The Awdrey-Gore Legacy

How can I, a mere mortal, review this work of genius? Not only Gorey's own, but Christie's too. A perfect send-up and tribute to her work. The cover alone is encrusted with gems like 'The Toastrack Enigma' and 'The Pincushion Affair'. Inside we're treated to a host of Christie mystery elements in a way only Gorey could do. The whole thing is brilliant...from the standard characters (Vicar/Dean/Curate/Bishop/escaped lunatic) to the methods of murder (Gradual - arsenical buns and Instantaneous - boulder) and the places where the body could be found (a ha ha!). Wonderful and spot on. Either you get it or you don't. Not an acquired taste.

The Awdrey-Gore Legacy is dedicated “For Agatha Christie”. If you’ve ever read any book by Agatha Christie, you will immediately realize that this book is an homage and spoof of her style, detectives, and characters.

The murder victim is Miss Awdrey-Gore, whose life loosely parallels Dame Agatha’s – prolific writer of detective stories and center of a mysterious disappearance that lasted months in Dame Agatha’s case and forty-four years in Miss Awdrey-Gore’s case.

By the time I had read this far I was highly amused. By time I had finished I felt like I had read a summary of all Agatha Christie’s books AND played Clue a couple of times.

I have been a fan of Edward Gorey every since reading The Epiplectic Bicycle. His word show more play is marvelous, his strange names pleasing to the tongue, and his drawings extremely British with an almost mystical ability to write a person’s entire history and personality in expressions, hair styles, and clothes.

To describe detective Waredo Dyrge’s dog: “Deary, his inseparable and ferocious companion, is named for his master’s favorite reading” and “He is familiar with thirty-seven different hand signals, and has a passionate fondness for Cad’s relish on water biscuits.”

People on the scene remind one of all the characters in Miss Christie’s works. One gentleman is described as “Curate/Vicar/Dean/Bishop Escaped lunatic Cousin from Tasmania.” A lady is described as “Lady Novelist Lady with passion for flowers/ dogs/other ladies Scottish cousin.”

Wry, witty, dry. Locations are West Prune, East Prune, South Prune. A room is The Celery Room.

And, finally, fill-in-the blank statements are answered here one way, and 5 other ways in books with Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Harley Quin, Tommy and Tuppence, etc. “What the murderer failed to realize is that ____” And “___ is really _____’s _____.”

Thoroughly enjoyable, thoroughly amusing, and thoroughly evocative of one of my favorite mystery writers by one of my favorite humor writers. show less

Edward Gorey is an intriguing cult author-illustrator, as many assume he was an Edwardian Englishman when he was an American prolific during the latter half of the 20th Century. His works are dark, funny, disturbing, and sometimes so strange that you might wonder if the entire thing was an inside joke he failed to let anyone else in on.

The Awdrey-Gore Legacy is incredibly strange. The premise is that an Agatha Christie-like mystery author is found dead years after disappearing (Christie, to whom the book is dedicated, went missing for eleven days, though under very different circumstances), and “that she had been murdered was obvious.” The rest of the book is notes of what may be an unfinished mystery novel or clues to her own show more death. There is a protagonist (a half-Irish, half-Japanese former mercenary who is missing a hand, a leg, and an eye), a cast of characters, possible places where the body is to be found, potential methods of murder, and the layout of a hedge maze. Gorey plays with mystery novel conventions and cliches throughout.

If you read this and become frustrated because you can’t solve the mystery, don’t worry. There is no solution to this puzzle, just loose pieces and misleading hints. And it should be loved all the more for that. show less

The first time I came across Edward Gorey's work was a long time ago in a Quality Paperback Book Club advertisement, which compared him to Edgar Allan Poe. At first, the comparison struck me as odd because initially their work seems quite different. After a while, however, the comparison rings true. Some of Gorey's books are more obviously funny--The Evil Garden or The Beastly Baby come to mind--and some are mysterious and amusing in their juxtaposition of the familiar and the bizarre. In this book, Gorey lovingly takes on the mystery genre. The book is dedicated in fact to Agatha Christie, and like Ms. Christie, the subject of Mr. Gorey's book is also a mystery writer, D. Awdrey-Gore, and also disappeared mysteriously, in this case, show more however for 44 years, only to be found dead under mysterious circumstances. The book presents the contents of a package found under an elephant's foot umbrella stand (where else?) that comprise sketches apparently for a story by Miss Audrey-Gore. Gorey deftly skewers the conventional elements of the mystery story in a series of possible characters, types of deaths, murder weapons, plot twists, and other devices. For example, one character is labeled, "Curate/Vicar/Dean/Bishop Escaped Lunatic Cousin from Tasmania". If you find that amusing, you'll enjoy this book and you'll love Gorey's other works.

(This is a beautiful edition, by the way.) show less

Pomegranate has done a beautiful job with this small book. Every line of Gorey's illustrations comes through crisply, allowing you to appreciate the complexity of his images. Like a do-it-yourself-mystery kit, the book takes you through a cast of characters, a series of locations for the body, a variety of weapons (including such things as a sculpture of a dog and a giant boulder), and some intriguingly vague clues. (The alert reader will note lines of connection already existing between some of these items.) The depiction of Waredo Dyrge's gradual disintegration is wonderful, as are those of the rather ambiguous characters who inhabit Awdrey-Gore's putative notes. As for the murdered author herself? The book remains coy.

Definitely a show more good addition to the shelves of any lover of Edward Gorey's books. show less

Edward Gorey, as anyone will attest, is beyond reproach. I'd have to say the same of the new edition of the Awdrey-Gore Legacy by Pomegranate- the heavy stock paper alone would leave me happy. As for the contents of the page: An interesting homage(/parody) to Agatha Christie via Gorey's usual wit and a shrewd, if loving, eye towards the tropes of the mystery genre. Here, he removes the gentleman-detective's narration completely, leaving only the illustrated clues. The result pulled me directly into the world of the murders; trying to play detective myself by sorting through the (subtly ridiculous) clues while concurrently wondering whether or not the final parody was that they wouldn't fit together at all, just as many English parlor show more mysteries only came together via the narrator's imaginative, if questionable, connections. Whether the clues work or not, constructing your own Grand Reveal is part of the fun. show less

Edward Gorey's images are always a wonder to behold, and the way he can tell an eerie story with black-and-white graphics and very few words is a joy. In this reprinted "novel", dedicated to Agatha Christie, 97-year-old "prolific . . . and celebrated writer of detective stories" has been missing for forty-four years, until she turns up murdered. Shortly thereafter, a packet of papers, the contents of which form the contents of this book, mysteriously appears. Now, in any other book, it would turn up in the mail, or in a desk, or behind a hidden panel. Only in a book by Gorey would it be found "beneath the false bottom of an elephant's foot umbrella stand"! And that is why we love him.