Isle of Peril-Jack Vance mystery novel, book review
Isle of Peril-Jack Vance mystery novel AKA: Bird Island and Bird Isle (author’s preferred title) Isle of Peril was written by Jack Vance in 1947 and had a draft title of Forbidden Island. It was first published ten years later in 1957 by Mystery House publishers with the title Isle of Peril under the pseudonym of Alan Wade. This written date of 1947 makes it the first mystery novel Vance wrote, or at least the first written mystery novel that was not lost. (Although Bird Isle is really more of a comic novel than a mystery.) In the 1988 Underwood-Miller release the title was changed from Isle of Peril to Bird Isle with Jack Vance listed as the author. The 2002 Vance Integral Edition the title was changed again, this time to Bird Island. The 2018 Spatterlight Press release reverted back to the title of Bird Isle. Bird Isle has about as much plot as a Marx Brother's movie with a plethora of odd characters and strange events....