Black Moon: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Five

The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin #5

by Seabury Quinn

The concluding volume in a series collecting the stories of Jules de Grandin, the supernatural detective made famous in the classic pulp magazine Weird Tales .
Today the names of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Clark Ashton Smith, all regular contributors to the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the first half of the twentieth century, are recognizable even to casual readers of the bizarre and fantastic. And yet despite being more popular than them all during the golden era of genre pulp fiction, there is another author whose name and work have fallen into Seabury Quinn.

Quinn’s short stories were featured in well over half of Weird Tales ’s original publication run. His most famous character, the French supernatural detective Dr. Jules de Grandin, investigated cases involving monsters, devil worshippers, serial killers, and spirits from beyond the grave, often set in the small town of Harrisonville, New Jersey. In de Grandin there are familiar shades of both Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, and alongside his assistant, Dr. Samuel Trowbridge, de Grandin’s knack for solving mysteries—and his outbursts of peculiar French-isms ( Grand Dieu! )—captivated readers for nearly three decades.

Available for the first time in trade editions, The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin collects all ninety-three published works featuring the supernatural detective. Presented in chronological order over five volumes, this is the definitive collection of an iconic pulp hero.

The fifth volume, Black Moon , includes all the stories from “Suicide Chapel” (1938) to “The Ring of Bastet” (1951), as well as an introduction by George Vanderburgh and Robert Weinberg and a foreword by Stephen Jones.

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Short Stories, Mystery, Paranormal, Fantasy, Weird Fiction

745 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 19, 2019

About the author

Best know as an American pulp author for Weird Tales, for which he wrote a series of stories about occult detective Jules de Grandin. He was the author of non-fiction legal and medical texts and editor of Casket & Sunnyside, a trade journal for mortuary jurisprudence. He also published fiction for Embalming Magazine, another mortuary periodical.

Reviews

[Steve Rainwater · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fifth and final volume of Jules de Grandin mysteries...

See my review of volume one for the background, everything in that review applies to this volume. As with each volume in this set, Quinn's writing continues to improve as time goes by. The last volume continues the mix of supernatural plots and debunking of hoaxes used to cover other crimes. I've enjoyed reading my way through so many years of Quinn's stories of Jules de Grandin and I definitely recommend this five volume set to anyone else interested in the pulp era equivalent of the X Files.

[READERS RETREAT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of short stories done by one author

[TMN · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read alle the Jules de Grandin stories written by Seabury Quinn I can't but share Lovecraft's low opinion of the series. Quinn writes well, no doubt about that, in fact he writes better than many of his colleagues that also wrote for Weird Tales. The monsters that appeared inn the stories were often intriguing if traditional (vampires, werewolves, ghouls and zombies being the most easily recognizable of these) and he knew how to setup a story, but unfortunately the stories fizzle out towards the end, in fact Quinn seemed unable to write an ending that matched the setup in power and as a result it feels anti-climatic as well as artificial in the worst sense of the word. The villains, human or otherwise, are often offed offstage by a morally upset (and confused) Jules de Grandin. The results are far from being satisfing for this reader, or as Lovecraft would probably have put it: The stories are not for discerning readers.se
I would rate the Jules de grandin tales far below the best stories of H P Lovecraft, Robert E Howard, C L Moore and Clark Asthon Smith. I would even rate them below the weird tales of August Derleth and Dorothy Quick. But pulp fanatics will probably enjoy them anyway.
A few Words about the characters:
Dr Trowbridge, who I believe it's fair to characterize as a cut-rate Dr. Watson, is, to put it bluntly, thick as a brick, so how he passed his exams at Medical School is a mystery, unless the standards were much lower back then og he bribed someone. Despite all the brushes he and the French midget have had with the supernatural he remains as sceptical as ever at the beginning of each new adventure, and there are close to a hundred of them. This is a guy who obviously NEVER learns from experience.
The chief characteristic of Jules de Grandin, besides his bad temper and love of booze, that is, is his admirable ability to mangle the English language. He is supposed to be an intelligent man but he speaks as if he were mentally deficient. I have heard my own laguage spoken by people from as far away as Romania, Bulgaria and Senegal, and they have all been fluent in it, despite having been in the country for a much shorter period than de Gradin has been in America. That means that he is either to stupid to learn a new language or he is being deliberately obnoxious, which would be childish as well as rather irresponsible of him. "An appendix with tinnitus, you say? Name of a blue pig, this modern American he confuse me, friend Trowbridge. Is it that my hearing be not good or me drink one bottle to much of this so delicious moonshine? Me much confused now. Beard of yellow bellygoat. Billygoat? Merde!"
And not to forget that polieman of Irish ancestry. The way he is made to speak is an (probably unintended) insult to the Irish.

[Per · Rating 2 out of 5]

Suicide Chapel
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

The Venomed Breath of Vengeance
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

Black Moon
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

The Poltergeist of Swan Upping
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

The House Where Time Stood Still
https://archive.org/details/weird-tal...

Mansions in the Sky
https://archive.org/details/weird-tal...

The House of the Three Corpses
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

Stoneman's Memorial
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

Death's Bookkeeper
https://archive.org/details/WeirdTale...

The Green God's Ring
https://archive.org/details/weird-tal...

Lords of the Ghostlands
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

Kurban
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

The Man in Crescent Terrace
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

Three in Chains
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

Catspaws
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

Lotte
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

Eyes in the Dark
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

Clair de Lune
https://archive.org/details/weird-tal...

Vampire Kith and Kin
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

Conscience Maketh Cowards
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

The Body-Snatchers
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

The Ring of Bastet
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

[D J Rout · Rating 4 out of 5]

The problem with this final collection is there are no notes on when and where each story originally appeared. On the assumption that they are ordered in chronological publication order, you can see how Quinn's style develops, although the characters of de Grandin and Trowbridge don't change very much over time.

the final story reads very much like Quinn was going through the motions of a formula he had developed over the decades. Never mind that, the early stories are at the peak of Quinn's writing and style. And so, there are some compellingly good and gory stories here, and of course if you've read the first four volumes, why would you stop?

The introduction is worth your attention, too.

it's a shame that 'literary' fiction has eclipsed this type and quality of writing. We need another 'Weird Tales' magazine to encourage it. As I understand it, there is a 'Weird Tales' magazine, but does it encourage this sort of writing?

[Nicholas Hudson · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the title story, Jules de Grandin calls in the KKK (who he whole-heartedly approves of) to terrify the local black population. Even though it's only the third story in the collection, the racism is no longer surprising.

And while it's hard to look past the bigotry (lots of sexism too!), if you do, the stories aren't well-written either. This volume is mainly of historic interest, though I suppose one could also read it to learn how not to write.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

De Grandin Strikes Again...

Again, as always, the weird tale classic of Jules DeGrandin adventures. As usual, he saves the day with dry wit and humor, when he takes on the mundane and supernatural villainies. Too bad it's the last volume of the series. And as always, strongly recommended.

[Joel Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final volume in the collection of tales featuring the (somewhat conceited but humorous) supernatural investigator Jules de Grandin. These tales were largely first published in the pages of the pulp magazine Weird Tales. For a long time, these stories have been difficult to find and this collection is a boon to collectors.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Supernatural Sherlock Holmes is at it again. This is the last book of the complete tales, mostly late in the series. To be honest, a lot of them don't have much of a pop. Some of them use De Grandin as a framing device for other characters. That's when you know a series has reached decadence.

Still, a few good stories in there.

[Stephen Snead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written. Not a quick read.

As the introduction says these stories are better read slowly as in one a sitting. The writing is good but as most writing of the early 20th century it's not as simple or toned down as today's. I read these stories over a year. Just coming back when I had time to sit and consume the story.

[Bleachedblackcat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure pulp, you could tell what scenes were going to be getting the cover page due to scantily clad women. But I still enjoy them even if they are not the best written ones. Fantasy horror brain candy for me

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, well written and entertaining.
It was a great discovery and I couldn't put this book down.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Night Shade and Edelweiss for this ARC

[Carolyn Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

The grand finale

This interesting book is the fifth and final collection, as well as the most enjoyable of a very good (if dated) series of tales.