The Library

Check "Inspector Maigret's official website" to see the kind of nifty work Chorion does:

http://www.maigret.com/uk/site/maigrets ... imenon.php

Thanks for this detailed run-down on this book. I didn't think it was bad, either, when I read it, though on a lesser scale than the grand adventures. I wonder if the Duke's name was "de Reichleau" in the original manuscript, but was then changed to conform with the spelling that had been ...

It wouldn't be the Internet, if it didn't glitch now and then...

It's funny, since DW was so careful about *real* history when he wrote, that he should have been so careless about the details of his characters' lives, and so "sloppy" with the continuity. On the other hand, I don't imagine he envisioned a discussion group of people cheerfully picking apa...

More and more fascinating. The original book (LAUNCHING) had already been reprinted in THE EARLY ADVENTURES OF ROGER BROOK (1951), and would also be available as a Lymington edition hardcover as early as 1961 (in addition to all the paperback editions). What motivated this new version, entailing, as...

I note that Phil Baker (one of the contributors to an excellent and informative article on Crowley) is just about to issue a biography of Dennis Wheatley called, "Strange Conflict : The Life and Work of Dennis Wheatley". I'll certainly keep my eye out for that. (Nothing at Amazon yet). It...

Stevie, I think you misread me. I asked if the family would have any problem with DW's wills being published here. That would be pretty simple, if there were no objection. The publication of LUSTY and VICE, though, would now involve several parties: the Wheatley family, which I'd assume still contro...

This is a totally amazing find: when we thought that just about everything by Wheatley (save OF VICE AND VIRTUE) had been published, and republished! I'm curious about the typescript, as evidence of DW's working methods. How is the "core" book inserted into the new one? Was the original 19...

I just checked this tonight, and two of those books are still for sale!

Thanks for this detailed post. I've not read any of the Julian Day trilogy, but I shall certainly move this up on my list.

The display of DW's Christmas cards inspired me to start this thread: "With the best of good wishes for a Merry Christmas and a year of good fortune." What better words than his own? Thanks to Charles for picking up the ball, and to all our regular contributors for keeping it in play; welc...

That is interesting, suggesting that DW possibly intended a vague fictional link between the duke and the cardinal.

BTW, just to drag this back on topic, THE GOLDEN SPANIARD is also one of my favorite Wheatley novels, one that I really want to re-read after all this discussion.

Charles wrote:Re the Duke's 'real' name ...

Armand, Count de Quesnoy (The Prisoner in the Mask, 1st edn page

Jean Armand Duplessis, tenth Duc de Richleau (The Second Seal, 1st edn page 10).

I wonder if, at the time of writing TDRO, the author had even *thought* of the Duke's name.

As regards the Police referring to the owner of the car by his title, I don't actually find that particularly strange.... we have media reference to, for example, the "Duke of Edinburgh" and the "Duke of Devonshire" at the present time, rather than their actual names? Of course,...

I have no idea if I will be able to come over from New York, but I am following this discussion with great interest.

If/when the convention does come off, I hope there will be a page pf photos so everyone can share in the events of the day.