USA Harlequin's Lane
When two Russian dancers are injured in a car crash on the way to a performance at a masquerade, substitutes are quickly found so that the show can continue. But there is mysterious work at play that could put anyone in real danger…
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While visiting the rather dull, conventional Denmans, Mr Satterthwaite unexpectedly meets Mr Quin on a road called Harlequin’s Lane. Even he can’t foresee the impact that Quin will have on the Denmans and, indeed, all the residents of the peculiarly named Lane...
The Times Literary Supplement said in 1930, “Mr Harley Quin… has a queer power of making (Satterthwaite) perceive a new significance in events.” Particularly in this story of a coincidentally named lane and the recurring spectre of Harley Quin who changes the dull lives of the people who live there. As the concluding story of the collection The Mysterious Mr Quin, published by Collins in 1930, it suggests more heavily the reader's suspicion that Mr Satterthwaite is capable of seeing what others can't.
It was abridged as part of BBC Radio 4's series of Afternoon Readings in 2011 and was performed by Martin Jarvis.
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