The Haunting of Low Fennel

by Sax Rohmer

The haunting of low fennel From Sax Rohmer

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

93 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

AKA Arthur Sarsfield Ward (real name); Michael Furey.

Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (15 February 1883 - 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu.

Born in Birmingham to a working class family, Rohmer initially pursued a career as a civil servant before concentrating on writing full-time.

He worked as a poet, songwriter, and comedy sketch writer in Music Hall before creating the Sax Rohmer persona and pursuing a career writing weird fiction.

Like his contemporaries Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen, Rohmer claimed membership to one of the factions of the qabbalistic Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Rohmer also claimed ties to the Rosicrucians, but the validity of his claims has been questioned. His physician and family friend, Dr. R. Watson Councell may have been his only legitimate connection to such organizations. It is believed that Rohmer may have exaggerated his association in order to boost his literary reputation as an occult writer.

His first published work came in 1903, when the short story The Mysterious Mummy was sold to Pearson's Weekly. He gradually transitioned from writing for Music Hall performers to concentrating on short stories and serials for magazine publication. In 1909 he married Rose Elizabeth Knox.

He published his first novel Pause! anonymously in 1910. After penning Little Tich in 1911 (as ghostwriter for the Music Hall entertainer) he issued the first Fu Manchu novel, The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, was serialized from October 1912 - June 1913. It was an immediate success with its fast-paced story of Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie facing the worldwide conspiracy of the 'Yellow Peril'. The Fu Manchu stories, together with his more conventional detective series characters—Paul Harley, Gaston Max, Red Kerry, Morris Klaw, and The Crime Magnet—made Rohmer one of the most successful and well-paid authors of the 1920s and 1930s.

Rohmer also wrote several novels of supernatural horror, including Brood of the Witch-Queen. Rohmer was very poor at managing his wealth, however, and made several disastrous business decisions that hampered him throughout his career. His final success came with a series of novels featuring a female variation on Fu Manchu, Sumuru.

After World War II, the Rohmers moved to New York only returning to London shortly before his death. Rohmer died in 1959 due to an outbreak of influenza ("Asian Flu").

There were thirteen books in the Fu Manchu series in all (not counting the posthumous The Wrath of Fu Manchu. The Sumuru series consist of five books.

His wife published her own mystery novel, Bianca in Black in 1954 under the pen name, Elizabeth Sax Rohmer. Some editions of the book mistakenly credit her as Rohmer's daughter. Elizabeth Sax Rohmer and Cay Van Ash, her husband's former assistant, wrote a biography of the author, Master of Villainy, published in 1972.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The review from afar – No. 12

Re-revised forward to these overseas reviews:

Since emulating a yo-yo, I continue to rely on the old-style Kindle 3G for any non-technical reading. I tip my hat to the fine folks at Project Gutenberg: virtually every title I have or will be reading in the near future comes from them.

The Haunting of Low Fennel is a collection of seven stories by the prolific Sax Rohmer (nee’ Arthur Henry Ward) best known for his Fu Manchu novels. Rohmer was a talented man who transitioned from writing comedy & songs for music hall entertainment to weird, occult fiction often with an Oriental twist. There are decent author profiles here in Goodreads and elsewhere.

As one of my Goodreads friends recently noted, authors that grew up in an age without mass electronic media (Radio, Movies, or TV) have a different voice. Their intellectual and popular entertainment was conveyed either by print or by live performance and it shows in the language, voices, and backdrop that they employ.

Generally, I do not give extensive synopsis of the books I review. But I feel that with these more obscure and older works “chumming” might be necessary to interest others. I’ll make the over-arching statement here that the spoilers do hide a detailed overview of each tale, so Caveat Emptor! I won’t hide my impressions of the characters or writer.

The Haunting of Low Fennel
Set in the English countryside, this tale follows the narrator, Addison, as he tries to unravel a mysterious and horrifying sighting at a country estate.


Addison is a chemist and investigator who has a reputation for uncovering truth. He comes at the behest of the owner whose house is the scene of these apparitions. Although forced to sell off the ancestral hall, he retained this manse that is part Tudor, Part Jacobean, and part Modern (Edwardian) the construction of which wing was only finished months before. The site itself is the source of many tales including the trial and death of a witch hundreds of years afore.

The tale continues with a combination of further hauntings as well as solid detective work. Eventually he tests a theory that proves Mother Nature really should not be fooled with. (Just kidding MN, it is a “haunting” albeit in an odd and imaginative way.)


This was his first short piece that I read (not counting the tidbits that the Fu Manchu novels were written in for magazine publication). I found the story interesting overall, but really enjoyed the scientific method applied by Addison. I found myself anticipating story elements that pretty much fell in place as the mystery was resolved. Not the most twisted of plots, but a nice read.

The Valley of the Just
Snap, it’s Burma (or on the way from India).


In a caravan in the jungle, a young wife, her inherited faithful retainer, and her husband slog along. The wife has come on this expedition to spite her distant and older hubby. Ramsa Las serves as friend, guide and inspiration. They are heading to a sacred place containing a temple to a long-dead holy man. Ramsa Las warns her that no one can remain the night if they are not just.

As they march and camp we learn details of her marriage and her husband neither of which are exemplary. On reaching the valley, he calls camp even though the natives are uneasy. He goes off alone appearing hours later with gold and rubies looted from the temple, but feverish and delirious. In his bed he mixes up the past and all but confesses to attacking another man after allegations of card cheating.

Ramsa Las insists that he and she must return every bit of the loot or else they will not survive the night. Everyone else has fled, save the stricken man. When asked, he says that once before he passed the evening with two companions, only one of whom was holy and righteous. They two live today, while the third died on the spot.

While returning the treasure, she opens the crypt, freeing a winged horror that launches itself into the sky. Back at the camp, they find her husband dead with one ruby ring still on his finger. Ramsa Las deliberately left it there as he knows full well the evil the man had shown to the woman. Simultaneously, the man he attacked comes out of his coma and once able will seek her out for the love they now know they share.


I didn’t mind the Just Desserts that occur in this story. I did find the prior survival of Ramsa Las in the valley to be a bit contrived and the backstory about the crime could have been better organized and fleshed out. I think he intended it to heighten the suspense, but I found that it detract from the flow.

The Blue Monkey
Bang, it’s England again.


In this tale we seemingly have a return of the two protagonists of the Dr. Fu Machu books. The narrator states that his friend “East” (Nayland Smith) is resting in disguise in the English countryside. As in a couple of the Holmes stories (“The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot” comes to mind), the narrator (Dr. Petrie) tries to keep the locals from disturbing his friends recuperation.

Then, a neighbor’s daughter comes to them for help after finding her father murdered in the path. They find the man, dead, but without walking stick or parcel. He has been beaten and strangled and the only other tracks appear to be that of some small child or animal. “East” finds the wrapping paper, but not the monkey statue he had with him. Did it come to life and walk away from the murdered man?

The answer is more mundane than that and the denouement comes swiftly once “East” has located the statue.


I’m not sure what the author had in mind by the thin veiling of his two leads’ identities beyond the obvious parallel I suggested, but it didn’t hurt the story in any appreciable way, either. It’s a pretty straight-up detective story and one that provided everything except real probable cause (there is only a roundabout explanation of the why.) One of my favorite three.

The Riddle of Ragstaff
Out in the English countryside once more, we are at the ancestral home of the Reynors.


Their pile is called “Ragstaff” due to some Tudor wall carvings. The riddle is a piece of doggerel that is carved elsewhere and possibly in the Late Stuart period. In addition to the family, we have the narrator, Harry Lorian, Felix Hulme, and a couple of other guests. Felix shows much attention to the lovely Sybil to the great consternation of Harry. At dinner the talk is about the hall and how the narrator’s father’s studio was broken into with apparently nothing stolen. He had taken sketches of the carvings for an upcoming book and was the first person ever allowed to copy the inscription.

Like all good, upper class English families, the Reynors have black sheep. One was a notorious pirate. Just the mention of him is enough to agitate the current lord. In the evening there are lights and bangs that only the narrator sees. He confides in Harry, who confides that he will ask Sybil for her hand.

That evening the two go to a neighbor’s home to borrow a camera. Delayed by rain they return late only to see a flash of blinding light come from the main hall as it did the prior night. Inside, nothing is amiss. The next day, they take a series of exposures, develop them in a cellar and Harry makes prints that afternoon with Sybil. During which time he pops the question. That evening, Sybil sports her new bijou rather than the Phoenician ring that the heir wears once reaching their majority.

That night they fail to solve the riddle. Sybil has lost her ring and stumbled over an iron-bound chest in the hall. Harry fingers Felix as the source of all these goings-on but he has given them the slip; leaving behind the chest, the ring, and a map of all of the secret passages and hidey holes in the house. Although they expect that it is the pirate’s treasure, they return the chest to its hiding spot since his Father-in-law wants no remembrance of that predecessor.


There were a couple of annoyances with this story. First, what kind of a criminal (except possibly a turn-of-last-Century, proper Brit) gives in like wet tissue paper, but in his flight also pleads for clemency? Second, who doesn’t want to know what’s in a Treasure Chest – even if they have to close it up and never tell a living soul until their Father-in-Law-to-be kicks the circular file?

The Master of Hollow Grange
Sticking with Merry Olde England, a recently invalided soldier comes to the home of one of his father’s college friends.


Jack Dillon is more than a grunt. Despite the unkempt appearance of the grounds and house he searches until finding Phyrne’ reading behind a window. She is the adopted daughter of Dr. Kassimerre, his host. Later when he meets the Dr., he thinks of the Egyptian god Toth.

In the ensuing days he learns that the Grange is considered haunted by the locals, the Dr. is essentially a pariah, and that the lovely Phyrne’ has had other suitors before him, both of whom left abruptly despite the Dr.’s seeming blessing. When confronted the girl readily admits this and relates their final messages. What can they mean? When she asked her father he had no answer, but she has seen his attitude and interest toward her change.

One evening Dillon finds a small book in a lower hall. Reading it, he learns the Doctor’s true intentions and goals. They are based on ideas proposed by von Hohenhiem regarding an unpublished work of Paracelus (see, no mere cannon-fodder this Jack). The Doctor’s copious notes explain the messages left by the other two men. He returns the book just in the nick of time; watching as the Dr. gathers it up and enters his laboratory via a secret passage. Moments later, he reappears with chloroform and heads upstairs.

In the lab, Jack rescues the unconscious Phyrne’ and spills a large beaker as the Doctor tries to retrain him. Soaked with this vile liquid, the Dr. writhes in agony as he flees up the tunnel. Fire breaks out and consumes the man and his evil works. Phyrne’ recalls nothing of these events and they live happily ever after.


Pretty okay thriller and mad-scientist story, but it left me wanting more exposition on what the evil Doctor was attempting to do. I also wanted to know more about the red, seemingly caustic fluid. Was it mere acid or was it imbued with psychic evil that ate away at the man? Inquiring minds want to know!


The Curse of a Thousand Kisses
Poof, we’re in Cairo!


Saville Grainger was a well-known journalist who vanished one night during a stroll. No one ever claimed responsibility and few clues were found. Two years later, a scroll is thrust into the hands of our narrator (a former co-worker) and the mystery is revealed…

Despite never having been in Egypt before and understanding none of the language, Grainger feels comfortable walking among ordinary people in the small lanes where they live and work. During one such outing, he is shoved into an old woman knocking her to the ground. Profusely apologetic he helps her up and sees that she is the most hideous crone imaginable, but despite this he feels compassion and kisses her on the forehead – instantly repulsed and confused by his own impulses. The woman blesses him and walks off into what had become a completely deserted street.

That evening a native hands Grainger a package containing a heart made from lapis-lazuli carved with the word for 1,000. When his native guide sees it, he is awestruck and relates the following tale…

Many, many years ago, the daughter of the Governor of Egypt loved a wealthy (and young) merchant. Her father forbade the match, but they fled Cairo and were exiled under punishment of death. Would it surprise you that the girl’s name was Scheherazade? Now poor, the merchant seeks out a wizard because he fears that without the riches and comforts she has been accustomed to, his love will regret her choice. But, since he’s visiting a wizard, he firsts asks for a view of his beautiful lady – what could go wrong with that I ask?

Meanwhile, back at the Oasis, one of her former suitors has just driven up in his caravan and sees none other than the hottie he was courting in Cairo. Being a persistent chap (he was the most persistent of the rejected) he seeks her out and goes for a quick peck or two – just, and you couldn’t see this coming now could you, - just as the wizard shows the beau his beauty.

Being a hot-headed and impulsive (giving up his merchant empire on the spur of the moment qualifies him as impulsive) he begs the wizard to place a foul curse on the unfaithful lass. This of course the wizard does with no questions asked: She shall live ugly and undying until 1,000 men give her an unsought for and compassionate kiss. Only then shall the curse be lifted, her beauty restored, and death permitted to her. So it goes… for centuries.

Begging for food and shelter she survives and amasses great wealth (talk about long-term investment horizons!). Slowly men bestow upon her a kiss and she rewards them with a precious carving of lapis-lazuli bearing their “number”. Grainger’s guide recalls that he saw one heart delivered as a boy and the number was “999”. Now she has given out the 1000th.

Over the next few days, Grainger continues to live his normal life, but feels that fate has other plans for him. Rather than be upset, he feels at peace. When he walks away that final evening he trades his world and past life for the love of the most beautiful creature on Earth. Restored to health, beauty and probably you-know-what, he will live out his days in comfort and happiness with the woman he freed, Scheherazade. Now, two years later he has a bit of the old journalistic urge and writes up his own story as his last hurrah. This ends the scroll and the tale.


The main tale has this brief “framing tale”, which mildly emulates the nested tales that the traditional Scheherazade used to keep her wits (and head) during the years that she entertained (in as many ways as you want to consider) her husband. Maybe it’s a momentary viral infection, or maybe it’s a more persistent soft-touchedness, but I liked this story a lot. Top one or two in the book.


The Turquoise Necklace
Still in the warm sands of Egypt.


The story opens with Graham asking about a Sheikh who is also known to be a welee (holy man). The Lord of a Desert Tribe, he only visits those who are either supremely good or evil. Graham chooses to discount such tales.

He and his wife are visiting Cairo for the first time, but darkness encroaches when they spot an Arab Chief he knocked down in England for ogling his wife. Instantly Cairo seems less the safe European-influenced post-War city and more the lawless and wild city of the Near East.

His wife is a strong woman of Celtic blood who leaps to save an aged porter when a runaway almost tramples him to death. She acted only from her humanity, but the porter insists on blessing and gifting her with a gold necklace bearing a large turquoise stone. Considering his apparent poverty neither feels they can accept it and wish to repay him. This proves less easy than they think and the porter disappears. Graham insists that his local guide find the man so that they can reward him. Later, Eileen sees the blackguard Bedouin once again.

From here, things get messy. Their nemesis, El-Suleym, is a marauder and leads a pack of brigands and while feted as a Bedouin Lord in England, is really an outcast in his own land.

That evening a messenger appears with a note that the guide has found the porter and Graham should meet him. Off he goes. 15 minutes later, another message comes for Eileen. She is to join her husband and the porter in order to convince him to accept their gift. Being who she is, she thinks this is reasonable and trots off into the night. Guess what happens…

An hour after he went out, Graham is found unconscious. Of Eileen there is no trace. The guide, Mohammed, is accused of helping to abduct her, but he convinces Graham that is cannot be he as he cannot read or write. Seeing such passion in the husband, he is inflamed with a desire to rescue her. The authorities have little to go on other than knowing some of El-Suleym’s Bedouin were seen in the area. Mohammed finds the discarded necklace and tells Graham that they now know she was taken east. Graham is strangely unresponsive. Mohammed grabs a mount and rides the 400 miles to Cairo as fast as he can. He seeks one man.

Later after making his appeal, a White Rider speeds away on his snowy mount (no, it’s not Mithrandir on Shadowfax!) By chance he is seen by Graham and others flying across the sands. The rider’s camel outpaces the captors and arrives at their desert oasis first. Eileen is taken to a ruined temple where she is chained to a pillar. It is the lair of El-Suleym. But suddenly the old Arab appears and holds out a vial. Believing it to be deadly poison, she drinks it.

Minutes later the brigands come across her limp body and think that their desert trip has killed her. Fearing his wrath they flee the temple and prepare to leave their camp. But then they hear the wailing of their Lord’s wives. Suddenly, the White Rider is in their midst and flings a dark and bloody head at them. How cute, they get to say goodbye after all!

The next morning the tireless mount delivers Eileen and necklace to Graham. Graham is still clueless. Mohammed has to explain to him that that porter is really the chosen of Heaven and Lord of a Righteous Tribe of Bedouin who cleanse the wicked from the desert sands. He is, of course, the welee, Sheikh of the Rawallah.


I also liked this story, but the pre-rescue chase sequence was a bit weak. The wronged, but understanding, native leaps to the rescue in the only way he knows – by calling upon the holy one who is the Hand of Justice. One of my top four stories in the collection.

Three and one-half (3.5) rounded up to Four (4.0) Solid Stars for the variety and pleasure.

You can get this book for free from the Gutenberg Poject site.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven ghost stories featuring proper British gentlemen with steel in their spines and British ladies prone to swooning. Usually the supernatural events turn out to have a prosaic explanation, but not always. Filled with Rohmer's masterful verbiage, it's a nice collection of shorts which should entertain those who appreciate old style mysteries based in the post WWI landscape of rural England, with the exception of the last tale which takes place in British held Egypt. A good selection from the pulp fiction days.

[Bettie]

CONTENTS
PAGE
The Haunting of Low Fennel 11
The Valley of the Just 61
The Blue Monkey 97
The Riddle of Ragstaff 119
The Master of Hollow Grange 157
The Curse of a Thousand Kisses 189
The Turquoise Necklace 213

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good collection of short stories by Sax Rohmer, all with a supernatural bent. Highlights include " The Valley of the Just" and " The Curse of a Thousand Kisses."

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only The Curse of A Thousand Kisses as a stand-alone , but this was the only mention of it on GR.