The Green God

by Frederic Arnold Kummer

This book has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies and hence the text is clear and readable.

Genres: Mystery

112 pages, Paperback

First published December 7, 2009

About the author

Frederic Arnold Kummer Sr. (August 5, 1873 - November 22, 1943) was an American author, playwright and screenwriter. He also wrote under the pseudonym Arnold Fredericks. Several of his works were made into films. A caricature of him is on the wall of Sardi's restaurant.

He lived in Maryland.

His son Frederic Arnold Kummer Jr. was also a writer.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata]

Number 20 on my list of titles written by the various men who contributed recipes to the Stag Cook Book, The Green God, written in 1911, was luckily not quite what I had expected. I've come across a few lately that painted everything Asian as evil, and I was afraid at first that this might have the same type of theme. I was prepared to drop it like a hot potato if it did, so I was glad to see that the Evil Ones in this story were two greedy Englishmen: one who coveted an ancient statue of Buddha carved from an emerald, and the other who stole it for him in return for his daughter's hand in marriage.

And our narrator? He is one of those typical innocent bystanders that get swept up into adventures through no fault of their own. Owen Morgan was walking from London to Torquay to visit his mother. When he got close to Exeter, he was caught out by a big storm and was offered a ride by a man who was looking for Major Temple's newly rented country home. Morgan accepts the ride (first mistake) and then accepts the offer of a room overnight (second mistake) and during dinner all the trouble starts.

I was tickled by all the classic ingredients here, and I tended to get more caught up in counting them than in the story itself. A dark and stormy night, a house new to the inhabitants but with a history of hauntings, a stolen figurine, a Chinese servant who knows more than he is telling, a gruesome death in that haunted room, and a policeman from Scotland Yard handily waiting about in the nearest town. I could name more, but it would risk spoiling the story for anyone who might want to read it someday.

I read this quickly; it is not a difficult book to get through. A night of insomnia helped, of course. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I will rush off to read the other Kummer titles at Gutenberg. It was a pleasant read, but nothing spectacular.

Kummer's recipe in the cook book was for Spaghetti Diabolique, which sounded yummy, except I do not think I would want to try making the spaghetti from scratch like he did. I am still surprised at how many of the men offered spaghetti recipes. I have five titles left in my Stags Of The Stag Cookbook Challenge. I wonder how many of those five authors submitted spaghetti recipes?

[Larry Piper]

Not a very good book. It's not terrible, but just not very good. I gave it 2*+, although GoodReads doesn't allow +s and -s.

Anyway, Owen Morgan is walking from Essex to Torquay, I believe it is, and he sees that he's in serious danger of being caught in a rather bad storm. Then, a car comes along, and a guy named Robert Ashton stops and asks Morgan if he knows where Maj. Temple's house is. Morgan doesn't, but accepts a ride, if only part way, to minimize his exposure to the coming storm. By the time they find Mr. Temple's house, the storm is in full something-or-other and Morgan accepts an invitation to stay the night. He's situated in a room across from the room Ashton will be staying.

Well, weird things happen. People seem to die in locked rooms, and there are weird noises in the night, and so on. Not a particularly good book, but then again, not truly awful.