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Harold Schechter teams up another unlikely pair of historical figures when Edgar Allan Poe meets P. T. Barnum in THE HUM BUG. The partners are an odd couple as paradoxical as Felix Unger and Oscar Madison, proving once again how opposites attract. The result is an absorbing 19th Century mystery, the second fictional piece to come from the pen of this true-crime master following his debut Poe novel NEVERMORE.
Writing characteristically in Poe's style, Schechter authentically mimics the gothic writer, right down to his overuse of dashes and customary wordiness ("...my finely attuned auditory faculties detected the muffled but unmistakable noise of human vocalization emanating from a source only a short distance away.") Far from making Poe too sober a chronicler, however, Schechter gives the narrator's voice a wry humor. He seems to enjoy composing absurdly loquacious sentences, parodying the legendary writer with an almost satirical glee.
Opening in 1844, THE HUM BUG is an entertaining glimpse into the past, replete with characters whose actions and thoughts are befitting of the era. As we join Edgar A. Poe, he has once again found himself unable to sustain his family with a decent livelihood. Packing up his dearest wife Sissy and aunt Muddy, he relocates to New York City to seek work. At the sight of a handbill for P. T. Barnum's American Museum, which contains countless facts of questionable veracity and at least one description of frivolous fabrication, the critic in Poe bristles, sending him flying indignantly to confront the great showman. Instead of being chagrined when caught in a shameful bit of spurious invention, Phineas Taylor Barnum is impressed with the writer's audacity and with his deductive reasoning. Thusly pleased, he ultimately offers him a job.
A gruesome murder carried out in a fashion that replicates one of the American Museum's displays brings the press to haranguing Barnum. He turns to Poe for his proven sleuthing powers. Too soon, solving the case becomes urgently crucial, as another corpse shows up --- another beautiful young woman missing her hands, a rose clenched between her teeth, throat savaged.
That Poe spends an inordinate amount of time in Barnum's establishment gives Schechter an opportunity to exhibit a whole host of colorful characters, parading them along the pages in a morbid pageant. The Bearded Lady, the Alligator Boy, the Half-Man, the Armless Wonder, Slim Jim McCormack, to name but a few. The artful Phineas T. employs these "human curiosities" in and out of his business, keeping them in sight throughout the story and keeping the reader watching the show through the clever descriptions concocted by the author. And while the circus master shamelessly exploits the crippled and misshapen beings to build his fortune, there is a sense that he treats them with great gentleness and respect, finding them a place in society to earn a living. Called freaks at the time, they were at least paid by Barnum to be gawked at, a fairly generous undertaking. And at the end of the day he housed many and befriended a few, following his convictions despite his reputation as a charlatan.
The glib businessman is a wonderful foil for the macabre poet. The flamboyance of Barnum's speech spices up Poe's dry verbosity, creating amusing and lively dialogue. As detectives, they each exhibit their special skills: Poe, his extraordinary powers of observation reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes; Barnum, his sheer pluck. Together, they snoop out the evil and right the wrongs while the reader is swept along in this singularly astounding, amazing, remarkable production.
After NEVERMORE, where E. A. Poe joins forces with Davy Crockett in crime solving, and THE HUM BUG, featuring P. T. Barnum as Poe's detecting assistant, who can we expect to show up in Schechter's next great adventure back in time?
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
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