Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle team up to chase a serial killer committing murders based on the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. This is a literary novel meant to be enjoyed, really enjoyed.
Readers might be familiar with American author William Hjortsberg from his best-selling Falling Angel, a bloodcurdling, hard-boiled detective yarn turned neo-noir psychological horror film Angel Heart starring Mickey Rourke and Robert De Nero. Or, maybe, his other genre twisting novels such as Alp, Gray Matters or Symbiography. Either way, one can better appreciate the author's tight, well tuned prose and his sense that our grasp of everyday reality, so-called, is shaky a best - and at its worst, diabolical and deadly.
Set in 1923, mostly New York City, Nevermore contains many twists, turns and surprises right from the first pages, so many, I dare say not a word about plot and immediately segue to a number of headliners in this rip-roaring adventure:
Harry Houdini – Ah, yes, the master escape artist and magician takes center stage. We watch as he performs a number of stunts, including his famous swallowing needle trick where an assistant pulls them out of his mouth. “Iris held her slender arm high in the air, pinching the end of a fifty-foot parabola curving back to the magician’s open mouth. All along its length, hundreds and hundreds of needles winked and gleamed, flashing reflecting light like fangs in the savage, ghostly smile of an invisible monster.” Along with his buddy, Conan Doyle, Houdini plays his part as detective when individuals touching his life in some way turn up as twisted or decapitated corpses as if the flesh-and-blood reenactment of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Black Cat.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The famous author and his wife are on an America tour where he lectures on his belief in spiritual mediums and communicating with the spirits of the dead. Will the fact that Houdini judges such contact and paranormal phenomenon as so much bunk strain their friendship? And what is Sir Arthur to think when the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe makes repeated visits to his chamber door? Curiously, the ghostly apparition of Poe says Sir Arthur is a specter from the future. Nice twist, William Hjortsberg! Of course, one of the more charming parts of the novel is Conan Doyle pressed into the role of Sherlock Holmes.
Opal Crosby Fletcher - “Her hair gleamed midnight black. When she was a farm girl in New Hampshire, it had hung past her waist, but now, fashionably bobbed, it curved like a raven’s wing along the ivory line of her jaw.” Meet the young lady who fashions herself as a reincarnation of Isis, Egyptian fertility goddess. Opal holds extraordinary powers extending into the realms of both spirit and flesh (she makes quite the sensual, sexual partner). What Opal would dearly love is a child by a man who likewise possesses astonishing powers – and that very man is none other than conservative, happily married Harry Houdini, whom she calls her Osiris. Now the question looms: What Poe tale would be most apt for a spectacular presence such as Opal?
Damon Runyon - The acclaimed newspaperman adds spark and color as he rounds up the latest scoop on the Poe murders. Such a slick man about town, Damon can always be counted on to score tickets for such events as the Jack Dempsey/Luis Firpo fight or a Giants baseball game at the Polo Grounds. Hey, Arthur Conon Doyle, would you like a ringside seat? Oh, yes, that would be jolly great fun!
The Poe Murders - Can you identity what Poe tale goes with what murder? Here's a list to choose from: in addition to The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Black Cat, we have The Cask of Amontillado, Hop-Frog, The Masque of the Red Death, The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Pit and the Pendulum and, of course, The Tell-Tale Heart.
The Ghost of Edgar Allan Poe - "Poe's ghost, if such it was, threw back its vaporous head and howled with laughter; a wolf's cry, utterly without mirth. "How excellent a jest!" The laughter ended in a sudden choking silence, like hearing a condemned man's final protest cut short by the jerk of the noose." Nothing like the ghoulish presence of Edgar Allan Poe to add that special something to your day. The teller of tales most macabre confronts Arthur Conan Doyle again and again. But can the specter offer the British knight clues to track down the psychopathic killer committing copycat murders?
Sergeant James Patrick Heegan and the NYC Police - The men in blue are on the Poe case. Even Sergeant Heegan begins to swings into high gear when he scans Damon Runyon's column citing Edgar Allan Poe in connection to a curious event. "Heegan read these paragraphs over and over. He knew an orangutan was some kind of big monkey. He also knew he was on to something." Heegan pays a visit to the public library to read the tales of you know who.
Memorable Year - William Hjortsberg knows his 1923 history. In addition to New York, the novel's action also takes place in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Los Angeles with scads of notable landmarks and people making cameo appearances, for example, in a LA public park, Arthur Conan Doyle has a delightful conversation with none other than Buster Keaton.
Artful Author - William Hjortsberg masterfully weaves his entertaining tale from chapter to chapter and then, as if by a special magic, pulls all the pieces together for a satisfying conclusion. And with a light, deft touch. Highly recommended.
American author William Hjortsberg, 1941-2017
"Christ almighty," he muttered, reaching up to tug a slender arm down from the chimney. The head and shoulders of a young woman followed, badly scratched and mauled. Discolored bruises banded her pale throat. Hanging upside down, her staring blue eyes and wide-open mouth spoke of a final uncomprehending horror.
Damon Runyon leaned forward among the detectives. "I'll be damned," he said with a lopsided grin. "Rue Morgue . . . ". ------- William Hjortsberg, Nevermore
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