The Siren's Call (1998) by Paul Halter

Paul Halter's Le cri de la siréne (The Siren's Call, 1998) is the 12th novel to feature his amateur criminologist, but chronologically, the first in the series as it recounts Dr. Alan Twist's maiden voyage as an investigator of "unusual facts and strange phenomena" – introducing him to the world of impossible crimes. The Siren's Call is the latest Halter novel to be translated and published by John Pugmire's Locked Room International.

The Siren's Call takes place in September, 1922, in a wild, remote corner of Cornwall ("rich in legend and unexplained phenomena"). A then young Dr. Alan Twist had upon earning his doctorate abandoned the field of philosophy to dedicate himself to the study of the occult and investigating the paranormal. Like a John Bell or Alexander Hero. Dr. Twist has been invited by James Malleson to come down to his place, Moretonbury Manor, to investigate a haunted attic room.

Just like everyone involved in the Great War, James Malleson had a rough time in trenches, "the nightmare last three years" with "death as the constant companion," which is a torment apt to change a man – physically and mentally. A physical "souvenir" from the war is a disfiguring face scar and Malleson assumed his mind was still disturbed ("memories of the war haunt me...") when the nighttime phenomenon started. One year ago, Malleson began to hear noises and the sound of footsteps in the night. Always emanating from the so-called Rose Room in the attic that has been kept locked for the past twenty years. However, the ghostly occurrences became more tangible when it roused the entire household. Both his wife, Lydia, and her cousin, Edgar, heard the footsteps. Whoever is prowling around, the person appears to be trapped as he, or she, could not have escaped without being seen. So they move upstairs, unlocked and opened the door to make an astonishing discovery. An unused room locked for decades should have been coated in dust and cobwebs, but the room is "perfectly clean and orderly" with a cozy oil lamp burning on the bedside table and a strangely sweet, intoxicating scent pervading the room ("...as if a fairy had passed through it"). Naturally, the nocturnal visitor is nowhere to be found.

An excellent setup for a detective story presented as a ghostly yarn, but the plot immediately begins to twist and turn. Dr. Twist begins to get an idea why the region has "always been fertile grounds for legends, mysterious occurrences and supernatural apparitions" from "hellish hounds and headless horses" to "murmuring rivers, phantom cottages and pigs with wings."

First of all, there are the local legends of the Banshees whose screams spell doom to everyone who does not hear their gravely summons. Its victims from the region include Lydia's grandfather and father. Sir Charles Cranston, Lydia's grandfather, died mere hours after everyone at the pub heard the unearthly cries except him. And he died that very night in "unbelievable circumstances." Several people witnessed Sir Charles getting chased by a winged creature ending with a struggle at the top of an old tower, before shoving Sir Charles to his death. A similar fate was reserved for Lydia's father, Julian. So you would think this is going to be an impossible crime novel in the spirit of Hake Talbot's Rim of the Pit (1944), but very quickly becomes so much more reminiscent of John Dickson Carr's The Crooked Hinge (1938). Dr. Twist is presented with a much more grounded mystery, but with a much more horrifying explanation than what lurks behind the screams, winged creatures and the phantom footsteps.

Jason Malleson's identity has come under scrutiny as rumors has reached Scotland Yard that an impostor, or usurper, "took advantage of his comrade's death om the front lines to take his place." The police believes Malleson was replaced by his comrade-in-arms and "a crook well-known to the French Sûreté," Patrick Degan, who had a taste for good cognac, silk ties and had a habit of twirling his mustache – as well as being a formidable chess player. Nothing at all like the Jason Malleson who went to the front, but exactly described the Jason Malleson who returned. So the Yard dispatched Archibald Hurst to the place to carry out a discreet investigation and begins to work together with Dr. Alan Twist, which is the beginning of the collaborations and friendship. However, Malleson has been passing every conceivable test with flying colors for years. From following his wife, her cousin and their physician, Dr. Fred Cummings, to two intensive memory tests. The first is performed by the lexicographer and local eccentric, Jeremy Bell, who's a dead ringer for Dr. Gideon Fell and tutored a young Jason. The second test is carried out by Jason's cousin and childhood crony, William Lucas. They all conclude he must be the real Jason Malleson. You can almost call this plot-thread a psychological impossibility. A very well handled one at that!

This is still only the beginning as the Banshees started screaming again and someone died under practically identical circumstances as Sir Charles twenty years previously. And much more!

The Siren's Call has a brimming plot, spinning and bubbling like a witch's brew, which has an ending to match and came close to classic status, but its effect and impact got somewhat diminished by all the clutter and background noise. It would have been better if the story had mostly focused on the haunted attic room, James Malleson's identity and the two present-day murders should have been non-impossible crimes with the stories of screaming entities and winged creatures being nothing more than local color and gossip. It would eliminated the necessity of having to explain all those impossible deaths, screams and supernatural creatures with disappointing solutions, which now seriously took away from its brilliant core (SPOILER/ROT13: n ernyyl vatravbhf cynl ba gur zhygvcyr snyfr-vqragvgvrf jvgu bar bs gurz orvat (znrfgeb!) n “qbhoyr rkcbfher” pbzcyrgr jvgu n svany gjvfg). Something worthy of being called a genre classic and neo-GAD. But as it stands, The Siren's Call ended up being a tale of two detective stories: the detective story it could have been and the detective story we got. Regrettably, the detective story we got is not the classic it could have been. Regardless, a good, solid and intriguing mid-tier Halter novel telling the origin story of Dr. Twist and why he abandoned the paranormal to dedicate himself to criminal investigations.

A note for the curious: In Chapter 8 ("The Call of the Abyss"), Jeremy Bell asks Dr. Twist what attracts him to mysteries and answers it's the lure of the unknown and a love for puzzles. Jeremy Bell gives him this warning, "beware, Mr. Twist. Enigma is a dangerous mistress. She is diabolically attractive. Her perfume inflames men's spirits. She excites them and renders them eternal slaves to her charms, which she never reveals." Well, that pretty much explains everyone who's addicted to mysteries. From obsessing over detective stories to those who dive head first down the JFK rabbit hole.