Angus Hall – Devil Day (Basis for ‘Madhouse’)

 

Angus Hall – Devilday (Ace, 1969: Sphere, 1969: Severn House, 1986)

Angus Hall – Madhouse (Sphere, 1970)“Could you tell us what your mission in England is?”
“Why, I’ve come to play the devil!”

Paul Havard Toombs, a Hollywood star whose career was ended in the US after he was implicated in an unsolved murder, arrives in England to revive his hit show, The Adventures Of Dr. Dis. Reporter Barry Lambert is hired to keep an eye on him in the capacity of personal assistant, but soon finds himself out of his depth. Toombs’ interests – which include reincarnation, drug abuse and participating in Black Magic Rituals and orgies – lead to murder, but is he really responsible.

The novel is very different to the movie based upon it, and it’s as much a whodunnit? as a horror although there are several Black Magic and supernatural props. The murders are ultra-gruesome, with the police drawing comparisons between the state of one victim and that of Jack the Ripper’s barbaric attack on Mary Kelly.

Pop culture references include namechecks for The Saint, Danger Man, Perry Mason, Bardot, hairy student demonstrators, and Green Shield stamps, and Lambert’s fiance, Julia is, of course a “dolly girl.”