The Suicide Club (Stevenson)
Cover of the 2000 Dover Thrift Edition
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| Author | Robert Louis Stevenson |
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| Country | Scotland |
| Language | English |
| Series | Later-day Arabian Nights |
| Genre | Detective fiction short story |
| Publisher | London Magazine |
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Publication date
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June–October 1878 |
| Media type | Print (Periodical) |
| Followed by | The Rajah's Diamond |
The Suicide Club is a collection of three 19th century detective fiction short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson that combine to form a single narrative. First published in the London Magazine in 1878, they were collected and republished in the first volume of the New Arabian Nights.
The trilogy introduces the characters of Prince Florizel of Bohemia and his sidekick Colonel Geraldine. In this cycle they infiltrate a secret society of people intent on losing their lives.
It has been described as: "The Prince’s investigation of the macabre club and its criminally inclined president makes for one of Stevenson’s most exciting and suspenseful tales."
The cycle has been adapted for stage, film and television on a number of occasions.
The three short stories that form this cycle are as follows.
The first story in the cycle is set in the gas-lit streets of Victorian London where Prince Florizel of Bohemia and Colonel Geraldine roam in search of adventure.
The story begins with Prince Florizel and Colonel Geraldine dining incognito in a London oyster bar where they are surprised to be accosted by a young man distributing cream tarts for free. Intrigued by this idiosyncratic behaviour they invite him to dinner where he reveals the existence of the Suicide Club. Upon gaining entry to the club Florizel and Geraldine are appalled by what they find going on inside and vow to bring justice to the insidious president of the club. The first story ends with Florizel disbanding the club and dispatching the president abroad in the custody of Geraldine’s younger brother.
The second story in the cycle is set in the Latin Quarter of Paris where an American tourist finds himself embroiled in a dastardly plot.
In the story, while lodging in Paris naïve young Silas Q. Scuddamore is lured away by a beautiful young lady who promises a secret assignation but fails to appear. Returning to his hotel dejected he is shocked to discover a dead man in his bed. Kindly neighbour Dr. Noel arranges for Scuddamore and the body (concealed in a Saratoga trunk) to be smuggled to London in the company of Prince Florizel. Once in London, Florizel discovers the plot and reveals the victim to be Geraldine’s younger brother who has been murdered by the President of the Suicide Club in his escape from custody.
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Wikipedia