Saturday, December 1: New York Minute
Barry will be with us for another few weeks. We are delighted to have him!
READING THE CORNERSTONES
by Barry T. Zeman
Last installment time I promised to outline some of the H-Q titles that are underappreciated books you will definitely want to read. They do not have the notoriety or popularity of the literary masterpieces or household name authors we have discussed so far, but are important works I n their own right. Of most interest to today’s fans and general readers will be those that followed the Golden Age-after the start of WWII until1952, when appeared in entries to the list stopped.
Two of my own favorites were published in the UK in 1940; Drink to Yesterday and Toast to Tomorrow (English title Pray Silence), the first Tommy Hambledon tales by an English duo writing team under the pseudonym Manning Coles. For espionage fans, these two wartime thrillers are not easily surpassed, presaging the James Bond novels. You can be sure Ian Fleming read them. Highly popular in England, and well read at the time in the US, Coles published many more Tommy Hambledon novels through the 1960’s. As with many of the titles we will mention, most are well out of print, but old paperback or reading copies are available; just look up at abe.com or one of the other out of print/ collectable book websites.
Craig Rice, pseudonym of a popular mystery writer and screenwriter, produced two denizens of the H-Q List that are wonderful reads. Pick up Trial By Fury (1941) and Home Sweet Homicide (1944), the initial works of her most popular characters. Other great, but significant more well known, H-Q books like Laura by Vera Caspary, The Unsuspected and Mischief by Charlotte Armstrong, The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey, The Moving Toyshop and Love Lies Bleeding by Edmund Crispin, Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner, The Moving Target by John (Ross) Macdonald and The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler appear on the list during the two decade period following Rice’s initial effort. The best of the remaining one’s you may not recognize, but will give equal or greater pleasure to read.
One of the most important that was translated to film under the same title is Dreadful Summit, Stanley Ellin’s initial book. Stan is better remembered for his short story, “Specialty of the House”, arguable one of the best pieces of mystery short fiction ever published. If you have not read either, treats await.
Similarly, Thomas Walsh’s masterpiece Nightmare in Manhattan, a very good film and great book is a good bet for enjoyment. The historical short story collection featuring Samuel Johnson by Lillian de la Torre entitled Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector is a delightful read for those with a predilection for intelligent puzzles and that particular era. Two important books appeared in 1950, The People Against O’Hara by NY City prosecutor Eleazar Lipsky, considered by critics as the best published that year, was filmed in 1951. This great crime drama was directed by John Sturges with Spencer Tracy and Pat O’Brien in starring roles. The book is well worth the homework needed to find a copy.
Another must read is the outstanding psychological thriller, A Gentle Murder, by Dorothy Salisbury Davis, perhaps my favorite on this list. Finally, an important short story collection, The Little Tales of Smethers, by the English Lord Dunsany, an early master of fantasy and science fiction, displays superior command of this particular end of the genre. This, the last entry in the H-Q List, should be on everyone’s bedside table.
Well, there you have an acknowledged, but little known selection of outstanding books and short story collections to look forward to. Also, keep an eye out for the anthologies and “specialties” that appear on the H–Q List. They will be found at the end of the full, revised Haycraft-Queen Definitive Library of Detective-Crime-Mystery Fiction: Two Centuries of Cornerstones, which the honorable Mr. James Lincoln Warren will incorporate into the reference links of Criminal Brief sometime in the near future.
Happy reading.
P.S. Keep an eye out for our next series of articles featuring Queen’s Quorum, the best and most influential short story collections in the history of the genre.
Barry, it’s funny you should mention Manning Coles. I have a bunch of the Tommy Hambedon books (and one of the ghost books). I finally picked up a copy of A Drink to Yesterday, so I can read them chronologically. (My understanding is that Drink and Toast shold be read together, as one leads into the other).
Thanks for the excellent column and recommendations.
How lucky we (Criminal Brief and I) were to have a substitute writer so near at hand and so willing to jump in for me while I tended to my annoying physical dents and zings. (I’ll be in and out of the “shop” for some time, but things are looking up. I hope to be “perfect” {literary license here} by Christmas ’08.)
One might wonder how I snagged such a prize.
With a kiss. Ask him.
I asked him if he would please kiss me, just once, no big deal. I wanted to see what it would be like. As you might guess, he did a yeoman’s job. I kept him.
Barry and I first met at MWA, in New York, in 1988. Our friendship bloomed into romance, and eventually to marriage. One might call us an ‘MWA’ couple. Since Barry came to Manhattan years before me, I spent a few years scrambling to assert the fact that we were two MEMBERS, not a ‘member-with-spouse.’ For an entire year Alice Orr also tried to get everyone to call us the Z-Team, which I also fought.
My answer to people taking an interest in our eventual merging is that I married him for his library. Of course, other things came into play, but there’s substantial truth in that line. We share a devotion to books, and even more–to mystery.
Our home offices are a few rooms apart, which enables much serenity in our marriage. When one day we noticed the conveniently short commute to each other’s offices, an idea arose to co-write a few articles, pieces of which you readers have been perusing–about the Haycraft/Queens Quorum list, the history of MWA, the history of the mystery, as well as other nonfiction things.
Barry will be the first to admit that although in most areas of matrimony we’re equally (unusually well) matched, I found myself needing to pound and thunder and cut ruthlessly during our co-writing. I had to employ the power of “the final word.” Why? He had a collector’s encyclopedic knowledge–and also a years long habit of being the CEO/Pres of large organizations with staffs and an IT department who scurried around doing his will.
I had the writer’s skill and understanding of how publishing worked. I had to anoint myself Chairman of the Board.
The ‘Boss’ hadn’t expereinced people telling him in blunt words how wrong he was. Objections led to raging battles. Each time, afterwards, I swore I’d never work with him again. I was the writer, the person used to working under deadline, fulfilling editors’ requests, adhering to word counts, so therefore–Barry had to learn to obey. A new experience.
As is his habit, he swiftly learned what I had to teach and then expanded on his own to learn more. He graduated to be my first reader and editor. Seeing the work process from the writer’s viewpoint has expanded his understanding of a writer’s life and business needs. Now he’s my primo business manager.
Oh, and his library? What Heaven! I had to learn which books to never touch, of course. Which books he would allow me to read under safe conditions. Thanks to his library, I found the Manning Coles, plus many jewels unknown to me! I also alert him to great new writers (my area of expertise) whose first books publish with a small print run–my contribution to the library. If I hear about a book I’d like to read, years out of print, he knows how to find it. He’s introduced me to old writers, and I’ve introduced him to new ones. It’s been happy and fun.
Sometimes a kiss is more than just a kiss.