【推理小说杂谈】从诺克斯十诫看推理小说(7)
《The Four Tragedies of Memworth》是一个在现在很难找到的侦探故事。其序言讲述了Dale Chantry早年在中国干下背信弃义的勾当，如今的他在每年的1月13日都会收到用红笔写下的复仇来信。在故事中，年老的集邮家Penfield勋爵聘请年轻的Jack Cunningham担任他的秘书，Jack对继承人即上述的Dale Chantry被杀大感震惊，随后其近亲Oliver Chantry因深惧民众怀疑而自杀。Penfield勋爵死后，其产业由一个不见经传的加拿大亲戚Hugh继承，如Cunningham所知，他曾在Memworth装扮成一个叫William的脚夫。后来Cunningham的生命曾两次受到威胁，幕后黑手可能就是Hugh，但他依然对Hugh怀有好感。最后，加拿大伯爵在自己的公园里遭到枪杀，应该是伯爵勒索的人干的。
在网上能找到的仅有一段简短的评论：
Or, A Secretary’s Memoirs. Ronald Knox and Barzun & Taylor considered this one of the few good uses of Chinamen in detective fiction. The author (one year older than Conan Doyle) was a soldier, Conservative politician, and Fascist supporter. This is an extremely leisurely work in the spirit of Mrs. Gaskell or Trollope: a country estate, an old peer, bicycle races with a neighbour’s pretty daughter, and no hint of crime until page 70. While there is a murder and some detection, that is only a third (pp. 80–140) of the first 200 pages. At the end, whodunit is not spelt out, although the reader can piece it together himself. It is, perhaps, a study in gullibility – a man who is unwilling to believe the worst of his “friend”.
在网上能找到的仅有一段简短的评论：
Or, A Secretary’s Memoirs. Ronald Knox and Barzun & Taylor considered this one of the few good uses of Chinamen in detective fiction. The author (one year older than Conan Doyle) was a soldier, Conservative politician, and Fascist supporter. This is an extremely leisurely work in the spirit of Mrs. Gaskell or Trollope: a country estate, an old peer, bicycle races with a neighbour’s pretty daughter, and no hint of crime until page 70. While there is a murder and some detection, that is only a third (pp. 80–140) of the first 200 pages. At the end, whodunit is not spelt out, although the reader can piece it together himself. It is, perhaps, a study in gullibility – a man who is unwilling to believe the worst of his “friend”.
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