I am writing an article based upon Dashiell Hammett's book
reviews for the Saturday Review of Literature and the New
York Evening Post.
One review, in the April 26, 1930 edition of the New York
Evening Post, was of Anthony Berkeley's Roger Sheringham book
The Wychford Poisoning Case.
Hammett begins the review (this book was the first of six to
be reviewed in that day's "The Crime Wave" column) in this
fashion:
"Of all the facetious amateurs -- count them yourself --
engaged in solving mysteries that are too much for the police
Roger Sheringham is the most amusing -- well, anyhow, the
least annoying -- to me."
He then briefly describes the case and concludes by saying
"you are not likely to guess the right one [murderer], but
you can blame the author and not yourself, for this book runs
a brisk, entertaining race to a flabby and unsporting
end."
For Hammett, the description of Sheringham as "most amusing"
or
"least annoying" is almost high praise given his remarks
about amateur detectives in other columns. Of course, you can
also say he's damning with faint praise. I have looked in
various Hammett biographies and his "selected letters" and
can find no other reference to Sheringham or Berkeley.
Unfortunately, I have never read a Sheringham book (although
I now have ordered one).
But, I'm wondering if those of you who have read a
Berkeley/Sheringham book might have a sense of the reasoning
behind Hammett's relatively mild reaction in this review.
What makes Sheringham different from other amateur detectives
of the period, including Holmes, whom he targeted in stories
("The Master Mind") and other reviews as well as his
introduction to the 1934 Modern Library edition of The
Maltese Falcon?
Bill Harker
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