The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont Robert Barr 9781478321439 Books
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When I say I am called Valmont the name will convey no impression to the reader one way or another. My occupation is that of private detective in London but if you ask any policeman in Paris who Valmont was he will likely be able to tell you unless he is a recent recruit.
The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont Robert Barr 9781478321439 Books
The 1930's and 1940's are spoken of as the "Golden Age of British Mystery" but most of those mysteries were novel-length. The period from 1890 to 1920 was the Golden Age of mystery short stories and Robert Barr was a major player. He was a Canadian school teacher who started selling stories to the "Detroit Free Press" and then went to work for them. At the age of 31, he was sent to London to set up and manage the English edition of the DFP. He then started a magazine called "The Idler" which made waves by printing a spoof of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Some people were horrified, but Arthur Conan Doyle appreciated the brash young editor's moxey and even mentioned him fondly in his memoirs.In addition to editing, the energetic Barr was a prolific writer and cranked out stories and novels in several genres. The always humorous but well-plotted cases involving the French detective Eugene Valmont are frequently found in anthologies of mystery stories from the Holmes Era and this book is a collection of them. It opens (as I suppose it MUST) with the story of how Valmont came a cropper and was booted out of the Paris Police Department. It's not a bad story, but the ones which tell of Valmont's career as a private detective in London are MUCH funnier.
Valmont is the Englishman's idea of a Frenchman - conceited, humorless, wily, and unethical. While living and working in London, he has frequent contact with Inspector Spenser Hale of Scotland Yard, who is the Frenchman's idea of an Englishman - dull, hypocritical, bumbling, and naive. The Canadian Barr seems to agree with both of them. The culture clash provides the entertainment, although there are some interesting crimes thrown in. My favorite is "The Absent-Minded Coterie" which uncovers a clever scheme that I suspect is as old as the human race. It's worth 99 cents by itself and I don't part with my pennies lightly.
The quality of the stories varies, but all are well-written and the best are out-standing. If you enjoy very early mystery stories, you shouldn't miss these. And the publisher has included two Sherlock Holmes parodies from the period. Indeed, when you think about Holmes' French ancestry and his monumental ego, every story in the book may be regarded as a Holmes parody. There but for the Grace of God goes....God.
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Tags : The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont [Robert Barr] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. When I say I am called Valmont the name will convey no impression to the reader one way or another. My occupation is that of private detective in London but if you ask any policeman in Paris who Valmont was he will likely be able to tell you unless he is a recent recruit.,Robert Barr,The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont,CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,1478321431,FICTION Literary
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The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont Robert Barr 9781478321439 Books Reviews
Whilst I Don't usually go for English writers. I am trying to be more open minded in my advanced stages of my life. Found this to be interesting and shall keep on trying.
"The Triumphs of Eugène Valmont" (1906) is a collection of stories by the British/Canadian writer Robert Barr who worked for "The Detroit Free Press" before immigrating to England. Valmont is a French former police official working as a private detective in London. There are eight stories (triumphs, more or less) in all, dealing with a variety of mysteries stolen spoons, hidden fortunes, club-footed ghosts, a train robber named Wyoming Ed, etc. One story features anarchists, the terrorists of a hundred years ago. This edition also contains two Holmes parodies. The first ("The Adventures of Sherlaw Kombs") is pretty funny. Given that Valmont is French (and Barr himself was in his thirties when he moved to England) the stories often provide an outsider's reflections on the character of the British, especially in contrast to the French.
The book is worth looking into. The stories are of varying quality, but they're independent of one another, and so it's possible to read one or read all eight if you enjoyed the one.
for 19th century fans
Obviously comparable to Holmes but much closer to a fallible Poirot. Entertaining because of his failings, Valmont becomes human. Enjoyable.
OK , but not my favorite. Many short stories.
Great read. Would I recommend this book to other people? Yes I would including friends. I absolutely think this is great book. All opinions are my own and they are not influenced by anyone but myself.If this review helped you at all please vote yes below.
This book is famous as being one of the earliest collection of detective stories and likely heavily influenced Agatha Christie when she created Hercule Poirot. Valmont certainly seems a lot like Poirot, with his constant misunderstandings of English customs, his vanities, his European pride, etc. Valmont, though, is less all-knowing and all-powerful although the book is called THE TRIUMPHS OF EUGENE VALMONT in a good percentage of these stories Valmont actually fails, or basically fails. That's a cunning little trick it humanizes Valmont in a way we never really get with Poirot (I'm not a big Poirot fan), makes him much more likable, I think.
TRIUMPHS is an early collection of short stories written much in the mold of Sherlock Holmes. Like the Holmes stories, some of these are resolute pure detective tales, while others are really thrillers or pulpy melodramas with a detective. Looking over them, my favorite by far was "The Clue of the Silver Spoons", a straightforward detective tale that plays on a paradox right out of Chesterton. Also reasonably good is "The Ghost with the Club Foot", which is pulpy and melodramatic as all get-out but manages to work enough detection in to be satisfying -- Valmont's ultimate solution here is very nice indeed.
The rest range in quality, mostly tending toward the pulpy and routine. Like a lot of books once in the public domain that are now becoming available through ebooks, I don't know if I would spend a great time tracking this thing down, but it has it's moments and hardcore fans of the genre will probably enjoy seeing one of it's forefathers in action.
The 1930's and 1940's are spoken of as the "Golden Age of British Mystery" but most of those mysteries were novel-length. The period from 1890 to 1920 was the Golden Age of mystery short stories and Robert Barr was a major player. He was a Canadian school teacher who started selling stories to the "Detroit Free Press" and then went to work for them. At the age of 31, he was sent to London to set up and manage the English edition of the DFP. He then started a magazine called "The Idler" which made waves by printing a spoof of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Some people were horrified, but Arthur Conan Doyle appreciated the brash young editor's moxey and even mentioned him fondly in his memoirs.
In addition to editing, the energetic Barr was a prolific writer and cranked out stories and novels in several genres. The always humorous but well-plotted cases involving the French detective Eugene Valmont are frequently found in anthologies of mystery stories from the Holmes Era and this book is a collection of them. It opens (as I suppose it MUST) with the story of how Valmont came a cropper and was booted out of the Paris Police Department. It's not a bad story, but the ones which tell of Valmont's career as a private detective in London are MUCH funnier.
Valmont is the Englishman's idea of a Frenchman - conceited, humorless, wily, and unethical. While living and working in London, he has frequent contact with Inspector Spenser Hale of Scotland Yard, who is the Frenchman's idea of an Englishman - dull, hypocritical, bumbling, and naive. The Canadian Barr seems to agree with both of them. The culture clash provides the entertainment, although there are some interesting crimes thrown in. My favorite is "The Absent-Minded Coterie" which uncovers a clever scheme that I suspect is as old as the human race. It's worth 99 cents by itself and I don't part with my pennies lightly.
The quality of the stories varies, but all are well-written and the best are out-standing. If you enjoy very early mystery stories, you shouldn't miss these. And the publisher has included two Sherlock Holmes parodies from the period. Indeed, when you think about Holmes' French ancestry and his monumental ego, every story in the book may be regarded as a Holmes parody. There but for the Grace of God goes....God.
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