INVESTIGATIONS OF AVRAM DAVIDSON [Hardcover]

The late Avram Davidson is well-represented by this collection edited by his former wife, Grania Davis, and Richard Lupoff. I have previously read and thought of Davidson as a science fiction writer, but this book demonstrates that he was a master of the mystery as well. In fact, these stories transcend their genre and desearve to be praised in the broader context of short story literature. The 13 stories were originally published between 1964 and 1992.

While the primary locale for the stories is his native New York City, Davidson also uses New England, Memphis, Cyprus, "La Banana" and Mexico. They range back in time as far as the 1840's. More remarkable than their diverse settings, though, is how economically Davidson creates a sense of time, place, and mood -- with a just a handful of descriptive wordstrokes. The heat in a chinese laundry becomes palpable when Davidson describes a washman wiping his hands and bare torso before he folds an ironed shirt so that his persperation won't drip on the garment.

Few of the stories' twists are predictable -- even for an old mystery hand. I finished each story smiling at the inventiveness of the plot and enriched by the esoteric pieces of information (like the origins of and differences between sea island and nanking cotton) that dot Davidson's writing like raisins in a scone.

Davidson is best known for his work in the sci-fi and fantasy genres, but his 200+ published short stories included many mysteries. This volume collects thirteen of his best, most of which appeared in the pages of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine between 1956-86. As with a lot of collections, the quality of the plotting varies (some of the stories are a little to obvious or gimmicky), but the prose is very good, and Davidson does a remarkable job of setting scenes with very few words. Moods and places other writers would take pages to create are accomplished here in a mere paragraph or two. Similarly impressive is the range of material, as Davidson displays an impressive ability to translate his erudition into compelling material.

"The Necessity of His Condition" is a clever little piece about a slave broker in pre-Civil War America who ends up hoisted by his own petard. The kind of piece one might imagine as an episode of the Twilight Zone or some similar series. The next story, "Thou Still Unravished Bride", was made into an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and takes place in a modern small American city. This tale of a bride to be gone missing doesn't hold up as well to the test of time -- most readers will have it figured out from the start. However, "The Cost of Kent Castwell" holds up quite well, and still packs a nice punch of dark humor. It's the story of what happens when a nasty man from the big city moves to a small town in New England and upsets the order of things. It falls squarely into the tradition of folklore in which a disruptive outsider is firmly dealt with by seemingly placid locals.

The next story ("The Ikon of Elijah") moves the action overseas, to Cyprus, where a greedy passel of antiquarians vie for possession of a priceless icon held at a monastary. Here, the mystery is perhaps less interesting than the scene-setting, as pre-partition Nicosia is drawn in vivid detail. The ending does pack a nice little bite though, again, in a Twilight Zonesque style. "The Cobblestones of Saratoga Street" returns to Davidson's native New York, where forces of civic modernization threaten to destroy the last cobblestone street in the city. It isn't really clear why this story is in a mystery anthology until the final page, and the reveal is pretty slick and funny. Perhaps the weakest story in the book is "Captain Pasharooney", about a boy at boarding school and a rare appearance by his father. Kind of tepid and never really goes anywhere, with a pretty obvious twist at the end. "The Third Sacred Well of the Temple", although set in a small expatriate community in a bucolic Mexican village, is basically the same story as "The Cost of Kent Castwell", albeit with a travel writer as status quo upsetter.

"Murder is Murder" is a brief riff on Crime and Punishment, fun but disposable. "The Deed of the Deft-Footed Dragon" is a Chinese-set story with local color drawn from Davidson's time in China at the end of World War II. Again, his ability to get the small details right is more interesting that the actual plot. "A Quiet Room with A View" is rather like the two earlier stories in which established order is threatened. Here, however, the setting is an upscale nursing home, and the killer seeks not only to protect something, but gain something else. "Mr. Folsom Feels Fine" is a slight piece about a man seeking to live off a meager pension. It was inspired by Davidson's own battles with the Veteran's Administration, and lacks the spark and imagination of the better stories.

Two of the stories weigh in at about 40 pages (double the length of the rest of the pieces) and their high quality definitely whets one's appetite for trying one of Davidson's novels. "The Lord of Central Park" and has a much different feel from the rest of the book. It begins with separate plotlines following an eccentric English peer in exile, a family of Dutch subterranean river pirates, a Miss Lonelyhearts, New York Mafia Dons, a bunch of small time hoods, and a sinister plot. It's a kind of breathtakingly madcap romp in which everything converges and is terrifically enjoyable. "The Importance of Trifles" is a very well done tale set in 1840s New York, with Chief Constable Jacob Hays as its hero. It's a meticulous historical procedural revolving around murder and stolen goods, and alas, the only in what was to be a series of stories starring Hays.

All in all, a nice collection for fans of short mysteries and one that will doubtless drive many to seek out more of Davidson's work. A little dated and contrived at times, but generally fufills the thirst for a good yarn before bedtime.

Avram Davidson, who is better known as the author of speculative fiction with a comedic bent, spent many years publishing short mystery stories. At one point in his career, he was a ghost writer for "Ellery Queen".

Most of these collected stories have been collected before, but this is the first time that all of them are together in one volume. What makes this such a satisfying collection of stories to read, is that most if not all have a twist at the end. The twist in each story is not just to surprise the reader. Once you finish the story, you can see where Davidson had "telegraphed" the ending somewhere prior in the story. It's just that it's almost impossible to guess the ending before you finish the story.

For those who enjoyed Davidson's SciFi, this is a great addition to his collective works with a different style. It just goes to show how good a writer he really was.

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