Tip the Wink

this is the 238th in my series of forgotten or seldom read books

Grottos of Chinatown by Arthur J. Burks, Off-Trail Publications 2009 trade paper. Pulp mystery short story collection featuring undercover detective Dorus Noel. Cover art by Raphael DeSoto

This book collects, for the first time, all eleven Dorus Noel stories from 1933-1934 in the pages of All Detective Magazine. Each story includes the original opening illustration. In addition to the stories the first two pieces (see contents) are very  informative about Burks and All Detective Magazine.

Dorus Noel spent many years in the Far East, and knew it’s people, languages and traditions well. Now he is living in New York’s Chinatown, an undercover agent answering to his mysterious boss on Park Avenue. Here he attempts to solve the insidious crimes of the mostly hidden Chinese underworld, a place of strange alliances, dark menace and mystery.

Here is an urban nightmare of hidden rooms and secret passageways riddling the district like a rabbit warren, a world in shadow, of fantastic wealth, lush carpets and draperies hiding cruelty and evil, beauty and ugliness. Dorus Noel knows this place, he goes into it with a soft step and a loaded gun, and he solves the most bizarre cases, the ones beyond the ability of the regular police.

These stories are good fun, very atmospheric, not particularly puzzling but entertaining nevertheless. There is a sameness about the stories that made me want to read only one or two at a time, so I took my time finishing this one. A very nice collection, and an enjoyable one.

Contents:

• Portrait of Arthur J. Burks
• Arthur J. Banks and All Detective
• “Death of the Flute”
• “The White Wasp”
• “Bells of Pell Street”
• “Red Tassels”
• “The Golden Cocoon”
• “Cloisonné”
• “Spheres of Cathay”
• “Design For Murder”
• “Tinkling Bells”
• “Black Snow”
• “The Blood Screen”

this is the 236th in my series of forgotten or seldom read books

Eragon by Christopher Paolini, Knopf 2003 hardcover
fantasy – Inheritance  Book 1 (of 4)

“Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world. A tall Shade lifted his head and sniffed the air. He looked human except for his crimson hair and maroon eyes.”

Christopher Paolini began Eragon at age 15. His skills with storytelling and writing beyond his years and show improvement as the book progresses through it’s 497 pages.

Eragon, a young farm boy, is hunting in a mountainous area near his home when a flash and explosion occur nearby, devastating a small area of forest. He goes to investigate and finds among the burned brush and trees a large blue stone. He tries to barter it for food but townsfolk are suspicious of anything unusual, no matter how attractive, fearing it may be evil in nature. So he keeps it. The gemlike stone soon cracks open, hatching a beautiful sapphire-blue dragon with which Eragon bonds. This is all unexpected as dragons are thought to be extinct.

Soon afterward his family is killed by the evil marauding Ra’zac, and soon Eragon discovers that he is the last of the Dragon Riders, fated to play a decisive part in the coming war between the humans dwarves and elves versus the diabolical Shades, Neanderthal-like Urgalls and the evil King Galbatorix. Soon Eragon and his dragon Saphira are thrown into a complex political situation which they struggle to understand while they endure perilous travel, battles, dire wounds and capture.

The book shows the influence of Tolkien (as does every fantasy written since Lord of the Rings) and also perhaps Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey and George RR Martin. It’s a traditional fantasy tale of a young boy who comes to realize he is special and his quest to find himself and overcome evil. We have the generally agreed-upon nature of dwarves, elves, dragons, magic swords and heroic warfare. The endpapers are a helpful map. This book got better as I read and by the end I was ready for the next volume, Eldest, which was published just over a year later.

The gap stretched out for the final two novels, and the four book series wasn’t in hand until 2011, nearly eight years after Eragon appeared. After I read this first book, I bought each successive one but did not read them until the quartet was complete. At which time I re-read this book and then went straight through the others. At the end, I found I had enjoyed the entire story immensely and wished there could be another book carrying on the story of Eragon and his dragon, Saphira. 

These didn’t get the positive reaction I believe they deserved, and the 2006 film didn’t help matters any, though I find it to be watchable, just not great. I think fantasy readers who only read this first book and stopped have been short-changing themselves. I can recommend the entire set.

this is the 235th in my series of forgotten or seldom read books

A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King, Bantam 1997 paperback, Holmes & Russell, 2^nd in series

I very much enjoyed the first in this series, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, which I read in March 1997. I see from my read list I gave it a rating of “excellent” (4.5 of 5 stars) and when I reviewed it in The Perp, saying I liked the book a lot and gave it a “highly recommended”.

At the time I bought the next three books in the series, available in paperback. Why I didn’t read another until a couple of years later had to do, as is so often the case, with the number of books in the TBR pile and my own idiosyncrasies of what appeals at any particular moment. I plucked this from the shelf a couple months ago, read about 30 pages, then left it in the car, and every now and then I’d pick it up and read a few pages, perhaps while at the pool or in the car waiting for someone. But the book grabbed me and I decided to finish it, which I did in a couple of days. I wrote this review and then that got set aside until now.

A series of murders claims members of a church/suffrage organization’s wealthy young female volunteers, and Mary Russell, with Holmes in the background, investigates, little knowing what danger she personally faces. Mary has come into her majority and so has the means to match her intellect and skills in determining the truth behind the murders and a near-fatal accident.

I don’t think this is as good as the initial book, but that’s my reaction comparing the plots, I like the writing in both. I know people who liked this one better. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this one at all, I just didn’t happen to like it as much The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. Since the time I read this, I’ve gone on in the series by several more books. There hasn’t been one I didn’t like. However I’m several books behind in this series, so I can’t speak for all of them.