Stevenson, Burton E - The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet (1911)

Although not formally separated by the author, the action in The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet breaks into two nearly equal parts. Part I reminds me of Rinehart, Part II of Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin tales. Part I hardly ever gets out of the victim's New York house, or even a few rooms in that house where most of the action is concentrated. It builds up an almost claustrophobic sense of menace. While a few scenes take place elsewhere, the author makes clear that the focus of danger in the novel is in the rooms which contain the cabinet. (Godfrey makes this explicitly clear at one point, speaking for the author; but the whole tenor of the story reflects this as well.) By contrast, Part II is a duel of wits with a French master criminal, and takes place all over New York City. Disappointingly, there is neither much pure detection in Cabinet, nor is there a clever solution of a puzzle plot. Despite its subtitle, "A Detective Story", Cabinet is hardly a mystery story at all in the modern sense. It is more like a melodrama or tale of danger. Unbelievable coincidences abound, as well. On the plus side, the novel is elegantly and clearly imagined and written. It is extremely readable, and the vivid scenes stick in the imagination. The strange first half is especially rich in mise-en-scène. Cabinet is most recommended to those who want some cultural context for Mary Roberts Rinehart.

All of the main characters in Boule Cabinet are bachelors, single men. Many are obsessed with art collecting. After the victim's death, his art collection is willed to the Metropolitan, and broken up and lost among their vast holdings. The narrator reflects on the pointlessness of the victim's life, and how little he ultimately accomplished through his collecting. This memorable moment forms the climax of Part I.

Stevenson, too, describes the unhappy marriage of a woman to a rotten European aristocrat. It is a clear portrait, written long before modern woman's lib, of a woman linked to an abusive husband. It anticipates similar relations in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence (1920). Moffett's Through the Wall also looks inside a similarly unhappy marriage. American fiction of this era clearly made a significant attempt to explore the injustices perpetrated on women through the marriage bond.

The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet was made into a pleasant B movie, The Case of the Black Parrot (Noel M. Smith, 1941). It is much more of a typical Hollywood whodunit than is the book, but much of the plot involving the cabinet itself is preserved. The arch criminal is now named the Black Parrot, recalling the Bat in Rinehart and Hopwood's play.

Mike Grost