Todd Mason at Sweet Freedom sent me several links to archive versions of old mystery magazines in comments on my last Short Story Wednesday post. One of those links was to some Ellery Queen magazines at Archive.org. I looked at a few of the issues, and picked a short story by Michael Gilbert to read from this issue:
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Vol. 29, No. 5, MAY, 1957.
"Three Times Loser" by Michael Gilbert
This is a somewhat humorous, somewhat sad story of a young boy who gets in trouble several times as he grows older. Each time he is looking for recognition of some sort.
Tom Carney was born into a large family which lived in "a depressed part of Swansea" in the 1930s. For the most part they were a happy family. The parents and older children had jobs, but the youngest two children were still living at home and going to school. Tom, the youngest, was unhappy because he wanted to be taken seriously. His first "prank" was quite serious and dangerous, although he may have been, at age six, too young to realize this. Tom spends a lot of time and effort preparing for his exploit, but he doesn't succeed, even with his sister Dilys's help. Tom is dismayed because his father laughs at him when he fails. Over the years, he plots more harmful behaviors towards others.
This is a far as I want to go in a description of the story because it is very short. Michael Gilbert tells a good story and tells it in a light-hearted way, so the reader doesn't know what to expect. The ending is definitely troubling and unsettling.
From what I can tell, the story was first published in The Evening Standard, Sept 15 1954 as "Twm Carney."
I chose this story to read because I had enjoyed Michael Gilbert's short stories about two spies, Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens. I have also read five of his novels and plan to read more.
I used this link to access the story online. Per Wikipedia, the story was published (as "Twm Carney") in a collection titled Even Murderers Take Holidays and Other Mysteries, in 2007, which appears to be scarce and very expensive.
12 comments:
Selected issues of EQMM (and other magazines) are also available online at Luminist Archives, Tracy (in case you want to suck up all your available time).
I think I have to share this with my friend Tom Carney who was also born into a large family!
Thanks for the link, Tracy. Michael Gilbert's a favourite author and I've not read many of his short stories.
Jerry, I did go and check out the Luminist Archive (of course) and the magazine at the top of the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazines section had a Michael Gilbert story (plus one by Victor Canning). And I am going to read the Michael Gilbert story today... or at least start on it. It is an Inspector Hazelrigg story.
So thanks for tell me about that option. Of course you are right, I could spend way too much time investigating all of these stories on line.
That is a funny coincidence, Constance. I am sure your friend is a much better person than the character in this story.
Same here, Cath. Michael Gilbert is a favorite author and I will be on the lookout for more sources of his short stories. I have ordered Petrella at Q, it should be coming today in the mail. This is 12 stories about Detective Chief Inspector Patrick Petrella, of London's Patton Street Police Station over the course of a year (per goodreads).
Did you know that Dana Stabenow is a big fan of Michael Gilbert?
I've liked what I've read of Michael Gilbert's work, Tracy. I've not read this one, I admit, but I'm not surprised he could create a story that's both engaging and disturbing at the same time. Thanks for highlighting this one.
No, I didn't know that Dana Stabenow is a fan of Michael Gilbert's. How interesting. I have a couple of the Hazelrigg books to read and want to find a few more standalones.
Cath, I had forgotten that I had seen posts about Michael Gilbert and his books on Dana Stabenow's blog until I was looking up Young Petrella on Goodreads (another book of short stories about Petrella) and saw that she had a review of it there.
I agree, Margot, some of the books I have read by Gilbert have both humor and disturbing elements. I don't remember where I saw this, but someone was saying that he doesn't write noir or dark stories, usually, but they often have an edge to them.
I like Gilbert, but haven't read any of his novels. And I should've mentioned Luminist, which can be easier to use in some ways (and can be a bit frustrating in others), but I'm still getting the brainbox back into full-tilt (or keeping it from pinball tilting). But at least Jerry has!
Todd, Now I have two sources to look through for old stories, and I am grateful to both of you. Sorry it is taking you a while to recover from your health issues, and I am hoping you get better day by day. Take care of yourself.
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