Last night, I read the first of these - “A Terrible Tale,” originally translated for THE WINDSOR MAGAZINE in 1925 - and was surprised to discover that this tale includes elements which anticipate the “one of us” climax of Tod Browning’s FREAKS! (I’ve not read SPURS, the credited source material.) As Jean Rollin once spelled out in a two-part article for MIDI MINUIT FANTASTIQUE, Leroux’s influence on fantastic cinema is far greater than is commonly known. My only criticism of this set is that, because some of Leroux's longer works were published in translation as two separate volumes, it includes only half of his E.T.A. Hoffmann pastiche THE KISS THAT KILLED (omitting the first half, THE MACHINE TO KILL) and his Jules Verne pastiche THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF CAROLUS HERBERT (omitting is resolution in THE VEILED PRISONER) - they can be read individually, but who would knowingly want to? I also dearly wish it could have somehow included THE MIDNIGHT LADY and THE MISSING ARCHDUKE, the elusive English translations of his novel LA REINE DU SABBAT.
Even with these faults, this is by far the most complete omnibus of Leroux that we've ever had in English and I recommend it whole-heartedly on the basis of all it does contain - more than 4,000 pages of genius.
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