The Dream Detective – Sax Rohmer

Just back from a two months vacation and have a lot of catching up to do in my pursuit of the short stories. In the meantime, I thought I'd try something different: for the first time since I started this blog a year ago, I intend to deviate from my routine template which I’ve adhered to diligently. All along, I’ve concentrated on featuring one good detective story in a blog post but here I include all the stories from a single collection!

Sax Rohmer, in this collection introduces us to the methods of Moris Klaw, an Occult detective whose description reads thus: an old antique dealer who wore an archaic bowler, gold-rimmed pince-nez, black silk muffler, and long-toed continental boots, who sprayed verbena on his high bald brow in the presence of the dead, and who carried with him a red silk cushion odically sterilized. Mr. Searles, who is a part of the staff in Menzies Museum, meets Moris Klaw in the tragedy of the Greek Room and becomes his friend and biographer of his investigations.

Most of the solutions to Moris Klaw’s investigations can be grouped into two themes which he advocates: The Circle of Crime – where each crime repeats itself as history repeats itself and one only has to know the history of the crime or the place or the antique piece involved in the crime to solve it & the Psychic Photograph method – where he spends a night in the room of the dead and gets a mental photograph of the very last image or emotion of either the slayer or the slain as a clue to solve the rest of the case. Well, Ellery Queen calls him the 'charlatan-criminologist' but I've a strong objection to this moniker of Moris Klaw. The three locked room or impossible crimes stories are obviously the best of the lot and the others certainly have a lot going to keep the reader glued to the book till he reaches the end of a fascinating journey. 

Case of the Greek Room

An impressive debut featuring two locked room deaths. Please refer this link for the detailed review.

Case of the Potsherd Anubis

Only story in the collection which doesn’t involve any detection. Halesowen has just returned from Egypt with a freshly unearthed pot or vase known as the Potsherd of Anubis – that too stolen from the person who doesn’t deem it necessary to inform the Egyptian authorities about its discovery. A third man Zeda who comes to know about this robbery tries to buy the pot from Halesowen but without success. The rest of the story deals with the elaborate scheme which Zeda undertakes to relieve Halesowen of his treasure.

Case of The Crusader’s Ax

Mr. Heidleberg has taken possession of the ‘Crespie House’ after the death of its owner and he wants to convert it to a hotel. The only one who has an objection to it is the Butler of the previous owner who has been kicked out the house by Heidelberg.  Heidleberg is found beheaded with a mighty looking axe beside him. Inspector Grimsby can’t believe that the frail and old butler had the strength to even lift that gigantic axe. Klaw believes that the crimes operate in cycles and it is this cycle of crime in relation to the history of the sacred Black Geoffrey’s ax which reveals the solution to this crime.

Case of The Ivory Statue

The best story of the lot with a neatly done impossible crime. Please refer this link for the detailed review.

Case of The Rajah’s Blue

The Rajah’s Blue is a big diamond which is being sold by the Nissam of Gaekwad to the London government. 8 men get into a room to carry out the transaction with Inspector Grimsby standing guard outside. The diamond gets passed from one to another before it’s placed on the desk. A distraction outside makes everyone to rush to the jammed window and when they turn back, there is no sign of the diamond. Each man is searched, each crevice is closely inspected, there is no window or door or any aperture through which it could have been discarded and yet the diamond is not to be found. The solution to this clever impossible disappearance is based solely on the psychic photograph which Klaw comes up with - which qualifies as a cheat in my opinion.

Case of the Whispering Poplars

Moris Klaw, as it is revealed, is the author of a book titled ‘Psychic Angles’ in which, he describes the history of the various haunted houses in England. One such house happens to be ‘The Grove’ which is known for its history of deaths due to supernatural causes. The new occupants – Mr. Haufman and his two daughters are plagued by the strange occurrences in this house. Klaw also recognizes that the second daughter is ‘mediumistic’ and hence is in danger in this kind of an atmosphere – a prophecy which comes true a few days later. An American detective hired to solve these strange phenomena dies in mysterious circumstances and it is left to Moris Klaw to explain them within the sphere of natural laws.

Case of the Chord in G

A portrait painter has been found strangled – the marks on his neck so deep and so strange that it could have been committed only by a person with extreme strength in his arms and shoulders. After spending a night in the room where he dies, his psychic photograph reveals just a ‘sound’. The case remains unsolved till a new tenant occupies the house, for whose house warming ceremony Klaw gets himself invited because he thinks that the murderer would be present. He solves the case after hearing the music played by a composer – a newly composed prelude in which he tries to express in music the lust of slaying!

Case of the Headless Mummies

Mr. Mark Pettigrew has been visited by a strange burglar. Even though Pettigrew’s house consisted of several rich Egyptian treasures which the thief could’ve helped himself to, all he did was to cut off the head of a valuable mummy! Next to face the same fate is one of the five mummies in Sotheby’s awaiting an auction. The burglar’s next strike is in the house of Moris Klaw – again just the decapitation of a mummy’s head. All Klaw has to do is to do some research from the infinite volumes which adores his bookshelves and he knows where the burglar is gone strike next. They lay a trap for him in the Egyptian room of the Menzies Museum. An unusual but a charming story where the reader can easily work out the reason for the epidemic of the decapitations but still would enjoy the thrill ride to its climatic ending!

Case of the Haunting of Grange

This story is kind of a copy of the Whispering Poplars – Klaw has been invited by the owner of 'The Grange' to find a solution to the supernatural events taking place on a pretty regular manner ever since he moved in to his new abode.

Case of the Veil of Isis

Moris Klaw methods were, if not supernatural, at any rate supernormal, and people always used to question the narrator if there was ever a case which proved insusceptible of a natural explanation – which fell within the province of that of the occult.  The narrator says that there were several but he hasn’t recorded any and instead sets out to record this case which falls between the provinces of the natural & supernatural in such a way that it might, with equal legitimacy, be included under either head.  

The Horror At Staveley Grange - Sapper

Story: The Horror At Staveley Grange

Author: Sapper (Herman Cyril McNeile)

Book: My Best Detective Stories, The Saving Clause (Available on Project Gutenberg Australia)

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Sapper, the creator of the famous Bull-Dog Drummond, probably created his other series character Robert Standish to tackle the more intellectual puzzles which the former would have felt so pretty unconformable to deal with.

Mrs. Bretherton wakes up one night babbling about a shining hand that had touched her but when her husband and the servants rush to her room, they don’t find anyone. She is so afraid of this incident that she leaves the house next morning refusing to stay in that house anymore which ultimately forces her husband to sell off the house.

Robert Mansford with his two sons has moves in to Staveley Grange and he occupies the same room which Mrs. Bretherton had used. Shortly, he meets an untimely end in the same bedroom – he is found dead sitting up in bed as though trying to reach for the speaking tube, speaking through which would have fetched his butler. Cause of Death: Heart Attack instigated due to fear.

Next to use the room is the elder son Tom. He is also found dead a few days later with his body lying over the rail at the foot of the bed with a pistol still clutched in one hand. Cause of Death: Heart Attack. Tongues start wagging and the general public is of the view that the second son William was responsible for the death of both men. That’s when Ronald Standish is called in to look into the matters and find the murder method as both men were reasonably healthy and there was no reason for them to have met such a premature death.

Robert Standish is known for noticing small things and his first observation of the room reveals several things – the major clue being that the wire holding the headboard is slightly different from the wire holding the footboard. That night a trap is set to catch the murderer with the three men watching the windows (door being locked); the only outcome of this revealing a second clue in terms of the small desk fan which was previously off, is found running without anyone having entered through the door or the window. William who continues to spend the night in that room has a red swollen jaw the next day, which William claims to feel as though he had been bit by a family of hornets. This serves as the third and final clue for Standish to arrive at the solution of this neatly conceived locked room or impossible crime story.

A very interesting story which piques my interest to have a shot at the collection ‘Robert Standish’ aka ‘Ask Robert Standish’ which features 11 more of his adventures.

Swing High - Jack Ritchie

Story: Swing High

Author: Jack Ritchie

Book: Little Boxes of Bewilderment

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Jack Ritchie comes up with a different kind of an impossible crime here: a man is heard hitting the ground hard by several witnesses though nobody saw his plunge; there is only one building from where he could have been thrown out (or he himself jumped) but they just can’t identify a suitable location from that building where he could have been expelled from!

There are 5 floors in this building, the roof is blocked with a locked door and there’s no other means to reach the roof. The first two floors can be ignored as he wouldn’t have met such a violent death at such heights. The 3^rd floor window room belongs to a dentist – the doctor never left his duty room, the nurses & the patients in the waiting room can vouch for the fact that there was no one who didn’t come out after keeping the appointment with the doctor. The fourth floor window couldn’t have been used as the doctor has been away on vacation, the doors are locked and there is enough untouched dust in the room to show that no one has used the room in days. The fifth floor window room belongs to the ENT specialist – the room with the concerned window was locked with both the nurse and a patient waiting outside the room for the doctor to turn up and the doctor does turn up after the man met his death and both the doctor and the patient enter the room together!

So the impossible scenario which is hampering the further progress of the police investigation: from where did the man exit the building? The chief investigator does figure out how this clever murder was carried out but he doesn’t bring the culprit to justice. Why? Because he has his own secret agenda, to satisfy his own roguish motive - that is to use this same method of murder on his wife’s lover!

Case of The Ivory Statue - Sax Rohmer

Story: Case of The Ivory Statue

Author: Sax Rohmer

Book: The Dream Detective (Queen’s Quorum Title)

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Paxton has been asked by a rich man to create a very fine duplicate of a rare statue of Nicris. To make the statue look even more resplendent, it is adorned with some of the most rare and antiquarian ornaments.

Paxton is carving the sculpture based on a beautiful model and the inkling of impending problems start when the model complains that the statue moved on its own and uttered ‘Nicris’ when she was alone (only once) with the statue. The statue is being given the final touches in preparation to be displayed at an exhibition before it is whisked away from the public eye to the hidden chambers of the rich man. Paxton invites three of his friends to dinner (which includes the narrator Mr. Searles) to display the almost completed statue which is intricately connected to the throne on which it is sitting. When asked as to what security arrangements have been made, Paxton confesses that there is no need for security as he is always present in the same room along with the statue.

Later that night, Paxton hears a voice outside the house chanting the lone word ‘Nicris’. He takes his gun outside, finds no one, the policeman who is keeping guard at the end of the road is still at his post who confirms that nobody entered the house nor left it and when Paxton returns back to his house, the throne is empty and the Ivory Statue has disappeared! He has spent only 30 seconds outside the house; he should’ve surely seen a person coming out if that person entered the house and surely such a big statue couldn’t have disappeared into thin air – dismantling it from its throne alone would have taken half an hour for the most skilled worker!

Moris Klaw, who is called in by Mr. Searles decides to spend the night on his customary vigil in that room to get the psychic photograph. Klaw reveals the next morning that his psychic photograph shows the Statue to have walked out on its own! Based on this knowledge, Klaw pursues his investigation - he uses his knowledge of the history of the antiques involved to good effect to add to his wonderful deductive capabilities to bring the culprits to justice.

The trick of the impossible disappearance is quite neatly done though the mechanics involved to pull it off seems a bit stretched – but who cares as long as the author can put forth an ingenious puzzle and back it up with an equally ingenious solution, one can only sit back and savor the delight of another grandest game unfurling before you!

Case of The Greek Room - Sax Rohmer

Story: Case of The Greek Room

Author: Sax Rohmer

Book: The Dream Detective (Queen’s Quorum Title)

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Sax Rohmer is most famous for the creation of Dr. Fu Manchu and has a number of other creations to his name - Paul Harley, Gaston Max, Red Kerry, Morris Klaw and The Crime Magnet.

The first story in this collection introduces us to the Occult detective Moris Klaw, an old antique dealer who has been fancying his chances as an amateur investigator by hanging about the Criminal Court. He has the eccentric habit of applying a scented spray (verbena) upon his bald brows from a cylindrical container hidden in the lining of his flat-topped hat.

The night attendant of the Menzies Museum is found dead in strange circumstances in the Greek Room: there are only two entrances to the Greek Room – one leads to the private quarters of the curator and is kept locked at all instances and the other through which the general public use to enter the Greek room and this has been locked by the guard with the key on him and all the doors of the museum are bolted from inside which would make it impossible for anyone to even enter the Museum even if he had a duplicate key. Cause of death is determined to be due to broken neck, after being in the last stages of exhaustion - as though there was a great fight and he was hurled upon by an opponent possessing more than ordinary strength. Further investigation of the premises brings to light the unlocked state of the glass display containing the Athenean Harp.

Enter Moris Klaw – he requests the curator to allow him to spend a night alone in the Greek room – upon the very spot of floor where the poor attendant fell – so that he could from the surrounding atmosphere recover a picture of the thing that the dead man had at the last! He says the Odic Force, the ether carries the wireless message – it’s a huge, sensitive plate – where the supreme thought preceding death is imprinted on the surrounding atmosphere like a photograph and he has trained himself to reproduce those photographs! And he has his beautiful daughter Isis to assist him in developing the negatives for these photographs. The next day Klaw declares that his psychic photograph is that of a woman dressed all in white; the attendant died with this picture in his mind and great fear of the Athenean Harp which she was playing! He makes his departure as quickly as his untimely entrance to carry out more research.

A few days later, the replacement attendant meets the same fate in the Greek room, the only difference being the presence of the Harp on the floor right next to the fallen man. A few other peculiar features come to light but none that can help them solve the problem – until Moris Klaw comes back on one fine day (after completing his research abroad) and elucidates the secrets of the Greek Room. An impressive debut for Moris Klaw!

The Calico Dog - Mignon Eberhart

Story: The Calico Dog

Author: Mignon Eberhart

Book: The Cases Of Susan Dare

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Idabelle Lasher has inherited millions of dollars from her husband which she needs to pass along to her long lost son who disappeared along with his nurse some 20 years back. First to turn up is Dixon with a very convincing story about how he remembers playing with the house pet - the Calico dog – a fact which no one else other than the Mother knows. Next to turn up is Duane – with exactly the same story about the Calico dog and an additional story about a rare family heirloom to prove that he is her son. The widow has her friend Major Briggs to seek advice from but his choice of Duane as the legitimate heir doesn’t convince her. She has no other choice but to call in Susan Dare to help her identify her real son.

Both the gentlemen have been thoroughly investigated and no evidence exists to suspect foul play. With nothing much to go on, Susan Dare requests her host to declare one of them as the legal heir and that she would transfer the title with immediate effect. This announcement, she expects, would bring out some disturbance in one or both men and would help in revealing the true identity of the heir. The party on the next day would turn out to be the climax to this drama. Susan & Mrs. Lasher part the company of the three gentlemen near the soothsayer’s door and but they quickly return back to the room where they parted when they hear a shot being fired. Major Briggs is found shot to death with no weapon nearby and no sign of the two gentlemen. The young men left the room at the same time, none was seen entering the room and none was seen leaving the room after the shot was fired. Susan Dare has to do some quick thinking to stop further catastrophe, the impossible trick as to how the major was killed is explained by the murderer himself but it is the lady detective who reveals the true heir.

Identifying the real heir forms the major plot element for most part of the story and is fairly and most skillfully clued. The impossible crime scenario comes in as a bonus towards the fag end of the story and is very quickly explained away – neither too complicated nor extraordinary in its conception.

The Scapegoat - Christianna Brand

Story: The Scapegoat

Author: Christianna Brand

Source: Brand X, The Mammoth Book Of Great Detective Stories, Buffet For Unwelcome Guests.

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Christianna Brand, who has been compared to John Dickson Carr for plotting and fair play clueing in her novels, was also very deft with the short story form. This story is a wonderful example for that!

The story begins with 8 people enacting a courtroom drama where two people are being tried for an unsolved murder committed fifteen years ago. The reason: the son of the policeman who was suspected of murdering Tom believes that his Father was innocent and he wants to identify the real culprit. The men being tried: The young man in place of his Father (the policeman) and the Photographer Mr. Photoze.

The Crime: Mr. Mysterioso, a great magician and a cripple, has been invited to lay a cornerstone for a new hospital. He cannot do without his manservant Tom, on whose strong arms he balances himself while walking and standing. And the magician has been receiving threatening letters. There has been a policeman placed on the first floor (the hospital is still under construction and the top floor rooms doesn’t have doors or any other furniture in them) to keep an eye. A photographer has been allowed to take pictures from the roof of the building opposite the stage. During the function, a shot is heard; Tom goes down uttering that he is glad that they killed the wrong man, the photographer has captured everything – Tom going down & Mysterioso looking up towards from where the shot must have been fired, the policeman runs towards the first floor room where the shot was heard only to find a rifle neatly arranged overlooking the cornerstone and no sign of the murderer!

The Witnesses: 3 patients who were in the balcony and would have seen anybody escaping down the stairs (nobody did), Photoze who has been on the roof - exactly above the room where the rifle is found with the door to the roof being locked with a deadbolt and the policeman who was on the site from where the shot originated in such a short time that no one could have escaped from the room.

The Evidence: A small hole in the door between the roof and the room, a string tied to the rifle which could be hinged on a nail on the opposite wall (but wasn’t) and the charming clue in terms of a bag overfilled with apples placed right next to the rifle!

The Possibilities: A lot of theories are propounded as to how the gun could have been fired but each is disproved by the current chief inspector (who was a constable at that time and who came on the scene on the heels of his superior, the policeman on duty)

The Case: Unsolved – Photographer has a solid alibi, the policeman was seen outside the room when Tom was shot – so he couldn’t have been in the room and there was nobody else!

Repercussions: The Photographer becomes famous. The Policeman is discharged from duty and he dies a slow brooding death.

The Verdict in the fictional courtroom: Not guilty for both men.

Conclusion: Well, the young man has his own theory which he tries out with the great Magician after the case has been dismissed and the court emptied of its occupiers. The coup de grace comes from the chief inspector when he reveals to one of the witnesses the actual solution. A scintillating performance!