Customer Reviews

City of Whispering Stone

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In my pre-Amazon years I encountered several mystery stories by George Chesbro. I enjoyed both. They had occult and eerie overtones in addition to the underlying mystery story. The 'detective' in these books is Mongo Frederickson a dwarf ex-circus star who went on to become an academic criminologist and adventurer/detective. For some reason I never ran into another Chesbro mystery. Recently, I discovered that Chesbro had written many Mongo stories. I decided it was time to do a little catching up.

"City of Whispering Stone" is thus my first Chesbro in some 20 years. I say `new' guardedly, since it was originally written in 1978. It features Professor Robert Fredrickson (more commonly known as Mongo the Magnificent) as detective. Mongo is called in by an old circus friend to investigate the disappearance of Hassan Khordad, an Iranian circus star. The few leads point to a political tie-in with the old Iranian regime (the revolution is still to come). Back at the University where he teaches, Mongo follows this lead to the Confederation of Iranian Students and finds himself embroiled in the political turmoil of pre-revolutionary Iran.

Mongo becomes the target of the Iranian secret police, the CIA, arms smugglers, and even the Iranian liberation front (GEM). Seeking answers, he only manages to dig deeper into a political maze he barely understands. Suddenly, during the investigation, the Iranian girlfriend of Mongo's brother is killed. Garth, the brother, flies into Iran to attend her funeral, and promptly disappears. Mongo suddenly finds himself in Tehran trying to track down Garth. The remainder of the story is both a fascinating tour of pre-revolutionary Iran and an adventure story that would do Indiana Jones credit.

"City of Whispering Stone" is tightly plotted with a lot of surprising turns. The flashes of insight into Iranian politics are eye opening, for we Americans are accustomed to having the Shah portrayed as a hero and the revolutionaries as villains. Dialog is often humorous and tongue-in-cheek. I have to admit that Mongo's athletic prowess with shoe knives as a bit hard to swallow, but it just makes the story more exciting. All in all this is great reading. Keep an eye out for Chesbro's books.

"Persepolis, like a city of whispering stone, spoke to me of many things: I was a stranger in a totally alien culture, a very long way from home, lonely, homesick and very much afraid of dying without ever again seeing any face I loved."
- Mongo, on his first visit to the ruins of Persepolis (which was destroyed by Alexander the Great during his conquest of Persia)

Four passages refer back to the events of SHADOW OF A BROKEN MAN:
- when someone accuses Mongo of knowing nothing about torture
- when Mongo asks Garth for help
- twice when Military Intelligence people turn up

Unfortunately, the mystery of the previous book is completely given away by this book, so you really ought to read SHADOW first. Otherwise, this book serves as a better introduction to the characters than does SHADOW OF A BROKEN MAN. Mongo's opening thoughts in this book are of his circus performer past, and how for him as a dwarf the price of being taken seriously has always been to give a good performance. Even now that he's put himself through grad school and become a criminology professor at New York University, and has a private investigator's license on the side, his past never quite goes away; his old boss, Phil Statler, turns up with a request for help.

Statler Brothers Circus is missing one of its performers, Khorzad, an Iranian strongman who has become a star. If he's in trouble, Phil wants to help him, but if not, Phil wants him found so he can be sued for breach of contract. Phil appears in other early Mongo stories, particularly the short pieces in THE HOUSE OF SECRET ENEMIES, then takes a long hiatus until THE FEAR IN YESTERDAY'S RINGS brings him back with a vengeance. But of course, in a way, Mongo's past is always with him, if only in his acrobatic skills and the education his circus career financed.

CITY came out not long before the fall of the Shah, and deals with Iran as it was then. If you're unfamiliar with pre-1979 Iran, be warned that Chesbro doesn't gloss over the police state aspects of the country, and the Shah isn't a particularly good guy as painted here. Part 1 is set in New York City, while Part 2 is in Iran. Apart from the missing Khorzad, Iranian characters living in the US whom Mongo and his brother Garth (an NYC cop) encounter include the Iranian student organization at NYU; Darius, a colleague of Mongo's who is a political exile; and Garth's current girlfriend.

CITY is unusually "literary" and very polished as a novel, not just a mystery, reminding me of the saying that an author's first book is often his best, in which he says the most of what he has to say. Mongo's personal demons and insecurities are explored, as in later books, but Garth's are featured as well (something we don't see again until THE COLD SMELL OF SACRED STONE). Chesbro uses symbolism in CITY in a way that supports rather than distracts from the story. Mongo and Garth encounter a number of revolutionary characters who care deeply about the power of symbols, including PR; the brothers also deal with the Shah's supporters, who are in their turn aware of the power of symbols. Persepolis, the city of the title, has for centuries been a symbol both of royal power and a symbol of the overthrow of that power. (It was the ceremonial capital of the ancient empire, and was destroyed by Alexander the Great when he conquered the emperor Darius.)

Apart from the explicit political symbolism used by the supporting characters, Persepolis turns up as a symbol in the text to presage major events. When Mongo first meets the Iranian students' organization at NYU, their headquarters feature a blown-up photo of Persepolis. When he searches Khorzad's trunk at the circus, he finds the same picture (marked, with the addition of a platform from a recent celebration of the Shah's rule). When Mongo finally enters the city in real life, it presages some very important events indeed.

This is a proper novel, not just a mystery.

Content warnings:
- As a Mongo novel, CITY of course includes a lot of violence, including torture.
- Some sexual content as a woman makes advances to Mongo, but no actual activities there. Chesbro takes the much more interesting approach that Mongo's met women like this before who are reacting to his condition rather than to him, and he's got enough self-respect to deal with it maturely. (See other entries in the Mongo series for explorations of his romantic relationships, particularly AN AFFAIR OF SORCERERS.)
- A certain amount of disillusionment, even at a story's conclusion.