Isn't that the most amazing cover? It's actually the original, not of the first publication of the novel, but of the 1929 reprint by The Detective Club, whose logo (not that they would have called it that) of the masked man with gun you can see in the bottom right-hand corner. The Detective Club was launched by the publisher Collins in 1929, and it is their 21st century incarnation, Harper Collins, that is producing this delightfully promising and attractive series of reprints. You won't be surprised if I tell you that the introduction to this one is by Martin Edwards, who has become the world expert on vintage crime (and on whose blog I first saw this mentioned).
But what about the book, I hear you cry? Well, it's a corker, in my opinion. First published in 1883, thus preceding Conan Doyle's Study in Scarlet by four years, it was a huge success in its day, selling 350,000 copies in its first year and causing Conway to be hailed as the new Wilkie Collins. And indeed, this is really more of a sensation novel than a detective novel, though a certain amount of detecting does go on. The story is narrated by one Gilbert Vaughan, an independently wealthy man with a rather curious history. Unlucky enough to be struck blind at the age of 25, he manages to become relatively independent, and one evening leaves his London house for a stroll down the road, certain that he will be able to find his way home. But the plan goes wrong and he finds himself in a strange house, where he witnesses a murder taking place -- he can't see, of course, but he can hear enough to know what's going on, including the pitiful cries of a young woman in the adjoining room. He somehow manages to escape, but has no idea where the house was situated.
Fast forward a few years. Vaughan has regained his sight, and is on a tour of Italy. One day he sees a most beautiful girl outside a church, and falls head over heels in love. His advances are initially rejected, but he sees her again in London and her uncle, one Dr Manuel Ceneri, agrees to their marriage. But Pauline, though exquisitely beautiful, quiet and docile, has been mentally damaged by some un-named even in the past (no prizes for guessing what this might have been, though Vaughan doesn't guess) and is so childlike and innocent that the marriage remains one in name only. After some time, Vaughan decides he cannot continue without learning the truth of her condition, and in order to do he undertakes an incredible journey to the wilds of Siberia, where Ceneri is now being held as a political prisoner. And at last he learns the truth and then has to make his way all the way back to London, where... Well, you'll have to read it to find out.
It would be easy to pick holes in this story, but why bother? Yes, it demands a little willing suspension of disbelief (which, as Coleridge said, constitutes poetic faith) but that in no way detracts from the enormous liveliness and fun of the novel.
Why, you may be wondering, do we not know more about Hugh Conway? This was in fact the pseudonym of Frederick John Fargus, a one-time sailor who became a businessman and a writer of supernatural stories and thrillers. Sadly he died at the age of 37, having hardly begun what could have been a brilliant career. So it's great that he's getting another airing. Well done Harper Collins -- I hope to read more of this excellent new series before too long!
