The Dark Angel

The Dark Angel by Seabury Quinn

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Given that this is a collection of 1920s-era Pulp fiction, I was totally surprised by how good these stories were.

According to the introduction, the author Seabury Quinn was a prolific writer of “weird” pulp fiction for Weird Fiction. Apparently, there were only a few volumes during the 1920s that didn't feature a story by Quinn about his character, Jules de Grandin. (Apparently, Quinn took Jules' last name from his middle name.)

There is no doubt that these stories are dated. They feature toe-curling racism, that is almost hilarious in its casual, unintended, offhanded offensiveness. Nonetheless, Quinn was a good writer. He was a lawyer who edited trade journals and wrote pamphlets on mortuary law. Throughout these books, I was kept busy noting words that I had never or rarely seen.

The stories feature Jules de Grandin and his Watsonish side-kick, Dr. Townsend. Jules is French, small, carries a deadly little pistol in a holster under his left armpit, knows virtually everything about everything, and has an unlimited appreciation for his own genius and skill. I am not sure if he was patterned on Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirer or vice versa, or both were patterned on a stereotype of a French man.

Jules and Dr. Townsend live in Harrisonburg, New Jersey, which seems to be as much a hotbed for supernatural mysteries as Cabot Cove was for intricate murders. Invariably, the pair are brought into a mystery, chase after it, with Jules eventually solving it. Sometimes the mystery has a Scooby-Doo feel to it; other times, it involves something truly supernatural.

The plots are probably the weakest part of the story. At times, it seems that they don't exactly hold together, even as Jules explains everything at the end, but the plot problems are made up for with character and humor. Quinn was turning out a lot of these stories, and while he might not be able to come up with reliable plots, his characterization of Jules as a pompous, self-assured rooster, with badly translated French and American expressions were reliably humorous.

The introduction recommended not reading all these stories in one sitting. I think that is good advice. Like reading Sherlock Holmes, letting the stories sit a bit, reading another book, perhaps, before returning, helps maintain the freshness of Quinn's characters and writing style.