The Dark Angel

The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Three

By: Seabury Quinn

Narrated by: Paul Woodson

Length: 24 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Seabury Quinn's short stories were featured in well more than half of Weird Tales's original publication run. His most famous character, the supernatural French detective Dr. Jules de Grandin, investigated cases involving monsters, devil worshippers, serial killers, and spirits from beyond the grave, often set in the small town of Harrisonville, New Jersey. In de Grandin there are familiar shades of both Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, and alongside his assistant, Dr. Samuel Trowbridge, de Grandin's knack for solving mysteries - and his outbursts of peculiar French-isms (grand Dieu!) - captivated readers for nearly three decades.

The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, edited by George Vanderburgh, presents all 93 published works featuring the supernatural detective. Presented in chronological order over five volumes, this is the definitive collection of an iconic pulp hero.

The third volume, The Dark Angel, includes all of the Jules de Grandin stories from "The Lost Lady" to "The Hand of Glory", as well as The Devil's Bride, the only novel featuring de Grandin, which was originally serialized over six issues of Weird Tales. It also includes a foreword by Darrell Schweitzer and an introduction by George Vanderburgh and Robert Weinberg.

©2018 The Estate of Seabury Quinn; Jules de Grandin stories copyright 1925–1938 by Popular Fiction Publishing Co.; Jules de Grandin stories copyright 1938–1951 by Weird Tales (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

What happened to the rest of this collection?

Thoroughly enjoyed these stories, far more than I expected to. But I cannot overstate my dismay upon finding that books 4 and 5 of this collection are not available. i hope that is remedied soon.

I'd listen to the last 2 vol. if audible was brave

There is a considerable amount to like in these books and considering the time period and audience (editors) it is not at all surprising that there is also a considerable amount of stereotyping, xenophobia and some real byproducts of racism on display. There have been allegations of Lovecraft level racism and that simply isn't true, Lovecraft got much, much worse when he set his mind at it. In reality, Seabury Quinn would likley have has a much different output if it wasn't for the editors. certain elements in his writing and stories that went unpublished before his death showed that there was alot to him that remained subject to his need to make a living. y giving the audience what they would pay for. This is also why he gets accused of being formulaic; just like the writers of modern TV, they write the content that pays. I recommend for a light read. (tolerance, forbearance and even forgiveness are required)

NOT AS GOOD AS THE FIRST TWO

The Dark Angel: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin is the third volume of the Jules de Grandin audio series.
Once again, de Grandin and Dr Trowbridge get involved in more paranormal cases.

I have listened to all three volumes of the series and this one is, in my opinion, sadly lacking in the quality department. I actually found myself skipping stories.

Boring and Offensive

If you’ve read any of the other volumes in this series then you don’t need to read this one. With the possible exception of “The bloody mummy”.the plots are similar and formulaic. Helpless white girl endangered sinister, satanic, foreigner.
If you haven’t read any of S. Quinn’s stories BE WARNED, they are exceedingly racist.
This is not an exaggeration! Even Irish, and French could be offended by this book. I have learned new racial slurs from this book!
That being said, it is an article of it’s time, and I might over look such horrific racism, if the storytelling was original or compelling, I. e. Lovecraft. However, often his racism is at the center of the plot and the colored person or foreigner is inherently evil.

Extremely Racist

Many stories in the heyday of Pulp/Weird Tales were racist, but these stories are so overtly racist they make Lovecraft's racism look tame.