tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post5872935893398986099..comments2024-03-28T10:31:55.774-07:00Comments on The Passing Tramp: Trant Intervenes: The Man with Two Wives (1955), by Patrick Quentin The Passing Tramphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-4073425785662964232021-12-27T23:09:07.655-08:002021-12-27T23:09:07.655-08:00I just finished the novel yeaterday. It’s as fine ...I just finished the novel yeaterday. It’s as fine as you say and I loved reading it. I’m not quite sure, though, that the solution is really watertight because PQ fails to explain how the murderer got hold on the murder weapon (or does he and I missed something?)Morgenländerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02318419347365471040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-87038944934298575082021-12-27T23:07:41.749-08:002021-12-27T23:07:41.749-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Morgenländerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02318419347365471040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-49009738526297801662018-08-29T21:49:19.183-07:002018-08-29T21:49:19.183-07:00Please do, I would love to see it.
I was able to ...Please do, I would love to see it.<br /><br />I was able to talk with Mr. Sondheim about Hugh and will have some more to say about that at some certain date. I think Hugh may not have always had the forcefulness he could have used in putting himself forward, but on the whole he seems to have managed better than most!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-14460662947575568592018-08-29T12:11:25.281-07:002018-08-29T12:11:25.281-07:00It's been some years since I read The Man in t...It's been some years since I read The Man in the Net, but it is truly chilling. (If you do a piece on it, I may take the opportunity to quote from a most favourable Norwegian review.)<br />For now I will instead pick up on a point that occurred to me when you mentioned HW's work with Sondheim: I suppose there is an ironic twist, that even in his later career Hugh Wheeler would be best known for collaborations. I seem to remember a reference work calling Rickie Webb a natural collaborator, but does it to some extent apply also to Wheeler? Although he certainly wrote a couple of plays on his own, from at least 1970 onwards most of what he did was either collaborations, or at least in some way adaptations of other works.Tore J Narvestadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12997315076896134911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-18730622756491074572018-08-28T21:57:14.078-07:002018-08-28T21:57:14.078-07:00I'm glad you enjoyed it. And I too thank the ...I'm glad you enjoyed it. And I too thank the commenters. It's great to be able to flesh these matters out on the blog.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-49026446720059343032018-08-28T21:55:56.513-07:002018-08-28T21:55:56.513-07:00No, you were right, it wasn't in there origina...No, you were right, it wasn't in there originally, I added it in editing. You are a keen reader, sir!<br /><br />I think HW was interested in the question of artistic vs. merely financial success, as he was someone who pursued both things and tried ultimately to reconcile them. He looked at this in his books, his later ones especially. He wanted to write seriously, but he also wanted to make money. That's why you see these outsider figures in these books trying to reconcile these things, often in connection with their relationships to socially prominent and wealthy families. People may feel that Wheeler was too obsessed with rich people in his books, but there's a lot of social criticism in them.<br /><br />The Man in the Net may actually be my favorite later PQ book and I want to talk about it on the blog soon. The fact that its not set in New York but his other American stamping ground, the Berkshires of Massachusetts, is very interesting to me. I haven't seen the film, which apparently was not that good, but I think the book is great.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-48488688217110523712018-08-28T20:12:37.232-07:002018-08-28T20:12:37.232-07:00Great post, great follow-up discussion. Thank you,...Great post, great follow-up discussion. Thank you, gents.Christophehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978885973806549838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-82066886701544947742018-08-28T13:24:03.364-07:002018-08-28T13:24:03.364-07:00You're right about how tense The Man in the Ne...You're right about how tense The Man in the Net is, but for me it's on a par with The Man with Two Wives as a brilliant piece of crime fiction - and ultimately the tension is satisfactorily resolved. It's interesting that in the former book, the protagonist is a man who has given up the world of business for the world of art, whereas in the latter book it's the other way round: Bill Harding has given up art for business. In both books, Wheeler shows himself to be in complete control of his material, I would say - which is a rare thing for a writer in any genre. By the way, you did mention that bit about 'Callingham' - I missed it in my hurry to read your post!Christopher Greaveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07920334128279638785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-56808942340074940162018-08-28T12:58:52.007-07:002018-08-28T12:58:52.007-07:00Yes, I agree with you about series vs. non-series ...Yes, I agree with you about series vs. non-series books in that respect and I'm sure Hugh Wheeler did too. Yes, Clara feels more like a traditional mystery, with Maiden we are already turning away from the Golden Age pattern, though it's a longer and much slower moving book. But very much of interest too!<br /><br />That's a great point about Columbo. These later PQ's are very tense, sometimes almost too tense for me. The Man in the Net, for example, is really nerve-wracking to an uncomfortable degree.<br /><br />Yes, HW is very good with dialogue, I'm not surprised t his play and screen writing success, though he had more mixed success there until he joined up with the great Stephen Sondheim.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-92172913141946309842018-08-28T12:37:11.613-07:002018-08-28T12:37:11.613-07:00Yes, indeed it was. I had thought I mentioned tha...Yes, indeed it was. I had thought I mentioned that! Shows what posting a piece in the early morning hours does for one, lol. I have now edited slightly In the next piece, where I review Shadow of Guilt, I plan to discuss Hugh and his attitude to the rich, as exemplified in his life and his books. I do think he was saying something there, but I want to address more in full. the books comment on his and Rickie's lives more than people have often appreciated, I think.<br /><br />I'm glad to hear from someone who liked this book so very much. Anthony Boucher always praised the PQ fiction, but PQ never won an Edgar until receiving a special award for the 1962 book of short stories. I think one of the novels should have won. The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-50945431396674442072018-08-28T12:36:48.511-07:002018-08-28T12:36:48.511-07:00I agree completely with Christoper Greaves, and ne...I agree completely with Christoper Greaves, and needless to say also with you, Curt. This is indeed one of the best stories by PQ (and thus a masterpiece in the genre). Wheeler was particularly good with dialogue.<br />And no offense to the Peter Duluth or Westlake books, but stories about individuals who have their lives affected by murder, are at their most believable when they are one-offs. Bill Harding in this book is a person I can understand and relate to, even as I want to scream out to him "Don't underestimate this policeman!"<br />In Trant's first appearance, Death for Dear Clara, we follow the investigation more through his eyes, but in my view, Trant as a character works best in when he is seen as a somewhat undefinable threat through the eyes of another protagonist. <br />Incidentally, Trant's politeness combined with the habit of asking a seemingly innocuous final question just as the protagonist thinks he has him fooled, has always reminded me of another of my favourite Lieutenants, the far less elegantly dressed Columbo.Tore J Narvestadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12997315076896134911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-47803233379318509462018-08-28T11:45:09.139-07:002018-08-28T11:45:09.139-07:00What amazes me is that this wonderful book has bee...What amazes me is that this wonderful book has been out of print for so long. The smoothness, wit, and economy of the writing, the way dialogue is used to reveal character, the brilliant plotting (as in all the Wheeler-written PQ books), and the subtle emotional charge it carries mark it out as a masterpiece of the crime fiction genre. Incidentally, Callingham was Hugh Wheeler's middle name, wasn't it? I wonder what he was getiing at there...Christopher Greaveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07920334128279638785noreply@blogger.com