The Horror on the Links

The Complete Tales of Jules De Grandin, Volume One

By: Seabury Quinn

Narrated by: Paul Woodson

Seabury Quinn's short stories were featured in well more than half of the pulp magazine 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. In de Grandin there are familiar shades of both Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, and alongside his assistant, Dr. Samuel Trowbridge, de Grandin's knack for solving mysteries - and his outbursts of peculiar French-isms (grand Dieu!) - captivated for nearly three decades.

Collected for the first time in trade editions, The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin presents all 93 published works featuring the supernatural detective. Presented in chronological order over five volumes, 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

Excellent, Interesting, and Highly Entertaining!!

A true jewel, unearthed and presented flawlessly!!! A French Holmes of the occult variety. Most excellent!!

Painful Narriation

The stories are great. Full of camp and pulp! The narration is absolutely horrible. This poor man would have done better to not attempt any accents. The good Doctor came off sounding like an unnamed Looney Toons skunk. Often the accent would stray to something resembling a generic Irish brogue.

A really fun collection of spooky stories

I absolutely adore this character and his weird adventures, though terribly corny and not particularly well written it's fun and that's what counts. Seabury Quinn had his finger on the pulse of how to make a story appealing while sprinkling in some truly appalling descriptions and upsetting revelations. If you need a paranormal adventure that bends your mind and challenges your perception of the workings of the world, this is probably skippable content. That said if you want a dose of fun, gory, pulp-horror adventure with an awkward hint of romance, it's a must-have.

Such Fun !!

These stories, and Seabury Quinn, are new to me and I enjoyed listening to this so excellent volume. I intend to buy the hardbacks also, and understand that there will eventually be five volumes. Mr. Paul Woodson did an admirable job of suggesting Grandin's accent and voice s well as the rest of the characters. I would like to hear more of his readings.

Typical pulp fiction of the era, but well-done

Giving us an occult twist on Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Seabury Quinn presents Dr. Jules De Grandin and Dr. Trowbridge, the former a doctor, but also a trained investigator with the French Surete, the latter a New Jersey M.D. Like Doyle's famous duo, De Grandin and Trowbridge investigate crimes and ill-happenings, but these often have an occult explanation, rather than something mundane. Vampires, sorcerers, cannibals, ghosts... while they may challenge the little Frenchman, none are a match for him.

The stories mostly take place in New Jersey, which apparently is a center of occult weirdness in America. (But we all knew that, right?) They're very formulaic, meant originally for Pulp magazines to be read on a lazy weekend afternoon. Still, though following a formula, the stories are enjoyable, and the character of De Grandin -vain, brilliant, gallant, and prickly- is fun.

Can't say the same for his "vieil ami," Dr. Trowbridge. While apparently a fine general practitioner, when it comes to the occult, which practically jumps out in front of him waving a neon sign in every story, Dr. Trowbridge is as dense as a block of cheese. At least Watson would eventually learn to trust Holmes's reasoning, even if he couldn't follow it at first. This is beyond Trowbridge. One wonders why De Grandin keeps hanging around such a clod: perhaps it's all the free food, liquor, and cigars Trowbridge lets him help himself to. The stories lose a half-star for this cardboard character.

The performance itself is very good: Woodson keeps the voices distinct and maintains the pace. Trigger warning: if you're the kind of reader who clutches their pearls and heads for the fainting couch when encountering stereotypes from 100 years ago, these stories aren't for you. (But then, none of the fiction of that period would be) If you can look past that, however, and if you enjoy old-fashioned Pulp fiction, I do recommend these tales, especially in audiobook format.

Could we get Ian Gordon to read please?

I loved the stories, however, it took awhile to adjust to the narrator's voice especially for the French doctor. Still a good listen if you enjoy Weird Tales Magazine.

WHAT A LISTEN!!

THE HORROR ON THE LINKS BY SEABURY QUINN AND NARRATED BY PAUL WOODSON was one great listen. Just picture a Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and Fox Moulder of the X-files all wrapped up into one character and you have Jules De Grandin!

Grandin gets himself involved in cases that involve monsters, demons, & vampires and most of the time, murder!! Along with his best friend Dr. Trowbridge (i.e.: Watson, Hastings & Dana Scully), Grandin is off running, sometimes literally, tracking down whatever supernatural bad guy comes his way.

I literally took a chance on this 25 hour plus collection. Like many people, I'd never heard of Seagull Quinn, let alone Jules De Grandin! I enjoyed it so much I took another chance and purchased volume 2! Paul Woodson kept the pace with the narration, giving life to Grandin all the other characters in these stories.

The only downside to this book series was the "friend Trowbridge" every ten seconds and treating Trowbridge like an idiot which in this listeners opinion he wasn't that bad. Trowbridge was just a little slower on the uptake than Grandin!
All in all, to me, THE HORROR ON THE LINKS was well worth the price and the listen.

Classic Detective Pulp at its Finest

Seabury Quinn, with his Dr Jules de Grandin, was a pioneer of the Paranormal/Occult Detective genre of pulp fiction. The campy de Grandin somehow succeeds at topping the stereotypical narcissism of his literary contemporary, the Great One, Sherlock Holmes. What a treat. Three cheers to the editor who made these five volumes possible. I cannot wait to dig right in to Volume 2 right now.

Good for the medium

If judged as a novella or even as serious pulp, it would grade lower. As it is merely a collection of cliche occult stories, the 3 stars are for the wide variety and colorful scenery. Overall, it is fun to listen to as a way to pass the time, but the characters don't evolve, they are entirely predictable, and the plots' arcs are transparent from the first paragraphs.

Good but dated stories.

Very entertaining stories. I think that he was the precursor to Hercule Poirot. Dated only because of the preconceptions of the the times. 1920's I believe. Light entertainment if you love mysteries.