Nude in Mink - Sax Rohmer

As a long-time fan of Sax Rohmer’s work, I’ve been meaning to read the Sumuru series for many years now and have finally gotten around to the first one, NUDE IN MINK. This novel was based on a radio serial that Rohmer wrote for the BBC in 1945 and was published as a paperback original in the United States by Gold Medal in 1950. The British edition, also published in 1950, was entitled THE SINS OF SUMURU. Reportedly, Rohmer didn’t care for the Gold Medal title, but it actually fits the story and the book sold very well, well enough for the publisher to want more. Eventually there were five Sumuru novels, all with different titles in the U.S. and England except the final one. I think there may be some other differences in the texts, but I’m no expert on that. I read the Gold Medal version of the first one, NUDE IN MINK.

So who is Sumuru, you ask? Well, she’s a beautiful female villain with a shadowy background who has a sinister international organization and wants to remake the world into what she considers an acceptable place, even though that involves murder, torture, and blackmail. She can be ruthless, but by golly, some of her ideas actually make her seem a little sympathetic. She’s not the nude in mink of the title, though. That’s a beautiful young woman Sumuru has targeted to force into her organization. This young woman escapes, and dressed only in a mink coat, she stumbles into the London flat of American reporter Mark Donovan, who is the nominal protagonist of this novel. If Sumuru is a variation on the much more famous Dr. Fu Manchu, then the Denis Nayland Smith role in this novel is filled by Dr. Steel Maitland, who also appears in Rohmer’s much earlier novel THE EMPEROR OF AMERICA (have it but haven’t read it yet).

With Donovan drawn into Maitland’s battle against Sumuru because he instantly falls in love with the nude in mink, of course, we’re off on a series of captures and escapes and a couple of bizarre murders. It’s stuff we’ve seen before in the Fu Manchu books, but it’s still quite a bit of fun. Rohmer was always great on the atmospherics.

Unfortunately, not much actually happens in this novel and it never generates much suspense or drama before it finally peters out without reaching a suitable climax. The blood and thunder that’s so enjoyable in the Fu Manchu series and many of Rohmer’s other books is missing for the most part. I wonder if the novel’s origins as a radio serial have something to do with that. Maybe the form limited him in what he could do. If that’s the case, the follow-up novels may be better.

I certainly intend to find out, because I enjoyed NUDE IN MINK enough that I want to read the rest of the series. I have the first four on hand already and if I enjoy the others I’ll find the fifth and final one. In the meantime, if you’ve never read Sax Rohmer’s work before, don’t start with NUDE IN MINK, but if you’re a long-time fan like me, it’s worth reading.

Forgotten Books: The Quest of the Sacred Slipper - Sax Rohmer (Arthur Sarsfield Ward)

THE QUEST OF THE SACRED SLIPPER is another early novel by Sax Rohmer (Arthur Sarsfield Ward) that  was published originally as a series of eight short stories in the magazine SHORT STORIES (appropriate, eh?) from November 1913 through June 1914. The protagonist/narrator is a British journalist named Cavanaugh who, on a ship traveling back to England from the Middle East, befriends an archeologist and anthropologist who turns out to have stolen a sacred relic, a cloth slipper believed to have once been worn by Mohammed. Strange, sinister things happen, and when they get back to England, the archeologist is murdered and Cavanaugh comes into possession of the key to the place where the slipper is hidden. This makes him the target of the Hashishin, a fanatical cult of killers bent on recovering the slipper. There’s also a mysterious, beautiful girl with violet eyes somehow involved in the dangerous affair.

This novel has an episodic nature due to its origins as a magazine serial, as did the last Sax Rohmer novel I read, BROOD OF THE WITCH QUEEN. I think THE QUEST OF THE SACRED SLIPPER holds together a little better, though, and has enough drive to keep it moving steadily forward even though the seams between the installments show pretty plainly. The book starts out well and then becomes even better part of the way through with the introduction of another character, an American criminal mastermind known as the Stetson Man, who is also trying to get his hands on the slipper. Earl Dexter is a Westerner who wears a Stetson (hence the nickname), and he’s as out of place in England as the Hashishin are, putting poor Cavanaugh in the middle of two colorful enemies who are out to steal the slipper.

Rohmer keeps the action moving and throws in plenty of the usual bizarre murder methods and death traps that show up so often in his books, especially the Fu Manchu novels. I do have a couple of minor complaints. Cavanaugh, like many of Rohmer’s narrators, isn’t a very strong character (although he tries), and Inspector Bristol of Scotland Yard, who investigates the case, never rises to the level of Sir Denis Nayland Smith when it comes to being a formidable adversary for the bad guys. In fact, it’s one of those bad guys, Earl Dexter, who actually comes closest to being the protagonist of this novel, and he’s simply not on-screen enough to function well in that role. Also, the ending is a little abrupt and not as dramatic as it could have been.

All that said, THE QUEST OF THE SACRED SLIPPER is a very entertaining yarn, and Earl Dexter is an interesting enough character that I wish Rohmer had written more about him. I enjoyed this novel quite a bit and I’m sure I’ll be reading more by Rohmer in the relatively near future. By the way, THE QUEST OF THE SACRED SLIPPER is in the public domain and there are free e-book versions in numerous places on the Internet, plus some very reasonably priced and well-done reprint editions.

Forgotten Books: Brood of the Witch-Queen - Sax Rohmer

When I was in high school, I read and enjoyed all of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels, but I’ve dipped into the rest of his work only occasionally since then. In the mood to read something by him, I picked up BROOD OF THE WITCH-QUEEN, a stand-alone novel originally published as a nine-part serial in PREMIER MAGAZINE (a publication I’m not familiar with) in 1914 and ’15 before being published in novel form in 1918. So it was written pretty early in Rohmer’s career.

Although he’s best known for Fu Manchu, of course, Rohmer also used a lot of Egyptian themes in his work, including this novel. As the novel opens, co-protagonist Robert Cairn is still in college at Oxford, where he suspects fellow student Antony Ferrara of being up to no good. Ferrara is the adopted son of Dr. Michael Ferrara, who happens to be the best friend of Cairn’s father, noted Egyptologist Dr. Bruce Cairn, who is pretty much the co-protagonist of this book. The elder Ferrara and Cairn explored many Egyptian mysteries of an occult nature before Ferrara’s death. Oh, and in addition to the adopted son, Ferrara also has a beautiful young ward, Myra Duquesne. Robert Cairn is in love with Myra and is jealous of Antony, who has his eye on her as well. Antony’s motives are much more sinister, though, Robert believes.

Well, spooky stuff ensues. Disembodied hands choke folks to death. Venomous spiders scuttle around. People crawl through tunnels and explore hidden chambers inside pyramids. The word “sarcophagus” is used frequently. And of course there’s a final showdown between the forces of good and evil.

BROOD OF THE WITCH-QUEEN’s origins as a magazine serial make for a very episodic novel, but luckily, it’s a fast-moving, entertaining one. Yes, the writing is lurid, even melodramatic at times, but that’s never bothered me. I’ll read a good shudder tale any time. The novel’s biggest drawback for me is the villain. While Antony Ferrara is pretty despicable, he never really dominates the action the way I expected him to. But then, Robert Cairn, whose nerves are shakier than anybody this side of an H.P. Lovecraft protagonist, isn’t a dominating hero, either. What we’re left with is a book with a lot of very well-done creepy scenes that never quite comes together as an adventure yarn. I’m glad I read it, and it’s left me in the mood to read more of Rohmer’s work in the fairly near future, but based on those long-ago memories of the Fu Manchu novels, it’s probably the weakest thing I’ve read by him so far.

Forgotten Books: Bat Wing/Fire-Tongue - Sax Rohmer

When I was in high school I was a big fan of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels and read all of them I could get my hands on. That was pretty easy in those days, since Pyramid Books had reprinted almost the entire series in paperback and used copies were plentiful. I think I eventually read all of them. But I don't recall reading anything else by Rohmer, whose real name was Arthur Sarsfield Ward.

Then about ten years ago a friend of mine recommended Rohmer's mystery novel BAT WING and even sent me a copy of it. It features another series character, Paul Harley, a former "diplomatic troubleshooter" for the British government who has retired from that to become a private detective. BAT WING is a British country house mystery, with Harley solving a murder that involves a lot of suspects, but there's a voodoo element to the plot, too, and the book is pretty creepy in places, as I recall. I enjoyed it a lot.

Earlier this year, Stark House reprinted not only BAT WING but also FIRE-TONGUE, the second novel-length case for Paul Harley (he also stars in a number of short stories). I read that one recently and had a great time with it. In FIRE-TONGUE, Harley is consulted by a prominent surgeon, Sir Charles Abingdon, who thinks he's being followed and who had a break-in at his house in which nothing valuable seems to have been stolen. Before Harley can even begin to investigate, Sir Charles dies of what seems to be a heart attack, but not before uttering the mysterious words "Fire-Tongue...Nicol Brinn".

Fire-Tongue doesn't mean anything to Harley, but he knows that Nicol Brinn is an eccentric American millionaire who lives in London and has the hobby of risking his life in far-off places. Convinced that Sir Charles's mysterious death is really murder, Harley dives into the case, of course, which sets off a round of disguises, escapes, and chases. Harley winds up in considerable danger before he unravels the secret of the mysterious criminal mastermind behind the enigmatic name Fire-Tongue.

This novel is more of a thriller than an actual mystery. Modern readers might find the pace a little slow and the writing old-fashioned, but if you can put yourself in the frame of mind of a reader in the 1920s you'll probably find FIRE-TONGUE highly entertaining. I certainly did. The Stark House volume reprinting BAT WING and FIRE-TONGUE also includes an excellent introduction by Gene Christie. I suspect I'll be reading more by Sax Rohmer, if I can find the time.