James Nicoll Reviews

1978’s City of Whispering Stone is the second volume in George C. Chesbro’s Mongo the Magnificent mystery series.

Dr. Robert ​“Mongo” Fredrickson is New York City’s foremost diminutive former circus performer turned academic criminologist and private eye. This very specific niche is not especially lucrative. A new client would seem to be a welcome development.

As anyone who tries to mug Mongo, only to discover that the small man is as adept with martial arts as he is with tumbling, could attest, appearances are deceiving.

Before he became an associate professor at an unnamed but apparently prestigious New York university, Mongo’s acrobatics and dwarfism won him a starring role as Mongo the Magnificent in Phil Statler’s¹ circus. Mongo left the circus behind for a less humiliating occupation. Nevertheless, Mongo bears no grudge towards Statler and he has no reason to turn down Statler’s assignment.

The circus’ star strongman, Hassan Khordad, took a brief leave of absence to resolve an immigration issue. Khordad never returned. Statler wants his strongman back. Failing that, the empresario at least wants to know what happened to Khordad.

Mongo soon discovers the late 1970s are a bad time for a stranger to be asking questions about a missing Iranian. The Shah of Iran’s security forces are extremely diligent about discouraging dissent. Both pro-and-anti Shah Iranians in the US are inclined to see Mongo’s questions as potential threats. Drawing attention to oneself is risky. Mongo’s brother Garth’s Iranian girlfriend is helpful, but otherwise Mongo encounters a series of closed doors. 

Statler’s straightforward missing persons case is much larger and more dangerous than Mongo and Statler expect. Khordad may or may not be an Iranian hitman, using the circus as a cover to hunt the Shah’s enemies. A missing student activist may have been Khordad’s latest victim. A PI whose corpse was fished out of the river may also have been a casualty of the affair. Furthermore, the American government favors the Shah, and has the means to discourage snoopy academics who wish to keep their jobs.

Nevertheless, Mongo perseveres. Result: threats, attacks, bereavement, and an appointment with death in the ancient ruins of Persepolis.

~oOo~

Two different Mongo adaptions have been announced, both starring Peter Dinklage. Neither came to fruition.

Mongo’s brother Garth frequently appears in this series, where he stars as Fate’s Chew Toy. In book after book, he suffers horrible misfortunes. This volume is typical. As usual, he survives.

Some Mongo books have science fiction and supernatural elements. The previous volume, for example, involved a telepath. Other volumes feature grotesque transformations. This volume is an exception. City of Whispering Stone is a straightforward espionage thriller.

This novel was published in 1978. As you know, the Shah was deposed in January 1979. I can’t tell exactly when in 1978 City was published, so it is entirely possible that only weeks passed between City​’s release and the Shah’s exile from Iran. Unlike authors of certain SF novels featuring the eternal Soviet Union that I could mention, Chesbro is quite aware that the Shah’s regime could be on the brink of collapse. The entire plot is predicated on that fact. Interestingly, the Iranian faction that ultimately prevailed does not make an appearance in the book.

Any reasonable person would expect that a bright man who has previously taken no interest in Iranian affairs would have no problem swiftly mastering all the minutiae of the complex political situation before easily resolving the tasks at hand. Curiously, this proves not to be the case. Mongo spends most of the book wildly out of his depth, easily manipulated by those around him, and fully aware of what’s going on only when schemers pause to explain things to him². Even then, the explanations are often lies.

The schemes revealed seem needlessly convoluted. As well, Mongo’s inability to catch up to the plots swirling around him is a bit frustrating… though I can’t argue that his confusion is unrealistic. Nevertheless, this has never been my favorite Mongo novel.

City of Whispering Stone is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Chapters-Indigo), and here (Words Worth Books).

1: No, Statler does not have a business partner named Waldorf.

2: Not all the schemers are willing to explain everything before they try to terminate Mongo. It turns out there are some masterminds who are perfectly happy to off a snoop without providing the snoop with a lengthy, detailed exposition.