MacDonald, Philip as Martin Porlock - X v Rex aka The Mystery of the Dead Police aka The Mystery of Mr X (1933)

At last a serial killer with some originality! This one attacks bobbies, and shows a refreshing imagination in his modus operandi. Scotland Yard of course has not much enthusiasm for this artist of a new kind, but fails to catch him. Then comes one Nicholas Revel, unselfishly (?) proposing his help. Nobody knows where this Revel comes from, how he bought his luxurious car, but any kind of help is good to take... Good, indeed? A narrative masterpiece, which might aptly be described as John Dos Passos rewriting Ed McBain's Cop Hater twenty years before the latter was published. MacDonald not only predates (and outdoes) contemporary thrillers but explodes conventional narration. Reader is brought everywhere, following by turns all characters including killer himself: chapter 15 (“Kaleidoscope”) is a marvel on that respect. As usual with MacDonald, humor has a great part too, so that this somewhat grim book turns in the end to be euphorizing. Golden Age at its most Golden.

Xavier Lechard

B

Not a great detective story, but a gripping thriller and an ambitious social fantasy.  One of MacDonald’s multiple murder stories—c.f. Murder Gone Mad, The List of Adrian Messenger, and “The Wood-for-the-Trees”.  The murderer (only appears at the end) and murdered policemen are less interesting than their effect on society.  MacDonald goes one better than M.G.M. in that the murders affect not just a small town, but the whole country: newspaper campaigns, political repercussions (Prime Minister and a Secretary of War who may be Churchill), mobilisation of society / army to protect victims from the murderer, and undermining of the law.  Clearly these two books are the main influence on Queen’s Cat of Many Tails.

The detection is done by Nicholas Revel, one of MacDonald’s allies of justice who are yet unethical and ruthless—Revel is a criminal (gentleman-cambrioleur) whose activities are hampered by police vigilance.  Relationship with the Chief Commissioner of Police and his daughter Jane, and the suspicious Superintendent Connor, is excellent.

“Kaleidoscope” chapter impressive.

·        P. 109: ‘Mr. Victor Gollancz denies that Francis Iles is the pseudonym of Mr. Martin Porlock.’

Nick Fuller.