tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post7502907920189031408..comments2024-03-27T22:32:02.739+01:00Comments on Beneath the Stains of Time: Tools of DeathTomCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-55478328706682477982017-02-03T13:54:09.194+01:002017-02-03T13:54:09.194+01:00I'll be trying one of his maritime mysteries b...I'll be trying one of his maritime mysteries before long. Everyone seems to like them. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-39159276166689978402017-02-01T22:01:25.370+01:002017-02-01T22:01:25.370+01:00I like King a lot, though I recall being underwhel...I like King a lot, though I recall being underwhelmed by Murder by the Clock as well. But I really did enjoy the maritime mysteries and a number of other titles by him. Have a new essay out on him in Murder in the Closet.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-8082356275806974812017-02-01T00:55:20.161+01:002017-02-01T00:55:20.161+01:00Rufus King's three maritime mysteries, Murder ...Rufus King's three maritime mysteries, <em>Murder by Latitude</em>, <em>Murder on the Yacht</em> and <em>The Lesser Antilles Case</em>, are absolutely superb. And <em>Murder Masks Miami</em> is enormous fun as well.<br /><br />I rate King as being among the very best of the American golden age writers. Definitely in the top five.dfordoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02306293859869179118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-42871235068185872082017-01-31T18:39:00.280+01:002017-01-31T18:39:00.280+01:00I recommend The Rubber Trumpet.I recommend The Rubber Trumpet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-7941873021298743832017-01-31T15:14:26.124+01:002017-01-31T15:14:26.124+01:00I'm not entirely sure, Sergio, but I think Ruf...I'm not entirely sure, Sergio, but I think Rufus King should also be available in Italian editions. So maybe those are easier to get hold of instead of the English editions. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-56369330623930420732017-01-31T15:12:10.463+01:002017-01-31T15:12:10.463+01:00I'm afraid I don't have too much of substa...I'm afraid I don't have too much of substance to add to this discussion, because I only remember how unimpressed and disappointed I was with <i>The Department of Dead Ends</i>. I was well aware of the praise the stories received from such luminaries as Boucher, Haycroft and Queen, but I failed to see what they, or you, saw in them. They did nothing for me. Sorry, Anon. <br /><br />On <i>Columbo</i>, D pretty much summed up my opinion about the series and would like to add an additional reason as to why all of Columbo's investigations took place in a class or two above him: his character is that of the eternal underdog. Or someone who appears as an underdog. Columbo is basically a well-camouflaged predator and he would be less sympathetic if he used his tricks among a community of homeless people or stalked a victim of domestic violence who had killed her abuser. <br /><br />But the pros-and cons between both series really boils down to personal taste and what one is willing to put up with. Personally, Vickers failed to impress, or entertain, me in the same <i>Columbo</i> has done. So I like <i>Columbo</i> better than Vickers. But who knows. Maybe I should re-read the collection (or just one story) to see if the passing of the years has softened my opinion on them. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-56680403761528960602017-01-31T09:13:21.430+01:002017-01-31T09:13:21.430+01:00Glad to hear all this as I have yet to read King a...Glad to hear all this as I have yet to read King and always enjoy a good steer with a new author - thanks TC. Sergio (Tipping My Fedora)https://bloodymurder.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-36750455677756829742017-01-31T02:03:33.346+01:002017-01-31T02:03:33.346+01:00I agree with what you are saying. Columbo treats t...I agree with what you are saying. Columbo treats the murder mystery very much like a Golden Age game. There is certainly room for that, and even across the lapse of years I can remember a number of them. At the end of the show, the murderer never reaches for his gun or starts screaming, but rather gives Columbo a compliment on his perspicacity. The point I am making is that the Columbo stories tend to have the same two characters and follow the same formula, whereas the Dead Ends stories cover a very wide range of characters and situations. One of the points of the Dead Ends stories is that an attempt at the perfect murder can occur in any class or walk of life; it is not just an amusement for the rich. There is a great deal of space between the Venetian vase and the alley and Vickers explored much of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-42948913913256501602017-01-30T23:34:02.910+01:002017-01-30T23:34:02.910+01:00Turning to Colombo, it does not seem to me that Le...<em>Turning to Colombo, it does not seem to me that Levinson and Link actually added anything to the formula except class prejudice. I am sure it is very flattering to hoi polloi to beat the 1 percent every week, but it annoys me when people insist on putting their politics into their stories.</em><br /><br />I know what you mean and there are modern TV crime series with that kind of political message.<br /><br />I'm not sure that was the intention with <em>Columbo</em> though. My feeling is that they were trying to recapture the atmosphere of golden age detective fiction. This is an updated version of the world of S.S. Van Dine and early Ellery Queen.<br /><br />Chandler said that Hammett took murder out of the Venetian vase and dropped it in the alley. That's true, and it's boring. Murder in the alley is boring because it's low-lifes killing other low-lifes in predictable and unimaginative ways. The intention with <em>Columbo</em> was to get away from sleazy killings of petty criminals and drug dealers. <em>Columbo</em>, like Van Dine and early Ellery Queen, takes place in a fantasy world of clever criminals carrying out murder in imaginative and convoluted ways. It's hard to conceive of drug dealers or pimps trying to commit the perfect murder. They just knife someone and get arrested half an hour later. But a tycoon might well have the brains and the resources to commit the (almost) perfect murder.<br /><br /><em>Columbo</em> took murder out of the alley and dropped it back in the Venetian vase. Personally I prefer that approach but of course it's purely a matter of personal taste.dfordoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02306293859869179118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-65934476938401197162017-01-30T03:09:21.808+01:002017-01-30T03:09:21.808+01:00Ellery Queen wrote the introduction to the 1949 ed...Ellery Queen wrote the introduction to the 1949 edition of The Department of Dead Ends. He stated: "In the field of the contemporary detective short story the most brilliant manipulator of the "inverted" detective short story is, in my opinion, Roy Vickers. ... Indeed, since The Rubber Trumpet originally appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, I have heard nothing but extravagant praise for that first tale of the Department of Dead Ends. Such connoisseurs as Christopher Morley, Vincent Starrett, Anthony Boucher, Howard Haycraft, James Sandoe, Charles Honce, E.A. Osborne and other true aficionados, have written or spoken to me, unanimously selecting that great story for the Honour Roll Award."<br />The book also got a starred award in 1001 Midnights.<br />Turning to Colombo, it does not seem to me that Levinson and Link actually added anything to the formula except class prejudice. I am sure it is very flattering to hoi polloi to beat the 1 percent every week, but it annoys me when people insist on putting their politics into their stories. The characters are cardboard, there to perform their assigned rolls of wily detective and upper class villain. In Dead Ends, the stories emerge naturally from character and situation, whereas the Columbo stories are built along Agatha Christie lines where character is sacrificed to the needs of situation. I have never seen a Columbo story which dealt with the character of the murderer in any depth, nor as the years rolled by did I ever see any development in Columbo's character except for a surrender to political correctness in giving up his cigar. As mysteries they appeared to me to be rather routine. <br />In short, to say the Columbo stories are the best would mean that they represented an advance over Vickers, and there are a raft of important critics who might say to the contrary.<br />The novels by Vickers I have read seem to me to be good but not very important. The novels he wrote after the war seem to me to be better than those he wrote before. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-49298099902386686602017-01-29T14:11:31.388+01:002017-01-29T14:11:31.388+01:00:):)TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-19102885217674002042017-01-29T14:07:51.627+01:002017-01-29T14:07:51.627+01:00Yeah, I think we must agree to disagree about Vick...Yeah, I think we must agree to disagree about Vickers' <i>Dead End</i> stories, but I'll move his locked room novel to the top of the pile and see what he can do with that. So that's one Vickers-focused blog-post you can look forward to in the near future. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-20787628242685173722017-01-29T08:05:07.600+01:002017-01-29T08:05:07.600+01:00By the way, the best inverted mysteries of the pre...<em>By the way, the best inverted mysteries of the previous century are a part of the Columbo series!</em><br /><br />I agree totally!dfordoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02306293859869179118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-42825085297169513792017-01-29T06:03:04.413+01:002017-01-29T06:03:04.413+01:00The Columbo stories were not bad but they were not...The Columbo stories were not bad but they were not very good either, having the usual defects of TV programs. It does not appear to me that they did anything to advance the inverted form. I always thought they relied upon class conflict for their main appeal, and I don't think that is very good, regardless of whether class snobbishness comes from either the upper class or the lower class. The Dead Ends stories, on the other hand, give an excellent picture of their times from the level of every class. It is rare for me to have to read a story twice to see just how successfully the author has fooled me, but I had to do that a lot of times with these stories. I also note that the story "The Rubber Trumpet" has been reprinted many times and is generally considered to be a classic. Even Julian Symons (for the little that is worth) thought highly of the series, of which there are a number of volumes. So we must agree to disagree.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-49660841725876632592017-01-28T12:09:23.811+01:002017-01-28T12:09:23.811+01:00Well, you probably won't like this, but I thor...Well, you probably won't like this, but I thoroughly disliked <i>The Department of Dead Ends</i> when I read it years ago. A sorely disappointing collection of short stories. <br /><br />However, I've one of his novels, <i>Murder of a Snob</i>, on my TBR-pile, which is, reportedly, an impossible crime story. So maybe I like Vickers better as a (locked room) mystery novelist instead of a writer of short inverted detective stories. <br /><br />By the way, the best inverted mysteries of the previous century are a part of the <i>Columbo</i> series! TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-10133015225947058882017-01-28T04:25:46.204+01:002017-01-28T04:25:46.204+01:00Malice in Wonderland is the first of them and was ...Malice in Wonderland is the first of them and was a Queen's Quorum pick. The other two are The Steps to Murder and The Faces of Danger. They are generally excellent. They have something of the sociological feel of Vickers's Department of Dead Ends stories. <br /><br />Speaking of Vickers, I don't see anyone blogging about him very much, which is too bad. I think the Dead Ends stories were the best inverted detective stories of the Twentieth Century (except maybe for Freeman's).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-77498319462884389982017-01-27T22:16:12.513+01:002017-01-27T22:16:12.513+01:00One of those collections is Malice in Wonderland, ...One of those collections is <i>Malice in Wonderland</i>, right? I read that one is suppose to be really good. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-32601059302013237122017-01-27T19:53:28.718+01:002017-01-27T19:53:28.718+01:00Thanks for your review. I just ordered my copy. Ki...Thanks for your review. I just ordered my copy. King is an interesting writer. His three books of short stories about Halcyon, Florida are also good.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com