William Le Queux
1921
The Goldsmith Publishing Co., Cleveland
315 average pages
Overview:
An murder mystery, deceit, betrayal and a lovelorn, disenfranchised heir.
Summary
Hugh Henfrey in an English gentleman who's father has recently died, though he suspects it was murder. To Hugh's shock, his father's will states that he is to inherit the estate only if he marries Louise Lambert, who is the adopted daughter of Mr. Benton, a close friend of Hugh's father. Hugh is in love with another young lady, Dorise, but cannot marry her without his estate. Hugh travels to Monaco to seek out the 'Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo', a rather secretive woman with a colorful reputation at the casino, who he believes knows something about his father's suspicious death. Upon confronting the woman, when she is just about to reveal what she knows, she is shot from behind. She is not killed, though, only rendered perhaps permanently incoherent, and Hugh is suspected of shooting her, therefore he goes into hiding with the help of an unknown person. He finds himself in the company of thieves, all of whom work for an infamous mastermind of thievery called "The Sparrow."
It becomes apparent that The Sparrow is helping Hugh stay out of reach from the police, and, for unknown reasons, to get to the bottom of who is guilty of shooting Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo. Eventually, it is revealed that Mr. Benton tricked Hugh's father into signing a changed will, and with the help of a Mr. Howell, plotted to take the inheritance for themselves. Mr. Howell is a close associate of The Sparrow, yet did not divulge his plans for murdering Mr. Henfrey. The Sparrow is opposed to murder and feels betrayed by Mr. Howell and therefor seeks the truth about what happened to Hugh's father and to Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo. The mademoiselle suddenly recovers her senses and identifies Mr. Howell as her shooter, as she had accidentally discovered the plot to force Hugh to marry Louise, then kill off Hugh as well and take the fortune. Finally, the guilty men are arrested and Hugh regains his inheritance and is able to marry the love of his life, Dorise.
Review
The writing is good and the mystery is done well enough, though there is nothing particularly exciting or interesting or clever about it. It is a classic English plot. Where in America we love the 'rags to riches' theme, in England they obsess with 'riches to rags back to riches'. Wealthy Englishmen and women are always losing their estates and then, halleluiah praise the lord, getting them back again. It might make a good 45-minute adaptation for Poirot or Sherlock TV.
Though the plot is fairly straight-forward, the story is quite convoluted. There are supporting characters doing things all over Europe, with a few back stories and side stories thrown in. It's a book to be read straight through. Don't put it down for two weeks like I did, because then you'll have to backtrack some.
There is an interesting subplot that I believe was the author's personal grievance. It is stated that the mastermind thief, 'The Sparrow', only steals from rich people who deserve it. In particular, and this point was made several times, those men who profited from the war (WWI), generally suppliers to the military. He paints them as unscrupulous profiteers.
One plot - not exactly 'hole', but let's say 'crack' - left me irritated. It is revealed in the end that Louise is not adopted after all, but Mr. Benson's biological daughter. That she is adopted seems to be stressed throughout the story, but why did he lie about it? What was his advantage for her to be 'adopted' and not his actual daughter? There is no explanation given. Very annoying. Why even mention it?? I suspect the author had intended some plot twist - she was actually Hugh's half-sister, perhaps - but he hurried the ending and didn't bother with the detail.
To the Author's Credit:
The best part of this story is all the places Mr. Le Queux has his characters hop around. Hugh, our handsome protagonist, is running from hiding place to hiding place all over Europe - Monaco, Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, London. Also, his idea for 'good' thieves might have been fairly novel in 1921.
To the Author's Discredit:
The ending feels hurried. The pacing for most of the book is pretty good, and by the last real chapter many of the pieces to the puzzle have been revealed, or at least hinted at. Then Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo, who has for most of the story been an incoherent, unresponsive invalid, suddenly regains full consciousness upon seeing Hugh and The Sparrow. She promptly reveals who shot her and why, and all the rest of the details regarding the plot to steal Hugh's inheritance. Then there was a two-page 'conclusion' chapter to wrap up loose ends. I think Mr. Le Queux had a deadline, and some other things he was working on, and decided to just give Hugh his money back already.
I don't care for the title either, chosen most likely for its exotic appeal. Mademoiselle makes for a mysterious character in the first 60 pages, after that she is barely mentioned until she reappears for the great reveal on page 306. Dare I suggest a new title? Yes, I dare: Murder for Money. No, I'm kidding, that's awful. How about: The Murder of a Father. No, that's terrible, too. This one: In The Company of Thieves. That's better.
Best Line:
English men and women when they go to the Riviera leave their morals at home with their silk hats and Sunday gowns.
Antiquated modes of English speech:
He alighted (the bus) - He got off the bus.
She rang off - She hung up (the telephone).
Desirable acquaintances - It sounds like English snobbery, but as a mother, I can tell you there is a lot of truth to it.
I also underlined 'leaded window' on page 142, which I learned is a window made of small glass panes held together by lead or metal frames. They are very inconvenient if you have children who throw things around carelessly and break one of those small panes and you have to cover it with cardboard for the next ten years because you're not going to pay $100 to fix one little glass when you can barely cover the mortgage. Trust me, I've done the research.
About the Author
William Le Queux, the author, was born in London, to an English mother and a French father. He became a very prolific writer from the 1890's to the 1930's, including novels (150!), short stories, magazine articles and non-fiction. Looking at his list of non-fiction writings, I'm intrigued. Most of them seem to be about "secrets" and such regarding European figures. Here's an interesting one: Behind the German Lines: Amazing confessions of Col.-Lieut. Otto Von Heynitz (1917). His 1923 memoir is titled Things I know about Kings, Celebrities, and Crooks. Apparently he was somewhat of a paranoid busy-body.
It makes sense that if Mr. Le Queux wrote 150 novels, plus all those other stories and articles, he will be trading quality for quantity. I've seen it before. But give him credit, it's good enough to be profitable during his time.
In the first three paragraphs of the conclusion, the author wants you to think this tale is based on a true story. More likely 'inspired' by something he read.
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