The Black Bag

by Louis Joseph Vance

1908. Vance, American screenwriter, short story writer and novelist, begins The Black Bag begins: Upon a certain dreary April afternoon in the year of grace, 1906, the apprehensions of Philip Kirkwood, Esquire, Artist-peintre, were enlivened by the discovery that he was occupying that singularly distressing social position, which may be summed up succinctly in a phrase through long usage grown proverbial: Alone in London. These three words have come to connote in our understanding so much of human misery, to Mr. Kirkwood they seemed to epitomize absolutely, if not happily, the various circumstances attendant upon the predicament wherein he found himself. Inevitably an extremist, because of his youth, (he had just turned twenty-five), he took, no count of mitigating matters, and would hotly have resented the suggestion that his case was anything but altogether deplorable and forlorn. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

314 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1908

About the author

Louis Joseph Vance was a novelist educated in the preparatory department of the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He wrote short stories and verse after 1901, then composed many popular novels. His character "Michael Lanyard", also known as "The Lone Wolf", was featured in eight books and 24 films between 1914 and 1949, and also appeared in radio and television series.

Vance was separated from his wife (whom he married in 1898 and by whom he had a son the next year) when he was found dead in a burnt armchair inside his New York apartment; a cigarette had ignited some benzene (used for cleaning his clothes or for his broken jaw) that he had on his body and he was intoxicated at the time. He had recently returned from the West Indies, where he gathered material for a new book. The death was ruled accidental.

Reviews

[Apryl Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh what drudgery! I tried very hard to enjoy this, and Vance obviously tried very hard to be enjoyable. I love a good dash into an historic adventure—a thriller written way back when. Sadly, this wasn't even slightly thrilling. Oh look, someone's thumping around in the dark! Oh look, the lovely, tragic heroine...or could it be a hussy she-devil? Yes, she is! No, she isn't. I have a strong hunch that the good guy's going to get her in the end. (just sayin')

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the first 3 chapters, through page 50. I give it 3 stars because the plot and the dialogue, so far, are interesting. I didn't finish it because the descriptions of both character and setting are tinted a deep, pure purple.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this book. I've read other classic mystery writers and many of them are written suspensefully. This story was a good mystery and adventure premise, but the author was too wordy in lots of places. I had to skim over many parts to get to the main story.