Review: The Adventures of Max Spitzkopf by Jonas Kreppel

Synopsis: Max Spitzkopf, the Yiddish Sherlock Holmes, “heads the famous Viennese detective bureau Blitz . . . He’s bold as a lion and takes the wildest risks.” Meet Max Spitzkopf: legendary private eye, undefeated foe of villains, and passionate defender of the Jewish people. No matter how hopeless or dangerous the case, when “the investigatory profession’s greatest artist” is summoned, justice is assured. Aided by his trusty assistant, Fuchs, super-sleuth Spitzkopf deploys equal parts physical bravery and intellectual ingenuity— not to mention a knack for stealthy disguise—to unpick evil conspiracies, outwit the canniest of criminals, and restore moral order to the world.

Giving a unique twist to a beloved literary genre, this complete collection of the fifteen Spitzkopf mysteries is also a vibrant testament to Jewish life, in all its variety, during the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Reading the tales, with every iota of their linguistic verve and historical charm preserved in Mikhl Yashinsky’s translation, it’s easy to see why the young Isaac Bashevis Singer thought them “masterpieces.”

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Highly engaging collection of fifteen short stories featuring a Jewish detective, written in the style of Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes". The stories are set in and around Vienna in the 1920s, and deal with issues pertaining to the Jewish community and their dealings with those who are outside it.

Max Spitzkopf is a well respected (licensed) detective, and is accompanied by his Watson - Hermann Fuchs - who always seems to get himself into one scrape after another, resulting in a bash on the head, imprisonment and escape. Spitzkopf is inundated with cases from the seemingly banal to issues of national importance. As Spitzkopf bemoaned to Fuchs: “I would need at least ten heads, along with twenty eyes, twenty ears, and twenty pairs of hands and feet, to take on all of the cases these people wish to drop into my lap.”

Themes dealt with include religious bigotry, racism, murder, revenge, persecution, marriage, gang violence, espionage, forged wills, kidnappings, disappearing persons, - so if you have read your Holmes, you will feel at home with Spitzkopf. Like Holmes, Spitzkopf makes use of his assistants to do the leg-work, dons disguises himself, and throws out red herrings when on the trial of his mark. All cases are solved when the detective takes centre stage to unveil the villains and lay the matter to rest. And the villains always receive their dues.

Each of the stories follows in sequence and this is indicated by references at the beginning of the next tale. They are each in turn set out with a number of small chapters. As Yashinsky points out in his introduction, the stories of Spitzkopf were originally written as fifteen ".. pulp-fiction pamphlets that told his stories and cost only twenty Austrian heller for each shabby little shocker of thrity-two pages, published in Kraków around 1908."

I welcomed the opportunity to explore and savour a new detective series and highly recommend investing some time with Spitzkopf, the Yiddish Sherlock Holmes.

Review: Golden Age of Locked Room Mysteries ed. Otto Penzler

Synopsis: For devotees of the Golden Age mystery, the impossible crime story represents the period’s purest form: it presents the reader with a baffling scenario (a corpse discovered in a windowless room locked from the inside, perhaps), lays out a set of increasingly confounding clues, and swiftly delivers an ingenious and satisfying solution. 

During the years between the two world wars, the best writers in the genre strove to outdo one another with unfathomable crime scenes and brilliant explanations, and the puzzling and clever tales they produced in those brief decades remain unmatched to this day.

Among the Americans, some of these authors are still household names, inextricably linked to the locked room mysteries they devised: John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen, Clayton Rawson, Stuart Palmer. Others, associated with different styles of crime fiction, also produced great works—authors including Fredric Brown, MacKinlay Kantor, Craig Rice, and Cornell Woolrich.

All of these and more can be found in Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries, selected by Edgar Award-winning mystery expert and anthologist Otto Penzler. Featuring a delightful mix of well-known writers and unjustly-forgotten masters, the fourteen tales included herein highlight the best of the American impossible crime story, promising hours of entertainment for armchair sleuths young and old.

A nice anthology of classic "locked room" mysteries dates from predominantly the 1930s and 1940s. The settings vary from a touch of the science fiction - a la HG Wells - to the supernatural, missing heirs, actors, greedy and murderous relatives. Add to this a strange selection of detective: a magician, a young girl, an insurance broker, the usual police / detectives, a spinster, and a switchboard operator. Each story is unique - some are lengthy, others short and to the point.

A little summary to assist the reader:

Elsewhere by Anthony Boucher:

* published 1946

* sci-fi theme (use of a time machine)

Whistler's Murder by Frederic Brown:

* published 1946

* a vaudeville act holds the key

* insurance broker investigates

The Third Bullet by John Dickson Carr

* published 1937

* one murder victim, two sisters, three guns, three bullets

Fingerprint Ghost by Joseph Commings

* published 1947

* murder and a seance

* senator and magician investigates

Calico Dog by Mignon Eberhart

* published 1934

* return of a long lost child / heir

The Exact Opposite by Earl Stanley Gardner

* published 1941

* missing explorer and a gem in India

The Light at Three O'Clock by MacKinlay Kantor

* published 1930

* return of a murdered man

* switchboard operator investigates

The Episode of the Nail & the Requiem by C Daly King

* published 1935

* dead artists model and some late night music

The Riddle of the Yellow Canary by Stuart Palmer

* published 1934

* music producer and a dead starlet

* elderly spinster investigates

The House of Haunts  by Ellery Queen

* published 1951

* dead man's daughter returns

* creepy house and its occupants, gold, and an imposter

Off The Face of the Earth by Clayton Rawson

* published 1949

* missing judge, missing girls

* Great Merlini investigates

His Heart Could Break - Craig Rice

* published 1943

* suicide of a prisoner

* lawyer investigates - was it a frame up

Murder Among Magicians by Manley Wade Wellman

* published 1939

* when five guests visits a magician's home, murder prevails

Murder at the Automat by Cornell Woolrich

* published 1937

* man murdered in a restaurant

Nice retrospective look back at the golden age of locked room mysteries.

Review: On the Trail of Sherlock Holmes by Stephen Browning

Synopsis: You may have been introduced to the magic of the greatest of English detectives by reading the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or perhaps watching some of the hundreds of films or TV shows that feature the extraordinary adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr John H. Watson - now, this unique book offers a detailed itinerary for actually ‘walking’ Sherlock Holmes. 

Beginning, of course, at Baker Street a series of walks takes in the well-known, as well as some of the more obscure, locations of London as travelled by Holmes and Watson and a gallery of unforgettable characters in the stories. Details of each location and the story in which it features are given along with other items of interest - associated literary and historical information, social history, and events in Conan Doyle’s life. A chapter then explores Holmes’ adventures in the rest of the UK. 55 black and white original photographs accompany the text.

This book is designed to appeal to anyone who wishes to gain a deeper understanding of the stories by travelling, even if just in imagination from an armchair, exactly the same London streets as Sherlock Holmes, and perhaps also by exploring some iconic Holmesian locations farther afield. ‘Come, Watson, come!’ Holmes says in The Adventure of the Abbey Grange. ‘The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!’

The synopsis says it all - it was a quick and easy read, and one definitely for the fans of the great detective, his surrounds, and his creator.

Gumshoes: A Dictionary of Fictional Detectives

The enormous explosion of crime fiction over the last decade means that more people are looking for a good mystery than ever before. Many of the most popular mystery books appear in series, and these series feature carefully developed detectives. Gumshoes: A Dictionary of Fictional Detectives by Mitzi Brunsdale includes alphabetically arranged entries on roughly 150 fictional detectives, with an emphasis on contemporary figures. 

The volume provides coverage of familiar and less familiar detectives; male and female protagonists; gay and lesbian lead characters; and figures from a wide range of historical, cultural, and geographical settings. Included are entries on: Jim Chee, Adam Dalgliesh, Gregor Demarkian, Sister Fidelma, Joe Leaphorn, Pharoah Love, Thomas Lynle,L Kate Martinelli, Sharon McCone, Kinsey Millhone, Monsieur Pamplemouse, Easy Rawlins, Ian Rutledge, Shan Tao Yun, and many more. 

Entries discuss the various novels in which the detective appears; the character's locale and time period; the detective's associates, adversaries, and significant others; and the character's investigative techniques. The entries direct the reader to similar series for further reading, and to additional sources of information. The volume closes with a selected, general bibliography; various appendices; and an extensive index.