#o jacques

[tamarindfever]

The only moment, in the first ten Thinking Machine stories written, in which Augustus Van Dusen (the titular thought-machine) resembles a human being. An Angry Young Man comes to see the famously competent Van Dusen, and much to his surprise, finds a little man with a weirdly big head. And much to our surprise, Van Dusen actually reacts.

Oh, what fun we could've had in these stories, if Futrelle had allowed Van Dusen to be a person with remarkable brain-power, rather than a "machine."

[tamarindfever]

Goodness me! Can it be? Am I actually enjoying a Jacques Futrelle story?

Herbert Conway, detective of Scotland Yard, knows that Bradlee Leighton is behind the disappearance of Lady Varron's necklace, valued at 40,000 pounds. He gets on a ship with Leighton, and searches his cabin while Leighton plays bridge. Not finding anything, he concludes that Leighton must be concealing the necklace on his person:

Combine this with Conway's enthusiastic, voluble admiration of Leighton's criminal cleverness, and you almost have a completely different story: no longer detective fiction, but romantic comedy.

Allow me to elaborate:

Exhibit A:

That Leighton! He sure is one smart cookie. Conway seethes at being thwarted, but is simultaneously more admiring of him than ever. Meanwhile, Leighton waltzes off, secure in the knowledge that he drives Conway completely insane. Leighton, that hair-flipping mastermind! He's pretty, and he knows it.

Exhibit B:

Hutchinson Hatch and Conway, both being completely obsessed with people way smarter than them (Van Dusen and Leighton, respectively.)

Exhibit C:

This tendency of Conway's to be rather eloquent in his admiration of Leighton.

[tamarindfever]

Some violent hand-holding afoot in Mr. & Mrs. Oliver's opera box

"They chatted together for a minute or so and under cover of darkness his hand caught hers and held it a fluttering prisoner."

- Problem of the Opera box, Jacques Futrelle

Words cannot describe how repellent this is. There's nothing creepier than a something that's clearly intended to be romantic, and simultaneously implies that one party lacks agency.