The Toy Rattle Murder Case by (Jack) A.S.S. Von Swine. A murder mystery parody. From a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, circa May 1932.
Here is a short extract:
At that instant in rushed Inspector Squarkam. “Vilo!” he shouted. “Guess who’s been murdered!”
“Sergeant Teeth!” shouted Vilo, leaping with glee.
“Wrong!” yelled Squarkam, as they clasped hands and danced about the center-table. “You owe me a cigar!”
Vilo was never one to show his disappointment. After rushing madly about in circles, foaming at the mouth, biting chunks out of the chairs and tables, and shattering a mahogany wine-stand over my head, he asked quietly, meanwhile hammering Squarkam’s head against the floor, by the ears, “Who is it then, which is murdered?”
“You mean, ‘whom is murdered’,” I suggested. For even Vilo is not infallible.
Published in:
- THE COLLECTED LETTERS OF REH VOL. 2: 1930-1932, (page 346) Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, October 2007
- SENTIMENT: AN OLIO OF RARER WORKS, REH Foundation Press, December 2009
- TUTTE LE INDAGINI DI STEVE HARRISON, Elara, September 2020 (Italian)
- THE COLLECTED LETTERS OF REH VOL. 2: 1930-1932 (Letter 206) ultimate edition, Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, June 2022
