tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post549436057057207357..comments2024-03-18T11:01:42.459-05:00Comments on Pretty Sinister Books: FFB: Merridrew Follows the Trail - John Russell FearnJ F Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-51999891513229551252018-01-08T07:15:20.652-06:002018-01-08T07:15:20.652-06:00Service with a smile...most of the time. I'm g...Service with a smile...most of the time. I'm glad this blog continues to be a source of education about forgotten books and authors. J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-50806701697249003502018-01-08T03:45:22.673-06:002018-01-08T03:45:22.673-06:00Those of you familiar with H. Rider Haggard's ...<em>Those of you familiar with H. Rider Haggard's only detective novel Mr. Meeson's Will (1888)</em><br /><br />I had no idea Haggard had written any detective novels at all! Now I'm thinking I should be looking for a copy...dfordoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02306293859869179118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-17165227351950842162018-01-02T06:18:38.116-06:002018-01-02T06:18:38.116-06:00A reply from Philip Harbottle:
"Kingswood&q...A reply from Philip Harbottle: <br /><br />"Kingswood" Is simply part of the ADDRESS of the World's Work, Kingswood, Surrey--so VALLEY OF THE DOOMED was ALSO published by World's Work in 1949, who then commissioned another four "Merridrew" follow-ups.<br /><br />Conflating the PLACE of publication with the NAME of Publishers seems to be a peculiar twee affectation and malpractice of what I call "poncy biblio academics" to give their usually pirated listings some gravitas.<br /><br />The publisher is the publisher, not where his printing press or office is located!<br />TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-29972821483076732662018-01-01T22:32:03.490-06:002018-01-01T22:32:03.490-06:00Thanks so much for all the background info on this...Thanks so much for all the background info on this little known series in Fearn's amazingly productive career. I saw <i>Valley of the Doomed</i> listed on the page of other titles by Fearn, but I wasn't sure that it was also a Merridrew book. I'll add it to the list above. Just checked Worldcat.org to check ppublication info for <i>Valley of the Doomed</i> and see it put out by Kingswood. Odd when Fearn was contracted by The World's Work to write those westerns that he chose to create a series for a previous character.<br /><br />Satires! How did I miss that? Of course it makes so much sense now. I'm usually very good at picking up deliberate absurdities. Maybe as the end of the year approached and the Arctic cold weather assailed us in Chicago I got lazy in my reading. ...I'll always look for an excuse of some sort. ;^)J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-73355335426055692282018-01-01T15:51:35.268-06:002018-01-01T15:51:35.268-06:00Philip Harbottle asked me to post the comment belo...Philip Harbottle asked me to post the comment below on his behalf. <br /><br />Comment for Pretty Sinister:<br /><br />I was agreeably surprised to open your latest blog to find that it covered the last Merridrew novel. I had been expecting that it would have been for the second novel, MERRIDREW MARCHES ON, since that was the only one Bob Adey identified as impossible crime in his locked room reference book. (It was probably the only title Bob had seen). Anyway, I was pleased to see your review, since it is the only Merridrew title currently available, in both paper and e-book, from Pioneering Press. For a number of complicated reasons (that must remain confidential) I will not be arranging the reprinting of the other three Merridrew titles for a couple of years.<br /><br />Your surmise that the reason for the Englishmen Merridrew and Brad Wood being in the USA was explained in the earlier books is correct. THE VALLEY OF THE DOOMED sees Brad (with his butler in tow) being sent to America for his health (he is sickly and a bit of a waster). In the course of the novel and those following, the climate and his adventures toughen Brad up and transform his character, a metamorphosis that is completed by his taking an American bride and settling in the remote town of Double Peak. Eventually he becomes Sheriff, and Merridrew Mayor.<br /><br />As for the date when they are set, If you'd read Bob's title and the other books, you'd have seen that the novels are, in fact, set in the present day, ie. 1949-1953. But there was clear evidence in your book itself--on page 157, there is a reprinted letter to Merridrew dated July 10, 1953! There ARE cars, telegraphs and even airplanes and uranium mining(sic) in the series. However, for his plot purposes, Fearn made Double Peak a remote, backward cowboy community, seemingly stuck in the past.<br /><br />You are quite right that they were based on American B-movie westerns--quite deliberately. In his wartime career stint as a cinema projectionist, Fearn had watched countess westerns, including the children's matinees, where the old B movies were a staple. The Merridrew novels are in fact SATIRES of Hollywood westerns, and many of the western tropes in the other novels are simply played for laughs, with "fat limey" Merridrew humiliating and running rings round the western tough guys! However, like Merridrew Follows the Trail, they all of them have detective/mystery elements, with Merridrew acting the detective.<br /><br />Fearn had been COMMISSIONED by World's Work in 1949 to write four WESTERNS, which is why they were able to appear after he signed his "science fiction-for-Scion-only" contract in 1950 (along with a few earlier-commissioned westerns for Rich & Cowan.) As they were commissioned as WESTERNS, the detective mystery elements were kept in the background. Because of his Scion contract at the time, Fearn was legally unable to write ANY ostensible detective stories, long or short, or even to write for other publishers at all! So detective buffs just have to accept the Merridrew books for what they are--humorous western satires with crime elements.<br /><br />TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-47119796016764177802017-12-29T12:43:07.432-06:002017-12-29T12:43:07.432-06:00Oh dear, I love that cover, John. But I wonder why...Oh dear, I love that cover, John. But I wonder why you read this all the way through if you didn't much cotton to the proceedings. :) Yvettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08919246184376538331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-26417506244662995892017-12-29T10:17:26.005-06:002017-12-29T10:17:26.005-06:00Buckboard, whattaya know! Never occurred to me how...<i>Buck</i>board, whattaya know! Never occurred to me how that was named. Interesting you're apparently on a Western kick, John. I should get back to them myself--Fearn might be the place to start. Mathew Pausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06157135006791553019noreply@blogger.com