July 8th is the birthday of “the Belgian Poe,” Jean Ray. I have written something for his birthday in a (perhaps quixotic) quest to bring attention to him for a couple of years. This year I decided to write out an overview of his works available in English. Well, those easily available in English. There have been some pricey specialty press editions which I do not have.

The Original Ray

These are the works published in English by Wakefield Press. (Though Malpertuis has also been published by Atlas Press.) They constitute what I consider his main body of work.

Whisky Tales: Ray’s first published collection. I consider it his weakest collection though there are some individually good stories like “The Cemetery Guard” and “The Strange Studies of Dr. Paulkenschlager.” Not his strongest work, but if you want to start at the beginning, this is it.

Cruise of Shadows: Definitely the strongest collection by Ray. A good starting place if you want to read some of his best, particularly the stories, “The Mainz Psalter” and “The Gloomy Alley.”

The Great Nocturnal: A collection that includes a novella and some short stories. The title novella as well as the story “The Centipede” are strong, but the other stories weren’t much. Still worth reading for those two.

Circles of Dread: The last collection published by Wakefield. A decent collection if not Ray’s best work. Recommended.

Malpertuis: The first of Ray’s two novels. Often considered his masterpiece, it vies with Cruise of Shadows for his best book.

The City of Unspeakable Fear: A parody detective novel that while entertaining does not rise to the level of Malpertuis.

This is roughly half of the books he published in French. Hopefully, Wakefield will continue with the rest, but I can’t say for sure.

Harry Dickson

After a short prison sentence, Ray was forced to take a job translating issues of Harry Dickson, The American Sherlock Holmes. He got tired of the mediocre stories and convinced the publishers to let him write his own. Not at the level of his best work, they are pulpy fun however.

The Heir of Dracula

Harry Dickson vs. The Spider

Harry Dickson vs. Mysteras

Cric Croc The Walking Dead

These were published by Black Coats Press. Note Harry vs. The Spider contains two stories by Ray and pastiches by other authors.

Mysterion

A graphic novel adaptation of the Mysteras story by Cinebooks. (They changed the name from Mysteras to Mysterion for some reason.) Worth it if you want to read Ray in comic book form.