Desmond Reid
Auteur van The World-Shakers
Over de Auteur
Ontwarringsbericht:
(eng) High Heels and Homicide actually written by John Purley, Hunt the Lady by A. Garstin, Murder by Moonlight by Wilfred McNeilly.
Werken van Desmond Reid
The World-Shakers 4 exemplaren
Witch-Hunt 1 exemplaar
The Badcock Boys 1 exemplaar
Murderer's Rock 1 exemplaar
Deadly Persuasion 1 exemplaar
Contract for a Killer 1 exemplaar
Faran från rymden 1 exemplaar
Med trumf på hand 1 exemplaar
Med döden som reskamrat 1 exemplaar
Hunt the Lady! (Sexton Blake Library, 490) 1 exemplaar
Beat On An Orange Drum 1 exemplaar
Flashpoint for Treason 1 exemplaar
Victim Unknown (Sexton Blake Library, 384) 1 exemplaar
The Corpse Came Too! (Sexton Blake Library, 486) 1 exemplaar
Murder By Moonlight 1 exemplaar
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Korte biografie
- House pseudonym of UK publisher Amalgamated (later known as Fleetway). Stories by `Desmond Reid` often seem to have been the work of unknown writers, but could be the work of more established names such as Rex Dolphin. Some westerns seem to have been credited to Reid, but the name is chiefly remembered in connection with the Sexton Blake detective fiction series.
According to Michael Moorcock, Sexton Blake Library editor W Howard Baker often made trifling changes to writers` work in order to justify paying them less and himself more, claiming to have `re-written` them. These would invariably be credited to `Desmond Reid` on publication. Other sources state that the `Reid` name was used when the editor felt a particular writer`s name was appearing too frequently, and sometimes because the fictitious Reid was developing a following of loyal fans. Certainly Arthur MacLean aka George Paul Mann wrote of `Desmond Reids` being scheduled a slot in advance of publication, even when the choice of story had not yet been decided on ! - Ontwarringsbericht
- High Heels and Homicide actually written by John Purley, Hunt the Lady by A. Garstin, Murder by Moonlight by Wilfred McNeilly.
Leden
Besprekingen
One of the attractions of books by `Desmond Reid` is seeing if you can guess who really wrote it.
In this case, I guessed at W Howard Baker and was wrong - it`s by Wilfred McNeilly.
This is what I would call a `mid-Blake`. there`s nothing really wrong with it - I enjoyed reading it, and will no doubt read it again with pleasure, but somehow I don`t think it will ever become a personal favourite.
In part, the problem is that a couple of very imaginative early chapters - including a dolphin`s-eye view of a corpse in the water - raised my expectations a little.
Truthfully, I probably shouldn`t `damn it with faint praise`. The plot is ludicrous, certainly, but I`m prepared to enter into the spirit of things, and in any case, the way in which the story unfolds means that the reader is roughly half-way through before the scenario becomes apparent.
There is no very bad writing ( though after the first couple of chapters, no very good writing). It is exciting, and humourous in places, so in a spirit of impartiality, I will give it 4 points but while I do like it, I have to say I don`t love it.… (meer)
In this case, I guessed at W Howard Baker and was wrong - it`s by Wilfred McNeilly.
This is what I would call a `mid-Blake`. there`s nothing really wrong with it - I enjoyed reading it, and will no doubt read it again with pleasure, but somehow I don`t think it will ever become a personal favourite.
In part, the problem is that a couple of very imaginative early chapters - including a dolphin`s-eye view of a corpse in the water - raised my expectations a little.
Truthfully, I probably shouldn`t `damn it with faint praise`. The plot is ludicrous, certainly, but I`m prepared to enter into the spirit of things, and in any case, the way in which the story unfolds means that the reader is roughly half-way through before the scenario becomes apparent.
There is no very bad writing ( though after the first couple of chapters, no very good writing). It is exciting, and humourous in places, so in a spirit of impartiality, I will give it 4 points but while I do like it, I have to say I don`t love it.… (meer)
Published in late 1961, this was part of editor W Howard Baker`s New Order of SBLs, i.e. tougher, faster -paced and owing a degree of debt to US hardboiled school of pulp fiction. This is a creditable attempt, a story you would file under `promising new writer` (assuming you knew the writer`s true identity - this particular `Desmond Reid` was by an unknown, whose identity is recorded only as A. Garstin). Blake takes on an inoccuous case (finding a missing person for a firm of solicitors who wish to tell them about a bequest in their favour). At the same time, an inmate who has been protesting his innocence escapes from prison, apparently with official assistance. Soon Blake is embroiled in a world of sleazy night-clubs, gangsters, drug-smugglers and girls in gold lame dresses. Interestingly, Blake himself is still the same man he had been since the end of the war - one feels instictively he is wearing a Saville Row suit even though the author doesn`t comment on his attire. Not for the first time, publishers Fleetway/Amalgamated are a little obtrusive. There are at least four references to the Daily Express newspaper in general, and at least three to William Hickey`s society column in particular. When one character comments approvingly of Castro`s expulsion of Mafia types from Cuba, quite natural in terms of the plot, he quickly qualifies his remark to show he is not thereby endorsing the Castro regime per se, a rather stilted piece of dialogue for a journalist chatting in a bar you might think. In the early sections, the writing can be a little mannered, rather self-consciously pulpy, but becomes more natural as we proceed. The last section is noticeably better-written than the preceeding chapters and contains a couple of interesting plot twists. One is fairly predictable, but the other less so. The 64 page format (retained long after the end of the wartime austerity measures that caused it) helps keep things snappy and stops the story getting away from it`s creator. If there is a little unevenness in tone, that doesn`t prevent this being a satisfying read on the whole.… (meer)
A Blake story with something for everyone, as Sexton travels to rural but less-than-idyllic Little Bede to investigate a death with apparent supernatural overtones.
I know little about Ms Story. One obvious possibility is that she was a relative of Jack Trevor Story. However, a quick enquiry with the excellent Guy Lawley of www.jacktrevorstory.co.uk produced no definitive answer (as yet anyway).
The writing style adopted here varies as the book progresses, I suspect by design rather than accident. In one of the earlier scenes, a mysterious death during a thunderstorm does seem a little overdone ("Lightning flashed and thunder rolled in triumph"), whereas later we encounter patches of very good writing ("Dusk hung over the land like a smoke-grey curtain. The scent of pine and leaf mould enveloped him."). Towards the end, we are in pulp-fiction territory, with rather over-emphatic use of words "Blake jerked open the glove compartment...; grabbed at a road-map. His finger stabbed along the Essex coastline." I am not personally too keen on this particular style of writing (it reaches it`s nadir with "A shot smashed past Blake`s head. A second spanged against a rung of the ladder...". The verb `to spang` was sadly missing from my education !), but it does help maintain pace and tension. There also some excellent flashes of humour, notably when Blake is threatened by an armed butler ; "Frankly portly, the man held a sporting rifle as if he were balancing a tray loaded with delicate china".
The story is eventful, to say the least. At one point, Blake is subjected to an attempt on his life (he survives), discovers a corpse and returns to the house where he is staying only to learn that the lady of the house has been murdered in his absence ! Even his presumably case-hardened assistant Tinker comments with alarm at the startling death toll.
Easy though it is to poke fun, this is a very promising debut indeed from Ms Story, and I fully intend to seek out her other works, if any exist.
If anyone does know anything about her, I`d be fascinated to hear from you.… (meer)
I know little about Ms Story. One obvious possibility is that she was a relative of Jack Trevor Story. However, a quick enquiry with the excellent Guy Lawley of www.jacktrevorstory.co.uk produced no definitive answer (as yet anyway).
The writing style adopted here varies as the book progresses, I suspect by design rather than accident. In one of the earlier scenes, a mysterious death during a thunderstorm does seem a little overdone ("Lightning flashed and thunder rolled in triumph"), whereas later we encounter patches of very good writing ("Dusk hung over the land like a smoke-grey curtain. The scent of pine and leaf mould enveloped him."). Towards the end, we are in pulp-fiction territory, with rather over-emphatic use of words "Blake jerked open the glove compartment...; grabbed at a road-map. His finger stabbed along the Essex coastline." I am not personally too keen on this particular style of writing (it reaches it`s nadir with "A shot smashed past Blake`s head. A second spanged against a rung of the ladder...". The verb `to spang` was sadly missing from my education !), but it does help maintain pace and tension. There also some excellent flashes of humour, notably when Blake is threatened by an armed butler ; "Frankly portly, the man held a sporting rifle as if he were balancing a tray loaded with delicate china".
The story is eventful, to say the least. At one point, Blake is subjected to an attempt on his life (he survives), discovers a corpse and returns to the house where he is staying only to learn that the lady of the house has been murdered in his absence ! Even his presumably case-hardened assistant Tinker comments with alarm at the startling death toll.
Easy though it is to poke fun, this is a very promising debut indeed from Ms Story, and I fully intend to seek out her other works, if any exist.
If anyone does know anything about her, I`d be fascinated to hear from you.… (meer)
Misschien vindt je deze ook leuk
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Statistieken
- Werken
- 22
- Leden
- 29
- Populariteit
- #460,290
- Waardering
- 3.3
- Besprekingen
- 7
- ISBNs
- 2
Somewhat better informed now, I can tell you that the `Desmond Reid` who wrote this particular story was A A Glynn.
It is a superior effort in many ways. The story begins with Blake and secretary Paula Dane finding a corpse in the back of his car. Before long our intrepid sleuth is en route to Mexico, in hot pursuit of homicidal archaeologists.
No-one is going to mistake Glynn for a literary genius, but generally, despite occasional lapses, his writing is pretty capable. I notice that whenever one character, Inga Martinside appears, we get an attack of dumbed-down writing. While it may be that the writer experienced a rush of blood to the head when contemplating Scandinavian beauties, I suspect she was added-in as an afterthought, particularly since the tale can be told fairly readily without her.
There is one other section that I suspect was grafted on at a later stage, but as that brings us the marvellous simile "Professor John Martinside clutched the edge of the passenger seat like a rooster trying to ride out a storm", I am prepared to forgive this.
For all it`s shortcomings, the basic plot is pretty damn good, and there is an effective twist in the tale for added spice. It` told with pace and verve, which counts for a lot.
All in all, well worth a read.… (meer)