The Five Silver Buddhas

by Harry Stephen Keeler

When Penn Harding, an unsuspecting young American, came into possession of one of five little statues of Buddha, horror chilled his soul! There is an old Chinese saying that 'of every five fingers in the world, one is a thumb' -- meaning that out of ever five things appearing alike, one is always different -- may possess sinister powers, and spell mortal danger to the one who owns it!

"Out of this mystic aphorism Harry Stephen Keeler has woven a superbly puzzling story of crime and intrigue, and has related some of the strangest things that ever happened to a man

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Born in Chicago in 1890, Keeler spent his childhood exclusively in this city, which was so beloved by the author that a large number of his works took place in and around it. In many of his novels, Keeler refers to Chicago as "the London of the west." The expression is explained in the opening of Thieves' Nights (1929):

"Here ... were seemingly the same hawkers ... selling the same goods ... here too was the confusion, the babble of tongues of many lands, the restless, shoving throng containing faces and features of a thousand racial castes, and last but not least, here on Halsted and Maxwell streets, Chicago, were the same dirt, flying bits of torn paper, and confusion that graced the junction of Middlesex and Whitechapel High streets far across the globe."

Other locales for Keeler novels include New Orleans and New York. In his later works, Keeler's settings are often more generic settings such as Big River, or a city in which all buildings and streets are either nameless or fictional. Keeler is known to have visited London at least once, but his occasional depictions of British characters are consistently implausible.

Reviews

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Penn Harding, periodista desocupado, que va al encuentro de su novia, una rica heredera a la que piensa pedir en matrimonio, hace una parada en una casa de subastas. Entonces, observa una pequeña figura de plata de un Buda con los ojos tapados, el último de cinco ejemplares, que según parece da buena suerte, algo que Penn va a necesitar en sus propósitos. A partir de aquí, todo se embrollará de manera sorprendente, y sabremos tanto de la suerte de Penn, como de los otros cuatro compradores.

‘Los cinco Budas de plata’ (The Five Silver Buddhas, 1935) es otra fabulosa novela de Harry Stephen Keeler, escrita al más puro estilo Keeler: tramas dentro de tramas, que se retroalimentan a sí mismas, llenas de giros inesperados, donde nada es lo que parece, con argumentos algo locos, pero fascinantes. Adoro a Keeler.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pre-war mystery-thriller novel of the cheap newstand variety follows the story of five Buddha figurines and how they bring bad luck to all who possess them.

One is the Jewish dealer who sells them, killed in a robbery. the next a Polish man who strangles people, killed by a python, the third a small time gangster caught by a cop he hit in the past, and the fourth a civil engineer who returns to Chicago to find his childohhod sweetheart is old and ugly. The last is a reporter framed for the stealing of a miltary secret.

This ends up being a ruse by the Japanese, but why they want the Buddhas or its role in events, is never explained. The author wrote a large number of books, now all forgotten.