Two Argentinian Admirers of British Police Noir and the Seventh Circle Connection
In the mid-1940s, two Argentinians who loved British police thrillers began assembling a striking collection called the Seventh Circle. Adolfo Bioy Casares and Jorge Luis Borges stood at the helm, each holding one side of a fictional Kafkaesque riddle, presenting crime as a clever puzzle waiting to be solved. Borges explained that these police procedurals demand serious construction, where every element must point toward a prophecy. Yet the prophecies in this world are many and hidden, accessible only when illuminated by the ultimate revelation. This idea anchors the collection and sets a playful, edge-of-seat tone for readers who enjoy intelligent crime fiction.
Within the Seventh Circle, the title draws inspiration from Dante’s Comedy, where violence is placed in a grim circle of hell. The authors, along with lesser-known names that include Nicholas Blake under the pen name Cecil Day-Lewis, the father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis, John Dickson Carr, Michael Innes, Eden Phillpotts, and John Franklin Bardin, curate hours of witty, sharp reading for aficionados of classic noir. Among these names, Richard Hull deserves particular attention. Alba’s careful translation work now places Hull’s work, including My Own Assassin, at the center of the collection. Eleanor Sara, a respected novelist before World War II, kept the club’s standards high during a time when their circle was not as prolific. While serving as president of the Detection Club, she even worked as an assistant to Agatha Christie. The intrigue often centers on the moment a formerly sly tactic is banned, keeping readers on their toes, and rewarding careful reading.
Another standout is the novel Kendi Katilim, published in 1940, which demonstrates how the pristine rules can be tempting to bend. The opening surprise comes with the idea of a reverse mystery, where the culprit isn’t revealed at the end, yet the reader is drawn into questions about justice and the actions that accompany crime. The effect is akin to the tension Ripley evokes in Patricia Highsmith’s work, a subtle echo across generations.
The story unfolds with a lawyer as the narrator and the central figure, Richard Samson, a charming yet unreliable man who accepts a client one night and ends up hiring a clerk to perform a dangerous favor when the case takes a dark turn. The person behind the pages—Hull, who signs under a pseudonym that hides his true name—attempts to use the narrator for a blackmail scheme. The central puzzle, however, is not simply the initial crime; it lies in how the narrator resolves the case without immediately calling the police. He spins a tale that justifies his own actions, not out of a pure impulse to help, but from a desire to weave an elaborate story that protects him from exposure. The reader is drawn into this delicate dance, and the book earns its tension from the way the plot moves through the most absurd or troubling choices. The best feature of this work is the way Sampson’s ironic voice coats the events, inviting the reader to smile at the absurd moments even as the danger deepens. It is a signature of English humor that readers come to recognize and appreciate—an effect that resonates as the narrative unfolds.
As the tension builds, the novel keeps a steady stream of wit and moral magnetism. The narrative voice balances gravity with a sly humor that lets the reader feel both the weight of the crime and the lightness of the reply. The dialogue sparkles, and the plot turns more intricate as each character reveals another facet of motive. The old-school charm of the Detection Club’s ethos—where cleverness, fairness, and the love of a good puzzle converge—remains evident in this collection. The result is a homage to the era’s mystery tradition, refreshed by modern translation and a broad-minded appetite for cleverness in storytelling.
In sum, the Seventh Circle collection offers a curated journey through some of the most beguiling crime fiction written in the mid-20th century. It invites readers to savor the craft of puzzle construction, enjoy the wit that accompanies every twist, and reflect on how narrators and suspects alike maneuver through rules designed to protect a truth that may be more slippery than it appears. The work stands as a testament to the enduring appeal of smart, well-made mysteries and to the collaboration that brought together two towering literary minds to celebrate a genre built on inference, misdirection, and the joy of solving a carefully staged riddle. — Sources: the joint venture by Bioy Casares and Borges, and the enduring tradition of the Detection Club and its celebrated stalwarts.