Jacques Futrelle (1875–1912)

At first glance, this story written in 1906 looked to be right up my alley. I was in the mood for a good heist story, and this looked to be just the thing. The deciding factor was learning that the author went down on the Titanic. Be still, my soft heart!

Jacques Futrelle did have a knack for writing some memorable phrases. Two that caught my eye were a character wanting to "climb down someone's throat and open an umbrella", which brings a vivid mental picture to mind. A minor character show more declared the other in no uncertain terms: "Well, there ain't no serious trouble in this world till you marry a man that beats you." A lot of truth in that one, if you stop to think about it.

All in all, I discovered that The Chase of the Gold Plate was not the heist story for me. The writing was too dated, and although I liked Hutchinson Hatch the reporter, the other two main characters didn't cut the mustard. Detective Mallory, the "Supreme Police Intelligence of the Metropolitan District" who has a "No. 11 shoe and a No. 6 hat" pitted his skills against Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, "the Thinking Machine." Bah. There was much too much exposition, and between that and the one-dimensional characters, the theft fell flat. Onward! show less

The good: Some creative locked room mysteries, some ingenious solutions, little historical gems that were just 'life as we knew it' when written, but strike the modern reader as so different. (like the 'automobile helmets' the young ladies wear when driving in that fast modern car!)

The bad: Wow, an escaped orangutan that kidnaps a baby? Really? Sometimes the solutions to these mysteries are chosen more for their effect than because they would really make any sense. Large plot holes now and show more then. And several stereotypes that were accepted then, but not any more!

The annoying: Apparently this is from several books or collections of his stories, because Van Dusen is introduced, including the whole story of how he got his name, his peculiar looks, etc, etc, several times in here, at least 10. That got old. I remember from the last time! But that couldn't be helped, really, without really editing the stories from the way they were written. But would it have been so hard to put the stories in chronological order? That was just sloppy. He refers to this case involving a cockatoo that related to his current mystery, but that story wasn't in the collection until much later. No reason they couldn't have fixed that.

In short, I got this one for the Kindle for 99 cents. I wouldn't have paid much more than that, but since these are out of print and I liked the ones I have read, I thought it would be worth a dollar to give it a try. I'm glad I did - it was fun. I like the old-fashioned feel to the stories, like their complete horror at discovering the three or four day old dead body of a murdered young woman. Now a cop, even a rookie, wouldn't even flinch. Times have changed. But sometimes the dated feel made the stories clunky. The writing was still fresh, though, if not brilliant, and the stories themselves were easy to read. I really liked the one where his wife wrote the first half and challenged him to come up with a solution. Fun stuff. show less

Jacques Futrelle is probably the best mystery writer you've never heard of. He could have been the next Arthur Conan Doyle except for one tragic event in his life: he bought a ticket to sail on the Titanic. He and his wife were in Europe and decided to return to American on the Titanic, cutting their vacation short. When the ship began sinking his wife May boarded a lifeboat and survived, but Futrelle refused the lifeboat and did not survive.

Futrelle's mysteries are short on character show more development, but if you like a good puzzle some of them are quite clever. He is most famous for "The Problem of Cell 13" in which his main character, Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen--also known as "The Thinking Machine"-- agrees to be locked in the death cell of Chisholm Prison to prove he can escape from it in a week. It's one of my favorite mystery short stories, and I highly recommend it. show less

The most important story is The Problem of Cell 13 and it is probably Futrelle’s most well-known. Its quite good and I think it is essential reading for vintage mystery/detective fans, but more or less every “well-read” reader should read it. Its fast-reading, like all of these stories, so there’s really no excuse for leaving it unread.

These are easy-reading, mostly entertaining, spare-direct stories that obviously a journalist wrote and obviously many were published in newspaper show more format a hundred years ago. Set that as the expectation and enjoy the collection. show less