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
Cottswold Ommony?
That doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue!
Jeff, if you’re trying to write a novel with comic aspects…it does!
First I have heard the name.
Patti, Talbot Mundy wrote adventure novels in the first part of the 20th Century.
Always good to see Mundy revived. I remember those Avon paperbacks in the late 60s.
Fred, Tros of Samothrace knocked my socks off when I read it in the 1960s!
Mundy was an odd duck. Mythomaniac, serial adulterer, Christian Scientist, Theosophist, Spiritualist, failed businessman, “wastrel an confidence trickster”, and one of the greatest writers of Eastern adventure fiction in the 20th century; he was often compared to Rudyard Kipling and H. Rider Haggard and was one of the best-selling writers of adventure fiction of his day. Remembered mainly for KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES, Mundy was a great influence on Robert e. Howard, Robert Heinlein, Fritz Leiber, C. L. Moore, Andre Norton, L. Sprague de Camp, and Marion Zimmer Bradley; his work also had a great influence on James Hilton’s LOST HORIZON. I’ve read only a small amount of his works — mainly some of the Tros stories — but have many other of his books on hand that I am now eager to get into because of your review. George the Tempter strikes again!
Jerry, George the Tempter is also looking forward to reading more Talbot Mundy adventure novels!
I have a lot, perhaps all, of his JimGrim books on my Kindle and have read three or four so far! I’ll be getting back to them Real Soon Now!
Bob, here’s what I have on my shelves:
Jimgrim and the Devil At Ludd (1922)
Jimgrim and the Lost Trooper (1922)
Jimgrim and the Seventeen Thieves of El-Kalil (1922)
The Nine Unknown (1923)
The Devil’s Guard (1926)
aka Ramsden
The Hundred Days (1930)
The Marriage of Meldrun Strange (1930)
The Woman Ayisha (1930)
Jimgrim (1931)
Jimgrim and Allah’s Peace (1933)
Affair in Araby (1934)
aka The King in Check
Jimgrim and the ‘Iblis’ at Ludd (2021)
I’m trying to read them in order but according to your list, I’ve failed!
Bob, I’m not sure order is important in that series.
I hv seen his bks in libs and for free download bt nvr read him. I think some of his books are set in India. Might try him now.
Neeru, here are some of Talbot Mundy’s adventure novels set in India:
King of the Khyber Rifles (1916): Set at the outbreak of WWI, this classic spy novel follows Captain Athelstan King as he navigates tribal politics and ancient mysteries in the Northwest Frontier.
Rung Ho! (1914): Mundy’s first novel, it follows a young English officer in Rajasthan during the Indian Mutiny.
The Winds of the World (1915): A precursor to his secret agent stories, exploring espionage in the Punjab region.
Hira Singh (1918): A tale of a Sikh officer and his regiment returning from the battlefields of Flanders.
Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley (1924): While exploring mystical and spiritual themes, it features an adventurer searching for a supernatural piece of jade in a hidden Himalayan valley.
The Nine Unknown (1924): Focuses on an ancient, secret Indian brotherhood holding dangerous occult knowledge.