"The Man Who Loved Toys"
Every now and then, a Locked Room mystery hits the spot. Even if the
solution is about as likely as having lightning jump start your truck,
the ingenuity and craftiness the writer puts into the story always gets
my admiration. For a classic Locked Room, it's hard to beat John Dickson
Carr or Ellery Queen, but this yarn shows Leslie Charteris could work up
a perfectly fine specimen in the subgenre.
"The Man Who Loved Toys" started life as a stand-alone story, "The
Mystery of the Child's Toy" in the September 1933 issue of THE AMERICAN
MAGAZINE.* It was set in the States and featured different characters
acting out essentially the same narrative. Now, why let that hard work
fade away forever when it could easily be reworked into a Simon Templar
story, be included in the new collection BOODLE (itself soon retitled
THE SAINT INTERVENES), and so help generate income indefinitely? Why
indeed. So it came to pass.
Charteris' prudent habit of revising unrelated stories to fit into the
Saint series is one reason why our own Simon is such a complex and
contradictory character (well, by pulp thriller standards; we're not
analyzing Arthur Miller here).
The Saint in several of his early stories retains some of the traits of
the completely different character retrofitted into him. Yet, he is so
flamboyant and borderline irrational that it all fits together into one
larger-than-life personality.
So it is that we find Inspector Teal and Simon Templar at their most
chummy, enjoying a quiet evening schmoozing in the dance hall of the
Palace Royal, debating the methods of police work. ("It was another of
those rare occasions when Mr Teal had been able to enjoy the Saint's
company without any lurking uneasiness about the outcome.") But it
wouldn't be much of a story if they just had one more glass of wine,
clapped each other on the back and got into taxis. So Fate (that is, the
Fate sweating behind the typewriter) wills they encounter something
ominous.
There in the lobby, they observe three well-known financiers bidding
each other goodnight. One, Lewis Enstone, evidently having altered his
blood alcohol content recently, makes an odd gesture. ("In obscurely
elaborate pantomime, he closed his fist with his forefinger extended and
his thumb cocked vertically upwards, and aimed the forefinger between
Hammel's eyes.") The three laugh and separate, Enstone going up in the
lift to his flat. (Oh, all right. Up in the elevator to his apartment.)
Then, after Teal launches into a drab and lengthy account of how he once
lost money in the stock market, Simon overhears a bellboy discuss how
Enstone had just shot himself. Giving up on the idea of getting some
sleep that night, Inspector Teal announces himself and goes up to the
scene, "and quite brazenly the Saint followed him" as though he had any
business doing so.
Enstone is on his bed, quite deceased, with a bullet hole square in one
eye and the gun still in his hand. The man's valet rushed into the room
seconds after hearing the shot, the doors and windows are all locked
from the inside... Teal phlegmatically writes it off as obvious suicide,
the lack of a farewell note or motive not bothering him.
The Saint is not so sure. All his instincts and judgement of human
nature shout that Enstone did not willingly kill himself, that he was
somehow made to do so. But how? One of the most devious criminal minds
in England starts digging for clues and tagging along with Teal to
question the dead man's associates. It would be wrong to give away the
solution, which is as fair and plausible as any mystery fan might ask.
If you are not likely to ever pick up a copy of the book and are curious
as to just what did happen to the unfortunate Lewis Enstone, e-mail me
at drhe...@webtv.net and I will cheerfully give some Spoilers.
There is a startling moment when, ransacking a suspect's workshop, Simon
Templar blithely picks up a small revolver and looks down the barrel,
his finger on the trigger; this nearly gives Teal cardiac arrest. But if
you're a police inspector who makes friends with the Saint, of all
people, you have to expect some hair-raising experiences.
________
*I can imagine some misunderstandings as Charteris tells his friends,
"I've just sold a story to THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE," only to be asked,
"Which one, Leslie -- COLLIERS, BLACK MASK?" "No, it's THE AMERICAN
MAGAZINE!!" Rather like a vaudeville routine.
solution is about as likely as having lightning jump start your truck,
the ingenuity and craftiness the writer puts into the story always gets
my admiration. For a classic Locked Room, it's hard to beat John Dickson
Carr or Ellery Queen, but this yarn shows Leslie Charteris could work up
a perfectly fine specimen in the subgenre.
"The Man Who Loved Toys" started life as a stand-alone story, "The
Mystery of the Child's Toy" in the September 1933 issue of THE AMERICAN
MAGAZINE.* It was set in the States and featured different characters
acting out essentially the same narrative. Now, why let that hard work
fade away forever when it could easily be reworked into a Simon Templar
story, be included in the new collection BOODLE (itself soon retitled
THE SAINT INTERVENES), and so help generate income indefinitely? Why
indeed. So it came to pass.
Charteris' prudent habit of revising unrelated stories to fit into the
Saint series is one reason why our own Simon is such a complex and
contradictory character (well, by pulp thriller standards; we're not
analyzing Arthur Miller here).
The Saint in several of his early stories retains some of the traits of
the completely different character retrofitted into him. Yet, he is so
flamboyant and borderline irrational that it all fits together into one
larger-than-life personality.
So it is that we find Inspector Teal and Simon Templar at their most
chummy, enjoying a quiet evening schmoozing in the dance hall of the
Palace Royal, debating the methods of police work. ("It was another of
those rare occasions when Mr Teal had been able to enjoy the Saint's
company without any lurking uneasiness about the outcome.") But it
wouldn't be much of a story if they just had one more glass of wine,
clapped each other on the back and got into taxis. So Fate (that is, the
Fate sweating behind the typewriter) wills they encounter something
ominous.
There in the lobby, they observe three well-known financiers bidding
each other goodnight. One, Lewis Enstone, evidently having altered his
blood alcohol content recently, makes an odd gesture. ("In obscurely
elaborate pantomime, he closed his fist with his forefinger extended and
his thumb cocked vertically upwards, and aimed the forefinger between
Hammel's eyes.") The three laugh and separate, Enstone going up in the
lift to his flat. (Oh, all right. Up in the elevator to his apartment.)
Then, after Teal launches into a drab and lengthy account of how he once
lost money in the stock market, Simon overhears a bellboy discuss how
Enstone had just shot himself. Giving up on the idea of getting some
sleep that night, Inspector Teal announces himself and goes up to the
scene, "and quite brazenly the Saint followed him" as though he had any
business doing so.
Enstone is on his bed, quite deceased, with a bullet hole square in one
eye and the gun still in his hand. The man's valet rushed into the room
seconds after hearing the shot, the doors and windows are all locked
from the inside... Teal phlegmatically writes it off as obvious suicide,
the lack of a farewell note or motive not bothering him.
The Saint is not so sure. All his instincts and judgement of human
nature shout that Enstone did not willingly kill himself, that he was
somehow made to do so. But how? One of the most devious criminal minds
in England starts digging for clues and tagging along with Teal to
question the dead man's associates. It would be wrong to give away the
solution, which is as fair and plausible as any mystery fan might ask.
If you are not likely to ever pick up a copy of the book and are curious
as to just what did happen to the unfortunate Lewis Enstone, e-mail me
at drhe...@webtv.net and I will cheerfully give some Spoilers.
There is a startling moment when, ransacking a suspect's workshop, Simon
Templar blithely picks up a small revolver and looks down the barrel,
his finger on the trigger; this nearly gives Teal cardiac arrest. But if
you're a police inspector who makes friends with the Saint, of all
people, you have to expect some hair-raising experiences.
________
*I can imagine some misunderstandings as Charteris tells his friends,
"I've just sold a story to THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE," only to be asked,
"Which one, Leslie -- COLLIERS, BLACK MASK?" "No, it's THE AMERICAN
MAGAZINE!!" Rather like a vaudeville routine.