The Horror on the Links

The Complete Tales of Jules De Grandin, Volume One

By: Seabury Quinn

Narrated by: Paul Woodson

Length: 25 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Seabury Quinn's short stories were featured in well more than half of the pulp magazine Weird Tales' 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 for nearly three decades.

Collected for the first time in trade editions, The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin 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.

©2017 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)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Such Fun !!

These stories, and Seabury Quinn, are new to me and I enjoyed listening to this so excellent volume. I intend to buy the hardbacks also, and understand that there will eventually be five volumes. Mr. Paul Woodson did an admirable job of suggesting Grandin's accent and voice s well as the rest of the characters. I would like to hear more of his readings.

Good for the medium

If judged as a novella or even as serious pulp, it would grade lower. As it is merely a collection of cliche occult stories, the 3 stars are for the wide variety and colorful scenery. Overall, it is fun to listen to as a way to pass the time, but the characters don't evolve, they are entirely predictable, and the plots' arcs are transparent from the first paragraphs.

Weird Tales at its best

These Jules de Grandin tales prove that great stories can be created using worn out cliches if well handled and, as in this case, well read. I had previously read perhaps 10 de Grandin stories that I found OK but unremarkable. After listening to this huge collection I must revise my earlier opinion. Jules de Grandin actually is one of the greatest caracters from the pages of the great Weird Tales!

This is the good one

These collections of short stories are very good and this reader for this volume does a good job. I am not buying the second audio book became the narrator was changed for the worse, but these can be bought and enjoyed separately.

Could we get Ian Gordon to read please?

I loved the stories, however, it took awhile to adjust to the narrator's voice especially for the French doctor. Still a good listen if you enjoy Weird Tales Magazine.

Pleasantly surprised.

Jules de Grandin, the French love child of Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes; and his sidekick Dr. Trowbridge can't seem to go anywhere in Harrisonville New Jersey without stumbling upon some strange mystery that if not outright supernatural at least has the appearance of the supernatural. This selection gets better as it goes along as the quirky characters have a chance to grow on you. Grandin, whose arrogance knows no bounds, wears purple lizard skin slippers with his purple pajamas and is always needing either food or drink. Though Trowbridge has seen many inexplicable things during his friendship with Grandin, he never seems to believe that anything is supernatural until it slaps him in the face. He is in a constant state of incredulity. It doesn't help that Grandin never takes the time to explain to him what is going on or what the actual plan is. These two characters play well off of each other.
This series was the most popular series in Weird Tales magazine and it is easy to see why. Yes it is formulaic. There is always a scantily clad (if not nude) damsel in distress and Grandin is always throwing out his French expressions. It is simply pulp fun. It is surprising that these tales aren't more well known.
The narration is very good.

Excellent adaptation of an oft forgotten author.

Fun and fast stories, great narration, really well done. Its good to see Quinn's stories getting a second life.

A really fun collection of spooky stories

I absolutely adore this character and his weird adventures, though terribly corny and not particularly well written it's fun and that's what counts. Seabury Quinn had his finger on the pulse of how to make a story appealing while sprinkling in some truly appalling descriptions and upsetting revelations. If you need a paranormal adventure that bends your mind and challenges your perception of the workings of the world, this is probably skippable content. That said if you want a dose of fun, gory, pulp-horror adventure with an awkward hint of romance, it's a must-have.

Excellent, Interesting, and Highly Entertaining!!

A true jewel, unearthed and presented flawlessly!!! A French Holmes of the occult variety. Most excellent!!

Typical pulp fiction of the era, but well-done

Giving us an occult twist on Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Seabury Quinn presents Dr. Jules De Grandin and Dr. Trowbridge, the former a doctor, but also a trained investigator with the French Surete, the latter a New Jersey M.D. Like Doyle's famous duo, De Grandin and Trowbridge investigate crimes and ill-happenings, but these often have an occult explanation, rather than something mundane. Vampires, sorcerers, cannibals, ghosts... while they may challenge the little Frenchman, none are a match for him.

The stories mostly take place in New Jersey, which apparently is a center of occult weirdness in America. (But we all knew that, right?) They're very formulaic, meant originally for Pulp magazines to be read on a lazy weekend afternoon. Still, though following a formula, the stories are enjoyable, and the character of De Grandin -vain, brilliant, gallant, and prickly- is fun.

Can't say the same for his "vieil ami," Dr. Trowbridge. While apparently a fine general practitioner, when it comes to the occult, which practically jumps out in front of him waving a neon sign in every story, Dr. Trowbridge is as dense as a block of cheese. At least Watson would eventually learn to trust Holmes's reasoning, even if he couldn't follow it at first. This is beyond Trowbridge. One wonders why De Grandin keeps hanging around such a clod: perhaps it's all the free food, liquor, and cigars Trowbridge lets him help himself to. The stories lose a half-star for this cardboard character.

The performance itself is very good: Woodson keeps the voices distinct and maintains the pace. Trigger warning: if you're the kind of reader who clutches their pearls and heads for the fainting couch when encountering stereotypes from 100 years ago, these stories aren't for you. (But then, none of the fiction of that period would be) If you can look past that, however, and if you enjoy old-fashioned Pulp fiction, I do recommend these tales, especially in audiobook format.

Can’t stand Trowbridge!!!

I think this ‘compendium' of short should have been listened to singly as short stories (like Jonathan Mayberry's). Put together in one volume, they all start to sound alike after the third story!
Can’t help comparing de Grandin to Poirot.
Trowbridge is a more naive and irritating sidekick compared to Poirot's Fraser. He always starts a new story poohing, questioning and disbelieving the events recounted and gives his own opinion of what he thought happened, usually a psychological breakdown. (I usually skip this part of the story). After more than 10 repetitions of this ‘can’t happen in this modern country' (or something like that), you start to question his intelligence. After all, he’s only seen and gone through these supernatural events umpteen times!! Almost gave up, but decided to leave listening for a few weeks. It helped me finish the book.
Published as single short stories, the repetitive and irritating questioning of de Grandin's explanations and actions will make the stories more palatable.

Enjoyable

Fun short simple stories. Nothing here is exceptional but enjoyable. Some of the solutions are flawed and the Dr Watson character seems rather more stupid than he should be refusing to believe in ghosts and the supernatural even after encountering them multiple times. But still an enjoyable series of stories.

Pulp fiction at it finest

No Nobel prizes for literature will be awarded here but if you just want a number of short entertaining listens then this collection delivers. The only downside is that the narrator is completely incapable of doing foreign accents which is painful given that the protagonist is supposed to be French. His accent ranges between Jamaica and Newcastle, occassionally stopping for a brief visit to Scotland. In any other book it would be intolerable, but given the pulp fiction flavour it adds a "so bad it's good" touch.