- By A.E.W. Mason
- First published: UK, Hodder & Stoughton, 1927; USA, George H. Doran, 1927
My review
Not a mystery story, although there are two murders in the present, and a couple more in the past. As in They Wouldn’t Be Chessmen, the reader sees the events from both the hero and the villain’s perspective, and the emphasis is on suspense and adventure: will the bad man’s plot against the heroine and the wicked dancer succeed? As always, Mason tells a story very well. There are several excellent scenes (Strickland’s lonely vigil waiting for the tiger in Chapter III; Ransome’s accusation of Strickland;) and good characters, notably the Dickensian Mrs. Beagham, who trades in gossip from servants. Cameo by Mr. Ricardo—who hardly covers himself in glory!
Note similarities to Margery Allingham’s Tiger in the Smoke: a thriller in which the villain (a menacing figure of rage compared to tiger) and plot are known; escaped convicts searching for treasure / money; climax in France.
The end anticipates John Dickson Carr’s Lost Gallows: the wicked pay for their crimes, even extra-legally and at the hands of the villain.
- Semiramis Hotel.
- France—Provence.
- Mazes: Ariadne; Clutter the man-beast; treasure hunt and clues; Strickland thinks of himself as in maze; recurring image of hedges and paths being blocked, or if character had turned left rather than right.
- Mason believed in strong, natural women—in marriage, wife should be equal, a ‘mate’, not (as Ransome wants) a ‘debtor’, broken and moulded into what the man wants her to be.
Blurb
Colonel John Strickland, roaming the earth, arrives at some ruby mines in Burma, to buy a jewel for a lady – the brilliant, wilful, altogether charming Lady Ariadne Ferne. Here he unexpectedly gathers news of her – strange, disquieting news which leaves him wondering what link there can be between her, in England, a ruffianly native who is murdered here in the jungle, and a handsome elusive stranger who seems to be involved in the native’s death. No Other Tiger is a romance of adventure, crime and intrigue, brilliantly planned and written with a surprise in its closing pages which gives the distinguished author the opportunity of a dramatic tour de force of the highest order.
Blurb (US)
A mystery originating in a tiger hunt in the jungle, shifting to a labyrinth of swift events in England and France, and never flagging for an instant in suspense and colour.
Mr. Mason writes with vigour and an uncanny use of the clever unfolding of an excellent and original plot.
A jungle cat in civilized society and – the consequences.
Contemporary reviews
Arnold Bennett in the Evening Standard: When in the Secret Service, Mr. Mason must have had wild and marvellous adventures himself, in outlying parts of the world. He knows the earth, and he knows the world of men and women and the structure of society. He can mingle the Occident with the Orient. He can draw diverse characters. His pen is alert and bold. He is interested in words. He can keep a sentence together. His plot has genuine novelty. His solution is at once convincing and startling… When I finished “No Other Tiger” I took breath and said to myself: ‘This time you have not been let down.’
Gerald Gould in the Daily News: Some of the best thrills and excitements we have had for a long time
Observer: Mr. Mason is an artist, and an artist of a high order. His plots…actually throb with genuine human excitement. And Mr. Mason can write.
Sketch: A thriller like this shows, as Stevenson showed in ‘The Wrecker,’ what a work of art the thriller may be.
The Grandest Game in the World 