Snake-Bite and Other Mystery Tales of the Sahara

As genre expert S.T. Joshi notes in his introduction to this welcome collection of a dozen stories by Hichens (1864–1950), this British author “remains one of the best-kept secrets in imaginative literature.” The author’s talent for combining vivid prose, exotic locales, and suspense is best exemplified in “The Princess and the Jewel Doctor,” which opens with a tantalizing tease: “In St. Petersburg society there may be met at the present time a certain Russian Princess, who is noted for her beauty, for an ugly defect—she has lost the forefinger of her left hand—and for her extraordinary attachment to the city of Tunis.” Hichens goes on to recount the dramatic and creepy circumstances leading to princess’s loss of her finger. Also memorable is the title story, which makes excellent use of its setting—a pilgrimage across the Sahara Desert from Beni Mora in Algeria to Timbuktu in Mali—to set up a potential love triangle involving an unassuming English doctor, his attractive but unhappy wife, and the rich American with designs on her who pays for their spots on the trip. This entry in the Stark House Fiction Classics series should gain Hichens a wider audience. (Dec.)