Rocket to the Morgue
Encyclopedia
Rocket to the Morgue is a 1942 American
locked room
mystery
novel by Anthony Boucher
(originally published as by "H. H. Holmes
", Boucher's frequent pseudonym when writing mysteries or writing about mysteries, and the pseudonym of a 19th-century American
serial killer
).
and Sherlock Holmes
, or Edgar Rice Burroughs
and Tarzan
. The character has entered popular culture, and is known around the world, and the author's heir takes a fiercely protective and quite predatory view of the value of this heritage. (This dog-in-the-manger situation resembles the contemporary reports of the attitudes of Burroughs's son and Doyle's nephew.) Foulkes' son Hilary has made many enemies due to his inflexibility and greed. His niece Jenny lives in the Foulkes house and works as Hilary's private secretary, is devoted to him, but her fiance and his brother-in-law, D. Vance Wimpole (a science fiction writer), wants money (to pay off blackmailers); and he's recently had unpleasant encounters with two other local science fiction authors, Matt Duncan and Joe Henderson, at their expense. After two suspicious "accidents", Hilary suspects that his life is in danger, and asks for police help. Police Detective Inspector Terry Marshall (a casual acquaintance of Matt Duncan, who appeared in Nine Times Nine) arrives at the house just as a ticking "box of chocolates" is delivered.
The novel features two investigators from Boucher/Holmes' earlier locked door mystery Nine Times Nine: Sister Ursula of the convent
of the fictitious Sisters of Martha of Bethany, and police detective Terence "Terry" Marshall. (Sister Ursula is the daughter of a policeman
and had intended to become a policewoman herself before deciding that she had a higher calling
to the religious life
.)
writers of that era, and a member of the Mañana Literary Society
. The dedication to the first edition reads, "For The Mañana Literary Society and in particular for Robert Heinlein and Cleve Cartmill." Rocket to the Morgue is something of a roman à clef
about the Southern California
science fiction
scene of the time. Many characters are thinly-veiled versions of personalities such as Robert A. Heinlein
("Austin Carter"), L. Ron Hubbard
("D. Vance Wimpole"), then-literary agent
Julius Schwartz
("M. Halstead Phynn") and rocket scientist
/occultist/fan Jack Parsons ("Hugo Chantrelle"); or recognizable composites of two writers ("Matt Duncan" - Cleve Cartmill
and Henry Kuttner
; "Joe Henderson" - Jack Williamson
and Edmond Hamilton
). Some writers' actual pseudonyms appear as minor characters, most prominently "Don Stuart, editor of Surprising" (John W. Campbell
, editor of Amazing Stories
); but also "Anson Macdonald", "Lyle Monroe" (both Heinlein pseudonyms)... and Anthony Boucher
(whose real name was William Anthony Parker White)! The science fiction culture
is portrayed in a familiar manner, complete with references to Denvention
, the 1941 World Science Fiction Convention in Denver
, and the appearance of a quintessential science fiction fan, one Arthur Waring, member of a science fiction society and publisher of a science fiction fanzine
, whose sophisticated language and scientific knowledge displayed in a fan letter have impressed Detective Marshall, but who when interviewed turns out to be a pre-adolescent: "[a]n infant with pink and downy cheeks".
. The first paperback edition in 1943 was the first and only book published under the imprint "A Phantom Mystery". It has been repeatedly reprinted (after 1944, as by Anthony Boucher), beginning with a 1952 Dell edition.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
locked room
Locked room mystery
The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room...
mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
novel by Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
(originally published as by "H. H. Holmes
H. H. Holmes
Herman Webster Mudgett , better known under the alias of Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, was one of the first documented American serial killers in the modern sense of the term...
", Boucher's frequent pseudonym when writing mysteries or writing about mysteries, and the pseudonym of a 19th-century American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
).
Plotline
Now-dead author Fowler Foulkes and his creation Dr. Derringer occupy a position in science fiction somewhat similar to that of Conan DoyleConan Doyle
Conan Doyle is a rugby player. His club is Garryowen. His usual position is inside centre, but he also plays out-half. He has made two appearances for Munster Rugby in the Magners League, but was released by Munster at the end of the 2008/2009 season. While at Munster he was selected for the...
and Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
, or Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
and Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
. The character has entered popular culture, and is known around the world, and the author's heir takes a fiercely protective and quite predatory view of the value of this heritage. (This dog-in-the-manger situation resembles the contemporary reports of the attitudes of Burroughs's son and Doyle's nephew.) Foulkes' son Hilary has made many enemies due to his inflexibility and greed. His niece Jenny lives in the Foulkes house and works as Hilary's private secretary, is devoted to him, but her fiance and his brother-in-law, D. Vance Wimpole (a science fiction writer), wants money (to pay off blackmailers); and he's recently had unpleasant encounters with two other local science fiction authors, Matt Duncan and Joe Henderson, at their expense. After two suspicious "accidents", Hilary suspects that his life is in danger, and asks for police help. Police Detective Inspector Terry Marshall (a casual acquaintance of Matt Duncan, who appeared in Nine Times Nine) arrives at the house just as a ticking "box of chocolates" is delivered.
The novel features two investigators from Boucher/Holmes' earlier locked door mystery Nine Times Nine: Sister Ursula of the convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
of the fictitious Sisters of Martha of Bethany, and police detective Terence "Terry" Marshall. (Sister Ursula is the daughter of a policeman
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
and had intended to become a policewoman herself before deciding that she had a higher calling
Calling (religious)
A calling, in the religious sense of the word, is a religious vocation that may be professional or voluntary and, idiosyncratic to different religions, may come from another person, from a divine messenger, or from within oneself.-History:The idea of a vocation or "calling" has played a...
to the religious life
Consecrated life (Catholic Church)
In the Roman Catholic Church, the term "consecrated life" denotes a stable form of Christian living by those faithful who feel called to follow Jesus Christ in a more exacting way recognized by the Church...
.)
Portrayal of science fiction culture in the Golden Age
Boucher was the friend and mentor of many science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
writers of that era, and a member of the Mañana Literary Society
Manana Literary Society
The Manana Literary Society was a formal meeting of science fiction writers in Los Angeles. Hosted by Robert A. Heinlein, the membership included authors such as Anthony Boucher, Arthur K. Barnes, Edmond Hamilton, L. Ron Hubbard, Henry Kuttner, C.L. Moore, L. Sprague de Camp, Cleve Cartmill, Leigh...
. The dedication to the first edition reads, "For The Mañana Literary Society and in particular for Robert Heinlein and Cleve Cartmill." Rocket to the Morgue is something of a roman à clef
Roman à clef
Roman à clef or roman à clé , French for "novel with a key", is a phrase used to describe a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction...
about the Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
scene of the time. Many characters are thinly-veiled versions of personalities such as Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
("Austin Carter"), L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
("D. Vance Wimpole"), then-literary agent
Literary agent
A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers and film producers and assists in the sale and deal negotiation of the same. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwriters and major non-fiction writers...
Julius Schwartz
Julius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was a comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
("M. Halstead Phynn") and rocket scientist
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
/occultist/fan Jack Parsons ("Hugo Chantrelle"); or recognizable composites of two writers ("Matt Duncan" - Cleve Cartmill
Cleve Cartmill
Cleve Cartmill was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy short stories. He is best remembered for what is sometimes referred to as "the Cleve Cartmill affair", when his 1944 story "Deadline" attracted the attention of the FBI by reason of its detailed description of a nuclear weapon...
and Henry Kuttner
Henry Kuttner
Henry Kuttner was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror.-Early life:Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915...
; "Joe Henderson" - Jack Williamson
Jack Williamson
John Stewart Williamson , who wrote as Jack Williamson was a U.S. writer often referred to as the "Dean of Science Fiction" following the death in 1988 of Robert A...
and Edmond Hamilton
Edmond Hamilton
Edmond Moore Hamilton was an American author of science fiction stories and novels during the mid-twentieth century. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, he was raised there and in nearby New Castle, Pennsylvania...
). Some writers' actual pseudonyms appear as minor characters, most prominently "Don Stuart, editor of Surprising" (John W. Campbell
John W. Campbell
John Wood Campbell, Jr. was an influential figure in American science fiction. As editor of Astounding Science Fiction , from late 1937 until his death, he is generally credited with shaping the so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction.Isaac Asimov called Campbell "the most powerful force in...
, editor of Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
); but also "Anson Macdonald", "Lyle Monroe" (both Heinlein pseudonyms)... and Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
(whose real name was William Anthony Parker White)! The science fiction culture
Science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or "fandom" of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy and in contact with one another based upon that interest...
is portrayed in a familiar manner, complete with references to Denvention
3rd World Science Fiction Convention
The 3rd World Science Fiction Convention was Denvention I, which was held July 4–6, 1941, at the Shirley-Savoy Hotel in Denver, USA. This was the last Worldcon before there was a break in the annual tradition due to World War II. The next Worldcon was held in 1946.The guest of honor at the third...
, the 1941 World Science Fiction Convention in Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, and the appearance of a quintessential science fiction fan, one Arthur Waring, member of a science fiction society and publisher of a science fiction fanzine
Science fiction fanzine
A science fiction fanzine is an amateur or semi-professional magazine published by members of science fiction fandom, from the 1930s to the present day...
, whose sophisticated language and scientific knowledge displayed in a fan letter have impressed Detective Marshall, but who when interviewed turns out to be a pre-adolescent: "[a]n infant with pink and downy cheeks".
Publication history
The first edition was published in 1942 (as by "H. H. Holmes") by Duell, Sloan and PearceDuell, Sloan and Pearce
Duell, Sloan and Pearce was a publishing company located in New York City. It was founded in 1939 by C. Halliwell Duell, Samuel Sloan and Charles A. Pearce. It initially published general fiction and non-fiction, but not westerns, light romances or children's books...
. The first paperback edition in 1943 was the first and only book published under the imprint "A Phantom Mystery". It has been repeatedly reprinted (after 1944, as by Anthony Boucher), beginning with a 1952 Dell edition.