The Case of the Crumpled Knave

Fergus O'Breen Mysteries #1

by Anthony Boucher

"Who's Bluffing?" — A cryptic telegram ... two ingenious and quite different sets of clues ... and each of the half dozen suspects a bit of an imposter .... — It was a case that staggered the imagination of everyone involved. Until detective Fergus O'Breen began to sort out the facts. And discovered that what appeared to be fact was really fiction ... and that the real truth lay behind a whimsical legend -- and the body of another dead man.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Classics, Golden Age Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Crime

237 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

William Anthony Parker White, better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher, was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio dramas. Between 1942 and 1947, he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle. In addition to "Anthony Boucher", White also employed the pseudonym "H. H. Holmes", which was the pseudonym of a late-19th-century American serial killer; Boucher would also write light verse and sign it " Herman W. Mudgett" (the murderer's real name).
In a 1981 poll of 17 detective story writers and reviewers, his novel Nine Times Nine was voted as the ninth best locked room mystery of all time.

Reviews

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anthony Boucher was a household name in his day. A book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, a poet; a writer of science fiction, short stories, light noir novels and radio plays, and one of the first translators of Jorge Luis Borges. How sad that Boucher is not remembered in the same way as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Carver!

The Case of the Crumpled Knave is the second novel in a series featuring young Irish private eye Fergus O’Breen. The novel begins with the death of a cruel chemical researcher, and Boucher throws enough twists and turns into the book for two mystery novels — so many twists that I’m afraid to say any more for fear of spoiling the surprises. I enjoyed every single page. Highly recommended.

[Jazz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Boucher's 1939 mystery carried all the trappings of the Golden Age. It was a delight to read. Fergus O'Breen fancies himself a detective, and the traditional "all the suspects in a room" at the end is always a fun wrap-up of the mystery. The characters were distinctive (it's always a big plus for me when I don't have to go back and review exactly who they are). The solution seemed as though Boucher gave himself several ways to go in the end, then he chose the one he felt would most surprise his audience. For me, he succeeded.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's like a Hollywood B-movie from the 1940's and I mean that in the best possible sense.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fergus O'Breen does a job for a retired scientist whose daughter is a friend of O'Breen's sister. But when the scientist is found murdered and the daughter's actor-fiance is arrested, Fergus must see if he can clear the man. Unfortunately, there are only a few people in the house when the death occurs, and the clues point firmly toward the fiance. Fergus can choose among the dead man's daughter, his mysterious protege, his lab assistant, and his loathed brother-in-law. A second death reduces the suspect list even further.

[Tony Renner · Rating 2 out of 5]

The supremely silly The Case of the Crumpled Knave (1939) is Anthony Boucher's second mystery novel and the first of four to feature Fergus O'Breen. William F. Nolan, writing on MysteryNet.com says, O'Breen "was conceived as a kind of West Coast Ellery Queen with an Irish brogue."

Throughout the novel Boucher breaks the fourth-wall with characters commenting on the fact that they are characters in a book. Boucher, who is probably best known as an editor and critic, is also not adverse to dropping the names of other writers:

"As a private investigator," Fergus answered as they settled into a booth, "I'm as unorthodox as hell. Mr. Latimer [creator of Bill Crane, the drunk detective] wouldn't approve of me one little bit. I rarely drink on a case at all, and never before lunch."

"You got it all wrong... There's no John Dickson Carr touch to this -- no locked room problem at all. In a way I'm sorry. I've always wondered if those things happened in real life...."

This department isn't afraid to call in reinforcements to do the heavy lifting so here's Will Cuppy commenting on The Case of the Crumpled Knave in the April 16, 1939, edition of the New York Herald Tribune Books:

"Sure enough, Mr. Garnett is soon lifeless (prussic acid) beside a jack of diamonds.... Mr. Garnett was a collector of playing cards, much interested in the more scholarly and abstract aspects of same. He was much given to muttering, 'Which is the true symbol of life -- chess or cards?' and such things. (Chess probably is, if you call that life.)"

I was thrilled to find that the public library had a copy of the original Simon & Schuster hardcover. Nice to know that The Case of the Crumpled Knave has gotten checked out often enough to avoid the dreaded cull.

Two daggers out of four.

[Timothy VanderWall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Case of the Crumpled Knave was my first exposure to Anthony Boucher (that I can recall). From the start it drew me into the mystery. There were just a few characters (like a good cozy should have), but I swear that I must have changed my mind a dozen times about whodunit! When our team of detectives - a young private eye on his first murder case and a retired Army colonel - finally unwraps the solution, I was left feeling totally stupid. All the clues were there, but I followed every red herring instead of the true clues. I enjoyed every minute!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great puzzle, wonderful characters. The Mysterious Press/Open Road ebook is full of typographical mistakes.

[Jameson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have the feeling this would have felt very fresh in 1940—not unlike Scream in 1996. It kind of crosses American hardboiled and English cosy, a bit like Rex Stout, with our detective cracking meta jokes all the while. I like Boucher and I was hoping this would be excellent, but it was just okay. The clever, tongue-in-cheek style, I have to be in the mood for: sometimes it seems funner to write than to read. I hope the next The O’Breen book is better.

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a year or so before America enters World War II, and Los Angeles private detective Fergus O'Breen is called on to investigate a mysterious death. Lots of references to cards (playing and tarot) and adherence to the structure of the classic puzzle mystery make this a good choice for a light read.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant book--Boucher knows the ins and outs of what a mystery should be, but is too workmanlike in his inning and outing. The screwball comedy falls a little flat, there are too many twists to follow, and the characters are real but not fleshed out much. Still, pleasant.

[Leslie Nagel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not finish this book. The writing was so convoluted and indirect, I couldn't follow the thread or get caught up in any characters. Switching POV's is a tricky proposition at the best of times.

[Erik Deckers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could have given Ellery Queen a run for his money

I really enjoyed this book club and several times I had to check to make sure I wasn't reading an Ellery Queen book. I only just discovered Anthony Boucher and I'm sorry I didn't find him sooner.

[Rose Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good novel, terrible editing. Multiple misspelled words and autocorrect errors.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as entertaining as I found the other two Boucher's I've read, but that's maybe because the niche world here is one of chess and card playing? It's a solid intro to Fergus as a character though and I'm definitely down for reading the rest of the series!

[John Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately a little dated in its dialogue. This is the first book in which Fergus O’Breen appears; I haven’t read any of his other adventures in a very long time so I can’t recall if he improves, but here he seems unable to put two sentences together in a serious tone and without a very self-conscious use of slang. A little too much of the Bright Young People, heavily seasoned with references to his Irish ancestry as the cause of his persona. He frequently refers to himself as The O’Breen (use of “The” in this way identifies the head of the clan); there’s another character he calls almost exclusively “the Sallice”—possibly sometimes “the Sallice wench”—instead of “Miss Sallice” or “Camilla”.

As for the plot: reasonably interesting, appropriately convoluted. And when the suspects were all gathered in the parlor sun porch waiting for Fergus to say “Thou art the man”, he first identifies the three motives that led to his deduction. I said to myself “it’s X ”, sadly not realizing that motive #1 exonerated X . And then Fergus announced “it’s Y ”. “Brilliant,” I thought; “this is a unique dénouement in my experience.” Only to have another character pipe up with “That would be brilliant—except you’ve overlooked [very technical] fact a and [very technical but made extremely clear early and often] fact b . Which all means that the murderer is in fact Z .”

The result? I’d probably have given two stars for style, but I’m bumping the review up to four stars for the story as a story.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-told and enjoyable classic American mystery.
I haven't really made up my mind between three stars and four. (I'm a hard grader, I think.) It starts out, and continues for a while, as not quite up to the other books I've read from Boucher. One or two elements can seem a bit corny. (But then, so can many real-life aspects of Los Angeles, then and now, and that's where the story is set.) Also, there are some revelations due to facts brought in out of the blue in the middle of the story. This is something I don't particularly like, being a fair-play fan.
But the final resolution involves really fine deduction. And at the very end, there's an excellent double twist. One half of the double twist--not the one involving the murder--is, I believe, unique in my experience, at least in anything like this fully developed form. (That development, perhaps, required and even justified some of the shortcomings of the earlier part of the story.)

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boucher, yoouuu turn me inside out!

The first detective adventure of Fergus displays the traits which made me love the series.... links to an esoteric area of knowledge (cards and card collecting), and a cast of Characters. A fine and satisfying launch to later development of O'Breen and his associates