Perishable Goods
![]() First edition dustjacket | |
Author | Dornford Yates |
---|---|
Series | Chandos books |
Genre | Novel |
Publisher | Hodder and Stoughton[1] |
Publication date | 1928[1] |
Media type | |
Pages | 310[1] |
Preceded by | Blind Corner |
Followed by | Blood Royal |
Perishable Goods is a 1928 novel by the English author Dornford Yates (Cecil William Mercer), the second in his Chandos thriller series and a sequel to Blind Corner. The story features the recurrent characters Richard Chandos (narrator), Jonathan Mansel and George Hanbury, with their respective servants Bell, Carson and Rowley.
Plot
While on holiday at Poganec in Carinthia with Berry, Daphne and Boy (from the Berry books), Adèle is kidnapped by the villain 'Rose' Noble (in revenge for his defeat in Blind Corner) and is held captive at the Castle of Gath near Lass. A ransom is demanded. She is rescued by Chandos, Mansel, Hanbury and their servants.
Background
According to Mercer's biographer, AJ Smithers, the author took inspiration from Anthony Hope: "Perishable Goods is The Prisoner of Zenda, with variations."[2] The author himself, commenting in 1958 through his character Boy Pleydell, acknowledged resemblances between his work and that of Hope, but mentioned specifically not this novel but the next two, Blood Royal and Fire Below.[3]
The book was such a success that the author concentrated on Chandos in the years to come, reducing his work on light romantic material.[4]
Critical reception
Perishable Goods was warmly-reviewed when it appeared in July 1928, and sold very well, being reprinted five times before the year-end.[4]
The story Letters Patent in Yates' book Maiden Stakes refers to the plot and publishing of Perishable Goods and a letter received from an unhappy reader.
References
- ^ a b c "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Smithers 1982, p. 146.
- ^ Yates, Dornford (1958). B-Berry and I Look Back. London: Ward Lock. p. 148.
- ^ a b Smithers 1982, p. 148.
Bibliography
- Smithers, AJ (1982). Dornford Yates. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-27547-2.
External links
- Full text of Perishable Goods at Internet Archive
- v
- t
- e
- The Brother of Daphne (1914)
- The Courts of Idleness (1920)
- Berry and Co. (1921)
- Jonah and Co. (1922)
- Adèle and Co. (1931)
- And Berry Came Too (1936)
- The House That Berry Built (1945)
- The Berry Scene (1947)
- As Berry and I Were Saying (1952)
- B-Berry and I Look Back (1958)
- Blind Corner (1927)
- Perishable Goods (1928)
- Blood Royal (1929)
- Fire Below (1930)
- She Fell Among Thieves (1935)
- An Eye for a Tooth (1943)
- Red in the Morning (1946)
- Cost Price (1949)
- Anthony Lyveden (1921)
- Valerie French (1923)
- And Five Were Foolish (1924)
- As Other Men Are (1925)
- The Stolen March (1926)
- Maiden Stakes (1928)
- Summer Fruit (1929, US)
- Safe Custody (1932)
- Storm Music (1934)
- She Painted Her Face (1937)
- This Publican (1938)
- Gale Warning (1939)
- Shoal Water (1940)
- Period Stuff (1942)
- Lower than Vermin (1950)
- Ne'er-Do-Well (1954)
- Wife Apparent (1956)
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