The Night of the Wolf [ss] (2013) by Paul Halter (translated by Robert Adey & John Pugmire)

Locked Room International, 2013. Book Format: Kindle Edition. File Size: 688 KB. Print Length: 144 pages. ASIN: B00HET2Y5Y. ISBN: N/A.

The Night of the Wolf is a collection of short stories translated from the French by Robert Adey and John Pugmire, not to be confused with the short story of the same name. It was first published in French in 2000 by Edition du Masque – Hachette Livre as La Nuit du Loup and the first English language edition was published by Wildside Press in 2006. The English edition differs from the original French edition since one of the original short stories, “Un rendez-vous aussi saugrenu”, was dropped because it was impossible to translate into English, and two others were added to the English edition to bring the total up to ten, these stories are “L’Abominable bonhomme de neige” (“The Abominable Snowman”) and “Le Spectre doré” (“The Golden Ghost”). My edition is a republication of the original The Night of the Wolf, first published in 2006 by Locked Room International.

Publisher’s Description: Coffins dancing in a hermetically sealed crypt; a tunnel that murders people; a werewolf killer who leaves no trace on the snow; a victim killed by an invisible hand at the top of a guarded tower; a homicidal snowman that kills in front of witnesses… There cannot be a rational explanation for these and other hideous crimes; and yet there is. Each story is a glittering example of the brilliant plotting and atmosphere of foreboding that characterized the Golden Age of detective fiction.

My Take: Although I’m trying to read French, I’m not yet proficient enough to fully appreciate Paul Halter’s books, so I decided to read the English edition translated by Robert Adey and John Pugmire. That said, I am not going to repeat here the summaries of each of the stories that make up this volume. Just read some of the reviews in the links below. For my taste, my favourites have been “‘The Cleaver” (“La hache”) and the one that gives the collection its title, “The Night of the Wolf” (“La nuit du loup”). I also enjoyed “The Dead Dance at Night” (“Les morts dansent la nuit”) and “The Call of the Lorelei” (“L’appel de la Lorelei”).  The rest of the stories that make up this volume are: “The Abominable Snowman” (“L’abominable homme de neige”), “The Golden Ghost” (“Le spectre doré”), “The Tunnel of Death” (“L’escalier assassin”),”The Flower Girl” (“La marchande de fleurs”), “Rippermania” (“Ripperomanie”) and “Murder in Cognac” (“Meurtre à Cognac”). All in all an excellent opportunity to become acquaintance with Paul Halter’s universe

The Night of the Wolf has been reviewed, among others, by Patrick at ”At the Scene of the Crime”, Pietro De Palma at ”Death Can Read”, Brad Friedman at ”Ah Sweet Mystery!”, Christian Henriksson at ”Mysteries, Short and Sweet”, Jim Noy at ”The Invisible Event” and Les Blatt at ”Classic Mysteries”.

About the Author: Paul Halter is a French author of detective novels born in 1956. An unconditional fan of John Dickson Carr but also of James Hadley Chase, he entered literature in 1986 with La Malédiction de Barberousse, self-published, and then with La quatrième porte, which won the Prix du Roman Policier in 1987. The following year, Le brouillard rougech won the French Prix du Roman d’Aventures in 1988. His career was launched and since then he has published some forty novels that make him the French-speaking master of impossible crime, following in the footsteps of John Dickson Carr or Clayton Rawson. He created two characters in the series: Dr Alan Twist, an eminent criminologist, and Owen Burns, a Victorian aesthete inspired by Oscar Wilde. He also published several novels without recurring characters, as well as a collection of short stories, La nuit du loup.

Bibliography in English:

Dr Twist and Chief Inspector Hurst novels:

• La quatrième porte (The Fourth Door) 1987
• La mort vous invite (Death Invites You) 1988
• La chambre du fou (The Madman’s Room) 1990

• La tête du tigre (The Tiger’s Head) 1991
• La septième hypothèse (The Seventh Hypothesis) 1991
  My blog post is here.

• Le diable de Dartmoor (The Demon of Dartmoor) 1993
• L’image trouble (The Blurred Image) 1995 (Translated as The Picture from the Past, Locked Room International, 2014)

• L’arbre aux doigts tordus (The Tree with Twisted Fingers) 1996 (Translated as The Vampire Tree, Locked Room International, 2016)

• L’homme qui aimait les nuages (The Man Who Loved Clouds) 1999

• Le toile de Pénélope (Penelope’s Web) 2001

• Les larmes de Sibyl (Sibyl’s Tears) 2005

Owen Burns and Achilles Stock novels:

• Le roi du désordre (The Lord of Misrule) 1994
• Les sept merveilles du crime (The Seven Wonders of Crime) 1997
• La ruelle fantôme (The Phantom Passage) 2005

• Le masque du vampire (The Mask of the Vampire) 2014

• La montre en or (The Gold Watch) 2019
• La mystére de la dame blanche (The White Lady) 2020

Standalones:

• Le brouillard rouge (The Crimson Fog) 1988
• Le cercle invisible (The Invisible Circle) 1996

Short story collections:

• La nuit du loup (The Night of the Wolf) 2000
• The Helm of Hades 2019

Locked Room International 

Paul Halter, a master of locked rooms, by John Pugmire

“Le Témoignage de l’enfant de chœur” (1947) nouvelle de Georges Simenon

« Le Témoignage de l’enfant de chœur » est une nouvelle policière de Georges Simenon écrite à Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson (Québec), Canada. L’histoire est datée du 28 avril 1946 et fut publiée en 1947 aux Presses de la Cité dans un recueil de quatre nouvelles sous le titre générique de Maigret et l’inspecteur malchanceux.

Résumé : Le commissaire Maigret est détaché pour environ six mois dans une ville de province — jamais dénommée — afin de réorganiser la Brigade mobile. Un gamin de douze ans, Justin, raconte à la police qu’il a vu un meurtre à la hauteur du numéro 61 de la rue Sainte-Catherine, alors qu’il allait, comme chaque jour, servir la messe de six heures à la chapelle de l’hôpital, qui se trouve près de son domicile. Il affirme qu’un homme était étendu sur le trottoir, un couteau au gros manche de corne brune, planté dans la poitrine. Effrayé, il s’est enfui tandis que l’assassin, voyant le gamin, filait dans le sens opposé. Mais personne ne croit Justin car il n’y a aucune trace du corps. Personne… sauf Maigret, et celui-ci va comprendre pourquoi Justin s’est permis de révéler à la police l’existence d’un crime sans dire toute la vérité. (Source: Wikipedia)

Mon Avis : L’histoire se déroule dans une ville de province où Maigret est temporairement destiné. Comme leur mission allait durer environ six mois, et comme Mme Maigret ne pouvait supporter la pensée de voir son mari manger au restaurant pendant si longtemps, elle l’avat suivi, et ils avaient loué, dans les hauts de la ville, un appartement meublé.  Au début de l’histoire, Maigret attend le réveil de Justin pour reconstituer ses pas de la veille, lorsqu’il prétendait avoir vu un cadavre dans la rue et qu’en s’approchant, il avait vu l’assassin courir loin dans une direction opposée. Cependant, au passage du premier tramway, à peine cinq minutes plus tard, le conducteur déclare n’avoir rien vu. Au bout de quelques minutes, deux policiers marchant sur ce même trottoir n’ont rien vu non plus. D’autres passaient à proximité sans rien qui attirait leur attention. Et finalement, quelques cyclistes de la police dépêchés depuis le commissariat local pour voir ce qui aurait pu se passer, non seulement n’ont rien vu, mais n’ont trouvé aucune trace de la victime. Maigret est le seul qui semble croire l’enfant de chœur mais, probablement à cause du rhume matinal, il se retrouve avec une forte fièvre au lit, sous la garde de Mme Maigret. Et il doit poursuivre l’enquête, depuis sa chambre. Heureusement, ses propres souvenirs d’enfant de chœur, ainsi que ses propres maladies d’enfance sous la garde de sa mère, l’aideront à se mettre à la place du jeune Justin et éventuellement à percer le mystère.

Une nouvelle de seulement 47 pages qui se lit d’une traite, mais qui ne l’empêche pas d’être agréable et intéressante. Pour moi, la meilleure nouvelle de Maigret, dans laquelle aucun des deux témoins principaux ne ment, mais ils ne disent pas non plus toute la vérité. « Les viellards redeviennent des enfants… Et se chamaillent avec les enfants… Comme des enfants… »

Fiche ouvrage 

Maigret of the month: Le témoignage de l’enfant de chœur

“L’Homme dans la rue”, 1940 nouvelle de Georges Simenon

“L’Homme dans la rue” est une nouvelle de Georges Simenon, publiée en 1940.
L’histoire a été écrite à Nieul-sur-Mer en 1939. Elle connaît une édition pré-originale dans l’hebdomadaire Sept Jours, numéros 11 et 12 des 15 et 22 décembre 1940, sous le titre “Le Prisonnier de la rue”. Elle fut ensuite reprise sous son titre actuel en 1950 dans le volume Maigret et les petits cochons sans queue. .Ce volume comprenait 9 nouvelles, dont seulement deux [“L’homme dans la rue dans la rue” et “Vente à la bougie”] étaint des Maigret. Il s’agit en fait d’un recucollection assez disparate, puisque les histories incluses ont eté publiées à des dates très différentes

Pour les lecteurs anglophones, l’histoire est incluse dans Maigret’s Christmas : Nine Stories (Harcourt/Harvest, 2003) Format : Broché. 410 pages. ISBN : 978-0-15-602853-0. Traduit du français par Jean Stewart, 1976. Paru pour la première fois en anglais sous le titre “The Man on the Run” apa “Inspector Maigret Pursues” traduit par J.E. Malcolm en 1962.

Résumé : On a découvert au Bois de Boulogne, le corps d’un médecin viennois, installé à Neuilly-sur-Seine, menant une existence mondaine, est découvert, abattu. Faute de preuves, Maigret décide de faire une reconstitution des faits, espérant que, parmi les personnes présentes, quelqu’un puisse lui fournir un indice. C’est ainsi que commence une chasse à l’homme de cinq jours.

Mon avis : On raconte que Gabriel García Márquez a lu cette histoire à Paris en 1949 et qu’il a été tellement impressionné qu’il l’a considérée comme la meilleure nouvelle qu’il ait jamais lue. Même si, comme c’est parfois le cas, il a oublié le titre du conte et le nom de l’auteur, passant la moitié de sa vie à le chercher. Que cela soit vrai ou non, la vérité est que c’est une superbe histoire qui sert parfaitement d’introduction aux mystères de Maigret, pour ceux qui ne les ont pas lus, et qui ravira ceux qui connaissent la série s’ils ne l’ont pas encore lue.

Je ne me lasse pas de lire cette histoire, elle me passionne. Cela m’a rappelé Maigret tend un piège, paru en 1955.

Fiche ouvrage

Maigret of the month: L’homme dans la rue 

Editorial Acantilado El hombre en la calle

Le Petit Prince, 1943 d’Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (language: French)

Editions Gallimard, 2012. Book Format: Kindle Edition. File Size: 1167 KB. Print Length: 97 pages ASIN: B008O6AK4S. ISBN: 978-2070408504

Le Petit Prince was published in the United States on April 6, 1943 by Reynal & Hitchcock in French and English under the title Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince). But Saint-Exupéry will not know the fate of his work. On April 13, 1943 he left the United States to join the Free French Forces in Algeria and fight with the Allies in a squadron based in the Mediterranean. Then aged 44, he flew his last mission to collect data on German troop movements in the Rhone River Valley. He took off the night of July 31, 1944, and was never seen again. In France, the book was published two years after his death in 1946 by Éditions Gallimard. There are several handwritten or typed versions of the text, which attest to the different stages of its development. The original manuscript is preserved in New York, at the Pierpont Morgan Library.

Summary: Following an engine failure, an aviator finds himself in the Sahara desert. He meets the little prince who asks him to draw him a sheep. Surprised to find him there, the aviator would like to know who he is and where he comes from. The little prince does not answer the questions but over the course of the chapters and the days, the aviator reconstructs the story of the little boy with the golden hair.

My Take: Despite not being a detective novel, I decided to read Le Petit Prince as an exercise for the French lessons I am currently taking. I must confess that I had not read it before although I had some knowledge of what it was all about. Be that as it may, I was very glad to have read it, even if I had some prejudices about this book, prejudices that I must confess have disappeared now. I liked the story a lot and I believe it admits many different interpretations. Even if sometimes pessimistic in tone, in my view it leaves the door open to hope. A true masterpiece, highly recommended.

(Source: Facsimile Dust Jackets LLC)

About the Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born in Lyon on June 29, 1900. He spent his summer holidays at the castle of Saint Maurice-de-Remens (Ain), which he will evoke throughout his work. The first flight he received at the end of July 1912 at the Ambérieu-en-Bugey airfield decided his vocation as a pilot. He studied at the Collège Sainte-Croix in Le Mans, then in Switzerland and finally in Paris, where he failed the entrance examination to the École Navale and then studied architecture for several months at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1921 he did his military service in Strasbourg, in the air force. He learned to fly and from there his career was set.

After leaving the army in 1923, he held different jobs. In 1926 he published his first story, set in the world of aviation. The same year, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry joined Latécoère as a pilot, an aviation company that transported mail from Toulouse to Dakar. He was later appointed station director at Cap Juby, in southern Morocco, and it was at this time that he wrote Courrier sud (1929; Southern Mail). Together with Mermoz and Guillaumet he left for Buenos Aires as director of the company Aeroposta Argentina.

Upon his return to Paris in 1931, he published Vol de nuit (1931; Night Flight), which had considerable success. In compulsory liquidation, the company that employs you must close. Assigned to Air France in 1935, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry tried to break the Paris-Saigon record: his plane crashed in the desert. In 1938 he attempted to connect New York with Tierra del Fuego: injured during the attempt, he spent a long convalescence in New York. He then published Terre des hommes (1939; Wind, Sand and Stars), grand prix du roman de l’Académie française and National Book Award winner in the United States (1939). During World War II, he was a reconnaissance pilot in Group 2/33 (1939-1940), later settling in New York. He drew on his war experience Pilote de guerre (1942; Flight to Arras) and published Lettre à un otage (1943; Letter to a Hostage), then Le Petit Prince (1943; The Little Prince), his great success. He then travelled to North Africa and re-joined the 2/33 group despite numerous injuries and a flight ban. However, Saint-Exupéry insisted on obtaining missions: on July 31, 1944 he flew from Borgo, in Corsica. He will never come back.

Site officiel du livre d’Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Arsène Lupin, gentleman-cambrioleur, 1907 (Arsène Lupin # 1) by Maurice Leblanc (language: French)

Arsene Lupin Gentleman Thief (originally published in French as Arsène Lupin Gentleman : Cambrioleur in 1907) is a collection of nine detective stories written by Maurice Leblanc, including “L’arrestation d’Arsène Lupin” (in English: “The Arrest of Arsène Lupin”), his first appearance. “L’arrestation d’Arsène Lupin” was originally published in July 1905 in the newspaper Je sais tout. Following the success of this publication, his editor encouraged Maurice Leblanc to write a sequel. However, as Maurice Leblanc was debating how to continue the adventures of a hero who had just been arrested, it was his editor who suggested that he make him escape. Thus the saga of the gentleman-cambrioleur was born, and several stories appeared in Je sais tout, at irregular intervals, between 1905 and 1907, before being collected together in this volume.

Arsène Lupin, gentleman-cambrioleur is in the public domain and can be downloaded for free from the Internet.

Contents:

“The Arrest of Arsène Lupin” (“L’arrestation d’Arsène Lupin”) Je sais tout, No. 6, 15 July 1905). The adventures of Arsène Lupin begin with his arrest! This is in fact the theme of the first story imagined by Maurice Leblanc in 1905, at the request of a newspaper editor, around this character destined to achieve worldwide fame.

“Arsène Lupin in Prison” (“Arsène Lupin en prison”) Je sais tout, No. 11, 15 December 1905, as “La vie extraordinaire d’Arsène Lupin en prison”. Baron Cahorn lives in a veritable fortress filled with works of art and precious objects. One morning he receives a letter that terrifies him: Arsène Lupin demands that the baron send him some of his most precious treasures within eight days. Otherwise, Lupine will come to serve himself and take everything… A message that is all the more surprising since Arsèn Lupin is imprisoned in La Santé, in Paris.

“The Escape of Arsène Lupin” (“L’évasion d’Arsène Lupin”) Je sais tout, No. 12, 15 January 1906, as “La vie extraordinaire d’Arsène Lupin : L’évasion d’Arsène Lupin”. Locked up in La Santé prison in Paris since his return from America, Arsène Lupin announces to all who will listen that he will not attend his trial, since he is determined to escape as soon as possible. Inspector Ganimard and the police will do everything possible to prevent it. But can they stop Lupin from achieving his goals?

“The Mysterious Traveller” (“Le mystérieux voyageur”) Je sais tout, No. 13, 15 February 1906, as “La vie extraordinaire d’Arsène Lupin : Le mystérieux voyageur”. Arsène Lupin, who calls himself Guillaume Berlat, is attacked on a train by a mysterious traveller, who steals his money and his papers. The authorities are convinced that this intrepid thief is Arsène Lupin. So here is the real Arsène Lupin, helped by the police, who sets off in search of the false Arsène Lupin.

“The Queen’s Necklace” (“Le collier de la reine”) Je sais tout, No. 15, 15 April 1906, as “La vie extraordinaire d’Arsène Lupin : Le collier de la reine”. One evening, as she is accustomed to on the occasion of great solemnities, the Countess of Dreux-Soubise decides to wear the magnificent necklace formerly intended for Marie Antoinette. Before going to bed, she entrusts it to her husband, who places it in its usual place, a small cabinet adjoining their bedroom and whose lock is closed from the inside. When she wakes up, the necklace has mysteriously disappeared.
This story gives shape to the childhood of Arsène Lupin.

“Seven of Hearts” (“Le sept de cœur”) Je sais tout, No. 28, 15 May 1907, as “Comment j’ai connu Arsène Lupin : Le sept de cœur”. The affair of the seven of hearts begins when a young man opens the following mail: “from the moment you open this letter, whatever happens, whatever you hear, don’t move, don’t make a move, don’t scream. Otherwise you’re lost.”

“The Safe of Madame Imbert” (“Le coffre-fort de madame Imbert”) Je sais tout, No. 16, 15 May 1906, as “La vie extraordinaire d’Arsène Lupin : Le coffre-fort de madame Imbert”. When Arsène Lupin decides to attack the safe of Mr. and Mrs. Imbert, which is supposed to contain several millions in jewellery, securities and valuables, he knows that a difficult game lies ahead. The Imberts are not altar boys, their mansion is a real castle and Mrs. Imbert is never without the key to the safe. This story brings you many surprises.

“The Black Pearl” (“La perle noire”) Je sais tout, No. 18, 15 July 1906, as “La vie extraordinaire d’Arsène Lupin : La perle noire”. Léontine Zalti, former singer and widow of the Count of Andillot, was immensely rich and admired. The best jewellers in Europe worked for Zalti as they once worked for kings and queens. Of this squandered fortune, only a magnificent black pearl remains, to which she holds in a great attachment. Lupin accepts the challenge but not everything will go as planned.

“Herlock Sholmès Arrives Too Late” (“Herlock Sholmès arrive trop tard”) Je sais tout, No. 17, 15 June 1906, as “La vie extraordinaire d’Arsène Lupin : Sherlock Holmes arrive trop tard” – Note that between publication in the periodical and publication in a collection , Sherlock Holmes became Herlock Sholmès, following a protest from Conan Doyle, “father of the real Sherlock Holmes”. Arsène Lupin has a major adversary, the greatest of all enigma descriptors, to discover the forgotten entrance to an underground passage. But here we are, with two copies of a book describing the underground passage, which one has the greatest advantage?

My take: To date I had only read a short story featuring  Arsène Lupin translated into English, “Footprints in the Snow” (Original title: “Des pas sur la neige”) s.s. (1923) by Maurice Leblanc. On this occasion, as part of an exercise within the French lessons I am currently taking, I read and listened to this book in its original language, an exercise that I strongly recommend to anyone who is willing to improve his or her knowledge of a foreign language.

The stories are highly entertaining and I really enjoyed reading them, the overall tone is quite interesting and Leblanc manages to keep the reader’s attention at all times. In general, all the stories are delightfully naïve. The stories are told from the perspective of a friend of Arsène Lupin to whom he has entrusted the narration of his adventures. Among my favourites are: “Le mystérieux voyageur”, “Le collier de la reine”, “Le sept de cœur”  and “Herlock Sholmès arrive trop tard”.

About the Author: Maurice Leblanc is the father of the famous gentleman burglar, Arsène Lupin. Although he wrote many other works, only the adventures of his insolent and seductive thief achieved real success. It is cited as a source of inspiration by Gaston Leroux, the creator of Rouletabille.

Maurice Leblanc was born in 1864 in Rouen. A brilliant student, he became interested in literature very early. He refuses to take over from his father as head of a woollen factory. At the age of 24, he left his family to settle in Paris, in the hope of making a living from his writing. He started as a journalist. In 1890, he published his first collection of stories, “Des couples”. Other novels followed, which aroused the interest of writers of his time (notably Jules Renard and Alphonse Daudet) without obtaining commercial success.

In 1905, he wrote a commissioned work for a monthly magazine, “L’arrestation d’Arsène Lupin”. The story was a great success, and was subsequently published in the form of a novel. The famous character of the gentleman burglar was born. Initially annoyed by so much success, Maurice Leblanc decided to kill his character in “813” in 1910. But faced with the disappointment of his readers, he resurrected him in “Le bouchon de cristal”. For more than thirty years, Maurice Leblanc composed seventeen novels and five plays, as well as numerous short stories featuring this charismatic and mischievous hero. The most famous are undoubtedly Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès (1908), L’Aiguille creuse (1909), Le Bouchon de cristal (1912), Les Huit Coups de l’horloge (1921) and La Cagliostro se venge (1935). The novels have been translated into many languages, and adapted for film and television. Throughout his career as a writer, Maurice Leblanc published psychological novels, tales or detective novels which never met the success of the adventures of Arsène Lupin. At the end of the 1930s, his health deteriorated. He died in 1941 in Perpignan.

Arsène Lupin entrée dans Wikipedia 

Le Canon d’Arsène Lupin