More Gothic nonsense

 The second book I bought at the Edward Gorey House, which was not damaged at all, is The Secrets: Volume One: The Other Statue, a delightful murder mystery sort of thing in which a statue falls on Lord Wherewithal. The book is described on its dedication page as an “Homage to Jane Austen,” although this homage is purely stylistic as the story is devoid of both romance and economics. It is also, in typical Gorey fashion, devoid of plot resolution, although this one does have discernible throughlines in that its enormous cast of twee characters all have at least two, and sometimes three, pages dedicated to chronicling their goings-on. 

 

There are hints at the relationships between the various events, such as Augustus’ stuffed twisby and the Lisping Elbow both going missing. A closer read than I gave the book might reveal more of a real plot, and I have no doubt Gorey knew exactly what he was talking about with all of these semi-random happenings. 

 

The illustrations are very much peak Gorey, with the gothic Backwater Hall as full of textured decadence and silly pseudo-Edwardian details as one could wish. The humans have big hats and big coats and big moustaches and it’s very tempting to color them all in with colored pencil. 

All in all, it’s whimsical as all get-out and exactly what I wanted from a Gorey book.