Airing in a Closed Carriage by Joseph Shearing and The Wychford Poisoning Case by Anthony Berkeley

 

I am reviewing these two together as they are about the same events: the real life death of James Maybrick who died of strychnine poisoning and his American wife, Florence Maybrick, who was convicted of murdering him in 1889.  Apparently, being a foreignor who was considered far too "flash" for English life, Florence was despised by everyone, including her own husband. The case gripped the nation and everyone was divided on the question of her legal and moral guilt.  She was released after serving 14 years and managed to get back to the States where she lived a relatively quiet life (devoting herself to prison reform under her maiden name) in Connecticut in a small home with her many cats.

Marjorie Bowen, writing under the pseudonym of Joseph Shearing, published her book in 1943, two years after Florence Maybrick died.  Berkeley published his book in 1926.  The two books are so unalike that I was about one third the way into Berkeley's book before I realized that he was writing about the same case.  His story is flippant, and his main character, Roger Sheringham, is a bit of a smart aleck.  He gads about town, working with two side kicks (his best friend and that guy's cousin), interviewing various people who know the family and have strong opinions about the woman accused of murdering her husband.  It's amusing enough, but not particularly intellectually satisfying.  

Then along comes Bowen's story which is SO emotionally deep and rich, I could barely stand to read it.  The story is told sort of from the point of view of the fallen woman, but sort of over her shoulder--we are not in her head and so do not know her thoughts, but we are very close to her and so know of her actions and feelings, given how she reacts to what goes on around her.  In this novel she is French and extremely young--marrying at only 18 years old a man who is in his late 40s and who wants her as a sort of prize--a thing to have--because he knows that having a young, beautiful and helpless wife will advance his business contacts and so wealth. He's a thoroughly loathesome man who has many mistresses, spends all his time at his "club" and at the races betting so badly he'd be better off setting his money on fire.  He also loves to "dose himself": convinced he is smarter than all doctors, he regularly (and by that I mean hourly) takes drinks with strychnine mixed in because he is convinced it makes him stronger, smarter and more virile.  It does none of those things.

Meanwhile, there is a collection of borderline useless servants in the house because the husband is too cheap to hire competent help---so they break and steal things and blame the wife, and conspire with the husband against the wife.  (There are frequent hushed and giggly conversations with a evil maid who loves to snitch on the wife to the husband in exchange for being groped and a few coins.)  Meanwhile, the wife doesn't KNOW any of this is going on, but she is very aware that she is the outsider--like the new kid in junior high that isn't accepted into any established clique and is the victim of unfunny pranks that the other kids find hilarious.  As you can imagine, it's extremely painful to read---which shows just how well it is written.

And there is the husband's younger brother who hates the brother because (a) he knows he'd run the business better but because he is younger, he was never given the chance; (b) he knows he'd be a better husband and yearns to find a way to make his sister in law his wife; (c) he hates how ugly, clumsy, awkward and offensive his brother his because he knows that behavior alienates the family from the best society circles.  

Once we know all the players and their motives, the scheming begins: Husband wants rid of his wife who is no longer young and pretty but just sad and lusterless as a result of being in a loveless marriage for ten years; brother wants rid of husband because he wants both the business and his wife; maid wants rid of wife because she has convinced herself that she'd replace the wife (she won't, but she doesn't know that); mistress wants rid of wife--and maybe the husband, too, but she says she doesn't...and wife wants out at any cost and has told her doctor (believing she had his confidence but she doesn't because the husband pays the doctor's bills) that she wants "her money" (the money she brought to the marriage) so she can go back to Paris and be happy again, even if it means still being married to an oaf who wastes money on strychnine. (Unbeknownst to her, there is nothing left of "her money" because her husband gambled it all away.)

And, unsurprisingly, things come to a head with husband is found dead with enough strynchnine in his system to kill a horse.  And since he lied to everyone about his "dosing" (except his wife), no one believes her when she says he "dosed himself with poison every hour on the hour" because it's so obviously a stupid thing for him to do. And with that, we are about 2/3 of the way through the novel and that gets you to the arrest and trial--which I will not go into other than to say if you thought the household staff could be cruel, add in journalists, lawyers and police and you get even worse cruelty....

I guess this is a murder mystery, but it is really so much more. It's an amazingly well written albeit extremely SAD novel and I'm amazed I had never heard of it before or of Marjorie Bowman, who really knows how to tell a story. And given that she'd written dozen of novels, that means there are a lot more really sad books of hers to read.

The Man Who Hates Banks by Michael Gilbert

 

Another smashing collection of short stories, this one entirely composed of police proedural stories featuring Gilbert's most likable investigators: Hazlerigg (the earliest character who is solid and steady), Bohun, the lawyer turned investigator who has endless time on his hand because he only sleeps 2 hours a night and who informally partners with Haxlerigg, Mercer--the enigmatic character who works for "intelligence" in some fashion but that is always unclear, and Petrella, the youngest, hot-headed sort that quits every time he gets disgusted with humanity.

These short stories date from 1948 to 1979 and they are interesting not only because Gilbert is so good at developing very different characters but because the content of the stories reflect the changing times--the sorts of crimes and police methods of 1948 are really nothing like those of 1979.  And, as always, they make a perfect bedtime read as they immediately grip you, move quickly and all lose ends are neatly tied up in just 10-15 odd pages.

Film review: Caught Stealing (2025)

This is one of those movies that would have been a hit in another age, but isn't a sequel or a superhero movie, so died a death at the box office.  It's set in probably the last year it would have been guaranteed to succeed, 1998, when mid-size crime movies with tightly-written plots and good dialogue (and a lot of violence) were commonly bankable.  It's even got a proven director (Darren Aronofsky, for whom this is an uncharacteristically straightforward, mainstream(ish) film) and is packed with recognizable actors, including its star, the blue-eyed cornfed Austin Butler, 

fairly fresh off playing Elvis.  Think of something like Marathon Man for comparison, although this one (despite all of the death, often to likeable characters who don't deserve it) has a lot more humor thrown in.  Perhaps that's what did for it - I remember they accented the humor in the trailer, and when people found it was more of a serious crime drama, featuring a protagonist with a tortured past, they felt cheated.  Or maybe it's the lack of spandex - who knows?

Anyway, it's based on a book and adapted by the author, which explains the almost-too-well-oiled plot (it's not in the least shaggy - there are no throwaway details) which, to me, anyway, makes it a little artificial.  Nonetheless, it's seamlessly executed and never boring, and all the actors are doing a great job, so if it was the movie of the night and you only had one channel, you would feel very satisfied.

Butler plays Hank, who is from a small town near San Francisco (which explains his obsession with the San Francisco Giants, which is a running subplot), where he was a high-school baseball star, expected to be drafted in the first round, except he crashed his car, killing his best friend (who was in the back, without a seatbelt, and consequently flew out the windshield and squished his head - I recognized the friend as one of the four Reservation Dogs - which means he's probably a lot younger than Butler, who is playing the younger version of himself in flashback) and (more importantly to him at the time) he destroyed his knee, thus ending his baseball dreams.  Now he lives in a supposedly shitty part of NY (but his apartment is large and looks pretty nice) and tends bar at Paul's Bar, where the owner is an ageing hippie, who is fond of him.  He's also a functional alcoholic, who drinks beer for breakfast.

Anyway, his girlfriend (played by Lisa Bonet's kid), 

with whom he has believably amiable banter, picks him up after work, and they are heading back to his place for a quickie, when they find his no-good friend Russ (Matt "Eleventh Doctor" Smith, with a cockernee geezer accent and an over-the-top (think street punk in every 80's movie) punk outfit, complete with Mohawk/Mohican) 

waiting to drop off his cat for Hank to take care of, because his father has had a stroke and he has to rush to London to be with him.  The cat ("Buddy") 

hates everyone but Hank, despite the fact that Hank is a dog person.  The girlfriend persuades him that he should keep Buddy in his apartment (Russ's is next door) and moves the litter box in.  (As I said, all details matter.) 

Pretty soon, however, things take a turn.  He catches two Russians (both bald and scary-looking, one very large, the other much smaller (but crazier) with a large wine-red face birthmark and whom the other calls "Microbe") trying to break into Russ's apartment and they kick the shit out of him until the neighbor across the hall 

(who already complained about the noise when Russ was there and when accused of being a yuppie banker, plaintively retorted "I build websites!" (still novel in 1998) peeks out and Hank yells at him to call the cops.  Then they leave and he finds that he's lying in a pool of blood and piss and says "that's not good" and passes out.  We then get the first of the flashbacks to his car crash and he wakes up with a start as the car crashes in his dream, to find himself in hospital, having had to have one of his kidneys removed.  I found that him being so vulnerable (later on the same nasties torture him by ripping out the staples closing his wound) made me anxious.

Anyway, cops come to investigate, including a sympathetic (if brusque) older black cop played by Regina King, 

who says that the people who attacked him aren't that dangerous, but they're connected with two "scary monsters" (showing him a picture of two large Hasidic Jews - who later turn out to be played by Vincent D'Onofrio and Liev Schreiber (whom I always confuse with each other)) whom he must avoid at all costs, because they like to cut people's eyes out.

Rather disgustingly, her co-officer takes a dump in his toilet and plugs it, and when he's plunging it after they've gone, he notices that the litter box has a particularly giant turd in it (very scatological, this scene) which, upon closer inspection, reveals itself to be fake, and to contain a key.  Then he hears banging next door and sees the scary monsters trying to break into Russ's apartment.

Then I get a bit muddled (I watched this a couple of nights ago) but he's threatened on the phone by the Russians - or rather, their Hispanic boss played by Bad Bunny 

- and they reveal that they know about his girlfriend ("the chica in Chinatown") with whom he has since argued with (he got drunk after going to Paul's Bar to ask him (who I only now realize was played by an unrecognizable Griffin Dunne, 

in what is almost certainly a nod to After Hours) to stash the key for him, after she told him he couldn't drink any more because of the kidney thing) and made up (she glued his wound after the staples were pulled out), and he goes over there...

Okay, I don't want to give too much away, but other scenes involve a shootout at Paul's Bar, the return of Russ, an exhibition of Hank's batting skills, some nifty driving, a hideout in a storage unit, a trip to what looks like Coney Island beach, a visit with Jewish gangsters

to their bubbe (played by Carol Kane), 

(whose presence might be a nod to another great 70s film, The Last Detail), the utter destruction of a nightclub owned by a Russian mobster, and several calls home to his mother, who was his baseball coach and to whom he is devoted (and whom we only hear over the phone until the end of the movie when her face is revealed).  Lots of period pre-9/11 New York color (Giuliani gets a mention).

Anyway, it's a love-letter to the gritty 70s crime dramas, and the neo-noirs of the 90s (think The Grifters, LA Confidential), which is probably why it flopped.  But also why you should see it.  Don't worry, the two loves of Hank's life (one that's been in it forever, one whom he never thought he'd come to love) come out of it intact.  Too bad about those Giants, though. 

Pics O'the past week

Jami was away for a while so Frederick and I went on walks farther afield to kill time.  As you can see, the Fall colors (transl.: Autumn colours) are in full effect.  Today it was in the EIGHTIES though, so they're suddenly crisping up and I don't think this will be one of the best years.

Film review: Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (2023)

Yes, this is a real film, and actually a very enjoyable one.  I thought it was French, but it's actually French Canadian - I don't know if that makes a difference.  Think of it somewhere between What We Do In The Shadows and Let The Right One In, although considerably closer to the former, albeit surprisingly sincere in places.  The title says it all, really.  We first meet Sasha at a childhood birthday party, 

getting an electronic keyboard (so this must be at least the 80s?) that she surprises her relatives (parents, aunt, slightly older-and-wiser cousin Denise) by being able to play.  Then there's a knock on the door and the aunt reveals that she's ordered an extra present, which turns out to be a clown, whom Sasha is ecstatic to see, rushing out and hugging him.  However, his act fails to amuse the rest of the family, and he slowly becomes more nervous, but then promises them a magic trick if he can first climb inside his trunk...  And at this point the family reveals that they plan to (as they put it) eat him, and we see an appalled Sasha's little face as the clown's pitiful screams are heard...  The family is worried at her soft-heartedness and takes her to a neurologist (apparently there's a secret parallel vampire world, with vampire neurologists - none of this is explained, which is fine) who reports that instead of human suffering making her excited, it triggers pity.  Flash forward to now, and the about-18-looking Sasha is seen playing her keyboard for money outside of a convenience store.  (We will later find out that it is 40 years later and she is actually in her sixties, as vampires "age very slowly" (they don't freeze, as in Let The Right One In).  Nonetheless, she certainly acts like a teen, still lives with her parents, who are getting heartily fed up with her refusing to hunt or fend for herself (well, her mother is - her father is almost as soft-hearted and wants to protect her).  As her set finishes and people drift off, she spots somebody (a boy her (apparent) age) standing on a roof opposite, looking down.  As she watches, another youth comes up and sighs and tells him to come down because the brats are overrunning the place, and he meekly complies.  He is Paul, a depressed high-schooler, bullied by classmates like Henry, his co-worker at the local bowling alley.  And you can see where this is headed.  I won't give too much away, because it's a slight film but very enjoyable.  Besides the two I've mentioned, it also reminds one a bit of Harold and Maude (and not just because Paul is suicidal) and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (there's even a scene where the two of them slowly groove to a record in Sasha's room).

Some important scenes: Sasha gets her fangs 

but still refuses to hunt, so the family has an intervention 

and she's sent to live with Denise to teach her to hunt.  Denise's pad looks like a sex dungeon, with chains and hooks, and indeed, that's what the hitchhikers she brings home are supposed to think, but we know better.  Denise also accidentally "turns" a loser who won't shut up about his hot tub (and who still lives with his father), who is definitely the most WWDitS-type character. Trigger warning: a bat dies in this film (not really - it's clearly fake) and is later hurled at a teacher.  Apparently in this universe lights flicker when a vampire is aroused by bloodlust.

Everybody in the film is good, but the definite standout is Sara Montpetit as Sasha.  Pale, dark-haired and dark-eyed, she looks like a vampire, and has huge sad eyes and pale hands that are always wandering, slightly beyond her control.  She's also a great physical comedian, which sort of goes with her Buster Keaton-esque mien.  Denise (Noémie O'Farrell) is also great fun, proving that redheads can also be vampires.  And the solution Sasha and Paul come up with for their dilemma is surprisingly, well, humane.  Check it out - I watched it for free on Kanopy.

Film review: Send Help (2026)

We're huge Sam Raimi fans from way back, but were a little disappointed by his last foray into original horror, Drag Me To Hell, because it was rather mean-spirited, in that (spoiler) the protagonist didn't really deserve the titular fate.  Well, good news, because this one was great fun and nobody gets a fate they don't deserve.  The other good thing is that it's a stretch to call it "horror," which is good because I can't really handle truly horrific stuff these days, reality being what it is.  Briefly, the idea is that mousy Linda Liddle 

(Rachel McAdams - you know, one of the most beautiful actresses of the past twenty years, dowdified almost convincingly at first - and McAdams's vanity-less commitment to the role really helps) who is a vital cog in a corporation (working in planning and strategy) whose older boss has promised her a promotion to reward her, but then hands the business on to his asshole son, Bradley (the other lead role in what is essentially a two-hander, and very well done by Dylan O'Brien) who instead promotes his frat-buddy who has been taking credit for Linda's work.  But they realize they still need her to finish up work on an appendix to a plan for corporate takeover, so Bradley leads her on and says she has a chance to prove to him that she deserves the promotion (he has no intention of giving her).  This means taking her on the private jet to Thailand, in the course of which the frat buddy shows Bradley Linda's cringeworthy Survivor audition tape, driving Linda to tears.  

But fear not, that's where the plane's engine catches fire and the assholes meet a satisfyingly nasty end (and we see the first glimpse of Linda's ruthless edge, as well as the trademark Raimi black humor.  Then begins the bulk of the movie, which is Linda and Bradley together marooned on a tropical island, he hobbled at first, and needing to be humbled, as Linda's Survivor skills come to the fore.  (Turns out she finds she liked boar hunting - a good opportunity for the kind of arterial spray and eyeball-related gore that Raimi fans will recognize.)

For a while there, it looks like this might turn into a romantic comedy, 

before a few nasty twists shift it in different directions.  Verdict: a whole lot of fun, with two excellent leads, and a beautiful sun-drenched setting, with none of the dread that puts me off modern horror.  I hope this will open up a new chapter in McAdams' career: from Mean Girl to Mean Middle-Aged Woman. 

Pics o' the week