The Living Shadow (part six)

Let's snore through a little more of this slightly embarrassing cultural touchstone. Where last we left the story, Harry was being sent undercover in the neighborhood of wealthy murder victim Geoffrey Laidlow. Where he is to investigate by plying random people with no leads to go on, while paradoxically also pretending to be an introverted reclusive novelist. It was also strongly implied that Laidlow was murdered in a burglary-gone-wrong carried out by a local Chinese triad cell who wanted some treasure to impress the big boss with ASAP. Treasure that everyone and their cat is currently trying to steal.

So, onward with another couple of chapters.

12. Two Detectives Talk​

Third person point of view, NYPD headquarters. Two men, presumably detectives, are talking, and their descriptions are a real trip.

“One of the men bore the mark of a police officer long in the service. He was tall, heavy, and domineering. His gray hair lent him a positive dignity, and his face, although full and a trifle pudgy, carried the physiognomy of the thinker as well as that of the man of action.

The other was shorter, and his dark face bespoke an Italian ancestry. He had certain characteristics of the familiar plain−clothes man, but with it there were a calmness of bearing and an ease of expression which were deceptive. His thin lips formed a straight line that never curved upward nor downward, and his dark−brown eyes had a sparkle that betokened the quick observer.”

"The physiognomy of the thinker as well as that of the man of action" is one heck of a description. People in early twentieth century pulp fiction often have these insanely specific facial appearances and expressions that tell all sorts of details about who they are but which are absolutely impossible to picture.

The two detectives spend many pages (seriously, this is by far the longest chapter so far) engaged in the worst dialogue of the story so far. Most of which isn't even communicating anything the reader doesn't already know. And which features the two detectives, Malone and Cardova, repeating each other's names so many times that I have no choice but to read them in Justin Roiland's voice. The short version is that Malone, who we briefly saw when he interviewed Harry Vincent and blabbed sensitive information for all to hear after the Scanlon murder, is the detective in charge of the investigation, and his failure to turn anything up so far is looking bad for his career. Cardova is lower on the totem pole, but also doesn't have a sword to fall on in this case, and seems to be trying to help Malone out. He somehow intuits that the Scanlon murder is connected to the Laidlow one. Inexplicably. He also, a bit more reasonably, infers a connection between the Laidlow break-in and some other, smaller jewel thefts from stores and houses around the city over the past few weeks.

And then, completely out of nowhere, suggests that "the Chinks" might be behind this. His reason being that none of the jewels have turned up among the usual fences and pawn shops, and only the Chinese could be crafty enough to manage that.

...

Being bad at your job and having an ethnic minority to wildly blame it on has resulted in a number of truly hilarious narratives over the centuries. This fictional example is just so illustrative of how it actually works too. "I can't possibly be this stupid and incompetent; it must be evil foreigners undermining the project in ways that no red-blooded American like me could hope to predict!"

The fact that the writer(s) don't even realize that they did this, and that they've made this bizarre inference actually true in the world of the story, just makes it funnier. Talk about a self-report.

...

Cardova also goes on a tangent about another jewel thief who the NYPD took a long time to catch up to, back before Malone was on the force. Malone seems to have risen through the ranks quickly, then. Probably because he's white (a category which did not include Italians at the time of writing). Anyway, "Diamond Bert" Farrell had a similar MO to the current string of jewelries, minus the slip-up and resulting murder. He was ID'd as a California resident shortly before he died resisting arrest.

Okay, I guess he was another triad agent. And the police tracking him using the fences he moved the stolen jewels to was what led the Wang Fu and co to adopt the current system for transporting stolen goods out of the city.

Cardova also infers that there's a big mastermind behind all of this. Unfounded. Malone shrugs that off, and assures him that it's just a bunch of unrelated small-time crooks who sometimes share notes. Also unfounded. Um. Guys. New York is a big city, and (especially during the time period) one with a lot of crime. You have the Italian mafia's Prohibition-spurred heyday. You have Murder Inc. You have the triads. You also have the local street gangs, and the smattering of lone-operator criminals that every big city contains. In this sort of environment, almost any two crimes could be related or unrelated until you have more evidence. These fucking guys I swear...

They're overheard in this conversation by a hulking, slow-witted German janitor named Fritz. It's repeatedly mentioned that Fritz keeps getting close to them over and over again as he sweeps the floor. And that his large silhouette keeps blocking the light and casting his shadow over the desk they're sitting at. Oh, he's the Shadow, got it. Fritz might be his real name, or it could just be another false identity (the police aren't vetting their employees very well, if the latter...). Sure enough, as soon as the detectives are done talking and Fritz has finished cleaning the room, he slips off to the lockers, quietly repeats the name "Diamand Bert Farrell," and then retrieves his robe and wizard hat from an inconspicuous locker and does his creepy Shadow laugh.

I'd infer from this that the Shadow is a big guy who can at least pass for German, but considering that he somehow compressed himself into a little old Chinese man costume earlier it's just as likely that he's an actual shapeshifter. End chapter.


That chapter was much longer than I probably made it seem. Total filler. Feels like the writers had to pacify the publishers while they were still working on the next actual story beat. All around, pretty miserable.

13. Loo Choy's Cousin​

This chapter is from the Shadow's POV! And makes this clear right off the bat by spending the first two paragraphs with its tongue burieddeepin the Shadow's asshole.

“STRANGE were the methods of The Shadow, Master of action, he could also play a passive, waiting game. Aiming for quick success, he had thrust Harry Vincent into the role of messenger to Wang Foo. That stroke parried, The Shadow had sent his rescued agent on a new and less dangerous assignment.

Amazing in his ability at disguise, The Shadow had visited detective headquarters unsuspected. His next move would be to cover the house of Wang Foo; and this campaign of strategy was one that demanded his lone attention.”

I'm legitimately half-expecting the last chapter to end with a note suggesting that the Shadow wrote all this himself. It's probably one of the few things you could do to at least partially redeem this shit.

Anyway, the Shadow is gonna stalk Wang Fu a bit. He insinuates himself into the Chinatown crowd, presumably disguised as a little old Chinese guy again, and waits outside the tea shop hoping to catch Wang as he exits.

Also, it turns out that detectives Malone and Cardova are somewhat justified in their inability to wrap their minds around intercity fencing:

“Of late Wang Foo’s tea shop was more quiet and still than ever. Since a certain happening, no one was seen entering its dilapidated door. The windows grew dustier; the piles of tea boxes were undisturbed. Wang Foo was a prosperous tea merchant, every one knew − yet somehow the Chinese can be prosperous without the bustle and activity that attends business normally.”

In this setting, the Chinese invented money laundering. A veritable singularity in the world of organized crime, just recently introduced to the world by brilliant triad innovators. In a pre-information age world, its little wonder that western police agencies haven't yet caught up.

The Shadow tries snooping around the place in a series of disguises over the coming days, but he catches not a sight of Wang. There's been overall much less activity around the place since the incident a few days ago. Which may be partly because the Shadow killed half of Wang Fu's henchmen, lol. Eventually, while he's disguised as a random drunk guy, he happens to be loitering by the door when one of the cashier's friends stops buy for a chat.

Here it goes into the perspective of the cashier - Lu Choi - a little bit, and it's refreshingly humanizing. It's not lacking in racism, but there's at least a little less of it and a little more "person written as a person." Lu is a not-especially-bright young man who hates his boring, stressful job but, loves the money he gets from it, and who is always happy to have friends stop by when he's on the clock running a fake business. To the point where he doesn't bother to eject the coatless drunk leaning against the open doorframe even though he's not supposed to let people hang around that close. He feels sorry for the guy, and is in a good mood due to his friend visiting. See? A little humanization goes a long way!

Anyway, Lu and his friend are speaking Chinese, but it's already been established that the Shadow speaks that so he can understand them while pretending to be a clueless white hobo. Also, holy fuck is Lu a poor dumb schlub:

“One time Loo Choy had had a substitute. His cousin, Ling Chow, had served in that capacity. In fact, Ling Chow had worked two years for old Wang Foo. But he had saved money and had become enterprising. He had moved to some unknown city and for twelve months Loo Choy had heard nothing from him.

Yes, Ling Chow had written once − when he had arrived at his destination, but the postmark was smudged. He had opened a laundry and probably was doing well. Perhaps some day, Loo Choy would also open a laundry.”

Like I said. Humanizing, even if it isn't exactly flattering lol.

Then, a couple days later, the Shadow impersonates Lu's cousin well enough to fool even him, and shows up at the shop again offering to take up the job part time again.

No. Seriously. This actually happens.

Surprisingly, Wang Fu approves this when consulted. Huh. So...Ling Chow isn't actually dead?

Then the chapter ends with the reveal that there are two identical Ling Chows. One moonlighting at Wang Fu's teashop to free up his cousin, and one just working his laundry job a couple cities away. So yeah, all that ominous implication about how they killed Ling for trying to leave the syndicate was either a red herring, or actually accidental. And...the Shadow can fool this guy's own relatives after observing him for 1-2 days maximum.

For a moment I thought the twist was going to be that the Shadow had secretly recruited Ling, but no. That wouldn't be stupid enough.


That's a post. I'm not really sure what to say about most of this. It's just self-evidently dumb even for a cheesy young adult adventure.