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.  

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!