The Master of the Macabre
The Master of the Macabre is a novel by Russell Thorndike. First published in 1947 by Rich & Cowan, it was critically well-received and was his penultimate novel. It consists of a series of short stories woven together by a framing mechanism.
The novel was republished in 2013 by Valancourt Books, with its original cover art and an introduction by Mark Valentine.
Plot
[edit]Thriller writer Tayler Kent, caught in a blizzard en route to his Romney Marsh cottage, stops to deliver a package to Charles Hogarth, a mysterious collector of supernatural stories and strange ephemera that has earned him the moniker "the Master of the Macabre". Nursing an injury from a car crash, Kent stays with Hogarth in his decrepit home, a haunted former monastery. He witnesses supernatural occurrences as Hogarth relates a series of stories illustrating his unique collection of macabre items.
Critical Reception
[edit]Thorndike was most well known as the creator of the Doctor Syn novels. Critics viewed The Master of the Macabre as an extension of his work as a writer of thrillers, and the phrase had been used to describe him in previous works. Some critics noted the "Arabian Nights" style of structure, "well-written in more than one sense of the term."[1]
The Sphere called it "extraordinary", with other critics also praising the suspenseful, supernatural-laden stories.[2][3][4][5]
The Middlesex Independent and West London Star observed that the novel went farther than Thorndike's Syn novels, moving into different and more extreme types of horror and grotesqueries.[6]
The Evening Herald was less favorable, citing M.R. James and Sheridan Le Fanu as setting a higher standard for the genre.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ "Books Reviewed". The Press and Journal. 31 January 1948.
- ^ Fane, Vernon (3 January 1948). "The World of Books". The Sphere.
- ^ "For Your Book List". The Nottingham Journal. 19 December 1947.
- ^ "New Novels for Your Bookshelf". The Montrose Review. 26 December 1947.
- ^ "Raising the Short Hairs". Melbourne Herald. 20 March 1948.
- ^ "Among the New Books: not to be read late at night". Middlesex Independent and West London Star. 17 January 1948.
- ^ "Saturday Evening Bookshelf: Ghost Stories". The Evening Herald. 24 January 1948.