person in the world either. I still want to believe in some sort of loch ness monster, for example. Connington, by the way, who was an atheist/agnostic and scorned CD's belief in spiritualism, was convinced he'd witnessed Nessie, by the way!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-8832948003115139842012-01-15T13:03:17.993+01:002012-01-15T13:03:17.993+01:00Correct me if I am wrong, but I understood that Ca...Correct me if I am wrong, but I understood that Carr's biography of Doyle was not entirely objective, due to interference from the family estate and his own fanboyism. <br /><br />And a meticulous study of this subject does not explain his eager gullibility in the case of the faked fairy pictures. It's still quite a leap between believing in life after death and accepting photographs of paper cut-outs as authentic proof for the existence of fairy tale figures.TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-24936350863148868712012-01-15T00:15:41.601+01:002012-01-15T00:15:41.601+01:00I always assumed that Conan Doyle was easily gulle...I always assumed that Conan Doyle was easily gulled into the Spiritualist movement, but JDC's biography painted a very different picture, that of a man who looked into it for years before his conversion and ultimately became convinced of its veracity.<br /><br />Good review of the book, and it's amusing to hear of this author's other work. I will resist making a witty remark tying that tale up in a metaphor involving marmalade. :)Patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01844617192737950378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-50476331421331609032012-01-14T22:21:56.552+01:002012-01-14T22:21:56.552+01:00I have not read The Coming of the Fairies, either,...I have not read <i>The Coming of the Fairies</i>, either, for pretty much the same reason, but I have subjected myself to <i>The Land of Mist</i> - which completely ruined the Professor Challenger series for me. You literarily saw the characters dilapidating in front of your eyes as they rapidly morphed into cheap propaganda tools for his spiritual believes. Luckily, he spared Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson such a forced conversion! <br /><br />Never read a review of <i>The Cobra Candlestick</i> and presumed that I was the first person in a long time, at least in the digital realm, to write more than a passing note on this book. It was a title that was simply (and easily) available to me and when I saw that it was mentioned in Adey's book, I immediately snatched it up. This was also the point where I began looking into Elsa Barker's life and found out about her previous writing career. The other titles were listed on her wikipedia page (you can find a link in the review above). <br /><br />And let us know what you think of her other mystery novel.TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-76658255766184220912012-01-14T20:55:38.644+01:002012-01-14T20:55:38.644+01:00J. J. Connington (who was very definitely a materi...J. J. Connington (who was very definitely a materialist) once wrote despairingly of Conan Doyle on this subject, "once the spirits seeped in, the intelligence oozed out" or something to that effect (it's in my book). He seems to have been awfully credulous. I should read CD's "The Coming of the Faeries" book I suppose, but, like Michael Dirda, I find it too appalling a prospect. Oh, well, at least he didn't write a paean to eugenics, like Austin Freeman! <br /><br />On Elsa Barker, I decided to order her other mystery novel now, since I found a copy for $9! The third book is a collection of short stories. I have a recollection Bill Pronzini may mention her in Gun in Cheek (he's probably read all her books). Charles Williams reviewed Cobra Candlestick--is that where you came across a reference to it?The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-82095250705714516312012-01-14T19:13:28.115+01:002012-01-14T19:13:28.115+01:00The really astonishing part of the Cottingley Fair...The really astonishing part of the Cottingley Fairies was how obviously fake the two-dimensional, paper cut-outs looked positioned next to real, three-dimensional children. Fake photography has come a long way since those pictures were snapped, but visual aspects, like shapes and compositions, were already well established concepts in art and how anyone could've been taken in by them is a mystery in itself.TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-3695968386922912622012-01-14T17:49:09.266+01:002012-01-14T17:49:09.266+01:00Fascinating review. I'd heard of this one, bu...Fascinating review. I'd heard of this one, but not the other two. Didn't know the background of the author.<br /><br />The thing that really gets me about Conan Doyle is that he even endorsed the existence of "fairies" [or faeires]! After the two girls took the faked photos of themselves with "little people." He was pretty far gone on this subject.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.com