The Van Suyden Sapphires
by Charles Carey
(Dodd-Mead Co, 1905)
Gwendolyn Bramblestone, a downfallen society girl, is invited to an elaborate weekend-party by the rich Mrs. Van Suyden. While there, California actress Elida Yeats requests her help in a publicity stunt. This involves the stealing of a set of rubies from Mrs. Van Suyden's safe. These rubies were rented by Yeats from the jeweler Sonnenthal, and are to be returned to him by Gwendolyn the morning following her return to New York. However, after the trick is pulled off, it's found that Mrs. Van Suyden's sapphires are missing. Stolen-- by an unknown guest of the house! To make matters worse, Gwendolyn unwittingly lets the entrusted rubies fall into the hands of one of the thieves.
Serious complications ensue when Baggerly, a roguish villain, implicates Bramblestone in the affair. Then Harry Glenn, a renowned cracksman, tries to swing a deal with her, on condition that she furnish him with floor-plans of several Fifth Avenue residences. Notwithstanding, her suitor Captain McCracken springs to her defense, hiring private eye Jerry Bender to look into the jewel robbery and discover the true crook-- and shield her from any untoward advances. Bender, however, comes back with some startling news. Evidence shows Gwendolyn had something to do with the robbery. Now it's up to her to use woman's wit to outsmart the criminals and make restoration of the jewels. When she discovers the mastermind is using personal ads to send coded messages to his gang-members, she hits upon a thread which may help her to unravel the mystery and bring the affair to a close.
This little mystery/ crime novel is a curiosity of the Edwardian era. It is also a very good example of the "Rogue School" of mystery fiction. For more information on that school and its practitioners, see http://members.aol.com/MG4273/rogue.htm#Rogue. The present story is no work of genius, though it shows glimmerings here and there of true talent. Unfortunately, the story itself is a bit inane. After 200 pages, I found myself losing interest in the denouement. Matter of fact, it seems the whole tale is an elaborate "ado about nothing." The characters race about in a mad dash to find jewels that are lost on account of their own stupidity, and we can't commiserate much with their plight. However, this book peculiarly preserves the flavor of the New York City of 1905. It's also the only work I've read by a male author which is written in the first person from a woman's perspective.
The writer, "Charles Carey," has been identified as Charles Carey Waddell (1868-1930), a prolific author of magazine fiction who wrote dozens of tales during a career that spanned over thirty years. He is often credited as "C.C. Waddell." In 1919, he wrote a book called Breaking Into Print: The Waddell System of Story-Writing. Despite his success in selling stories, however, very little of his fiction has been preserved in hardcover book form. The Van Suyden Sapphires and The Girl of the Guard Line (1915) appear to be his only books published during the Edwardian period. Yet he wrote a great deal of fiction for the slicks and pulps of that time. Truly the world will never know his merits as a writer. But judging by the present novel, we're probably not missing very much. After weighing all the evidence, The Van Suyden Sapphires must be rated a minor work of the mystery genre, and one of those that falls into the bracket of "enthusiasts only." That is about the best that can be said of it.
--B.A.S.
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