Stark House’s reprint of Talbot Mundy’s The Marriage of Meldrum Strange (1930) brings to a new generation of readers a novel both comic, calamitous, and complex. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that The Marriage of Meldrum Strange was first published in the October 10, 1923 issue of Adventure. Talbot Mundy was one of the premier adventure writers of that time in the league with H. Rider Haggard and Robert E. Howard.
Meldrum Strange is a billionaire obsessed with Cottswold Ommony’s forest. Ommony concocts a devious plan to block Strange’s efforts to acquire the forest. The Marriage of Meldrum Strange is a mix of clever plotting and curious characters.
David Vineyard provides an insightful Introduction to Talbot Mundy. This Stark House edition includes a useful Bibliography of Talbot Mundy’s work. The Marriage of Meldrum Strange is a perfect Summer Reading book! GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
TALBOT MUNDY By David Vineyard — 7
1. “Well met!” — 10
2. “I’m thinking.” — 18
3. “Perhaps a hundred years from now——” — 29
4. As Esther to Ahasuerus — 38
5. “Sheep’s bones and no strynchine!” — 54
6. “C. O. to Z. P.” “Z. P. to C. O.” — 66
8. “And now for the really difficult part!” — 85
9. “Tiger!” — 94
10. “Up to you, sir!” — 109
11. “Who eats crow, eh? Wait and see!” — 118
12. “Is everything ready?” — 128
13. “Watch! Watch! Be still!” (“AH-H-H!”) — 138
14. “Chullunder Ghose prays to all the Gods!” — 145
Talbot Mundy Bibliography (1876-1940) — 158