The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont

by Robert Barr

The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont (1906) brings together tales of the multifarious exploits of Robert Barr's elegant and cunning sleuth, Valmont, a brilliantly ironic parody of Sherlock Holmes. `I may inform you, captain, that I am Eugene Valmont, chief detective of the French Government, and that all the police of France at this moment are under my control. I ask you, therefore, to be careful of your answers.' Exhibiting the crucial combination of realism and imagination that characterizes the finest crime writing, the stories exude playfulness, blending mystery and quasi-Gothic thrills with humorous detours and romantic adventure. A notable figure in 1890s literary London and a friend of Conan Doyle, Barr was acutely aware of style as a form of statement and the stories are full of literary effects, commentary on the detective mystery genre and Valmont's disparaging reflections on English values. From the hilarious satire of sensationalism in The Siamese Twin of a Bomb-Thrower to the bizarre and operatic melodrama of The Ghost with the Club-Foot, Barr's stories delight the reader with their skill, variety, and never-abandoned sense of spirited fun.

Genres: Mystery, Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Crime, Ebooks, Amazon

303 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1906

About the author

Robert Barr (September 16, 1849 – October 21, 1912) was a British-Canadian short story writer and novelist, born in Glasgow, Scotland.

Robert Barr emigrated with his parents to Upper Canada at age four and was educated in Toronto at Toronto Normal School. Barr became a teacher and eventual headmaster of the Central School of Windsor, Ontario. While he had that job he began to contribute short stories—often based on personal experiences—to the Detroit Free Press. In 1876 Barr quit his teaching position to become a staff member of that publication, in which his contributions were published with the pseudonym "Luke Sharp." This nom de plume was derived from the time he attended school in Toronto. At that time he would pass on his daily commute a shop sign marked, "Luke Sharpe, Undertaker", a combination of words Barr considered amusing in their incongruity. Barr was promoted by the Detroit Free Press, eventually becoming its news editor.

In 1881 Barr decided to "vamoose the ranch", as he stated, and relocated to London, to establish there the weekly English edition of the Detroit Free Press. In 1892 he founded the magazine The Idler, choosing Jerome K. Jerome as his collaborator (wanting, as Jerome said, "a popular name"). He retired from its co-editorship in 1895. In London of the 1890s Barr became a more prolific author—publishing a book a year—and was familiar with many of the best-selling authors of his day, including Bret Harte and Stephen Crane. Most of his literary output was of the crime genre, then quite in vogue. When Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories were becoming well-known Barr published in the Idler the first Holmes parody, "The Adventures of Sherlaw Kombs" (1892), a spoof that was continued a decade later in another Barr story, "The Adventure of the Second Swag" (1904). Despite the jibe at the growing Holmes phenomenon Barr and Doyle remained on very good terms. Doyle describes him in his memoirs Memories and Adventures as, "a volcanic Anglo—or rather Scot-American, with a violent manner, a wealth of strong adjectives, and one of the kindest natures underneath it all."

Robert Barr died from heart disease on October 21, 1912, at his home in Woldingham, a small village to the southeast of London.

Reviews

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining listening 🎧
Ten short detective novellas will written by Robert Barr with a mix very good and others coming up short. Each story is stand alone with it's own characters. I would recommend give it a try. Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening to books 📘😎 2021

I listened to this as part of The Detective Fiction Collection + Vol #1 . It was a quick entertanting listen.

This is a very good mystery novella quick read. As with all multipe story book, box set, and Megapack I like some better than other but the is normal 2021

[Henry Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I pull of my shelf perhaps once every ten years. The stories are of their time stylistically so there is an emphasis on the mechanics of the mysteries rather than the psychology of the characters. But they are very well written with a light touch. I would add that if Barr had written after Agatha Christie the stories would have been viewed as parodies of Hercule Poirot. However, I think it is clear Valmont was at least in part a source of inspiration for Christie of Poirot. This makes these stories important to be read for any serious fans of Christie.

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

The irony of The Triumphs of Eugène Valmont (1906) by Robert Barr is that the book begins with Valmont's biggest failure and proceeds to relate various other incidents where Valmont does not exactly shine. Assigned to protect the legendary diamond necklace once destined for Marie Antoinette, Valmont's job is to ensure its safety until it has been sold at auction and is delivered toits new rightful owner. He is easily misdirected and defeated by an amateur and dismissed from the French police force. He is not dismissed because he failed. He is not dismissed because he arrested the wrong man. He is dismissed because he made France the laughingstock of Europe.

Other adventures include infiltrating an anarchist group and substituting a spectacular firework for a bomb (one of the few escapades that actually goes well); the discovery of an ingenious fraud that results in his paying the criminals five shillings a week; helping the wrong man escape prison; helping to commit a murder; and having the wool pulled over his eyes by a pair of young lovers.

Valmont is credited by various crime fiction authorities as "the first, most important humorous detective in English literature" (Steinbrummer & Penzler, Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection). While it is true that I can see some elements of the pompous yet bumbling Inspector Clouseau in Valmont, I can't say that the humor is all that striking. Valmont is incredibly long-winded and repetitive in his narrative. And the irony of his inflated sense of his abilities doesn't provide the sense of the comic that one might expect.

Not one of my most enjoyable forays into early twentieth century mysteries.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Barr was a Canadian author who moved to England during the heyday of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. While remaining a friend of Doyle's he published several humorous detective stories mocking the British detective. And then, in 1906, he came out with The Triumphs of Eugène Valmont.

Valmont is a French detective who was made to leave the force when, through a mistake (explained in the first three stories in the collection, he arrests an English detective rather than the jewel thief. He sets up in London and, while shaking his head over the vagaries of English justice, manages to develop a clientele for himself. He is never quite so perfect as Sherlock Holmes, but he is at times amusing, though not always successful:

I hope I may never follow an example so deleterious, and thus be tempted to express my contempt for the stupidity with which, as all persons know, the official detective system of England is imbued. I have had my failures, of course. Did I ever pretend to be otherwise than human?

The only problem is that Valmont is too much the stage Frenchman. Compare him to, say, Flambeau in Chesterton's Father Brown stories, and you will see what I mean.

Still, these are amusing stories, though they never reach the level of excellence of either Doyle or Chesterton.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mystery of the Five Hundred Diamonds (First Three Chapters make up this short story) - 5 Stars
I. THE FINDING OF THE FATED FIVE HUNDRED
II. THE SCENE IN THE SALE ROOM
III. THE MIDNIGHT RACE DOWN THE SEINE

The Siamese Twin of a Bomb-Thrower (Chapters VI-VIII make up this short story) - 5 Stars
IV. THE ODDITIES OF THE ENGLISH
V. THE SIAMESE TWIN OF A BOMB THROWER
VI. A REBUFF AND A RESPONSE
VII. IN THE GRIP OF THE GREEN DEMON
VIII. THE FATE OF THE PICRIC BOMB

The Clue of the Silver Spoons (Chapters IX-X make up this short story) - 4 Stars
IX. THE DINNER FOR SEVEN IN THE TEMPLE
X. THE CLEW OF THE SILVER SPOONS


Lord Chizelrigg's Missing Fortune (Chapters XI-XII make up this short story) - 4 Stars
XI "O MY PROPHETIC SOUL, MY UNCLE!"
XII. LORD CHIZELRIGG'S MISSING FORTUNE

The Absent-Minded Coterie (Chapters XII-XVII make up this short story) - 5 Stars
XIII. THE FUTILITY OF A SEARCH WARRANT
XIV. MR. SPENSER HALE OF SCOTLAND YARD
XV. THE STRANGE HOUSE IN PARK LANE
XVI. THE QUEER SHOP IN TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD
XVII. THE ABSENT-MINDED COTERIE

The Ghost with the Club-Foot (Chapters XVIII-XX make up this short story) - 4.5 Stars
XVIII. THE SAD CASE OF SOPHIA BROOKS
XIX. A COMMISSION FROM LORD RANTREMLY
XX. THE GHOST WITH THE CLUBFOOT

The Liberation of Wyoming Ed - 3.5 Stars
XXI. THE SECRET OF A NOBLE HOUSE
XXII. LIBERATING THE WRONG MAN

Lady Alicia's Emeralds - 3 Stars
XXIII. THE FASCINATING LADY ALICIA
XXIV. WHERE THE EMERALDS WERE FOUND

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes, you will enjoy this book.podcast. Nice surprise at end.

[Robert Fila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable

Obviously comparable to Holmes but much closer to a fallible Poirot. Entertaining because of his failings, Valmont becomes human. Enjoyable.

[Adam Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

A short collection of long-winded stories about an unfunnily incompetent detective.

[The Celtic Rebel (Richard) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have heard of this book for many years but never ventured to read it. I can finally say I have and I really enjoyed it. Some of the stories were less interesting than others, but I think what I liked most was Valmont didn't mind admitting his failures and at the same time boasting about what a great detective he was. Along the way you get his brilliant observations on the differences between England and France.

[Sahil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked how the stories are not too long and some of them are interesting and could fall under detective stories. The stories are much closer to reality, where it is not the extreme brilliance like that of Sherlock Holmes that solves the problem but something like an average (or maybe a little smarter than average) person observes and solves the mysteries/problems. Valmont boasts much about himself with not enough to back it up. He solves problems(problems not mysteries) in an evidently commonplace manner. Like the story of Siamese twins, there is almost no mystery to be solved and it is just a problematic situation he finds himself in and then finds a way out.
Finally, the writer intends (hopefully intentional) to show how real life works and how stories like Sherlock Holmes are unrealistic. I guess that is where it is supposed to be a parody. A good attempt and I could not read the last two stories because the initial stories were a little too realistic.

Conclusion: Interesting in the beginning but gets boring as you realize more and more that Valmont is not superhuman. Also, Valmont refers (mostly brags) to his exploits or random stories to make a point which did not need the given level of elucidation, making it long-winded.

[Liz W · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for a reading challenge: Read a book with <500 Goodreads ratings. I looked at it and couldn't help but wonder 'why does a book published in 1906 only have 79 ratings?' The answer is apparently because it's fairly rubbish.

It's nothing more than a poor man's Sherlock Holmes. Now, I know that was the point. I know Robert Barr and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were good friends. I know that some of the short stories are literal parodies of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Fact is though: they're not very good. Two of the short stories didn't really make any sense, and for such a short narrative, they were difficult to follow.

If it hadn't been for the fact I actually quite enjoyed 2 of the short stories in the middle, I'd have relegated it to a 1 star read.

[Eugene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1906 this is an excellent collection of stories about the great former French detective, Eugene Valmont, no resident and detecting in London. Pompous and egotistical, it's easy to wonder if Monsieur Valmont is the prototype for Christie's Poirot. Anyway, a thoroughly entertaining re-read.

[Cindy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like main character & plots plus the satire of Sherlock Holmes - terrific! Classic mystery with some romance. Love the (Czechchris) narration! Recommended!

Spelled his named wrong in the librivox rating... apologies.

[Amaha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and fast paced, kind of Holmes meets Maigret with a little Poirot. As might be expected of a Scottish writer with a French character, lots of wry observations about the strangeness of British culture- especially their quaint concern with the rights of crime suspects.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

A vain French detective...yet endearing
A series of cases ...some solving by themselves ...some with some effort. ..what's most entertaining about the book is the sarcastic differences between the English and the French ways as brought forth by the detective. It's a nice read .

[Eric Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m sorry but I don’t like this book at all and can’t finish it

[Janis]

DNF

[Naticia · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this was supposed to be funny, it wasn't. Some of the stories were pretty good. Most of them were just ok.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The man who dared make fun of Sherlock Holmes....

The 1930's and 1940's are spoken of as the "Golden Age of 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 chutzpah 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.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would work as an attempt to cash in on the Holmes craze, except the author is too concerned with poking fun at the detective genre, and is too concerned with being witty and clever, rather then creating a good character.

Half the mysteries are clever, half are crap, Valmont tells us he's a genius, but in action he is barely competent.
He has almost no supporting cast, so all we get is Valmont talking to himself.

There are a couple stories in this collection where everything clicks and the story and humor hit just the right balance, but the majority are really weak, if not outright annoying.

Some of the observations of the difference between the French and the British are cute, but for the most part, you will understand why there is only this one book and why Valmont is not more well know.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eugène Valmont, a conceited, pompous, vain French detective, acts as comic mouthpiece in these satirical tales, which poke fun at both detective stories and English society. You need a little background in the popular fiction of the time to get some of the humor. Barr often is spoofing some of the more sensational fiction of the Victorian age here, but he has also created a memorable character, hailed by some critics as "the first, most important humorous detective in English literature. This collection of stories is something of a romp, though I found there was a sort of stylistic repetitiveness in Valmont's wordy first-person accounts that precluded rating the stories more highly.

[Miguel Blanco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo mejor es el tono humorístico de cada relato, pero los dos últimos, correspondientes al personaje de Conan Doyle, me parecen los mejores, regocijantes, desbordando la ironía del autor al volcarse en Holmes y "sus triunfos". Aunque puedo disfrutar de estas lecturas en su idioma original, no me atrevo a expresar mis opiniones en su lengua, por no destrozar algo tan hermoso. Muchas gracias.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Same idea as "The Father Brown Mysteries" by G.K.Chesterton. Each chapter is a mystery - so it's like a series of short stories with a main character - in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes. And the mysteries were pretty good. A nice read for an afternoon. Liked the whole French/English tussle.

[Jeff Hobbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stories read--
The Mystery of the Five Hundred Diamonds--2
The Siamese Twin of a Bomb-Thrower--2
The Clue of the Silver Spoons--2
Lord Chizelrigg's Missing Fortune--3
The Absent-minded Coterie--3
The Ghost with the Club-foot--3
The Liberation of Wyoming Ed--2
Lady Alicia's Emeralds--1

[Salome · Rating 1 out of 5]

This humor is absolutely not my cup of tea.

[Yorky Caz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes but this book just didnt live upto them. slow paced and frankly boring

[Janeil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a favorite. I got a little lost with some of the language.

[ShanDizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting cases, some trivial, some of great importance. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the atmosphere and attitudes of that time period.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: the exploits of the elegant and cunning sleuth, Valmont. A parody of Holmes.