tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post3870666921377993006..comments2024-03-27T11:26:20.466-07:00Comments on The Passing Tramp: Who Dun It? The Authorship of the Early Q. Patrick NovelsThe Passing Tramphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-87387510464980937522018-07-22T22:46:16.669-07:002018-07-22T22:46:16.669-07:00I talked to her daughter a few years ago and she h...I talked to her daughter a few years ago and she had no idea her mother was involved with The Grindle Nightmare--turns out she was right!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-56539923458415140562018-07-17T11:29:54.129-07:002018-07-17T11:29:54.129-07:00I agree with all the other commentators; very good...I agree with all the other commentators; very good work (and your assessments also tally largely with mine). I suspect Wheeler had some influence both on Grindle Nightmare and Death Goes to School, though perhaps not as much as in the later true collaborations.<br />As to how the attribution to Mary Lou White (Aswell) as a co-writer of Grindle Nightmare came about, it can at least be found in the huge "encyclopedia" Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers from the 1980s - whether this was in itself based on earlier sources I do not know, but many writers have probably taken this as an authoritative source, and the information (or misinformation?) has spread.<br />But there are also sources that attribute it to Wheeler and Webb; they have just probably been overlooked (or Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers has been seen as more authoritative).Tore J Narvestadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12997315076896134911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-42464905346867327702018-07-13T04:47:02.598-07:002018-07-13T04:47:02.598-07:00More on the way!More on the way!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-56447095991868806222018-07-13T04:40:41.463-07:002018-07-13T04:40:41.463-07:00Yes, I remember you sent me that info, it seems co...Yes, I remember you sent me that info, it seems conclusive. I talked with her daughter once, and she had no idea her mother supposedly co-wrote Grindle.<br /><br />I haven't read Far to Go yet, buh Anthony Boucher didn't like it at all!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-60297271874906954662018-07-13T04:39:04.512-07:002018-07-13T04:39:04.512-07:00Yes, I'm wondering how exactly the whole idea ...Yes, I'm wondering how exactly the whole idea of the Aswell co-authorship of Grindle got started. Grindle is, to be blunt, the gayest of their books, it was like Rickie was really throwing down the gauntlet with that. And all the exploration of criminal psychology, sadism, etc., it very much seems like Rickie really trying to push the envelope of the detective story.<br /><br />You're sure right too about Murder by Prescription, there are a lot of "Rickie" elements in there, including the animal mutilations again. Rickie seemed to like to integrate shock and horror into the books, as well as outre psychology. Danger Next Door is another one, that had its origin as you know in the pulps. Hugh seems more "slick."The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-10412852407445833612018-07-13T04:00:52.293-07:002018-07-13T04:00:52.293-07:00Very good reasoning here. I'm sure you've ...Very good reasoning here. I'm sure you've come close to the truth in your assessment of who wrote what. Thanks for all the hard work.Christian_Henrikssonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13013383718388416698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-35361407967722220972018-07-12T14:26:06.169-07:002018-07-12T14:26:06.169-07:00I always had a problem accepting that Webb wrote G...I always had a problem accepting that Webb wrote GRINDLE NIGHTMARE with anyone else -- even Wheeler. Having read MURDER IN THE WOMEN'S CITY CLUB, so entirely feminine in its worldview ( unlike most of Webb's books), and S.S. MURDER which likewise has no stylistic or content similarities whatsoever to GRINDLE NIGHTMARE I was sort of dumbfounded that White/Aswell was ascribed as Webb's partner on GRINDLE. Then when any reader can see how strikingly similar GRINDLE is in plot, character, and theme to MURDER BY PRESCRIPTION I was sure that neither woman could possibly been involved in the creation of GRINDLE NIGHTMARE. I'm glad to read these new assessments of the proper writers and creators of the first books listed as by Q Patrick.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-82996964287057849232018-07-12T09:09:17.418-07:002018-07-12T09:09:17.418-07:00Thank you for your critical reconstruction, Curt. ...Thank you for your critical reconstruction, Curt. It seems to me unobjectionable. I think myself that The Grindle Nightmare and Death goes to School are almost exclusively the work of Webb, at least if we look at the plot and the atmosphere of both novels. In 1957, Mary Aswell published a novel of suspense, And Far to Go, which has several points of interest and which, perhaps, could be added as a peripheral work to the complex canon of the Q. Patrick/Patrick Quentin/Jonathan Stagge collaboration. And surely Mary Aswell acknowledged only a book written with Webb: S.S. Murder. In a note almost certainly written by the author in the back jacket of her book, she wrote: “While in her twenties, she collaborated with Richard Webb on a mystery, S.S. Murder, which was published under the pseudonym Q. Patrick and translated into many languages. But marriage, children and a career prevented further imaginative writing…” Until “And Far to Go”, of course.Mauro Boncompagnihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03969421615204482138noreply@blogger.com