FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF PRIVATE EYE STORIES

 The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories (revised edition), edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg (2004)

Who doesn't love a good private eye?  The hard-boiled PI begin in the May 1923 issue of Black Mask with Carroll John Daly's "Three Gun Terry."  A month later Black Mask published Daly's first Race Williams mystery, "Knights of the Open Palm" in that magazines infamous special "KKK issue."  Three months later Dashiell Hammett published his first Continental Op story.  And the floodgates were opened.

Today, PIs are both hard-boiled and soft-boiled, reflective and instinctive, male and female, straight and gay, and some have physical of mental disabilities.  The field covers a broad range of careers; while many are actually licensed PIs, many others are not.   The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories is mainly concerned with real private eyes, although Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder (an  unlicensed private eye) and Joseph Hansen's Dave Brandstetter (an insurance investigator) are included in the mix.  

Pronzini and Greenberg have selected tales about some of the greatest and most popular private eyes of all time.  The only significant omissions seem to be Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer.  (Two other early PIs -- Carroll John Daly's Race Williams and Robert Leslie Bellem's Dan Turner -- were included in the first edition of this book in 1998, but were dropped for this edition.)  Still, according to Kevin Burnett Smith's The Thrilling Detective website, this volume is "possibly the single best anthology of private eye ever...Recommended.  HEARTILY."

Some of the stories may be familiar but most are not.

The contents:

• Raymond Chandler, "Wrong Pigeon"  (Philip Marlowe)
• Fredric Brown, "Before She Kills"  (Ed and Am Hunter)
• Howard Browne, "So Dark for April"  (Paul Pine)
• William Campbell Gault, "Stolen Star"  (Joe Puma)
• Ross MacDonald, "Guilt Edged Blonde"  (Lew Archer)
• Henry Kane, "Suicide Is Scandalous"  (Peter Chambers)
• Richard S,. Prather, "Dead Giveaway"  (Shell Scott)
• Joseph Hansen, "Surf"  (Dave Brandstetter)
• Michael Collins, "A Reason to Die"  (Dan Fortune)
• Ed McBain, "Death Flight"  (Milt Davis)
• Stephen Marlowe, "Wanted -- Dead and Alive"  (Chester Drum)
• Edward D. Hoch, "The Other Eye"  (Al Darlan)
• Stuart M. Kaminsky, "Busted Blossoms"  (Toby Peters)
• Lawrence Block, "Out of the Window"  (Matt Scudder)
• John Lutz, "Ride the Lightning"  (Alo Nudger)
• Sue Grafton, "She Didn't Come Home"  (Kinsey Millhone)
• Edward Gorman, "The Reason Why"  (Jack Dwyer)
• Stephen Greenleaf. "Iris"  (John Marshall Tanner)
• Bill Pronzini, "Skeleton Rattle Your Moldy Leg"  (Nameless Detective)
• Marcia Muller, "The Broken Men"  (Sharon McCone)
• Arthur Lyons, "Trouble in Paradise"  (Jacob Asch)
• Max Allan Collins, "The Strawberry Teardrop"  (Nate Heller)
• Robert J. Randisi, The Nickel Derby"  (Henry Po)
• Loren D. Estleman, "Greektown"  (Amos Walker)

Wow.

It's impossible for me to pick out a favorite.  Brown, MacDonald, Block, Lutz, Gorman, Greenleaf, and Collins all have stories that just sing to me.  All the other tales are more than worthwhile.

To steal a line from above:  "Recommended.  HEARTILY."

Who's your favorite fictional PI?

MYSTERY HOUSE: A NEW LEASE ON DEATH (AUGUST 19, 1945)

 In a real-life example of Mickey and Judy deciding to put on a show in somebody's barn, Dan and Barbara Glenn, owners of the real-life Mystery House Publishing Company decide to preview books they were considering publishing as radio plays, with the company's staff pitching in by writing the adaptations, acting all the roles, doing the sound effects.

At least that's how the legend goes.  In reality it is not known whether the publishing company or the Glenns actually existed.

The radio show reportedly began in 1929 and ran through 1951, but not continuously.  Recording are rare -- about 32 episodes survive, most from the mid-Forties.

(It should be noted that there was a Mystery House publishing company from 1940 to 1948 as an imprint of Arcadia House.  Authors included Frank Gruber (as "Stephen Gould"), "Anthony Gilbert," Barry Perowne, Peter Cheney, "E. C. R. Lorac," William G. Bogart, William Gray Beyer, Sydney Horler, Sam Merwin, Jr., Oscar J. Friend (as "Owen Fox Jerome"), John Roebert, Frank Kane, Amelia Reynolds Long, along with a host of lesser writers.  They published over seventy books for the library trade during this period.  Samuel Curl, the publisher, went bankrupt in 1948 and sold Arcadia House to Phoenix press.  Curl managed to reorganize in 1950 and later entered into a partnership with Thomas Bouregy to form Bouregy & Curl.  Curl issued thirteen books under the Mystery House imprint from 1952 to 1956 when Curl ran out of money, dissolved his partnership with Bouregy, and exited publishing.  All Mystery House Books from 1957 to 1959 were published by Bouregy.  At no time during this entire period was there any mention of the Glenns and no book issued under any of the titles used in the Mystery House radio program.)

Anyway, here's the earliest episode of Mystery House that I could find online.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7YkLEoAkSQ&t=111s

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE DIAMONDS OF SHOMAR'S QUEEN

 "The Diamonds of Shomar's Queen" by Charles J. Mansford, B.A.  (first published in The Straand Magazine, July 1892; collected in Shafts from an Eastern Quiver by C. J. Mansford, 1893)

Frank Denviers and Harold Derwent are a pair of English tourists and adventurers who, accompanied by their daring and faithful servant Hassan, undergo "as many hairbreadth escapes and other adventures by sea and land as can well be packed into a volume of less than three hundred pages."  The twelve stories about the trio were published monthly in The Strand Magazine from July 1892 through June 1883.  "The Diamonds of Shomar's Queen" is the first tale in the series which takes its flavor from Conan Doyle and Rider Haggard.

As we open, Hassan has just told the Englishmen a fabulous tale about a deserted city of marble and a rare diamond that they feel might have been embellished with a bit of fancy.  Hassan has his faults (he's a bit light-fingered but Arabs tend to consider that a cardinal virtue, according to Derwent) but he has always been completely honest with his masters.  (These tales suffer from the jingoism that was prevalent in England at the time; take that as you will.)

More than two thousand years ago a great king named Shomar ruled in Arabia.  Shomar was used to accolades and kowtowing from his courtiers. but there was one courtier -- a prince -- who did not show Shamar the deference he felt was his due.  The king was very unhappy.  Because the prince was very popular, he did not dare to have him killed.  What to do?

Then there were rumors of an uprising inn a distant part of the kingdom.  Taking advantage of this, Shomar accused the prince of instigating the rebellion and exiled the prince.  The prince, his daughter, and a few followers left the royal city, never to be seen there again.  Eventually the prince founded his own city, Metra -- a marble city rising from a mighty ravine, a city of beauty and wealth that soon attracted many others.  There the prince ruled until his death, after which his daughter, the Princess Idaliah, ruled.  Idaliah was a woman of great beauty and many princes pursued her in hopes of winning her heart.  Idaliah, however, was in love with a poor mountaineer, with whom she met during the early days of her father's exile.

Word of Metra and its beautiful ruler eventually made its way back to Shomar's palace.  Shomar travelled to Metra to see for himself and was impressed with the beautiful city and even more impressed with the beautiful woman who ruled it.  He asked Idaliah to marry him and she refused, saying her heart belonged to another.  Asked if her lover should die, would she then consider marrying him, Idaliah plainly said that if her lover should die she, too, would die.  Shamar exited after giving the Princess a fabulous diamond necklace and began plotting the mountaineer's death.   Well, son of a gun, the mountaineer had an "accident" and fell of the cliff into the ravine and died.  When his battered body was brought to the palace and placed before her throne, Idaliah to one look and the corpse and died.

Shomar, horrified that his evil deed had led to the Princess's death, ordered the city emptied and sealed.  He appointed the oldest woman of a nearby tribe to guard the city.  Since then, the oldesst crone of every generation served to guard and protect the city and the bodies of Idaliah and her lover, which remained as they were when death eased Idaliah's broken heart.  Shomar, meanwhile, declared that his people were to consider the dead princess his queen.  And so it was for more than two thousand years.

Oh.  Did I mention that Idaliah was wearing the diamond necklace when she died.

That's the story Hassan told and the three set out to find the city of Metra and to see if the tale of the diamond necklace was true.  It was.  Surprisingly, the bodies were as intact as they day they died, the Princess Idaliah as beautiful as ever.  And, as Denviers held back the old crone/guardian, Derwent took the necklace from the lovely corpse.  As he did so Idaliah's body crumbled to dust.

Not much happens then.  They leave the city with the necklace, became rich, and went on to other adventures.

The remaining eleven episodes of Shafts from an Eastern Quiver as printed in The Strand Magazine are:

• The Jasper Vale of the Falling Star  (August1892)
• The Black Horsemen of Nisha the Seer  (September 1892)
• Darak, the Scorn of the Afghans  (October 1892)
• The Sword-Hilt of the Idol at Delhi  (November 1892)
• The Hindu Fakir of the Silent City  (December 1892)
• Margarita, the Bond Queen of the Wandering Dhahs  (January 1893)
• The Masked Ruler of the Black Wreckers  (February 1893)
• Maw-Sayah:  The Keeper of the Great Burman Nat  (March 1893)
• The Hunted Tribe of Three Hundred Peaks  (April 1893)
• In Quest of the Lost Galleon  (May 1893)
• The Daughter of Lovetski the Lost  (June 1893)

Charles John Jodrell Mansford (1863-1943) was a British educator and author.  Shafts from an Estern Quiver was his first book.  Others were Under the Naga Banner (1896, about the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant), A Bride's Experiment:  A Story of Australian Bush Life (1896), Bully, Fag, and Hero:  or, In Playground and Schoolroom (1897), The Adventures of Mark Paton and Other Stories (1898), Fags and the King (1909), Sword of Scarlet (1925?), Prefect and Fag (undated, but perhaps 1926), and The Great Green Serpent (1926. a lost race novel).  

He was the son of a tailor and the youngest of five brothers.  His elder brothers became, respectively a hatter (who became destitute and spent time in a workhouse), a laborer (well, actually a labourer...British you know), a carpenter, and a postman.  Charles, who may have conjured up his two middle names, somehow managed to graduate from the University of London, eventually becoming Headmaster at Grace, Lady Manners, Grammar School in Bakewell, Derbyshire, from 1896 to 1902; his wife Louisa served as honorary Headmistress to the girls at the co-educational school.  For 1902 to 1919, Mansford was Headmaster of Dartford Grammar School.  At Dartford, Mansford completely revised the school's curriculum to meet twentieth century standards; enrollment increased, two major additions were added, and the staffing was greatly improved.  He also championed (unsuccessfully) for equal opportunity and equal pay for female teachers; this may have been due to the influence of his wife who had been educated by Frances Mary Buss, a pioneer in women's education.

Mansford's literary career began in 1881 when he worked as a publisher's assistant.  It can assumed that this offered him entry to the popular magazines such as The Strand.  His literary endeavors seemed to be divided by adventure stories for the magazines and boys' school stories for the book and juvenile market.  He had great success in both but his imperialist sensibilities and his chronicles of schoolboy bullying and antisemitism do not wear well with today's readers.

Personally, Mansford was an opportunist and a snob, eager to erase any knowledge of his lower class background.  Working to advance his social standing, he joined the Freemasons, applied for The Freedom of the City of London, and was elected a Fellow of  the Chemical Society (allowing him to append FCS to his name) -- all to give the impression that he was on the same status level as his students.  Mansford was baptized a Catholic -- a fact he kept hidden -- and espoused the Church of England.  Being fifty years old during World War I, Mansford was deemed too old to fight.  Rather, he established an Officer Training Corps at Dartford and assumed the title "Captain;" he maintained that title for the rest of his life.

Charles and Louisa's one child, Isobel Grace, married a Dartford pupil, Geoffrey Noakes.  Noakes emigrated to America in 1920 and Isobel, along with Charles and Louisa, followed in 1921, settling in Fresno, California.  Charles and Louisa eventually separated and, at least by 1934, Charles was once again settled in England.  In March of 1934, Charles made a new will, cutting out entirely his wife and daughter; instead giving his entire estate to Dorothy Kate Rider, a woman some thirty years younger than Mansford.  According to the 1939 census, they lived at the same address.  She referred to him as her "uncle".  He wasn't.  She was also listed on various documents as a "Dispenser (medical)" or as a "cashier."  Her exact relationship with Mansford is not known.  It was 9:30 on a Monday morning, January 18, 1943, when Mansford went to visit a shop and stepped in front of a taxicab.  He died later that day at the hospital.  He was 79.

His estranged wife and daughter enjoyed a much longer life.  Louisa passed away at age 96; Isobel lived to age 101.

All issues from July 1892 to June 1893 of The Strand Magazine, as well as Shafts from an Eastern Quiver are available to  be read online.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTINA!

 Our daughter Christina is many things:  smart, talented, kind, pretty, witty, caring, determined...I could  go on and on.  One other thing she is today is a year older.

Did I say determined?  For the first few years we called her "Christy."  Then she went to school and told us in no uncertain terms that her name was "Christina" -- and so she has been ever since.  Her fashion choices during elementary school were rigid:  red socks and a printed top.  I can't tell you how many years she wore that outfit but it sure made buying clothes for her easier.  When she was three and her sister was five, Jessie (ever curious and sometimes non-thinking) pulled a pot of hot turkey grease on her, scalding her leg.  We quickly hosed off Jessie's leg and bundled her and Christina into the car and headed to the emergency room.  While the doctors praised us for such quick thinking, the nurses were praising Christina for being so calm and well-behaved while in the waiting room alone.  Christina instinctively knew how to act during an emergency -- something she has kept with her for her entire life.  

We never had much money but when she was young Christina would often feel guilty when she compared her life to those of her friends.  Happiness in other homes was sometimes in short supply.

Very little phased her.  As a child, the immensity of the universe truly scared her.  I don't know if it still does but I do know that the universe should be very wary of Christina.  As I said, Christina is determined, but she is also more than a little fierce.

When she was a freshman in college, one of her roommates wanted to check out the school's tae kwon do club but was afraid to go alone, so Christina went with her.  While not the greatest at the sport, she worked hard and eventually won her Black Belt and eventually became President of the George Washington University Tae Kwon Do Club.   (Her roommate dropped out after a week or so -- the sport required too much.)

As a paramedic, she and her ambulance partner were once greeted by an elderly man whose wife had collapsed.  "I'm afraid she's dead," he told them.  Either she or her partner (both were fierce in their job) replies, "Not on our watch," and managed to bring the woman back.  As an emergency room technician, Christina would take it upon herself to sit with dying patients because she firmly believed that no one should die alone.  Also it was no secret that, as an ER tech, the doctors were grateful whenever Christina was on duty because they knew that the ER would be running smoothly.  

When Christina left that job to become a cardiac sonographer, she would pick up signs that the heart doctors would miss.  She would also alert the doctors if they should see the patients sooner than later.  Her experience at that job has come in handy recently as Kitty was going through her heart problems; Christina was able to explain a lot of the medical goobledegook to us so we had a better idea of what we were facing.

She currently works as a sign language interpreter for the school system, assigned to a single deaf student each year.  After working with one girl through junior high and high school, she is now assigned to a special needs kindergarten.  She Facebooked us this morning:  "I am feeling the kindergarten love.  They sang happy birthday to me."  Then, "They made me a happy birthday Balloon bouquet."  And then, "Chance [her student] made me a card."  Working with these kids has brought a special joy to her, even though it can be cold during the daily outdoor PE sessions.  Once a week the kids have a guided art lesson and Christina joins in, posting her work on Facebook.  She may not be a great artist but her joy shines through.

Christina is a great and supportive partner for her husband and a proud and loving mother to her kids.  All three of her children are amazing, although Jack at nine is a bit of a challenge.  (His birth mother was a drug addict and, after going through drug rehab during his first six weeks at Washington Children's hospital, he was immediately fostered by Christina and Walt.)   Slowly the challenges are being met and overcome and Jack is proving to be a warm, loving and funny kid; any future challeges will be met with the same love and determination.

If every one had a daughter, sister, mother, or friend like Christina the world would be a much better and much happier place.

We are so proud of her.  And we love her.  Beyond words.

FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE RADIO BEASTS

 The Radio Beasts by "Ralph Milne Farley"  (Roger Sherman Hoar)  (first published in Argosy All-Story Magazine in four parts:  March 21-April 11, 1925; first book publication, 1964)

In an all-too obvious nod to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ralph Milne Farley began his "Radio" series with 
The Radio Man, a four-part serial in Argosy All-Story Magazine in 1924, which magazine laughably touted the sequence as "scientifically accurate."  The Radio Man was published in book form in 1948, then reprinted two years later as An Earthman on Venus, under which title it was also printed in comic book format in 1951.  (A few years ago I linked to the comic book version on this blog.  Since The Radio  Beasts was the direct sequel to that first novel, you can check it out again for a quick briefing on the events of the first book at https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=14923)

The Radio series follows the adventures of Miles Standish Cabot, a Harvard-educated scientist who is likely the world's greatest authority on the workings of an scientific possibilities of radio.  (Back in the day, radio was a popular hobby and many people studied the various types and possibilities of this form of communication.  There was a natural synchronicity between radio buffs of the time and fans of science fiction -- a genre that would even have a name for several years yet to come.)  Cabot managed go devise a way to use radio as a matter transmitter to journey to Venus, a world of strange beings and danger.  The planet is called Pores by its inhabitants.

Actually, that's not right.  Pores is the name of that planet's large continent, which is completely surrounded by boiling oceans -- beyond which may or may not be unknown lands.  There are two major races on Pores, the Cupians and the Formians.  The former is human-like, although with antenna through which they communicate, small, wisp-like wings on their back, and six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot.  Because of their telepathic way of communicating, the Cupians have no ears and consider Cabot deformed because of the two "mushrooms" on each side of his head.  The  Cupians are white -- something not really overtly stressed, yet something you should keep in mind.

The Formians are giant ants, black and naked and numerous.  They are ruled by Formis, their queen, who is very young and easily influenced.  For 500 years, the Formians ruled the planet, enslaving the Cupians.  The Cabot arrived on Venus and led the Cupians in an uprising, defeating the ant-beasts and bringing peace to Cupia.  Pores was then divided into two areas -- the larger Cupia and the much smaller Formia, which held the remnants of the ant race.  Peace ruled over both kingdoms.  Cabot went on to marry Princess Lilla, the beautiful daughter of King Kew XII.

Consistency and logic are not the hallmarks of early planetary romances.  On the biological forefront, there's the problem if interspecies sex.  As we open with The Radio Beasts, Lilla is expecting Cabot's child.  That is not really a problem because the biological incompatibilities are conveniently ignored.  The hero gets the beautiful alien girl and the girl easily bears the hero's child.  It worked for John Carter and Dejah Thoris so it  can work for Cabot and Lilla.

And then there's the problem of slavery.  As slaves, evidently the Cupians worked only four hours a day.  Freed from the burden of the Formians, the Cupians needed only work two hours a day.  Cabot proposed the Cupians use the extra time to create great civic works.  Being a Harvard grad and a former star swimmer and marksman in college, naturally Cabot's first idea for a project was to build a large stadium.  Go figure.

Cabot is called to attend the dedication of the stadium with the king.  Because of her pregnancy Lilla stayed behind at home.   The dastardly Prince Yuri, King Kew's nephew and the next in line for the throne, who was also a big bad villain of the first book, appears and shoots the king through the heart and then declares himself king.  Yuri has allied himself with the Formians and also has a strong corps of Cupian followers.  Quickly the old government is destroyed and the Formians help Yuri to consolidate his power.  A bloody civil was ensues and Cabot goes through many adventures trying to save the kingdom.  He gets knocked unconscious a lot.  Cabot is also trying to get to Lilla, who had (it seems) given birth the a boy just hours before the old king was assassinated -- thus, Cabot's son is the rightful heir to the throne.  Alas, when Cabot finally reaches their home, the place is destroyed, Lilla is captured, and Cabot's infant son has been slain by Yuri.

The writing in this book is atrocious, not withstanding the constant scientific/pseudo-scientific/just plain hogwash exposition that is laced throughout the tale.  ("Before I tell you what happens next, let explain the scientific workings behinds this or that invention that Cabot developed."  **sigh**)  There are many giant and deadly monsters placed in Cabot's path, but through luck, serendipity, and a tad of deus ex machina, Cabot perseveres. Along the way he discovers a lost race under hidden in the Caves of Kar -- the ancestors of the Cupian race and the guardians of the lost religion (including two called Glamp-glamp and Nan-nan!)  There's an off-handed allusion to Freemasonry.  And there's the horse-sized bees called the Hymernians, which Cabot discovered is actually another intelligent race on the planet and whom he enters into a treaty to have the bees fight on the Cupian side.  We also see Cabot as a frequent dim-bulb; his stupidity is needed at time to thrust the plot forward.  When he is not being stupid, Cabot is a forceful personality who is able to build alliances and command a faithful following.

I have mentioned the distasteful racial undertones of the book.  The author was a Harvard educated Constitutional lawyer who also served as a state Senator and state Attorney General.  As a teacher, he specialized in mathematics and engineering.  He developed a system for aiming large guns by the stars.  The author's family name spits old New England values.  Sadly, one of those values was blind racism, which seems to flow through this narrative.  Also disturbing was the blatant call for genocide.  Cabot is forceful in his opinion that two intelligent races cannot occupy one planet:  one race -- the giant black ants -- must be completely eliminated, even if that means Cabot must kill his one ant ally and friend, Doggo.   Eventually Cabot allows a few ants to survive -- in zoos, for the edification of Cupian children.  (Doggo's body was never found or identified, saving Cabot the task of killing his friend.)  There's a hint at the end of the book that Cabot may also have to eliminate the intelligent bee race of Hymerians with whom Cabot had entered a treaty.

All in all, this is a rather distasteful book with enough thrilling action scenes and exotic creatures to please pulp readers of the mid-Twenties.  The adventures of Miles Cabot continued in The Radio Planet, The Radio War, The Radio Minds, and The Radio Minds of Mars.  Similarly titled stories The Radio Flyers and The Radio Gun-Runners are not part of the series.

Let me leave you with a few random snippets from  The Radio Beasts:

As he increased his speed, his centrifugal acceleration, like that of a horse-chestnut which a small boy whirls on a string, gradually forced him outward and upward, thus offsetting to a large extent the sliding action of the sand.

And...

...all that he could think of was that old Harvard Glee Club song about the darky, which ends with the words:

     "Oh, Lord, if you can't help me,

     For heaven's sake, don't help the bear!"

And,,,

"This bee is a friend of mine," the earthman asserted.

You have been warned.

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THIRD PERSON SINGULAR

 "Third Person Singular: by "Clemence Dane" (Winifred Ashton); first published in the collection The Babyons:  The Chronicles of a Family, Heinemann, 1927; reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1946

The Babyons is a collection of four stories that follow and English family through five generations from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries.  "Third Person Singular" is the first story in the book.

The year is 1750 and Jamie Babyon is engaged to his cousin Hariot -- a contract of intent had been signed, she brings money to the marriage, and his family's pressure is great.  But Hariot is the Maiden of Nuremburg; beautiful, tempting, but with a greedy voice and of the  type who would destroy whomever she married.  
Hariot scared him.  On the other hand, Hariot's companion Menella Traill was far more suited to Jamie's tastes.  Three years before, when Jamie was eighteen and penniless, he thought himself in love with Hariot but as the years went by he grew more and more to dislike her.  Now at twenty-one, having unexpectedly coming in to his mother's inheritance after the sudden deaths of his two elder brothers, Jamie can afford to spurn his cousin.

During the years of their engagement Jamie had seen little of Hariot.  She was six years older than him and her family (wisely) kept them apart.  It turned out that Hariot was insane and much of their time apart was spent being locked up in an asylum.  Only recently had she been returned to her family and deemed to be sane once again.  Hariot did not like that Jamie broke it off with her; she had plans to guide a young, gullible husband to the highest seats of power.  Now she cursed him and threatened him, stating that he might go away from her but she would never go away from him:

"You won't see me; but I'll see you:  nor will you hear me; but I'll hear you.  I warn you, Jamie, I'll creep into your brain.  I'll hear your thoughts before you think them.  I'll suck your soul out, I tell you:  and in the hollow places where your soul was, there I'll live!"

That same day Sir James Babyon and Miss Menella Traill eloped.  The marriage ceremony was briefly interrupted when the parson thought he heard someone in the outer chamber intent on stopping the marriage.  A quick investigation showed there was no one there.  Then, when the newlyweds rode off in their carriage, the parson thought he saw a long shadow following them.  For their honeymoon the couple travelled to several European cities.  While in Milan, an acquaintance asked Menella about her companion, saying he saw a female companion with her the day before.  This came as a complete shock to Menella and Jamie.  As the married couple travel through Europe they find that Jamie's friends are becoming afraid of them, soon their servants are, too.  On returning to England, Jamie discovers that Hariot has committed suicide and he begins to fear her unearthly presence.

How does it end?  Not happily.

A supernatural thread runs through the Babyon saga, although the three stories that follow are much lighter in tone.  The second story takes place in 1775; the third, from 1820 to 1873; and the concluding story, from 1902 to 1906.

Winifred Ashton (1888-1965) took her pseudonym from the London church. St. Clemence Danes.  Over her literary career she wrote at least 30 plays and 16 novels, and was considered by some to the most successful all-around British writer during the period between the World Wars.  Her hit 1921 play, A Bill of Divorcement, was adapted for the movies three times.  She also co-wrote the screen play for Anna Karenina, featuring Greta Garbo.  She won an Academy Award for co-writing Perfect Strangers (U.S. title Vacation from Marriage).  

Her novels were varied and often covered social issues.  Her 1926 novel The Woman's Side concerned issues of women's independence.  1919's Legend debated the meaning of a dead friend's life and work.  Broome Stages (1931), concerning a mutigenerational acting family, was a surprise success.  Co-writing with Helen de Guerry Simpson, she wrote three detective novels featuring Sir John Suamarez, including the classic Enter Sir John, filmed by Alfred Hitchcock as Murder!  A member of Britain's Detection Club, she also contributed to their volumes The Scoop and The Floating Admiral.   In 1955, she edited Novels of Tomorrow, a series of science fiction books for publisher Michael Joseph, which included works by John Wyndham, C. M. Kornbluth, and Robert Sheckley.

Ashton/Dane was also famish for her completely innocent use of indecent words.  Totally unaware of their meaning in the vernacular, she would use terms like "cock," "erection," "tool", and "spunk," while also referring herself to be "randy" -- she would use these terms in unfortunate sentences, never realizing the double entendres.

"Third Person Singular," as well as the other three stories in The Babyons, can be read online at Faded Page.  The October 1946 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries can also be found online.

OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: DRAGNET: BIG HANDS (1951)

Just the facts, Ma'am.

The date:  November 22, 1951 (maybe; or it could be May 2, 1953; sources differ)

The place:  Los Angeles

The crime:  Homicide -- a woman has been strangled

The cops:  Sergeant Joe Friday (Badge 714) and his partner, Frank Smith, search the city for clues

The story you are about to see is true.  The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Join Jack Webb  and Ben Alexander and a cast including Olan Soule, Cliff Arquette, Tom McKee, Helen Kleeb, Jeanne Bird, and Ted Bliss, and Mel Ford as this mystery unravels.  Written by Webb and directed by James E. Moser.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OAbxmoA1-w