I’ve been a big fan of Night Shade Books’s volumes in The Complete Stories of Jules de Grandin series. Black Moon, just published, is the fifth and final volume. Seabury Quinn created a psychic investigator whose cases usually involved weird, occult, and supernatural aspects. For four decades, Seabury Quinn wrote stories that attracted a devoted audience of readers. The stories in this collection bring together Jules de Grandin stories from the late Thirties, all of the Forties, and a couple stories from the Fifties.
As I’ve mentioned in reviews of previous volumes in this series, you will in enjoy these stories a little at a time–no binging! My review of Horror on the Links can be found here, The Devil’s Rosary here, The Dark Angel here, and A Rival From the Grave here. If you’re a fan of classic pulp fiction stories that deal with mysterious and unexplained happenings, you’ll love the Jules de Grandin stories! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction—George A. Vanderburgh and Robert E. Weinberg
Foreword—Stephen Jones
1938
Suicide Chapel (Weird Tales, June 1938*)
The Venomed Breath of Vengeance (Weird Tales, August 1938)
Black Moon (Weird Tales, October 1938)
1939
The Poltergeist of Swan Upping (Weird Tales, February 1939)
The House Where Time Stood Still (Weird Tales, March 1939)
Mansions in the Sky (Weird Tales, June-July 1939)
The House of the Three Corpses (Weird Tales, August 1939)
1942–1945
Stoneman’s Memorial (Weird Tales, May 1942)
Death’s Bookkeeper (Weird Tales, July 1944^)
The Green God’s Ring (Weird Tales, January 1945)
Lords of the Ghostlands (Weird Tales, March 1945^)
1946
Kurban (Weird Tales, January 1946^)
The Man in Crescent Terrace (Weird Tales, March 1946)
Three in Chains (Weird Tales, May 1946)
Catspaws (Weird Tales, July 1946+)
Lottë (Weird Tales, September 1946)
Eyes in the Dark (Weird Tales, November 1946)
1947-1951
Clair de Lune (Weird Tales, November 1947)
Vampire Kith and Kin (Weird Tales, May 1949)
Conscience Maketh Cowards (Weird Tales, November 1949)
The Body Snatchers (Weird Tales, November 1950)
The Ring of Bastet (Weird Tales, September 1951)
*Cover by Margaret Brundage
^Cover by A.R. Tilburne
+Cover by Matt Fox
George, with a cover like that I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to resist buying the books in the Jules de Grandin series. I have, of course, never read any of Seabury Quinn’s stories.
Prashant, you have some great reading ahead of you when you read the Jules de Grandin series! But, best enjoyed in small doses!
I agree. No binge reading. Now that I finished the Raoul Whitfield collection of Jo Gar stories, I will start on the Quinns. I read volume one years ago and have the second volume on the Kindle. I might need to get all of them.
Jeff, I find reading the Jules de Grandin stories fun, fun, fun. But, only in small doses. Binging on Seabury Quinn can result in diminishing returns.
Completely new to me.
Patti, Jules de Grandin was a very popular character in almost 100 stories written by Seabury Quinn for mostly WEIRD TALES. The series lasted for decades and was very popular with supernatural and occult readers. NIGHT SHADE BOOKS has reprinted all the stories for the first time in five wonderful volumes.
OK, I checked my Kindle (it’s hard to remember exactly what I have with over 500 books on there!) and found that I had volumes two and four. Then I went to Amazon and, voila! Volume one (HORROR ON THE LINKS) is available on Kindle at the bargain price of $1.99! Of course, I snapped it up and will start from the beginning.
Jeff, good move! I read the stories in order, too.
George, I really like the de Grandin stories. Seabury Quinn, like many pulpsters, was not stylist but he sure could carry the reader along with his storytelling. De Grandin is a great hero — pompous, brave, an expert on the occult, and — while definitely on the side of good — could be totally amoral when need be. Par la barbe d’une chat!
All that being said, I was disappointed that the series ended with “The Ring of Bastet,” the only dud of the 93 de Grandin adventures. De Grandin, Trowbridge, abd readers deserved much beeter
Jerry, I agree with you. “The Ring of Bastet” shows that Seabury Quinn was running out of gas at the end of a long writing career.
I’m sure it’s fine for those who like such fiction. I’m not a fancier of it. The covers on the collections have been good.
Rick, I’m with you on the covers of NIGHT SHADE BOOKS’s June de Grandin series. Very cool!
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