THE MURDER BOOK (1971) by Tage la Cour & Harald Mogensen
Reviewed by Barry Ergang
Despite its title, The
Murder Book is not a primer full of methods about how to commit the
ultimate crime. Subtitled "An Illustrated History of the Detective
Story," the book uses photographs, paintings, movie stills, cartoons, sketches,
book and magazine cover art and interior illustrations, along with limited
amounts of text, to give the reader a broad overview of the genre's development
rather than an in-depth examination of the sort one finds in, for instance,
Howard Haycraft's classic Murder for
Pleasure: The Life and Times of the Detective Story.
As the prolific mystery writer and critic Julian Symons says
of the authors in his brief forward, "Tage la Cour is a bibliophile with a
crime fiction library containing several thousand volumes, most of them in
English. He is famous in Denmark
as a critic and anthologist of crime fiction. Harald Mogensen, the literary
editor of 'Politiken,' has an interest in the crime story which is both
emotional and analytical.
"The two of them are in the forefront of an immensely
well-informed Scandinavian group of writers and critics who are interested not
just in reading the latest books, but in discussing the background and history
of the crime story."
As one would expect, the book opens with Poe, "the
father of the detective story," and ends with Georges Simenon and his
Inspector Maigret. In between, also predictably, are pictorial and textual
discussions of such luminaries, among others, as Charles Dickens, Wilkie
Collins, Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Erle
Stanley Gardner, and Raymond Chandler.
Besides Simenon, other noteworthy French authors such as Emile
Gaboriau, Gaston Leroux, Honore de Balzac, Eugène Sue and Maurice LeBlanc are given the attention they
deserve. Other countries' contributions are given space as well, so the reader
learns something about authors and, sometimes, characters, from Argentina, Austria, Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. Lesser-known
authors from the United
States, England and elsewhere also get
their share of recognition.
One can argue that the book's subtitle is a misnomer because
not every book mentioned is, at its core, a detective story. Various subgenres
are given consideration, among them supernatural tales, stories of terror, and spy
stories.
There are a few typos here and there throughout the book an
editor should have caught, as well as a few spoilers. I was amused by the
authors' references to Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels as being set in the
"87th District" and "Station 87."
An attractive volume that is fun to browse through, The Murder Book is more suited to, and
more likely to be found in the library of, the hardcore aficionado/student of
mystery fiction than that of the casual reader.
Barry Ergang ©2012
Barry’s books for
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