The Devil's Rosary

The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume 2

By: Seabury Quinn, George A. Vanderburgh

Narrated by: Andrew Eiden

Today the names of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Clark Ashton Smith, all regular contributors to the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the first half of the 20th century, are recognizable even to casual audiences of the bizarre and fantastic. And yet despite being more popular than them all during the golden era of genre pulp fiction, there is another author whose name and work have fallen into obscurity: Seabury Quinn.

Quinn's short stories were featured in well more than half of Weird Tales' original publication run. His most famous character, the supernatural French detective Dr. Jules de Grandin, investigated cases involving monsters, devil worshippers, serial killers, and spirits from beyond the grave, often set in the small town of Harrisonville, New Jersey. Collected for the first time, The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, edited by George Vanderburgh, presents all 93 published works featuring the supernatural detective. Presented in chronological order, this is the definitive collection of an iconic pulp hero.

©2017 The Estate of Seabury Quinn; Jules de Grandin stories copyright 1925–1938 by Popular Fiction Publishing Co.; Jules de Grandin stories copyright 1938–1951 by Weird Tales (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Name of a little green man

First and foremost, this series of stories were pulp fiction of the best kind, that is, over the top. They are not deep literature, but rather more like popcorn. Eat and enjoy!

However, when it comes to the reader, well I just wish I could give negative stars. Why? Let me explain.

I would not attempt to be an audiobook reader for a story written in Russian or Mandarin or Portuguese. Why not? Because I don’t speak the language. Similarly, this reader should not attempt to read books in English, and for the same reason. He doesn’t speak the language.

Many of us, when learning to read, are taught that if we see a word we don’t know, to sound it out. Most of the time, that is a good rule. However, some words are exceptions, and you just need to look them up.

Unfortunately, this reader didn’t do that. I gave up counting after fifty or so, when I was only a few hours in. I remember one stretch where he bobbled seven words in the first fifteen minutes of a story. These frequent mispronunciations kept yanking me out of the flow of the story, and completely ruined it for me.

So my advice is to buy the ebook and skip this audio version.

Frustrating listening experience!

I loved the first volume! Paul Woodson captured the characters perfectly. I would have loved the second volume just as much if not for Andrew Eiden's narration, which distracted me the whole way through. It was a simple case of miscasting. Audiobook producers often overlook the fact that listeners prefer vocal and pronunciation consistency within a series. Thankfully, Paul Woodson will be returning to narrate the third volume.

I regretfully plan to return this recording of The Devil's Rosary, but won't hesitate to purchase it again if/when it is rerecorded by Paul Woodson.

Regarding Andrew Eiden, I intend to listen to another title narrated by him, one unrelated to the Jules de Grandin stories.

Dreadful horror at its mehst

If you’ve read any of the other stories by Seabury Quinn, then you know what your in for. 1930s Pulp fiction at its best and worst. Scantily clothes helpless women. Scary paranormal and exotic monsters. And a French investigator who is quick to shoot and torture, and who is always drinking at the end of the day.
O and the Racism! Just about every villain is a foreigner of some sort. For example, what is referred to here as “The Devils Rosary,” is in actuality prayer beads of the Tibetan Dali-Lama. Enough said.
Good stories from a certain perspective, but it is best to know what you are getting into period

Excellent stories, great narrator, poor divisions

I love Seabury Quinn's Jules de Grandin stories. You have to keep in mind they are dated, of course. But I find them entertaining. My preferred way to read them is with the physical book opened and then have the narrator read them to me as I follow along.

I really like the narrator. He's got a good voice and he does it well. I am confused as to why Andrew Eidon did volume 2, but Paul Woodson did volumes 1 and 3 (volumes 4 and 5 are not out at the time of this review). I would have preferred the same narrator do all of them. Honestly, I think Woodson is the better voice for these, not because his voice is better than Andrew's but rather I think Paul's voice is more fitting for old detective stories. If Andrew did a reading of HP Lovecraft's works or of M. R. James Ghost Stories I would purchase those immediately. He's got a great voice for those kinds of stories.

My biggest beef with this audiobook is the chapter divisions. They are only labeled as Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc. even when the actual book titles them differently. Chapter 1, for example, is the Introduction. The 2nd chapter is another introduction. Chapter 3 is the first chapter of The Black Master. Chapter 4 is the 2nd chapter of The Black Master. Chapter 8 begins the first chapter of the 2nd story, The Devil-People. Some stories are not even divided up by the actual chapters, but just with a section break (The Wolf of St. Bonnot, for example, is chapters 71 and 72, even though the actual story has no chapter breaks). Very poorly done.

I have other audiobooks that contain multiple stories with multiple chapters for each story, and they are divided and titled in such a way that they are easy to navigate. I would give it a single star for this, but I do honestly like the story and the narration.

I am also very appreciative to Night Shade, the publisher, for bringing such a work into print. Every single one of the Jules de Grandin stories are found in these volumes. The introductions are very interesting and I am glad they included them. The hardcover volumes were very nicely done, too, and look great on my shelf.

Guilty pulp pleasures

Seabury Quinn was not a great writer, but his pulp stories about the occult detective Jules de Grandin have a lot of energy and some striking images, which is why he got so many cover illustrations in the old Weird Tales. This reader this time around is quite a bit of a comedown from the first volume, with average characterizations and numerous mispronunciations. Still, it's a good enough listen and the rough qualities of the reading match the occasionally dodgy writing. It's not Chaucer: it's occult pulp adventure, and it delivers.

Great Pulp Horror Stories

A good group of Psychic Detective stories from the 1920s and 30s. This was better than volume 1, indicating the author was settling in with the characters. I do however recommend you ration yourself to 1-2 stories a week, x since I began to anticipate a lot of the action when reading the entire book at once.

Lesser Performance

If you want an introduction to the many tales of Jules deGrandin, start with the first of these collections. The narration on that volume is smoother and dosn't contain the occasional mispronunciations that mar this reading. I also detected a couple of misread/incorrect terms in the reading.

It's a pity that a different reader was assigned to this compilation..

Perfect Pulp…

Pulp isn’t my genre of choice but that doesn’t stop me appreciating it. Quinn’s stories are fun when taken tongue-in-cheek, and definitely suspend all seriousness. I dare to listen at a stretch when doing mundane chores, as I do a lot of literature, fiction etc. that I don’t necessarily like but still don’t mind experimenting with.This collection is absurd, hilarious and completely over-the-top, and all those are compliments. Listen to appreciate the change and flux of modes, mores and all things resting on the tides of time. The narration is a little peculiar especially with the French mannerisms, but heck, it’s a work done in English, and I couldn’t care less if there were more mispronunciations or the like thrown in. It was lucid. Well done. Moving on to the next Quinn pulp collection - I’ve got a lot of mindless chores in my schedule.

Quel dommage !

I very much enjoyed volume 1 of the Seabury Quinn stories (Horror on the Links) and was excited to listen to volume 2. Imagine my disappointment upon finding that the producer did not feel that Grandin's French accent is an important part of the charm of the story. The narrator in the first volume, although obviously not bilingual, did an admirable effort to suggest Grandin's voice. Mr. Eiden either doesn't have the facility, or was directed not to simulate any accent and this significantly diminishes the fun of the reading.
I certainly hope that the producers take more care in casting a narrator for volume 3.

A Worthy follow up

After enjoying Volume 1 of The Complete Tales I was ready for Volume 2. Now like many I was rather disappointed that there was a change in narrator. But after time I grew too enjoy Mr Andrew Eiden’s interpretation of Jules De Grandin.
Now let's be honest with the stories there's a recognizable formula for his tales but the same can be said about almost any of the pulp fiction writers. Still Volumes 1-3 of the De Grandin are in heavy rotation on my audible account.
Now yes the depiction of nationalities that is not Anglo Saxon is racist but sadly that was on par for the age. For some that may dampen the enjoyment of this series which is understandable. Still I do find these tales enjoyable and I hope you will too