The Club of Queer Trades

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Diversion for Fans of Sherlock Holmes
Review: 'The Club of Queer Trades' is a very clever collection of stories all dealing with an exclusive club. Anyone can join the club...that is, if you can invent a completely new and different form of employment...oh, and be able to sustain a living by it also. This is a very entertaining book that will be a nice diversion for mystery fans, especially those who enjoy Sherlock Holmes stories.

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Diversion for Fans of Sherlock Holmes
Review: 'The Club of Queer Trades' is a very clever collection of stories all dealing with an exclusive club. Anyone can join the club...that is, if you can invent a completely new and different form of employment...oh, and be able to sustain a living by it also. This is a very entertaining book that will be a nice diversion for mystery fans, especially those who enjoy Sherlock Holmes stories.

Rating:
Summary: A clever droll piece
Review: These are six, separate, stand-alone little mysteries that together contain a larger book-length plot. The book is full of cunning though largely innocent deception, and each story backflips into a droll surprise ending. The characters -- the practioners of queer, and quaint, trades -- are likewise other than they seem. For all the philosphical and theological depth of Chesterton, these stories are light and deft and thoroughly entertaining. This is a small book expertly turned and burnished -- an exquisite Victorian miniature.

Rating:
Summary: A clever droll piece
Review: These are six, separate, stand-alone little mysteries that together contain a larger book-length plot. The book is full of cunning though largely innocent deception, and each story backflips into a droll surprise ending. The characters -- the practioners of queer, and quaint, trades -- are likewise other than they seem. For all the philosphical and theological depth of Chesterton, these stories are light and deft and thoroughly entertaining. This is a small book expertly turned and burnished -- an exquisite Victorian miniature.

Rating:
Summary: Victorian, Singularly Chestertonian, Whimsical Characters
Review: This early work (1905) by G. K. Chesterton defies classification. These six successive stories initially appear to be mysteries, possibly whimsical mysteries, except that the apparent crimes and misdeeds may not be criminal upon closer inspection. The highly eccentric, zany characters add a frenzied element that baffles any effort at a calm and reasoned deduction. We not only wonder who committed a crime, but we are unsure of the crime itself. The motivation for the misdeeds is as murky as the crime.

We have all encountered tales of eccentric Victorian English clubs. The Club of Queer Trades is a secretive and selective gathering of individuals that have each created an exceedingly original profession. Each one must practice and earn a satisfactory living from his unique profession. Most are preposterous undertakings.

The Club of Queer Trades was not well-received by some literary critics. Nonetheless, I would be rather surprised if the fans of G. K. Chesterton's better known works like the Father Brown mysteries, The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond, and The Napoleon of Notting Hill do not find this curious collection to be superbly enjoyable. This Dover edition is substantially enhanced by the addition of 32 rare, full-page, humorous drawings by G. K. Chesterton himself.