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The Absent-Minded Coterie
“The absent-minded coterie” is a crime short story written in 1906 by Scottish writer Robert Barr. It features French detective Eugène Valmont, born out of a compilation of short stories titled “The triumphs of Eugène Valmont”, originally published in 1904 and 1905 in the Saturday Evening Post. The story tells of a cunning scam devised by crooked counterfeiters. Of course, Valmont will eventually discover the truth. The absent-minded coterie is widely recognised as one of the best crime short stories of the time. A gem of a book!
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1906
About the author
Robert Barr
548 books12 followersRobert Barr (September 16, 1849 – October 21, 1912) was a British-Canadian short story writer and novelist, born in Glasgow, Scotland.
Robert Barr emigrated with his parents to Upper Canada at age four and was educated in Toronto at Toronto Normal School. Barr became a teacher and eventual headmaster of the Central School of Windsor, Ontario. While he had that job he began to contribute short stories—often based on personal experiences—to the Detroit Free Press. In 1876 Barr quit his teaching position to become a staff member of that publication, in which his contributions were published with the pseudonym "Luke Sharp." This nom de plume was derived from the time he attended school in Toronto. At that time he would pass on his daily commute a shop sign marked, "Luke Sharpe, Undertaker", a combination of words Barr considered amusing in their incongruity. Barr was promoted by the Detroit Free Press, eventually becoming its news editor.
In 1881 Barr decided to "vamoose the ranch", as he stated, and relocated to London, to establish there the weekly English edition of the Detroit Free Press. In 1892 he founded the magazine The Idler, choosing Jerome K. Jerome as his collaborator (wanting, as Jerome said, "a popular name"). He retired from its co-editorship in 1895. In London of the 1890s Barr became a more prolific author—publishing a book a year—and was familiar with many of the best-selling authors of his day, including Bret Harte and Stephen Crane. Most of his literary output was of the crime genre, then quite in vogue. When Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories were becoming well-known Barr published in the Idler the first Holmes parody, "The Adventures of Sherlaw Kombs" (1892), a spoof that was continued a decade later in another Barr story, "The Adventure of the Second Swag" (1904). Despite the jibe at the growing Holmes phenomenon Barr and Doyle remained on very good terms. Doyle describes him in his memoirs Memories and Adventures as, "a volcanic Anglo—or rather Scot-American, with a violent manner, a wealth of strong adjectives, and one of the kindest natures underneath it all."
Robert Barr died from heart disease on October 21, 1912, at his home in Woldingham, a small village to the southeast of London.
Robert Barr emigrated with his parents to Upper Canada at age four and was educated in Toronto at Toronto Normal School. Barr became a teacher and eventual headmaster of the Central School of Windsor, Ontario. While he had that job he began to contribute short stories—often based on personal experiences—to the Detroit Free Press. In 1876 Barr quit his teaching position to become a staff member of that publication, in which his contributions were published with the pseudonym "Luke Sharp." This nom de plume was derived from the time he attended school in Toronto. At that time he would pass on his daily commute a shop sign marked, "Luke Sharpe, Undertaker", a combination of words Barr considered amusing in their incongruity. Barr was promoted by the Detroit Free Press, eventually becoming its news editor.
In 1881 Barr decided to "vamoose the ranch", as he stated, and relocated to London, to establish there the weekly English edition of the Detroit Free Press. In 1892 he founded the magazine The Idler, choosing Jerome K. Jerome as his collaborator (wanting, as Jerome said, "a popular name"). He retired from its co-editorship in 1895. In London of the 1890s Barr became a more prolific author—publishing a book a year—and was familiar with many of the best-selling authors of his day, including Bret Harte and Stephen Crane. Most of his literary output was of the crime genre, then quite in vogue. When Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories were becoming well-known Barr published in the Idler the first Holmes parody, "The Adventures of Sherlaw Kombs" (1892), a spoof that was continued a decade later in another Barr story, "The Adventure of the Second Swag" (1904). Despite the jibe at the growing Holmes phenomenon Barr and Doyle remained on very good terms. Doyle describes him in his memoirs Memories and Adventures as, "a volcanic Anglo—or rather Scot-American, with a violent manner, a wealth of strong adjectives, and one of the kindest natures underneath it all."
Robert Barr died from heart disease on October 21, 1912, at his home in Woldingham, a small village to the southeast of London.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 2, 2019
Un racconto brillante, molto brillante, con un finale decisamente inaspettato (almeno per me).
May 18, 2021
The Absent-Minded Coterie is Chapters XIII-XVII in the book The Triumphs of Eugène Valmont. A great turn of the century late Victorian detective story with a twist at the end.
February 1, 2024
Carino dai, ti intrattiene bene
March 13, 2011
You'll see this in just about every collection of Golden Age detective/mystery stories, because it's a classic. It ranks with the best Sherlock Holmes stories.
October 14, 2022
Well, this short story was different. Eugéne Valmont is on the trail of some counterfeiters, but that is a false lead and he winds up chasing something else entirely. He finds an organization which has a clever method of defrauding people, a plot which reminds me of Doyle’s The Red Headed League. The biggest surprise came at the end, when it appears the bad guys win! Incidentally, the significance of the secret passage and the dual-identity person was not clear to me, nor why it was necessary to the story.
January 7, 2018
I like stories when the detectives get a comeuppance particularly if the crime is not that serious and the detective is a bit highhanded. So this story was fun to read. In addition, it was interesting to see a kind of proto-type of Hercule Poirot.
December 18, 2022
I liked this! It subverted expectations, it didn’t do what was predictable, and the ending was great! Bit hard to get into in the beginning, but otherwise really good!
April 22, 2025
4 stars
November 26, 2023
I purchased this as part of a promotion by Amazon 18 months ago. I am at this time attempting to clean up the books, box sets, and megapacks on my Kindle Fire.
I listened to this as part of The Second Victorian Mystery Megapack. It was a quick entertanting listen.
This is a very good British Victorian novella quick read 2023
I listened to this as part of The Second Victorian Mystery Megapack. It was a quick entertanting listen.
This is a very good British Victorian novella quick read 2023
August 11, 2019
Zaujímavé čítanie.
Want to Read
December 28, 2019Synopsis: Eugene Valmont investigates a scam devised by counterfeiters.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews