Description
Perhaps best known for creating the character Fu-Manchu, Sax Rohmer is also known for his works involving the supernatural. This novel follows Robert Cairn, his father, Dr. Bruce Cairn, and their suspicion of one Antony Ferrara.
After witnessing the strange and violent death of a swan, Robert Cairn suspects that Ferrara may be involved with the death of the bird. Soon after two murders, Dr. Bruce Cairn arrives in London and warns Robert that he suspects Ferrara is using ancient Egyptian magic to accomplish his evil deeds. After a mystical attack on Robert, Dr. Cairn and his son become involved in a series of supernatural events as they work to prevent Antony Ferrara from inflicting his dark magic on more victims.
Like many of his works, Rohmer includes exotic locations in this novel; first set in London, the action soon moves to the pyramids of Egypt as the father and son duo track down Ferrara. Having received both success and notoriety from Fu-Manchu, Rohmer has been given praise for Brood of the Witch-Queen, such as when H. P. Lovecraft favorably compared it to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Description
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, first published in the UK as The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, is the first novel to introduce the inimitable Fu-Manchu, famous not just for his moustache, but for being a nigh-unstoppable criminal mastermind and part of the “Yellow Peril.” This novel is a collection of previously-published short stories, slightly re-written by Rohmer to form a cohesive whole.
The narrator, Dr. Petrie, is a sort of Watson to Nayland Smith’s Holmes; but Smith resembles more of a James Bond than a Sherlock Holmes as the two barrel through action scenes and near-death scenarios planned by Fu-Manchu, a master scientist, chemist, and poisoner.
This novel was one of the first to popularize the trope of the “mysterious Chinaman,” an element that later became so clichéd that Ronald Knox, the famous detective story writer, declared that “no Chinaman must figure” in good detective stories.
The casual racism evident in the characters and events is a symptom of the xenophobic climate in the UK at the time, which was precipitated by many things—the Opium Wars, the Boxer Rebellion, Chinese immigration, and other fears. Despite that racism, the plot remains fast-paced and engaging, and is lent a modern air by Fu-Manchu’s role as an early prototype for a Bond supervillain.