![]() First-edition
book cover | |
Author | Kenneth Millar |
---|---|
Genre | |
Publisher | Dodd, Mead & Co. |
Publication date | 1944 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type |
The Dark Tunnel is the first novel by "one of the giants of twentieth century crime fiction", Kenneth Millar. The first edition was published by Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1944 New York, a fine-condition copy of which was priced at US$8,500 as of January 2020 [update]. [1] Millar's biography describes The Dark Tunnel as "a hybrid of old-fashioned puzzle-mystery, Buchanesque spy adventure, and Chandleresque exposé of sexual perversion. [2] Because of the latter, a 1950 paperback reprint was subtitled "The story of a homosexual spy". [3]
As an author, Millar was influenced by John Buchan and Raymond Chandler, with The Dark Tunnel bearing a strong resemblance to The Thirty-Nine Steps, and echoing Chandler's hallmarks of "rough-and-ready humor, its extravagant similes, and its more lurid events and descriptions". [2]
Millar's protagonist is Professor Robert Branch, a dichotomous character heavily influenced by the Professor Millar himself. Branch has studied T. S. Eliot, W. C. Handy, Norse mythology, and William Shakespeare; Branch is skilled in lock picking, athletic, and possesses a Doctor of Philosophy. [2]
![]() First-edition
book cover | |
Author | Kenneth Millar |
---|---|
Genre | |
Publisher | Dodd, Mead & Co. |
Publication date | 1944 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type |
The Dark Tunnel is the first novel by "one of the giants of twentieth century crime fiction", Kenneth Millar. The first edition was published by Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1944 New York, a fine-condition copy of which was priced at US$8,500 as of January 2020 [update]. [1] Millar's biography describes The Dark Tunnel as "a hybrid of old-fashioned puzzle-mystery, Buchanesque spy adventure, and Chandleresque exposé of sexual perversion. [2] Because of the latter, a 1950 paperback reprint was subtitled "The story of a homosexual spy". [3]
As an author, Millar was influenced by John Buchan and Raymond Chandler, with The Dark Tunnel bearing a strong resemblance to The Thirty-Nine Steps, and echoing Chandler's hallmarks of "rough-and-ready humor, its extravagant similes, and its more lurid events and descriptions". [2]
Millar's protagonist is Professor Robert Branch, a dichotomous character heavily influenced by the Professor Millar himself. Branch has studied T. S. Eliot, W. C. Handy, Norse mythology, and William Shakespeare; Branch is skilled in lock picking, athletic, and possesses a Doctor of Philosophy. [2]