George Barr McCutcheon (1866–1928)

I'm always a bit surprised to find authors that were widely-read in their day and are now largely unrecognized. McCutcheon is one such—a very popular author and playwright at the beginning of the 20th century. These days, it is usually fans of Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda or Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Mad King who know of him for his several books set in the fictitious Balkan kingdom of Graustark. Most do not realize that he was the author of Brewster's Millions, a story that has show more been made into a movie at least nine times as well as having a Broadway run.

However, if you saw one of the recent versions, forget the movie experience. The original, while humorous, wasn't simply a slapstick assembly of typical Richard Pryor humor. As with much popular reading from that era, the book is a blend of comedy, romance and a little bit of world view philosophizing.

The story concerns one Montgomery Brewster, an upper class young man whose uncle leaves him a large fortune…provided he spend every penny of the small fortune his grandfather (whom his uncle hated) left him. If he has even a penny of assets at the end of year, he gets nothing from his uncle's will. The kicker is that he is forbidden to tell anyone why he has become a spendthrift so, of course, friends and family rally to save him from himself.

I've read a dozen or so McCutcheon novels at this point and I've found them all to be pleasant and quick reads. If you don't mind a humorous romance (in the older sense of "boy meets girl" rather than the modern of something out of Harlequin Press) you can try something your grandparents or great-grandparents might have enjoyed. show less

I tend to find Mr McCutcheon’s works very hit or miss. “A Fool and His Money” is one I consider to be a hit. This author’s greatest strengths are his ability to write humorous scenes and entertaining dialogue, both of which are in evidence throughout this novel.

I like the premise of the tale, namely a rich author spends money on a castle to create a new writing environment, yet the detection of a female squatter is just the start of his distractions from getting on with his show more book.

Despite several rambling paragraphs here and there slowing down the narrative pace, the amount of humour and engaging character exchanges make this a good read. show less

Having read over twenty works by George Barr McCutcheon I've come to learn that his books are very hit or miss. Pleased to state that this one occupies the hit category. In fact I consider this among his very best novels.

The plot is expertly conceived, successfully mixing emotions of phycology, fear, love, hate, and humour. The opening chapter is especially good. Unlike other works by this author, which began with tedious waffle, this tale has a hook from the offset.

GBM creates an eerie and show more believable atmosphere of a windy and snowy night, upon which a woman must identify a murder victim believed to be her husband. The wife, Sara, reacts oddly to it all, confusing the others in the scene, while enticing the reader. Sara proves to be one of this author’s best-drawn characters in this and all his books.

Won’t go into further details for fear of creating a spoiler, but in short this novel has an engaging opening, numerous twists and interesting developments as the story moves along, and a convincing ending. The last line is particularly good.

Would’ve rated this story five stars, but deciding against it owing to a few overlong paragraphs mixed in here and there, plus certain character exchanges felt too melodramatic. Overall, though, the character interaction was spot on, just occasionally they fall short.

A very good read. show less

I'd never heard of George Barr McCutcheon before reading this lively tale, though having since done some research I realised that I've watched - many moons ago - a film adaptation of one of his works, namely "Brewster's Millions".

"Castle Craneycrow" features two men - the hero and the villain - both competing for the hand of the beautiful heroine, Dorothy. The story is set around the time of its 1902 publication. The opening scenes are in America, which is followed by some time spent in show more England, but the majority of the narrative is set in Brussels.

Castle Craneycrow itself does not appear till halfway through the novel, from which point it becomes the prominent backdrop. This is not, as I thought before delving into the tale, anything like a Gothic novel. This is an upbeat piece, blending humour with a little pathos. Themes and storylines include social order, deceit, jealousy, abduction, and romance.

I did feel that a couple of scenarios could have been expanded upon. So as not to give anything away to potential readers of this novel, I'll simply say that two "out of the frying pan, into the fire" situations - featuring the heroine - had great potential to become much more compelling. I was just getting into these scenes when the hero bursts in and resolves everything. I expected him to do so, but wished he'd been thwarted a little longer so as to allow the heroine's predicament to develop into something even more gripping.

The author has created a light-hearted yet hard-punching hero with Phil Quentin, which reminds me a little of some of P. G. Wodehouse's lead characters.

Prince Ugo is a genial Italian on the surface, but dark waters run deep behind the smile.

Dorothy is an enchanting heroine and is my favourite character. I'm also a fan on one of the supporting cast, namely Lady Jane, who made me smile on several occasions.

I downloaded "Castle Craneycrow" for free from Project Gutenberg, so anyone in two minds about giving this a try should head over to PG's website.

I will be reading more of Mr McCutcheon's work in the future. show less