Lest Ye Be JUDGEd

THE unsigned book reviewer in the January 24, 1931 issue of Judge gives the once-over to a new book by a relatively new author:

Open Road Media's assessment of The Murderer Invisible is a little more informative than our Judge critic (also online HERE):

  A vengeful scientist uses his brilliant discovery to unleash terror on the world in this timeless science fiction classic from an early-twentieth-century master . . .

  The scientific community has always shunned William Carpenter. A strange, hulking giant, a talented biochemical investigator, and the self-styled "greatest mind in the western world," he has locked himself inside a house with no windows, in the most desolate reaches of New Jersey, where he can conduct his experiments in peace and isolation. Here in his personal sanctuary, Carpenter has found something astonishing that could alter life on Earth as we know it: a chemical compound that can render all matter invisible, from rocks to plants to people. But the twisted genius has no intention of using this breakthrough to benefit the planet. Instead, he is about to declare war on all humankind by launching an unseen campaign of terror and destruction. For years the world has ignored William Carpenter, labeling him insane, sociopathic, or worst of all, insignificant. And now the world will have to pay.

  The early works of novelist, editor, short story writer, essayist, and screenwriter Philip Wylie were primary influences on the creation of characters like Flash Gordon, Superman, and Travis McGee. First published in 1931, The Murderer Invisible takes H. G. Wells's classic Invisible Man several giant leaps further, resulting in a chilling tale of madness and science run amok that is at once a gripping adventure and a prescient commentary on man and society.

Archive.org has the 1976 reprint of The Murderer Invisible (HERE; borrow only).

Here's the headnote to the Hyperion reprint (also online HERE):

There's plenty of information available about Philip Wylie (1902-71; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

The reprints page for The Murderer Invisible (ISFDb is HERE).

Nicholas Laudadio of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington has a five-page summary (HERE) of Philip Wylie's science fiction, from which we quote:

  Wylie’s first novel for Farrar was The Murderer Invisible (1931), a tale inspired by Well’s Invisible Man. He then went on to write a few “serious” novels and worked through a series of quite successful murder mysteries with Balmer. Next, Wylie and Balmer wrote When Worlds Collide (1932), a retelling of the Noah’s ark tale in which humankind struggles to build a giant spacecraft to help save earth’s creatures and cultures from a wandering planet on a collision course with earth. In contrast to Balmer’s wild disregard for scientific verisimilitude—an issue that would often emerge in the course of their partnership—Wylie insisted on getting the science of the novel “right” and thus he consulted with astronomers on the novel’s various astrophysical details. When Worlds Collide was slated to be made into a film directed by Cecil B. Demille, but a suitable screenplay couldn’t be found, and the idea was shelved for twenty years. (In 1951 Rudolph Maté a version approved by Wylie starring Richard Derr and Barbara Rush that received much praise.) When the novel first appeared in serial form in Bluebook, it was greeted with tremendous sales and has remained in print since, becoming one of the most 

successful science fiction stories of the period.

When Worlds Collide, the novel, is online in multiple formats at Faded Page (HERE).

But if you're in a hurry, the comic book version of the movie When Worlds Collide is at Comic Books Plus (HERE) and Archive.org (HERE).

Resources:

- A Philip Wylie short story that will give you an inkling of his attitudes but which has seen only a few reprintings since its first appearance in 1946 is "Blunder" (SFFAudio HERE; 18 pages); the ISFDb reprints page for the story is (HERE).

The bottom line:

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UPDATE: Julian Symons's Review of Robert Barnard's A TALENT TO DECEIVE

Added an Archive.org link and minor text alterations (HERE).

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UPDATE: Albert M. Treynor's "In Thin Air"

Added a story headnote and a Pulpgen Archive link and made some text corrections (HERE).

UPDATE: Tom Thursday's "Pay for Your Peanuts"

Added a story headnote and made a few minor text corrections (HERE).

UPDATE: Fred C. Smale's "Caught Out"

Added a story headnote and a Pulpgen Archive link and made minor text corrections (HERE).

UPDATE: C. K. M. Scanlon's "Footprints" and "Blood for Breakfast"

Added story headnotes and Pulpgen Archive links (HERE).

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UPDATE: Johnston McCulley's "New Year's Trap"

Added an illo and a Pulpgen Archive link (HERE).

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"If the Mystery Were To Be Solved, Someone with Some Human Interest Would Have To Get Up on His Toes"

"The Chemistry Murder Case."

By Miles J. Breuer, M. D. (1889-1945; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and Roy Glashan's bibliography page HERE).

First appearance: Amazing Stories, October 1935.

Short story (25 pages as a PDF).

Online at Roy Glashan's Library (HTML HERE) and (EPUB HERE).

   "Ever heard of such a thing as jealousy? That causes more murders than explosives and formulas."

WHEN a brilliant research chemist is found dead in his laboratory, everybody assumes it's an unfortunate lab accident.  It will require the brain power of the university's curator to show that it was anything but an accident—in fact, it's a murder, with one of the oldest motives in the book . . .

Main characters:

~ Isaiah Culp ("Many of the students thought he ought to be a professor, for he certainly seemed to know enough about Chemistry"), Dr. Seeley ("The body of the young Dr. Seeley was sprawled from his stool across his desk, its head lolling and its arms flung out in an attitude too grotesque to mean anything but death"), John Brusiloff ("This looks like a woman's job"), Miss Shane ("was one of the student-instructors, and had a great deal of ability. She also had as much beauty as she had ability"), Dr. Kane ("This is rubbish. This is—preposterous. This is silly. This is hodge-podge"), the Chancellor ("Science claims its martyrs now and then"), Dr. North ("The pink color of the body," Dr. North continued, "and the dark blue lips and finger-nails, confirm poisoning by hydrocyanic acid"), Mrs. Seeley ("A succession of little flutey squeaks, a swish of fluffy, pale-green and cream skirts and sleeves and cloaks, a slow suffusion of perfume—and Mrs. Seeley, wife of the murdered man, stood there in front of them"), the Inspector ("gave the impression of an inexorable information-mining machine"), the Sergeant ("marched Brusiloff up face-to-face with the Inspector; the prisoner's arms were locked behind him, with the Sergeant's elbows"), and Jackson ("hammered on the door and reported by name. The door was unlocked to admit him, and locked again when he was inside. All the occupants looked at him eagerly, except Miss Shane, who continued to stare intently at the floor").

References:

- "hydrocyanic acid":

  "Hydrogen cyanide (formerly known as prussic acid) is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structural formula H−C≡N. It is a highly toxic and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at 25.6 °C (78.1 °F).

  "Hydrogen cyanide was also the agent employed in judicial execution in some U.S. states, where it was produced during the execution by the action of sulfuric acid on sodium cyanide or potassium cyanide." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "the Kipp generator":

  "Kipp's apparatus, also called a Kipp generator, is an apparatus designed for preparation of small volumes of gases. It was invented around 1844 by the Dutch pharmacist Petrus Jacobus Kipp and widely used in chemical laboratories and for demonstrations in schools into the second half of the 20th century." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "In a few seconds the mouse was dead":

  "Mice have been used in biomedical research since the 17th century, when William Harvey used them for his studies on reproduction and blood circulation and Robert Hooke used them to investigate the biological consequences of an increase in air pressure. During the 18th century Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier both 

used mice to study respiration." (Wikipedia HERE).

Resources:

- Poe's "The Gold Bug" gets a mention in our story. Instances involving ciphers and detectives that we've encountered so far are (HERE), (HERE), (HERE), and (HERE). The estimable Dr. Thorndyke also tangled with a cipher (full Hathi Trust story HERE).

- Other stories by Miles J. Breuer that might be of interest: "The Puzzle Duel" (HERE), "The Disappearing Papers" (HERE), and "The Sheriff of Thorium Gulch" (HERE).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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"From the Diary of Sherlock Holmes"

 

FROM THE DIARY OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Baker Street, January 1.—Starting a diary in order to jot down a few useful incidents which will be of no use to Watson. Watson very often fails to see that an unsuccessful case is more interesting from a professional point of view than a successful case. He means well.

January 6.—Watson has gone to Brighton for a few days, for change of air. This morning quite an interesting little incident happened which I note as a useful example of how sometimes people who have no powers of deduction nevertheless stumble on the truth for the wrong reason. (This never happens to Watson, fortunately.) Lestrade called from Scotland Yard with reference to the theft of a diamond and ruby ring from Lady Dorothy Smith's wedding presents. The facts of the case were briefly these: On Thursday evening such of the presents as were jewels had been brought down from Lady Dorothy's bedroom to the drawing-room to be shown to an admiring group of friends. The ring was amongst them. After they had been shown, the jewels were taken upstairs once more and locked in the safe. The next morning the ring was missing. Lestrade, after investigating the matter, came to the conclusion that the ring had not been stolen, but had either been dropped in the drawing-room, or replaced in one of the other cases; but since he had searched the room and the remaining cases, his theory so far received no support. I accompanied him to Eaton Square to the residence of Lady Middlesex, Lady Dorothy's mother.

While we were engaged in searching the drawing-room, Lestrade uttered a cry of triumph and produced the ring from the lining of the arm-chair. I told him he might enjoy the triumph, but that the matter was not quite so simple as he seemed to think. A glance at the ring had shown me not only that the stones were false, but that the false ring had been made in a hurry. To deduce the name of its maker was of course child's play. Lestrade or any pupil of Scotland Yard would have taken for granted it was the same jeweller who had made the real ring. I asked for the bridegroom's present, and in a short time I was interviewing the jeweller who had provided it. As I thought, he had made a ring, with imitation stones (made of the dust of real stones), a week ago, for a young lady. She had given no name and had fetched and paid for it herself. I deduced the obvious fact that Lady Dorothy had lost the real ring, her uncle's gift, and, not daring to say so, had had an imitation ring made. I returned to the house, where I found Lestrade, who had called to make arrangements for watching the presents during their exhibition.

I asked for Lady Dorothy, who at once said to me:

"The ring was found yesterday by Mr Lestrade."

"I know," I answered, "but which ring?"

She could not repress a slight twitch of the eyelids as she said: "There was only one ring."

I told her of my discovery and of my investigations.

"This is a very odd coincidence, Mr Holmes," she said. "Some one else must have ordered an imitation. But you shall examine my ring for yourself." Where-upon she fetched the ring, and I saw it was no imitation. She had of course in the meantime found the real ring.

But to my intense annoyance she took it to Lestrade and said to him:

"Isn't this the ring you found yesterday, Mr Lestrade?"

Lestrade examined it and said, "Of course it is absolutely identical in every respect."

"And do you think it is an imitation?" asked this most provoking young lady.

"Certainly not," said Lestrade, and turning to me he added: "Ah! Holmes, that is where theory leads one. At the Yard we go in for facts."

I could say nothing; but as I said good-bye to Lady Dorothy, I congratulated her on having found the real ring. The incident, although it proved the correctness of my reasoning, was vexing as it gave that ignorant blunderer an opportunity of crowing over me.

January 10.—A man called just as Watson and I were having breakfast. He didn't give his name. He asked me if I knew who he was. I said, "Beyond seeing that you are unmarried, that you have travelled up this morning from Sussex, that you have served in the French Army, that you write for reviews, and are especially interested in the battles of the Middle Ages, that you give lectures, that you are a Roman Catholic, and that you have once been to Japan, I don't know who you are."

The man replied that he was unmarried, but that he lived in Manchester, that he had never been to Sussex or Japan, that he had never written a line in his life, that he had never served in any army save the English Territorial force, that so far from being a Roman Catholic he was a Freemason, and that he was by trade an electrical engineer—I suspected him of lying; and I asked him why his boots were covered with the clayey and chalk mixture peculiar to Horsham; why his boots were French Army service boots, elastic-sided, and bought probably at Valmy; why the second half of a return ticket from Southwater was emerging from his ticket-pocket; why he wore the medal of St Anthony on his watch-chain; why he smoked Caporal cigarettes; why the proofs of an article on the Battle of Eylau were protruding from his breast-pocket, together with a copy of the Tablet; why he carried in his hand a parcel which, owing to the untidy way in which it had been made (an untidiness which, in harmony with the rest of his clothes, showed that he could not be married) revealed the fact that it contained photographic magic lantern slides; and why he was tattooed on the left wrist with a Japanese fish.

"The reason I have come to consult you will explain some of these things," he answered.

"I was staying last night at the Windsor Hotel, and this morning when I woke up I found an entirely different set of clothes from my own. I called the waiter and pointed this out, but neither the waiter nor any of the other servants, after making full enquiries, were able to account for the change. None of the other occupants of the hotel had complained of anything being wrong with their own clothes.

"Two gentlemen had gone out early from the hotel at 7.30. One of them had left for good, the other was expected to return.

"All the belongings I am wearing, including this parcel, which contains slides, belong to someone else.

"My own things contained nothing valuable, and consisted of clothes and boots very similar to these; my coat was also stuffed with papers. As to the tattoo, it was done at a Turkish bath by a shampooer, who learnt the trick in the Navy."

The case did not present any features of the slightest interest. I merely advised the man to return to the hotel and await the real owner of the clothes, who was evidently the man who had gone out at 7.30.

This is a case of my reasoning being, with one partial exception, perfectly correct. Everything I had deduced would no doubt have fitted the real owner of the clothes.

Watson asked rather irrelevantly why I had not noticed that the clothes were not the man's own clothes.

A stupid question, as the clothes were reach-me-downs which fitted him as well as such clothes ever do fit, and he was probably of the same build as their rightful owner.

January 12.—Found a carbuncle of unusual size in the plum-pudding. Suspected the makings of an interesting case. But luckily, before I had stated any hypothesis to Watson—who was greatly excited—Mrs Turner came in and noticed it and said her naughty nephew Bill had been at his tricks again, and that the red stone had come from a Christmas tree. Of course, I had not examined the stone with my lens.

=========================================================================

Maurice Baring, "From the Diary of Sherlock Holmes." First published in The Eye Witness, November 23, 1911.

Reprinted in Lost  Diaries (1913) (HERE), as well as:

• A Sherlock Holmes Compendium, 1981
• 
• The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1989
• 
  
  
  
  
• The Game Is Afoot, 1994.
• 

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"The Decline of the Mystery Story"

"The Decline of the Mystery Story" by Tracy Perkins, Coronet magazine, November 1939.

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It Pays To Advertise (the Perry Mason connection)

In 1961 the Perry Mason TV series reached its highest ratings, coming in 5th nationally, so don't be surprised by the following:

Resources:

- A pretty thorough article about the Mason series is to be found on Wikipedia (HERE).

Look magazine cover, October 10, 1961.

- We also noted other detective fiction-related (mostly) advertisements (HERE).

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UPDATE: Jack Vance's "Coup de Grace" (a.k.a. "Worlds of Origin")

Added story headnote and illustration (HERE).

"How Much?"

"The Great Secret."

By George H. Smith (1922-96; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; and the SFE HERE).

First appearance: Super-Science Fiction, October 1959.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (3 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "It was those eyes, those unblinking, unwavering, somehow truthful eyes."

NEARLY two dozen people have been paying a lot of money to what the police and the D.A. understandably regard as a blackmailer, with a handful of others having taken their own 

lives. A clear-cut case of extortion, of course—but, as they'll soon discover, it's a lot more 

than that . . .

Principal characters:

~ Detective Lieutenant Bolasky ("They had Maraat kicked out of their offices, but within a week of his visit they all committed suicide"), District Attorney Waters ("We know you've been practicing blackmail, but we don't know how you you're doing it"), and Maraat ("I knew that if I waited long enough you would send for me").

Resources:

- Previous ONTOS perusals of George H. Smith's work: "The Undetected" (HERE), "Witness" (HERE), "Paradox Lost" (HERE), and "Benefactor" (HERE).

The bottom line:

Hollywood has used the concept as a reliable plot kick-starter for a long time.

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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UPDATE: Roger Torrey's "Murder Backstage"

Added a Pulpgen Archive link and a story headnote and made small text changes (HERE).

"He Ripped a Gun from His Pocket and Would Have Fired Point-blank . . ."

"The Alibi That Was Too Air-Tight."

By W. T. Ballard (1903-80; Wikipedia HERE; Black Mask Magazine HERE; Thrilling Detective HERE; the ISFDb HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

First appearance: Detective Short Stories, February 1941.

Short short short story (4 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "In a moment we are going to flash onto the screen the picture of the lucky winner which was taken last Wednesday evening."

THAT all-important alibi (Latin for "somewhere else"). Criminals of every Intelligence Quotient level covet alibis because prison cells will soon engulf them unless they can come up with a plausible one; meanwhile, amateur and professional detectives spend a good deal of their time trying to bust them. In today's story, a neighborhood recidivist with, let's face it, a diminished IQ imagines he has an alibi that's "air-tight," making him immune to the law. But the law, in the person of a smarter than average policeman, is about to cleverly deflate those expectations—in a most unpredictable manner . . .

Main characters:

~ Lavant ("My luck. It’s your luck, copper. You're lucky as hell"), Dan Haggar ("I’m hoping you’ll make trouble so I can take you in feet first"), Old Reilly ("Shur-r-re and I never was so sur-rprised in my life, for if Lavant has one virtue it’s sobriety"), the inspector ("Luck might not always be with you"), and Marta ("It wasn’t luck, Inspector").

Typo: "to met him".

References:

- "Garbo" (Wikipedia HERE) "learned to smile in Ninotchka" (Wikipedia HERE).

- "our bank club idea":

  Movie theaters used to be more interactive, with managers offering prizes to the moviegoers:

  "In 1936, Bank Night was played at 5,000 of America's 15,000 active theaters, and copies of it were played at countless more. The popularity of Bank Night and similar schemes contributed to the resiliency of the film industry during the Great Depression more than any other single business tactic." (Wikipedia HERE).

- An episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents included the word "alibi" in the title. (IMDb HERE).

Resources:

- Our author's full name was Willis Todhunter Ballard. If that middle name sounds familiar, consider his first cousin's moniker, Rex Todhunter Stout.

- Writing as "Robert Wallace," our author gave the world "Murder Magic" (HERE).

The bottom line:

From Larry Niven's "The Alibi Machine" posting (HERE).

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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UPDATE: Robert Wallace's "Murder Magic"

Added a story headnote and a Pulpgen Archive link and corrected some text (HERE).

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"Our Skillful Technique, Acquired in the Course of Fifteen Years of Uninterrupted Success (We Received More Than 2000 Visitors Last Year), Permits Us To Guarantee a Minute Dose and Immediate Results"

"Suicide Hotel."

By André Maurois (Émile Herzog, 1885-1967; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

First appearance: Candide, December 16, 1937.

English reprint: Coronet, August 1938 (today's text).

Reprinted in EQMM, February 1952 (go to text page 3 HERE).

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Filmed for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as "Thanatos Palace Hotel"; first air date: February 1, 1965 (IMDb HERE). (Also filmed in Germany, France, Mexico, Russia, and Australia.)

Short short story (5 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "Suicide is an art that does not permit mediocrity nor amateurism, and which, moreover, by its very nature does not allow the acquisition of experience."

MOST OF US would probably agree with George Carlin: "I couldn't commit suicide if my life depended on it." But sometimes life throws us hard balls and we can't get out of the way fast enough. When that happens, in the grip of despair, dark thoughts cloud the mind. In our story, one such despairing individual loses his fortune and his marriage and decides to end it all, and wouldn't you know it, there just happens to be an organization that's very willing to help him do it—for a price, of course . . .

Principal characters:

~ Jean Monnier ("Huddled in an arm chair, his head in his hands, he seemed crushed"), Gertrude Miller ("he’s gambled his shirt. Fanny told me so. She’s going to leave him tonight"), Harry Cooper ("Tough luck for him"), Henry Boerstecher ("Cruel? On the contrary it is in that that the humanity of our method lies"), Claire Kerby-Shaw ("Why the devil did such a charming being want to die?"), and Sarconi ("You asked for me, Signor Manager?").

References:

- "Suicide":

  "SUICIDE (from Latin sui, "of oneself," and cidium, from caedere, "to kill"), the act of intentionally destroying one's own life. The phenomenon of suicide has at all times attracted a large amount of attention from moralists and social investigators. Its existence is looked upon, in Western civilization, as a sign of the presence of maladies in the body politic which, whether remediable or not, deserve careful examination." (Wikisource HERE).

- "Thanatos":

  "In Greek mythology, Thanatos ('(I) die, am dying') was the personification of death." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- Sarconi's name seems to hint at his function:

  "combining form from Greek sark-, sárx 'flesh, piece of meat'." (Merriam-Webster HERE).

Resource:

- An excellent, very detailed, and thorough compare-and-contrast summary by Jack Seabrook of both the Maurois and Hitchcock versions of the story is on bare-bones e-zine (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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