The Case of the Two Strange Ladies TPB

by Harry Stephen Keeler

Trade paperback. A strange novel from 1940, published by Phoenix Press. It involves two corpses, one white and one black, with swapped heads, and the line-up it requires to identify them.

166 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1943

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

[S. Zahler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has a plot twist in a book ever caused you to exclaim aloud? Not until reading 'The Case of the Two Strange Ladies' was my answer to that question, "Yes."

This book was my second Harry Stephen Keeler novel (following the masterful 'The Riddle of the Traveling Skull'), and it was an incredibly enjoyable read that served as more evidence of this gifted Chicago author's many talents. This story concerns Tommy Skirmont, a Yankee reporter in the South, whose tenure at a newspaper and engagement to a local girl will be terminated unless he can identify the two unknown, decapitated women who lie in the town morgue. The awkwardness of the protagonist, the urgency of the situation, and the larger than life characters all bring to mind my two favorite Preston Sturges movies ('Hail the Conquering Hero' and 'Christmas in July'), though the situation herein with the mutilated bodies is darker and far, far weirder than anything in those pictures.

Although 'The Case of the Two Strange Ladies' is a shorter book than 'The Riddle of the Traveling Skull,' the protagonist's plight, his playful romance, and his back story are better developed, and the setting, Southern Town, is the more finely detailed of the two. Sprawling, lyrical sentences that are nearly as rich as Lovecraft's loving descriptions of coastal New England paint this fictional rural environment--check out the first two paragraphs of Chapter II for some top examples of this. Keeler's version of southern dialect is hilarious (I believe intentionally), though occasionally a bit abstruse and adds even more flavor to his southern world. Populated with boldly caricatured inhabitants such as Colonel Dixenberry Lee and Ocie Frizzel, this world is hyperbolic and engrossing.

My one real criticism for this book is that it is clearly a short novel that has been grown to a more regular length with a marginally related short story. Many authors have made 'novels' with patchwork/episodic narratives (eg. Arthur Machen's 'The Three Imposters,' Robert Maturin's 'Melmoth the Wanderer,' Sax Rohmer's 'Brood of the Witch Queen,' etc.), but the problem here is that this particular detour--about a purloined diamond necklace--is a normal, locked-room mystery (albeit with a very clever resolution worthy of Edgar Allan Poe or Arthur Conan Doyle). This tale lacks the weirdness, atmosphere, characterization, and urgency of the main story and feels like filler, though it is enjoyable to a lesser degree.

The superior central thread with Tommy Skirmont is eventually resumed, and the incredible surprise that Keeler supplies for a resolution elicited an audible "Holy shit!" from my mouth, which was a first. As I read and reread this stunningly clever (and shocking) revelation, which is probably the single best plot twist I've come across in my entire life, I was very, very pleased that more books by this incredible author were en route to my apartment...

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tommy Skirmont, reportero del Democrat en Southern City, ha recibido un ultimátum de su jefe: debe desvelar el misterio que se esconde tras la aparición de dos cadáveres de mujeres con las cabezas separadas, o será despedido esa misma tarde. Al mismo tiempo, se nos narra el caso del robo de un collar de diamantes, cuyos acusados son el policía encargado del mismo y su prometida. Y a todo esto hay que añadir cierto libro de hojas verdes, que sobrevuela sobre toda la narración, cuyos aforismos orientales vienen de perlas para la resolución de estos enigmas.

Una vez más, el genial escritor Harry Stephen Keeler nos ofrece un misterio repleto de originalidad e imaginación, donde todo encaja como en el mecanismo de un reloj.

[Jonathan Ammon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A shocking, dangerous, and fascinating pulp mystery that had me smiling from ear to ear at the ending but also filled with a dull horror. This book could never be written today, and though I think the author was satirising the American South his approach is subtle enough, complex enough, and enough of-the-times to be uncomfortably ambiguous. This is not for everyone, but if you like pulp, like mysteries, like weird fiction, and can handle ambiguity as well as a distressing look at race in the South in the 40s, this may be the book for you. And it may not. It's probably safest to warn everyone to read at their own risk. An unclassifiable read, I doubt I will find anything like this again. Unless of course it comes once more from Keeler.

[Jonathan Ammon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A shocking, dangerous, and fascinating pulp mystery that had me smiling from ear to ear at the ending but also filled with a dull horror. This book could never be written today, and though I think the author was satirising the American South his approach is subtle enough, complex enough, and enough of-the-times to be uncomfortably ambiguous. This is not for everyone, but if you like pulp, like mysteries, like weird fiction, and can handle ambiguity as well as a distressing look at race in the South in the 40s, this may be the book for you. And it may not. It's probably safest to warn everyone to read at their own risk. An unclassifiable read, I doubt I will find anything like this again. Unless of course it comes once more from Keeler.

[Neer · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first foray into the mad-cap world of Harry Stephen Keeler turned out to be an interesting puzzle and a dazzling solution once I had waded thru Southern, Yankee, German way of speaking English. It was enough to give one a head-ache but the sheer exuberance of the story – the decapitated bodies of two elderly women: one Black the other White, and not a single solitary clue to the identity of either – kept me engrossed even when a story emerged within the main-story. And the humour, esp of the story within the story, was delicious as was the satire concerning race-relations in the American South. I’d definitely be reading more of the author.

*
First Line: .: TOMMY SKIRMONT, Yankee reporter on the Southern City Democrat, gazed in sheer desperation at his superior, the owner, publisher, and editor of the Democrat.

[Marko · Rating 4 out of 5]

The categorically insane twist alone makes this book great. Keeler was a fascinating individual and "ludicrous but internally consistent coincidence" is a perfect description of his plotting method. Looking forward to reading more.

[Gloria Gna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dos señoras realmente extrañas. No me lo esperaba.