Agony Column

Rating:
Summary: Slight but Charming Return to a More Innocent Era
Review: Best known for the influential (if now dated) 1913 novel SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATE and his series of six Charlie Chan novels, Earl Derr Biggers (1884-1933) was among most widely admired popular novelists of the 1910s and 1920s. First published in 1916, THE AGONY COLUMN finds him very near the top of his form.

Set in London on the eve of World War I, the novel finds American visitor Geoffrey West smitten from afar by a beautiful young woman. In order to gain her attention he places an advertisement in the newspaper "agony column," where individuals run cryptic announcements pertaining love, money, and the like.

The young lady responds with the demand that Geoffrey write seven letters to demonstrate he is a man who might interest her. But even as Geoffrey begins his correspondence, he becomes caught up in circumstances that give him unexpected subject matter: an acquaintance has been viciously and suddenly murdered, and he himself may be suspected of the crime!

As in many Biggers novels, the plot is highly artificial and indeed becomes still more so as the novel progresses--but again as in many Biggers novels, the author's style has tremendous charm, and while many will anticipate the book's major plot turns they are so pleasantly written that THE AGONY COLUMN becomes a pleasant thing to read. An engaging if exceedingly mild tale, perfect for a wet afternoon.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Rating:
Summary: Murder, political intrigue and romance
Review: Between 1925 and 1932, Earl Derr Biggers wrote six novels about Charley Chan, a fictional Chinese detective, who was to become a pop culture icon through his representation in Hollywood movies. This novel, The Agony Column, was written by him ten years before his first Charley Chan novel. It might be considered a romance and it might be considered a mystery. It tells the story of a young couple falling in love, but it also contains the tale of a most mysterious murder.

The time is July 1914 and the setting is London. Rumors of a European war are in the press, but the two main characters are Americans who both enjoy reading in the newspaper the Personal Notices, popularly known as The Agony Column. In it are published the personal messages of otherwise reserved British urbanites.

As the novel begins Geoffrey West is having his breakfast in a restaurant and reading the Agony Column when he sees a beautiful young woman enter with her father. He is immediately attracted to her and notices that she too carries the Agony Column in her hand. The waiter seats the young lady and her escort at the table next to West and he hears her express her enjoyment of the ads in the personals. His breakfast over, West leaves the restaurant but can't get this young woman out of his mind. How can he meet her? He doesn't even know who she is. Then it hits him. He writes to her in the Personal Notices. In her reply she asks that he write seven letters to her in seven days to prove he is an interesting person and tells him how to post them. His first letter is innocent enough, but then the mystery begins. Murder and political intrigue are detailed in the letters of a man smitten by love. The two questions of "who done it?" and "will the boy get the girl?" drive the plot along. This is a delightful tale that will entertain to the very end.

This novel was made into a movie in 1930 called The Second Floor Mystery, starring Loretta Young as the beautiful young lady. However, being a silent movie, it is one you will not see in the video stores or on television.

Rating:
Summary: A Mystery To Befuddle Sherlock Homes!
Review: Take a large helping of mystery, add a heap of suspense and sprinkle liberally with a charming romance, and you've got one of the best mysteries this side of Sherlock. And don't worry, the unlike some myserties, you'll be guessing the whole way through, and still be left in shock!