J. J. Connington (1880–1947)

This review contains spoilers.

In his 1923 novel, Nordenholt’s Million, noted chemist Alfred Walter Stewart (writing as J. J. Connington) explores an unusual way to screw the ecology. A disastrous lab experiment releases a microbe that efficiently removes nitrogen from the soil, killing most plant life.

To prevent our extinction, industrialist Stanley Nordenholt creates a scientific survivalist community to research a solution and save a million of our brightest and hard-working best. Social show more order collapses as starvation depopulates the planet, but the Scottish enclave survives through Nordenholt’s draconian lifeboat ethics.
We follow events through the eyes of his right-hand man, who buys into the need for Nordenholt’s ruthless policies. The only female character in the story argues for an empathetic response, but Nordenholt attributes her emotional reaction to her overactive visual imagination, which makes her unable to respond rationally. It is never quite clear where the author stands on the ethical dilemma he describes. Nordenholt escapes any post-dystopian consequence by nobly dying of exhaustion at the end, but the girl dumps the right-hand man.

The introduction and afterword in the MIT Press edition are excellent. show less

A surprisingly modern story from 1923 about the choices made to save at least some humans in the face of global mass starvation.

A natural disaster kills the bacteria in the world's soil, causing the loss of all plant-life on Earth. Whatever stores of food are in place are all there will be. With humanity only a few months from extinction, the extremely wealthy and rather mysterious Englishman Nordenholt puts into play an audacious scheme to save a few million by barricading them in an show more industrial area of Scotland while a means of replenishing the world's soil is found. All other humans and animals in the British Isles are left with what food stores won't be needed by the colony: in effect, to die.

Told by one of Nordenholt's assistants, the story is related at an emotional distance, with the emotional implications being presented almost entirely by the single female character, so there is some of the early 20th century's condescension towards women. The racism, though, was rather nasty, although it appeared in only one chapter, in which the two black characters in the book, both nameless and only briefly present, are described as huge and violent Negroes, with one use of the word "nigger".

The plot, however, is pretty interesting. Nordenholt, who seems a thoughtful and decent sort, sets up a dictatorship, seeing it as the only means of accomplishing the goal of rejuvenating the soil in time for the next planting. Without a crop, there will be no more food for anyone, and all remaining humans will die of starvation. The dictatorship actually makes a lot of sense in this context, and Nordenholt's whole fortune and massive intellect is put to this use as well. There are, of course, problems along the way, including an apocalyptic preacher who instigates destruction of essential parts of the plan. Nordenholt has a backup plan, though, and the question is whether it will work in time.

All-in-all, a good read, even at almost the 100-year mark.

(Courtesy of Netgalley.com and of Dover Publications, which is publishing a new edition.) show less

A Golden Age mystery focusing almost solely on the detection of the crime, Murder in the Maze starts really slowly, and remains pretty slow for about a quarter of the book. Then the pacing picks up, with more murder attempts, a side plot, and some rather unorthodox police methods.
At the large country house there’s a maze with two centers (I’m still trying to figure that one out). Twin brother, one a barrister and the other an unscrupulous business man, are murdered in the maze centers. show more I found that part of the plot a little tricky and weird.
The police, in the person of the Chief Constable, begin the investigation of an original and clever double murder, but the twists and turns take a while to unravel.
I enjoyed Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield as the investigator; he’s persevering and not afraid to be creative in his attempts to catch a criminal.
The ending of the book is satisfying to the reader but completely implausible. I’d recommend it to Golden Age Mystery lovers, with the caveat that there’s some nonspecific talk of vivisection. The only animal harmed in the story is a guinea pig who dies instantaneously. show less

The author, a distinguished professor of chemistry, also wrote mystery stories under the name of J.J. Connington. This book is a collection of chapters on a variety of topics from the facts behind the development of the atomic bomb, at the time of publication not well known to the general public, to the Loch Ness Monster and the "Long Man" known to inhabit the neighbourhood of Ben Macdhui. Many of these are based on his own experience, and are still fascinating to read; He also explores the show more motivation and deeds of great historical criminals, for example the Satanist Gilles de Rais. The book remains a thoroughly readable miscellany, in particular to anyone interested in the history of science and engineering and in the genesis of crime and mystery stories. show less