Jules de Grandin: The White Lady of the Orphanage and The Chapel of Mystic Horror
Here are some more reviews of Seabury Quinn's stories featuring occult detective Jules de Grandin: The White Lady of the Orphanage and The Chapel of Mystic Horror. Warning: SPOILERS.
THE WHITE LADY OF THE ORPHANAGE
Jules de Grandin and Trowbridge are hired to investigate the disappearance of several orphans at the Springville Orphans' Home.
Never in my life, on any face, either bestial or human, had I seen such an expression. It was a revolting parody of humanity on which I looked, a thing so horrible, so incomparably cruel and devilish, I would have looked away if I could, yet felt my eyes compelled to turn again to the evil visage as a fascinated bird's gaze may be held by the glitter in the serpent's film-covered eye.
When I started reading this, I hoped that it wasn't all going to turn out to have been a misunderstanding, or that the children were being rescued, or something equally benign. Well, I got my wish. I didn't think Quinn would go this far, but he did, not just with the solution to the disappearances, but also with the descriptions of the evidence de Grandin and Trowbridge found. The pacing was better, and we got to see de Grandin investigating. Yes, he still refused to share his theories, something Trowbridge even complained about, but it was less annoying here. It's a good, dark story, and a nice surprise after The Veiled Prophetess.
THE CHAPEL OF MYSTIC HORROR
Jules de Grandin and Trowbridge are invited to a friend's new home, which is a remodelled monastery brought to the US, whose previous owners all died in a single night...
The girl's fingers began weaving sinuous patterns over the keys, as though she would conjure up some nether-world spirit from their pallid smoothness, and the room was suddenly filled with a libidinous, macabre theme in B minor, beautiful and seductive, but at the same time revolting.
It starts well, with the house's origins and one of the other guests experiencing some supernatural influence that makes her draw disturbing things. However, when all is revealed, things get a little messy. A transplanted building bringing the ghosts of its ancient, evil owners who plan to come back with a ritual involving a human sacrifice was a good idea, but Quinn's choice of culprits ruined it for me. I just couldn't take the idea of Knights Templar worshipping a bloodthirsty version of Aphrodite seriously. And how did this connect to Dunroe playing the piano when she didn't know how? Also, the house was transplanted with the creepy chapel and no one said anything? Shouldn't their host know about it and the secret passages? To make matters worse, Quinn then decided to end the story with a talk about ectoplasm being a form of vibration and how de Grandin used radium salt to vanquish the ghosts. Under different circumstances, that might've come across as ingenious, but with everything else, it was just another weird touch.
By Danforth