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Thackeray Phin #1
Black aura
Book by Sladek, John Thomas
224 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1974
93 people want to read
About the author
John Sladek
106 books81 followers
John Thomas Sladek
(generally published as John Sladek or John T. Sladek, as well as under the pseudonyms Thom Demijohn, Barry DuBray, Carl Truhacker and others) was an American science fiction author, known for his satirical and surreal novels.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 11, 2019
E: But what can that possibly have to do--?
TP: Nothing, nothing. Detectives always seize upon some insignificant detail when they're stuck.
(Ernestine; Thackery Phin; p. 47)
Black Aura (1974) by John Sladek finds bookish amateur sleuth Thackery Phin up to his eyebrows in mysticism and impossibilities. Having recently put an ad in the paper peddling his talents to those in need:
AMERICAN PHILOSOPHER seeks worry. On leave in London, this drop-out from a think tank, professional logician and amateur sleuth would like a challenge. Anything irrational considered.
And, having had few takers, he decides to investigate another sort of mystery--the occult, the arcane and mystical. His attention is drawn to the Aetheric Mandala Society, a townhouse spiritual commune run by medium Viola Webb. Members include a pop star recovering from drug addiction, a doctor who is seeking the truth about his son's death a few years ago [the son was a member at the time], a scientist whose aim is to debunk the society's so-called powers, a misfit secretary to the society, and a reverend with more interest in spirits than most British religious figures. He sets out to find out what truth, if any, there is in the society's claims and winds up investigating murders.
But before he does sort it out, he has to deal with all kinds of supernatural paraphernalia: scarabs, Egyptian curses, Nostradamus, voices from the great beyond, spirit writing, etc. And the story is full of impossibilities--from the doctor who disappears from a locked bathroom, to the pop star who levitates four stories above the ground and eight feet out from the townhouse, to the reverend who walks into a funeral home's chapel and disappears leaving only his raincoat behind. Thackery is determined to get to the bottom of it and decides that one more murder is necessary...his own.
"I've got to get back to the house before it's too late." [Phin]
"Too late? Too late to prevent another killing?" [Inspector Gaylord]
"No, too late to have another killing. It's absolutely essential to have one more murder. Goodbye, Inspector." [Phin]
Fortunately, he doesn't really have to die to flush out the villain of the piece.
Considering this was written in the 1970s--long past the Golden Age--this is a very good locked room (rooms, actually) story. A very odd setting and an interestingly peculiar amateur detective. But very good. In fact, Phin's advertisement does remind me a bit of two of Christie's Golden Age series--Tommy & Tuppence's "Young Adventurers Ltd" Ad and that of Parker Pyne--in which investigators try to bring clients to them. Of course, Phin doesn't really get involved in his little mystery through the advertisement, but it is a nice throwback to the vintage era.
I thought Sladek played his locked room tricks very nicely--though I would like to see the levitating method in action. I'm having a difficult time picturing it exactly. But that did not detract from the mystery at all. Quite an engaging novel all round.
[First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting content. Thanks.
TP: Nothing, nothing. Detectives always seize upon some insignificant detail when they're stuck.
(Ernestine; Thackery Phin; p. 47)
Black Aura (1974) by John Sladek finds bookish amateur sleuth Thackery Phin up to his eyebrows in mysticism and impossibilities. Having recently put an ad in the paper peddling his talents to those in need:
AMERICAN PHILOSOPHER seeks worry. On leave in London, this drop-out from a think tank, professional logician and amateur sleuth would like a challenge. Anything irrational considered.
And, having had few takers, he decides to investigate another sort of mystery--the occult, the arcane and mystical. His attention is drawn to the Aetheric Mandala Society, a townhouse spiritual commune run by medium Viola Webb. Members include a pop star recovering from drug addiction, a doctor who is seeking the truth about his son's death a few years ago [the son was a member at the time], a scientist whose aim is to debunk the society's so-called powers, a misfit secretary to the society, and a reverend with more interest in spirits than most British religious figures. He sets out to find out what truth, if any, there is in the society's claims and winds up investigating murders.
But before he does sort it out, he has to deal with all kinds of supernatural paraphernalia: scarabs, Egyptian curses, Nostradamus, voices from the great beyond, spirit writing, etc. And the story is full of impossibilities--from the doctor who disappears from a locked bathroom, to the pop star who levitates four stories above the ground and eight feet out from the townhouse, to the reverend who walks into a funeral home's chapel and disappears leaving only his raincoat behind. Thackery is determined to get to the bottom of it and decides that one more murder is necessary...his own.
"I've got to get back to the house before it's too late." [Phin]
"Too late? Too late to prevent another killing?" [Inspector Gaylord]
"No, too late to have another killing. It's absolutely essential to have one more murder. Goodbye, Inspector." [Phin]
Fortunately, he doesn't really have to die to flush out the villain of the piece.
Considering this was written in the 1970s--long past the Golden Age--this is a very good locked room (rooms, actually) story. A very odd setting and an interestingly peculiar amateur detective. But very good. In fact, Phin's advertisement does remind me a bit of two of Christie's Golden Age series--Tommy & Tuppence's "Young Adventurers Ltd" Ad and that of Parker Pyne--in which investigators try to bring clients to them. Of course, Phin doesn't really get involved in his little mystery through the advertisement, but it is a nice throwback to the vintage era.
I thought Sladek played his locked room tricks very nicely--though I would like to see the levitating method in action. I'm having a difficult time picturing it exactly. But that did not detract from the mystery at all. Quite an engaging novel all round.
[First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting content. Thanks.
December 26, 2020
Außergewöhnlicher Detektiv-Roman. Sehr unterhaltsam.
July 6, 2012
An uninspiring mystery and boring characters.
June 17, 2024
Black Aura is a bit of an oddity: a locked-room mystery written in the seventies, a decade not necessarily known for its interest in impossible crimes or classically styled detective puzzles. Sladek is clearly a fan of mystery fiction and he manages to give the story a unique spin by setting it among hippies, weirdos and junkies. If anything, the book is very good at conveying a strong sense of time and place.
It’s main downfall, to me, was its lack of originality. We get two puzzles here: a man disappearing from a locked bathroom, and another person seemingly levitating in mid-air before falling to his death. I already feared the locked-room mystery would have one of those infuriatingly trivial solutions, hinging on the entire locked-room aspect being a misconception of sorts and sadly that’s exactly what I got. The solution to the impossible crime meanwhile could be described by using an Agatha Christie title (hint: it’s a Miss Marple novel). The master John Dickson Carr did this much better in one of his best-known works.
As a pure homage to Golden Age detective fiction this is serviceable. I did not care much for the humour, but understand, that this is a subjective thing. I thought the follow-up Invisible Green was marginally superior to this, since it at least tried to do something new with its locked-room trick.
It’s main downfall, to me, was its lack of originality. We get two puzzles here: a man disappearing from a locked bathroom, and another person seemingly levitating in mid-air before falling to his death. I already feared the locked-room mystery would have one of those infuriatingly trivial solutions, hinging on the entire locked-room aspect being a misconception of sorts and sadly that’s exactly what I got. The solution to the impossible crime meanwhile could be described by using an Agatha Christie title (hint: it’s a Miss Marple novel). The master John Dickson Carr did this much better in one of his best-known works.
As a pure homage to Golden Age detective fiction this is serviceable. I did not care much for the humour, but understand, that this is a subjective thing. I thought the follow-up Invisible Green was marginally superior to this, since it at least tried to do something new with its locked-room trick.
June 20, 2018
Too bad Sladek didn’t write any more Phin books.
December 23, 2021
Excelente, otra interesante y muy bien elaborada obra de Sladek. Su detective prueba estar a la altura de los mejores del género, Gideon Fell y Ellery Queen.
October 27, 2013
I liked what I'd read, unfortunately the copy I have is misbound, jumping from page 64 to page 97. Not the best thing to happen in a mystery novel. Hopefully I'll find it elsewhere and finish it someday...
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews