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Nevermore

3.17 of 5 stars 3.17 · rating details · 145 ratings · 38 reviews

In Nevermore, Hjortsberg breathes life into the unlikely, true-life friendship of legendary escape artist Harry Houdini and author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this novel, set in 1920s New York, they team up to outwit a killer whose murders reflect those in Edgar Allan Poe’s tales of horror. Hjortsberg’s mystery possesses the appeal of Doyle’s famous character, Sherlock Holm

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Published March 13th 2012 by Open Road (first published 1994)

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Jul 02, 2012 Angela rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Review: Nevermore by William Hjortsberg

Title: Nevermore
Author: William Hjortsberg
Publisher: Open Road
Publication Date: March 2012

Good Reads Synopsis
Why I Read It

I am always interested in anything related to Poe, Houdini, and somewhat intrigued by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. After perusing NetGalley's listings, I came across this novel by William Hjortsberg and decided it had to be worth the read. Poe, Houdini, and Doyle all in one. Had to be good.
Short Synopsis (no spoilers)

Murders begin piling up...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Mallory Anne-Marie Forbes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Mallory Anne-Marie by: Great Minds Think Aloud

Shelves: april-2012-reads

“Nevermore” is a delightfully detailed historical mystery with paranormal and supernatural overtones. If you love history-if you love Sherlock Holmes-if you love magic and stage magicians-you must read “Nevermore.” Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; a magnetically lovely psychic adolescent who went from New England farm family to upscale wealthy New York Society; Houdini’s determination to prove all mediums are faux vs. Conan Doyle’s fascinated believe in the Other Side; all this combines...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini team up to search for a literary-minded killer

It is 1923 and a beautiful young woman has just been found outside a tenement, bones crushed, head ripped from her shoulders. A few stories above, her squalid apartment has been ransacked, and twenty-dollar gold pieces litter the floor. The window frame is smashed. She seems to have been hurled from the building by a beast of impossible strength, and the only witness claims to have seen a long-armed ape fleein...more Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini team up to search for a literary-minded killer

It is 1923 and a beautiful young woman has just been found outside a tenement, bones crushed, head ripped from her shoulders. A few stories above, her squalid apartment has been ransacked, and twenty-dollar gold pieces litter the floor. The window frame is smashed. She seems to have been hurled from the building by a beast of impossible strength, and the only witness claims to have seen a long-armed ape fleeing the scene. The police are baffled, but one reporter recognizes the author of the bloody crime: the long-dead Edgar Allan Poe.

A psychopath is haunting New York City, imitating the murders that made Poe’s stories so famous. To Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the killing spree is of purely academic interest. But when Poe’s ghost appears in Doyle’s hotel room, the writer and the magician begin to suspect that the murders may hold a clue to understanding death itself.

Conan Doyle and Houdini make for an intriguing double act. Hjortsberg has taken a nugget of truth, the fact that they knew one another, and crafted a story around it. Both men were contemporaries and had occasion to travel in similar social circles from time to time. They also had a very public falling out over the subject of spiritualism. Conan Doyle was a firm believer while Houdini made it his mission to debunk so called practitioners. From that the author has created two characters that work as a perfect foil in a supernatural murder mystery.

The two men are from completely different worlds, have differing ideas about most things but still they respect each other’s opinion. They appear as almost the living embodiment of their respective countries. Conan Doyle is all stiff upper lips and ‘by jove’, the quintessential Brit abroad while Houdini is every inch the dapper American gent. Both are at the height of their respective professions and the verbal sparring between the two keeps things interesting. It’s a nice touch that there are two protagonists that don’t see eye to eye on every detail.

The supernatural elements are quite subtly handled. The references to Edgar Allan Poe’s fiction are handled well and have a suitably gothic air. I’m sure that anyone who has ever read Poe before will enjoy trying to spot the elements that come from his work.

There are a host of historic cameos, the likes of Buster Keaton, Damon Runyon and W.C. Fields all make an appearance. Runyon in particular is an enjoyable inclusion as the author sprinkles his dialogue with lots of twenties slang. This adds a nice air of authenticity to proceedings.

Is this the book for you? Well, if you’ve watched and enjoyed Boardwalk Empire then you’ll get a lot from this book. The sights and sounds of the ‘Roaring Twenties’ are vividly brought to life. Prohibition era New York is a city full of dodgy dives and larger than life characters, this is the home of speakeasies and prize fights. Hjorstberg obviously delights in describing the outlandish, opulent detail of what was a very decadent time. Add just a hint of the supernatural and you’ll find yourself with a riveting read.(less)

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Mar 24, 2012 Andre Farant rated it 4 of 5 stars

Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini actually were good friends; Arthur Conan Doyle was an ardent believer in spiritualism and participated in countless séances; Harry Houdini was a famed debunker of psychics and mediums. It is upon the relationship between the two great men, and their differing views on the supernatural, that William Hjortsberg’s novel, Nevermore, is based.

In 1923, during Arthur Conan Doyle’s second American tour promoting spiritualism, he and Houdini are drawn into a series of...more Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini actually were good friends; Arthur Conan Doyle was an ardent believer in spiritualism and participated in countless séances; Harry Houdini was a famed debunker of psychics and mediums. It is upon the relationship between the two great men, and their differing views on the supernatural, that William Hjortsberg’s novel, Nevermore, is based.

In 1923, during Arthur Conan Doyle’s second American tour promoting spiritualism, he and Houdini are drawn into a series of murders with a disconcertingly literary quality. The first killing appears to have been perpetrated by an ape, the second includes a one-eyed cat screeching from within a wall, and . . . well, if you haven’t spotted the connection yet, may I suggest you visit your local library and look up a little-known author by the name of Poe?

Just as he perfectly captured the 1950s in his more famous work, Falling Angel, Hjortsberg here recreates the 1920s using exquisitely-positioned details made all the more fascinating to me given my not-so-distant visits to both New York City and Washington D.C. There are also plenty of amusing cameos peppered throughout the narrative, with W.C. Fields and Buster Keaton and even Poe himself making appearances.

I’ll admit that, despite the literary motif coloring the killings, the mystery in Nevermore was less compelling than that explored by Harry Angel, but this novel’s strength is in its historical setting and, especially, its historical main characters. Doyle is portrayed as an upright (and maybe a touch uptight) man, pleasant and intelligent but open-minded to the point of naiveté. Houdini is arrogant, bombastic and a born performer, but his self-assurance is clearly earned; Hjortsberg makes him into something of a super hero and, by all accounts, he might have been one if he’d spent more time solving crimes.

As an introduction to Hjortsberg’s bafflingly under-appreciated work, Falling Angel may be a better fit, but Nevermore is a fun and fascinating novel that will leave you wanting to learn more about its real-life figurants and to read more William Hjortsberg.
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Dec 20, 2012 Brittany rated it 3 of 5 stars

Nevermore was pretty interesting. At first, it was hard to get into for me. The beginning is from a very minor character's perspective, which, to be quite honest with you, is dull. His perspective is very small in comparison to the other POVs in the story, and for me, it begs the question: why would Hjortsberg start the story with him, when he isn't really all that important? It's just odd.

The rest of the story moves along at a decent clip - the characterizations of Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur...more

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May 03, 2012 Jay rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I started reading Sherlock Holmes when I was 9. I gained an interest in Magic and especially music hall magicians as a teen. So when I saw a book that had Conan Doyle and Houdini (two men I have read dozens of books about) as the main characters and placing them in situations based on real events, I had to read it. On top of that, it's a murder mystery based around murders following those in Poe's writings. It's got to be a winer right? Wrong. What a load of old hokum.

I so wanted to love this b...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Maxine McLister rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nevermore opens with a double homicide in New York in 1923. This is followed by several more odd murders which seem to be based on the stories of Edgar Allen Poe.

This book has a great cast of real characters including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, and Damon Runyan whose use of period slang is hilarious. Edgar Allen Poe also appears although it is never clear whether he is a ghost, a bend in time, or perhaps one of Houdini's illusions.

There is a lot going on in this story: a little of th...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Carla Thomas rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

What other book has a line-up like this? On first base, Harry Houdini; rounding third, Arthur Conan Doyle and batting on deck the ghost of Edgar Allen Poe. While my baseball lingo leaves a bit to be desired, this book is has a line-up most teams would bankrupt themselves for.

The main character is Harry Houdini. Yep, that Harry Houdini. Houdini, along with his friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (yep, that Conan Doyle), are on the case of a series of murders that mimic the mystery and horror stories of...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sir Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini team up to solve a series of murders patterned after Edger Allen Poe short stories...sound corny? Well, it is. However, Hjortsberg models his sleuth story after the Sherlock Holmes plot arc, complete with a Sherlock-style unveiling at the end of the story. Though this whodunnit is easy to figure out, Hjortsberg's prose style and description of 1920's New York make for an entertaining read.

Warning: This novel reads like fan fiction, includes a graphic sex scene,...more

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Apr 19, 2013 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The author has a clever concept for the plot of this book. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Houdini in conversation about mysticism and working together to solve murders seemingly related to both of them that occur in the manner of Edgar Allen Poe's stories. Doyle is on a speaking tour in the US and Houdini is performing around the country. The murders and most of the book take place in New York City. The story makes for a good mystery with some thrilling moments as Doyle and Houdini try to figure out...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Tom Williams rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a murder mystery wrapped around an actual meeting between Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Hjortsber has carefully researched this story. He has learned an awful lot about 1920s New York and no one could claim he wears his learning lightly. The opening of the novel bogs down again and again as irrelevant details of time and place are thrown in to demonstrate how thoroughly the era has been studied. Unfortunately, this information is seldom incorporated smoothly into the story. Write...more This is a murder mystery wrapped around an actual meeting between Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Hjortsber has carefully researched this story. He has learned an awful lot about 1920s New York and no one could claim he wears his learning lightly. The opening of the novel bogs down again and again as irrelevant details of time and place are thrown in to demonstrate how thoroughly the era has been studied. Unfortunately, this information is seldom incorporated smoothly into the story. Writers sometimes joke about "As you know, Jim," conversations where one character tells another stuff that they obviously both already know, simply in order to convey this information to the reader. Yet here Arthur Conan Doyle actually starts one comment with, "Well, as you all must know…" Such clunky intrusions of background mean that, despite the superfluous detail, there is little real feel for the period coming through. It's also unfortunate that there are occasional mistakes. The statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus – surely quite a well-known landmark even to Americans – is described as a fountain, which it is not and never has been. Cigarettes are referred to as coffin nails, which is unlikely in the 1920s, when they were often advertised as a healthy diet aid.

Hjortsber is a successful screenwriter and this novel reads as if it is a film script that didn't make it to the screen. If it were a script, the vast amounts of historical detail would be covered with a few sweeping shots of New York in 1923. We could then cut straight to the plot, which – once it gets going – is quite entertaining. It's a mix of ghost story, historical novel and detective thriller. Again, the mix of genres would probably work better on film than on the printed page. The plot has a murderer who is re-enacting murders from the stories of Edgar Allen Poe and Conan Doyle (a famous believer in ghosts) keeps seeing the spirit of Poe. In a film, the ghost would be very effective because we would actually see it. On paper, it doesn't quite work. Poe doesn't give Conan Doyle any information and, indeed, does not contribute to the plot at all. He just appears every now and then, expresses confusion about where he is, and then fades away again.

In fairness to Poe, he's not that much insubstantial than the characters of Houdini and Conan Doyle. The details of the two famous men and their lives are again a tribute to Hjortsber's research skills, but they do not have any inner lives to explore. Houdini is arrogant. We know this because the author repeatedly tells us so, but the reasons for his arrogance are not clear. Conan Doyle is superstitious, apparently in part because he is desperate to re-establish contact with close family who have died. But there's no sense of a man whose grief has driven him to the point where he is a sucker for every sham spiritualist he meets. In real life, this is a man who claimed that a faked photograph taken by two young girls was proof of actual physical fairies at the bottom of their garden. (The fact that the fairies were identical to the illustrations in a children's book completely passed him by.) In the novel, the picture is further confused by not only the presence of Poe's ghost but that of an apparently genuine spiritualist who seems to be a succubus who seduces Houdini and eventually bears his child. Confused? You might well be, but all this is happening in a sub-plot. The main plot (re-enacting the murders in Poe's stories – remember?) makes more sense and is quite fun. The idea of a murderer dressing up as a gorilla to re-enact 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' or building a pendulum axe for 'The Pit and the Pendulum' is deliciously ridiculous and almost justifies the rest of it.

If this book ever makes it to its natural home on the screen, it could well be a five star movie. Unfortunately, it only just scrapes in as a three star novel.
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Apr 02, 2012 Lisa B. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-books

I have mixed feelings about this book. It never really “hooked” me and I was probably 2/3 of the way through before it pulled together and become somewhat intriguing. I thought the author wrote eloquently, but there were parts of the story that just didn’t seem to add any value to the overall plot.
It seemed like Houdini and Conan Doyle spent a large part of the story going down separate paths. It wasn’t until that last 1/3 or so that the storyline really brought them together, and that is when t...more

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Sep 29, 2009 Joanna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Haha! Artur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, Houdini i sztylet w kształcie krzyża wbity w plamę z keczupu na okładce! Seria Kameleon nigdy nie zawodzi.
Czytałam to już dawno temu, nastolatką będąc i wiele nie pamiętam, ale jak na niezłe to było, jak na kryminał.
Właśnie zajrzałam i odkryłam, że bohaterem był też Runyon!
To trzeba przeczytać, szczególnie, że Hjortsberg napisał też obleśnego i zboczonego Harry'ego Angela (znaczy jak dla dwunastolatki).

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Jun 04, 2009 Bobbie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is such a strange book! I'd catergorize it as suspense/mystery. Its main characters are all famous real people of the past- Harry Houdini, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes series), and even the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe, though he does not know he is ghost. They are all trying to find a killer who stages the murders to replicate the murders in Poe's stories. I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend that others read it.

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May 24, 2012 Tommy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a fun period piece that takes place in the early 1900s, with comfortably familiar characters taking the lead roles in a chilling mystery. I enjoyed the quirky friendship between Houdini and Conan Doyle, especially since Conan Doyle is a true believer in mediums and ghosts, while Houdini is a famed debunker of same. Having Poe appear to Conan Doyle in ghostly form is a treat for those of us who love "gothic" literature. The murders based on Poe's famous stories were gruesome, yet not over...more

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Sep 17, 2010 Yvensong rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, mysteries-and-thrillers, library

Quirky writer attempts an interesting idea of bringing together Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to help solve a group of murders based on Edgar A. Poe's stories. Poe's ghost is also brought into the mix.

The elements of gothic horror and noir mystery are well written, yet there were moments it felt as though the author was attempting to be too clever, which detracted from the story.

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Mar 17, 2012 David Marshall rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a three-and-a-half stars book because I'm a sucker for mysteries set in the past. I love the use of language, recreating the style of the 1920s as Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini solve a case in which murders recreate the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe. It's great fun.

http://opionator.wordpress.com/2012/0...

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Jul 06, 2011 Patrice rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, mystery

I considered labeling this one as paranormal fiction as well, but that since 'Sir Arthur is a loon' can kind of explain it away, I decided against it. I thought this would be Sir Arthur and Houdini teaming up to solve a series of clever murders inspired by Poe's works (of which I apparently have only read sporadically since I only recognized a couple), but it wasn't. There were long segments that didn't seem to advance the story and characters that were repeatedly introduced that could have been...more

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Jan 26, 2009 Kevin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I NEEDED SOMETHING ESCAPIST. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt from the Times said it was good. It's okay. Arthur Conan Doyle and harry Houdini meet in NYC in 1923. Cute. They work to stop a killer whose murders have Poe themes... Tiresome. Real-life characters keep making cameos. REALLY tiresome. Passes the time on the subway.

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Mar 28, 2012 Deb Novack rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bcc-100bks-in-yr, book-chick-city-mys-susp-challenge, my-tbr-thinning, wad2012ebkchallenge, net-galley

When you have Houdini, Edgar Allen Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle you are sure to get an awesome storyline and I was not disappointed. Sir Arthur and Houdini investigate the "Poe Murders". Both men think they will be victims so they join forces and the storyline follows them during their separate tour schedules. There are many tales along the way that are interwoven so well they all come together at the end. This is a well written and well thought out story with the characters completely believa...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Michelle added it · review of another edition

Maybe you are a reader who enjoys flabby, tepid characterization served swimming in a thin and flavorless plot. Perhaps you are a literary epicure who appreciates a lagniappe of Harry Houdini getting a surprise ass-fuck from a carved ivory dildo filled with warm milk.

I'm not.

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Apr 02, 2012 Diane S. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The ghost of Edgar Allen Poe, Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle all take center stage in this murder mystery. Enjoyed the main plot, not so much the subplots as at times they were just to outlandish. Reading about prohibition era 1920's as well as the rampant belief in spiritualism was an added bonus. All in all an entertaining mystery but think it could have been better with just a little less.

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Mar 19, 2012 Marisa rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One dimensional characters, poor plot development. It's obvious that the author has a passion for the world of New York in the earlier centuries, but instead of this passion lending itself to the story telling, it became distracting and felt like it was covering up weak plot and characters.

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Mar 31, 2013 Laurie Stoll rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paperback-gave-away

This book took me three times longer to read than normal. The story just couldn't hold my attention. I found myself having to re-read several paragraphs and pages more than once.

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Apr 05, 2012 Lauren Smith rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-review-copy, ebook, fantasy, crime-and-mystery, historical, metafiction

Historical drama, mystery, fantasy and metafiction – this makes Nevermore cross-genre fiction, but unfortunately it doesn’t combine these genres as fluidly. The result is that it reads like a historical drama interrupted by a murder mystery, with fantasy wandering around aimlessly throughout.

Read the full review on my blog Violin in a Void

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Jul 30, 2011 Jennifer added it · review of another edition

Great book--well written and intriguing. Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle versus a murderer. Supernatural occurrences also. Much better than it sounds.

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Feb 06, 2012 Jeanne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pop-fiction

Decent airplane read; unfortunately I was not traveling. One mildly salacious sex scene. Houdini! Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! The ghost of Edgar Allan Poe! Early Jazz Age razz-ma-tazz. Macguffin.

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Sep 11, 2010 Poppy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have not finished this hokey book. As soon as the weird woman shoved a "dildo filled with warm milk" up Houdini's ass I gave up.

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Jun 01, 2012 Carol rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: holmes-doyle, mystery, historical

I found the mystery itself pretty interesting. The idea of someone recreating Poe's decidely disturbing stories is fascinating in and of itself. I even liked the tension between Doyle's belief in a spiritual world and Houdini's need to expose mediums as frauds. It was all the sub-plots I could have done without.

Overall, it was a mishmash of drama, mystery, and fatasy that never really pulled together for me. The only saving grace was that I do love historical figures as characters, especially in...more

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Jun 12, 2009 Tony Gleeson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

William Hjortsberg is a unique and quirky writer, a little raunchy with a fine and subtle sense of humor. Nobody writes quite like him. This odd little ditty brings together Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini-- along with the befuddled ghost of Edgar Allan Poe, who cannot figure out what he's doing there-- to catch a gruesome killer who is borrowing Poe's literary methods of murder. The book is a bit of an edgy ride in places, bordering on uncomfortable, but it's a good read. As I said bef...more

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About William Hjortsberg

William Hjortsberg (b. 1941) is an acclaimed author of novels and screenplays. Born in New York City, he attended college at Dartmouth and spent a year at the Yale School of Drama before leaving to become a writer. For the next few years he lived in the Caribbean and Europe, writing two unpublished novels, the second of which earned him a creative writing fellowship at Stanford University.

When his...more

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