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MacDonald, Philip

Page history last edited by Pietro De Palma 7 years, 11 months ago

Philip MacDonald (1889-1980), who also wrote as Oliver Fleming, Anthony Lawless and Martin Porlock, was an English thriller and crime writer.

Macdonald was the grandsdon of the writer George MacDonald. He served with the cavalry in Mesopotamia during WWI and later trained horses for the army. He was married to the writer F Ruth Howard. His first two books (written as Oliver Fleming) were co-written with his father, Ronald MacDonald. Macdonald's first solo outing was The Rasp (1924), which was also the debut of his series character Colonel Anthony Ruthven Gethryn.

Macdonald wrote more books of the same type and moved to Hollywood in 1931 to become a screen writer. Between 1930 and 1933 his output rose to five novels a year. His third book The Link was ingeniously plotted and was one of the first books published in the Collins Crime Club imprint. Murder Gone Mad is another Golden Age classic and was selected by John Dickson Carr as one of the ten greatest detective novels'. In 1953 and 1956 Macdonald was awarded an Edgar for his short stories. He was also a Great Dane breeder.

Mike Grost on Philip MacDonald

Philip MacDonald's books, like those of Margery Allingham, have some similarities to the Bailey school. Thriller elements keep breaking in and taking over from the puzzle plot in all of these writers. There is certainly NOT an atmosphere of calm reasoning or ratiocination in any of these writers. There is an attempt to make villains really frightening, either by making them mentally deranged killers, or by making them heads of sinister conspiracies. There is a good deal of abnormal psychology, which seems to be made up out whole cloth by all these writers listed, based on their literary intuitions of how the abnormal mind allegedly works. Anthony Gethryn, like Mr. Fortune, seems to be something of an independent operator, with resources not fully available to the police (Albert Campion will be even more independent). There is definitely NOT an atmosphere of "the police are in charge here while the crime is being investigated", as there is in both the Crofts and Van Dine schools: among other things, this would subvert the thriller element. Instead, there is a suspenseful feel of independent operatives up single handed against monstrous evils. Small clues, in both MacDonald's Warrant for X, and in the typical Bailey work, often lead to big crimes being unearthed. Agatha Christie noticed and burlesqued this "tiny clue leads to major conspiracy" approach, in her Bailey pastiche in Partners In Crime (1924). There is also an air of rampant heterosexuality to most of the members of the Bailey school, with both the detectives and the suspects all having lives that center around marriage and other long term male-female couplings.

Some of MacDonald's books have been made into entertaining movies. Edgar Selwyn directed The Mystery of Mr. X (1934), based on the MacDonald novel known as X v Rex (1933) in Britain, and as The Mystery of the Dead Police in the US. Henry Hathaway directed 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956) based on MacDonald's Warrant For X (1938).

Anthony Gethryn is MacDonald's best known series sleuth, making his debut in The Rasp (1924), a well reviewed book I have never been able to enjoy. The Nursemaid Who Disappeared (1938) with Gethryn also seems overrated, although it has some good detection in early chapters involving a shopping list. The main feature of this novel is its depiction of its villain, a sinister mastermind who never appears on stage in the story. Unfortunately, villains have never had the slightest interest to me; I only like detectives. The non-series book The Polferry Riddle (1931), also known as The Choice, did not appeal to me either.