The Murders on the Hareng Rouge by Adrian Dorset

Thanks to Bradley’s Fish

Title: The Murders on the Hareng Rouge

Author: Adrian H Dorset

Publisher: not known 

Source book: One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next #6)

Thursday has never heard of this book or this author, but it turns out that it’s a vanity publishing project. So, you know, probably not a surprise.

Captain Phantastic (an elephant - don’t ask) tells Thursday that only two copies of this book were ever printed. It was semi-autobiographical, about a man coming to terms with the death of his wife, and how he immersed himself in work to try to take revenge on the person he thought responsible.

If that is actually the plot, then this book has a very odd title. I thought it must be a murder mystery, probably set in France, although I suppose it could be anywhere in the francophone world, and possibly based on or influenced by The Murders in the Rue Morgue. However, although Hareng Rouge translates as red herring, I am not convinced that red herring is a French idiom.

I looked up the famous Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L Sayers, which stars Lord Peter Wimsey. Thanks to Wikipedia.fr I know it was first translated into French as Lord Peter en Écosse, and later as Les Cinq Fausses Pistes. So I think The Murders on the Hareng Rouge is a huge red herring from Adrian Dorset.

Adrian burned both copies of his book as a form of catharsis (I bet the plastic comb binding smelled awful), and thus the copy held in the BookWorld had to be destroyed. But…. Oh no… Adrian isn’t really a writer… he is Jack Schitt in disguise, and Jack Schitt has used this book to get into the BookWorld. And oh dear, we really don’t want to tangle with Jack Schitt he’s creepy and works for the sinister Goliath Corporation.

For more on Jack Schitt click here.

One of Our Thursdays is Missing is extremely complicated. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who hasn’t tackled other Thursday Next books already. 

Thanks to Michael Turner Stainless Steel Sculpture