The Adventures of Hargrove, 
the Marxist Detective
Real live scam artists get baited and teased!
 

Hargrove the Marxist Detective, and the Adventure of HMS Hoobe-Entwhistle

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20 (version 1)
Chapter 20 (version 2)
Chapter 20 (version 3)
Chapter 20 (version 4)

or

Download Hargrove and the Adventure of HMS Hoobe-Entwhistle in .pdf format. (1.7 meg)

by Kevin Hill, Badger Jones, Ted MacKinnon and Eric Shiell 

(copyright, the authors, 2001)

 

 

 

It all started in the late 1980's when Paula was living in Ottawa, the Town that Fun Forgot.  In a desperate attempt to keep her spirits up, her friend Badger (in Toronto at that point) wrote the beginning chapter of a serialized detective story.  The letters flew back and forth, with more people signing on to write a chapter.  It never did get finished, and Paula eventually moved back to Toronto.

But the idea, like its namesake character, didn't die.  Starting anew several years later, four writers gathered by email to churn out a morass of characters, guns, plot devices, plot twists, more characters, more guns and stuff swiped from various socio-political-economic-religious etc. sources.

Hargrove, the FAQ

What Rules did the Writers Work Under?

  • Hargrove cannot die.  He can be maimed as spectacularly as the writer is able to imagine, but he cannot die.  Unfortunately, the same protection does not extend to the other characters, who die off in droves.
  • It is considered good form to introduce a character every chapter and kill off a character every chapter.  Introducing a character already dead is acceptable.
  • It is also considered good form to try and pin the blame on a different character every chapter.

That's about it, really.  Characters mutate beyond recognition as each writer reveals some previously unrevealed clue or incident - secret agents become double- or even triple-agents, butlers turn out to be Nazi-sympathizers, people change sides, loyalties and even genders.  The writers try and ding as many mystery genres as possible, smacking them together like a train wreck  For the final chapter, all the contributors write their own ending.

Describe Hargrove

He habitually wears a white linen suit, set off with a red bow tie.  Although he is enamored with firearms, his favourite is the Webley .455 revolver.  He is a coward and a buffoon, with a fanatical devotion to Marxism (hence the name) and all things collectivist.

Why are You Picking on Marxism?

Because Hargrove the Crypto-Fascist wouldn't have worked as well?  We don't really have anything against Marxism, per se, it's just that the texts and the proponents of Marxism take themselves so seriously that they are just begging to be poked.

For the record, no political ideology, religion, philosophy, or nation is sacred in these stories.  If you feel your particular "-ism" or "-ology" is being treated unfairly, may we suggest you stop reading the story, because likely things won't get any better.

- The Authors

 

 

Hargrove the Marxist Detective, and the Case of the Stolen Starlet

(unfinished)

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13

 

by Kevin Hill, Badger Jones, Ted MacKinnon and Eric Shiell 

(copyright, the authors, 2002)