The House of the Arrow [Paperback]

A. E. W. Mason (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1984

1924. The book begins: Messrs. Frobisher and Haslitt, the solicitors on the east side of Russell Square, counted amongst their clients a great many who had undertakings established in France; and the firm was very proud of this branch of its business. It gives us a place in history, Mr. Jeremy Haslitt used to say. For it dates from the year 1806, when Mr. James Frobisher, then our very energetic senior partner, organized the escape of hundreds of British subjects who were detained in France by the edict of the first Napoleon. The firm received the thanks of His Majesty's Government and has been fortunate enough to retain the connection thus made. I look after that side of our affairs myself.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 311 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub (August 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881840661
• ISBN-13: 978-0881840667
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,774,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic Detective from a Golden (or silver) age, May 28, 2004

By A Customer

A.E. W. Mason wrote a good many books, of which his romantic adventure "The Four Feathers" may be the best known today. In his own time, however, he was famous as a successor to Conan Doyle, and his detective, the great Hanaud, was much appreciated by readers in early 20th century Britain. Mason chose a different track than some: where other writers made their detectives less eccentric than Sherlock Holmes, Mason went in the opposite direction: Hanaud is French, an egomaniac, a part of the official machinery rather than an aristocratic amateur, and accompanied by as many as two Watsons! In all of this he may have inspired Agatha Christie to make her detective a foreign policeman, Poirot. Making a foreigner the hero was risky in the xenophobic days of Empire, but Mason succeeded.

A number of the Hanaud books are currently available, at least used. The most famous of them, and the best by far, was this book "The House of the Arrow". In its time it was the most celebrated detective story in English. It still rewards reading by fans of the golden age. I realize that it is out of print. But I leave this little review as a signpost for potential readers. If you like this sort of thing, and you come across it online, in a library, or in a used book shop, by all means pick it up. It was recommended to me when I was 10, and I didn't find a copy until I was 16, but I am glad I did. Not great literature, of course, and definitely of a later period than the Victorian Holmes, but well done of its type.

Good Hunting!