review of
Carolyn Wells's The Clue of the Eyelash
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - August 3, 2019

Not that it's likely to be of much interest to anyone but myself, but the 1st 'old' mystery I can remember reading was Johnston McCulley's 1925 The Spider's Den. I wd've read that around 1963 or shortly thereafter. I still have the bk, it's a hardback, what I assume/deduce to be cardboard covered in cloth. Brown cloth w/ impressed gold lettering. It was the sort of story w/ a criminal mastermind, presumably (I don't really remember it) THE SPIDER, & the various criminals to do his bidding. I remember enjoying the mysterious atmosphere very much.

It's possible that I'd read Sherlock Holmes stories before then. It's also possible that I'd read Edgar Allen Poe extensively — especially in the goat-skin covered compilation of his work from 1927 that my family had. The somewhat uniform size of these bks, 5-5.5"W X 7.5"H is instantiated in me as part of sd atmosphere. That's probably part of why I have an almost Pavlovian reaction when I find a hardback mystery of this type from the era of the 1920s to, maybe, as late as the 1950s.

It's not that I think: 'Oh, so-&-so's a great writer', in this case Carolyn Wells, it's more just a matter of taking it for granted that I'll enjoy the reading experience partially just b/c of reinstantiated elements of the physicality. I've read one other bk by Wells, For Goodness' Sake (1935) wch I must've read before the fall of 2007 when I started reviewing on Goodreads. I don't remember it at all. Apparently, the detective, Fleming Stone, made little or no impression on me.

Stone is also the detective in the earlier The Clue of the Eyelash but, even though I read this more recently, I can't remember any distinguishing characteristics. Sherlock Holmes he isn't. In this case, Stone gets involved thru a chance social encounter:

""Wait a minute, Sally. You go along, Murrell. I say, girl, I met a friend in the way up here. He's over at the Inn now. Can't we have him over for the evening?"

""Why, of course. Who is he?"

""Fleming Stone, the detective, you know. He's on vacation."

""You don't mean the Fleming Stone! The Wizard of Woz! Oh, won't he come to dinner? I'm mad to see him!"

""Don't lose your head. I daresay he'd come to dinner if you ask him. Why do you want to see him?"

""Oh, he's so marvelous! Is he at the Inn yet?"

""Yes, surely. Go and telephone him, if you like. He's well-mannered, but nothing to have framed in plush."" - p 14

Has there ever been a time when real-life detectives have been so famous? I doubt it, it goes against the grain of what the detective tries to accomplish. Being recognized & fussed over isn't something that's condusive to clandestinely observing.

"["]At what time did death take place?"

""Hard to say. Probably between seven and seven-thirty. Say seven-fifteen. He was shot straight through the forehead, but we can't find the gun. Does anyone here own one?"

"Katherine stared at him solemnly, and shook her head." - p 50

That seems straight enough, eh? That's the initial opinion of the Medical Examiner. Shortly thereafter, Stone starts interrogating people. Note what he asks:

"I would like to hear from eveeryone present, exactly where he or she was at six forty-five this evening. That is the probable time of murder, according to the Medical Examiner, Dr. Burton.["]" - p 61

Note that the detective asks where everyone was a half hr earlier than when Burton actually estimated the murder to've occured. Is Stone being tricky? As far as I can tell that was just a mistake in the author's continuity, I don't recall ever finding any explanation. Apparently, the author is the murderer & this is the big clue to that effect.

""Can't you be more specific than that about the time?"

""No, sir, I can't. I never saw such a worry over the time! What time is it now, sir?"

"Several smiled as the Inspector's face grew red. There was no clock that he could see, and he was not a good guesser." - p 104

""It was a good time to choose anyway," Stone said; "the cleverness you spoke of is shown in the selection of Fourth of July. Dozens of men could have been shot to-day, and not been heard, because of the celebrating gunpowder that was going off all the time."" - p 74

I'm from Baltimore. It occured to me when I lived there that there were probably many, many shootings on the 4th of July that took advantage of the aural camouflage of the fireworks. SO, for this review I did a search on the great oracle for "statistics on shootings in baltimore on july 4th". In an article entitled Shootings Spike in Summer Months it's stated that:

"As temperatures soar, so do rates of gun violence, particularly in concentrated urban areas. Over Fourth of July weekend alone in 2017, 102 people were shot in Chicago, a record. With school out, longer days, oppressive heat—and easy access to guns—conflicts turn more violent more quickly, and lives end too soon."

[..]

"Gun homicides in America are concentrated in urban areas, particularly in impoverished and underserved communities. Cities with large minority populations, like New Orleans, Detroit, and Baltimore, have a homicide rate up to 10 times higher than the national average, a rate that peaks in the summer." - https://lawcenter.giffords.org/resources/publications/shootings-spike-in-summer-...

""Now, Inspector, you've been treating me white all along, and I want to do the same by you.["]" - p 95

Remember that expression? I don't recall anyone ever using it in my presence in my lifetime so I doubt that it's in common use anymore but I've run across it in old bks often enuf. Remember, this is from 1933. To treat a person "white" means to deal w/ them fairly & honestly but how many black people in Baltimore wd think of it that way?

When were false eyelashes invented? Chances are, you don't know. I don't.

""Yes, just now. They're a new fad.["]" - p 131

"While they’d been around in some form for decades, Anna Taylor patented the invention in 1911. However, false eyelashes weren’t really a common beauty tool until 1916, when D.W. Griffith decided that Seena Owen, the actress in his film Intolerance needed to have "eyelashes brushing [her] cheeks.""

[..]

"In any case, by the 1930’s, false eyelashes were everywhere, and Vogue promised that they could give ladies lashes of "bewildering length."" - https://www.racked.com/2015/10/7/9457395/a-history-of-false-eyelashes

But in this story, the detective was unaware of them despite their having been somewhat common for decades. The men are more into bks, bless 'em:

""The library ought to be sold en bloc, if at all," said Meade, looking at the great bookcases full of choice rarities.

""What does that mean?" asked Sally.

""As a whole, not broken up," Meade told her." - p 159

The murders multiply.

"In fact, beyond a general feeling of pity that the exquisite piece of humanity should be put out of existence so cruelly, no one of the Greencastle people felt deeply bereaved." - p 173

A recurring pattern.

""I'd like to ask a question and I want a truthful answer from each one. Time was when my question would have been considered too personal, but those days are gone. I want to know how many of the ladies here use or rather, wear, artifical eyelashes."" - p 199

100 yrs ago maybe asking who wears fake eyelashes wd've been too personal. Now what wd be?

""I dislike the subject. I am as up to date as the rest of you, but I do not approve of discusssing toilet appurtenances in the presence of me. I'm not old fashioned, but I do draw the line somewhere."" - p 200

Ok, I don't like to discuss this in the presence of women but it wasn't the author who did it but the eyelash. Early experiments in the manufacture of false eyelashes crossed paths w/ genetic engineering &, well, it went south & got a tan. ( )