History Literature / TheClubOfQueerTrades

Each encounter sees Rupert and Basil (and their narrator) discovering a new and peculiar means by which someone earns a living, and eventually meet the WeirdTradeUnion for these entrepreneurs - the eponymous Club of Queer Trades. This club has a single condition for membership: that each member must have invented an entirely new trade by which to earn his living. This is further elaborated in the club's two rules: First, the trade must be entirely novel, not a mere variation on an existing one (i.e. an insurance agent who insured people's pants against getting ripped up by dogs instead of insuring their houses against catching fire would not be eligible). Second, the trade must be a genuine source of income, the support of its inventor (i.e. a man who spent his days collecting empty soda bottles would not be eligible unless he could somehow make a livable income out of doing so.)

A collection of short mystery stories by Creator/GKChesterton, affectionately filleting Chesterton's beloved mystery genre. Rupert Grant is a jack-of-all-trades turned private detective. His brother, Basil, is an eccentric retired judge. TheyFightCrime. Or, rather, Rupert [[WrongGenreSavvy tries to fight crime]], and Basil shows how the [[FakeMystery "mystery"]] [[NotWhatItLooksLike isn't actually at all criminal]].

A collection of short mystery stories by Creator/GKChesterton, affectionately filleting Chesterton's beloved mystery genre. Rupert Grant is a jack-of-all-trades turned private detective. His brother, Basil, is an eccentric retired judge. TheyFightCrime. Or, rather, Rupert [[WrongGenreSavvy tries to fight crime]], and Basil shows how the mystery [[NotWhatItLooksLike isn't actually at all criminal]].

* CourtroomAntic: Basil was forced to retire because he kept pulling these. He was the ''judge''.
--> I sentence you to three years' imprisonment, under the firm, and solemn, and God-given conviction, that what you require is three months at the seaside.

* GentlemanSnarker: Mr. Wimpole's reputation as the best GentlemanSnarker at London is destroyed in a party where he cannot say anything funny. Basil discovers that UpperClassTwit Sir Walter Cholmondeliegh [[spoiler: has been hired by Wimpole to act as his StraightMan, writing StealthInsult comments for Mr Wimpole to lash at Cholmondeliegh at the precise moment. When Mr. Wimpole finds himself without his {{foil}}, his reputation is ruined]].

!Tropes appearing in this series include:

A collection of short mystery stories by GKChesterton, affectionately filleting Chesterton's beloved mystery genre. Rupert Grant is a jack-of-all-trades turned private detective. His brother, Basil, is an eccentric retired judge. TheyFightCrime. Or, rather, Rupert [[WrongGenreSavvy tries to fight crime]], and Basil shows how the mystery [[NotWhatItLooksLike isn't actually at all criminal]].

* ExactWords: Lieutenant Keith lives in his house in "The Elms", Buxton Common.
* {{Expy}}: Rupert Grant has been called a parody of SherlockHolmes.

* [[NotBrainwashed Not Insane]]: When Professor Chad refuses to talk to his friends and family and starts dancing around in circles, everyone naturally assumes that he's gone insane. Until the doctor is forced to report that, despite his bizzare behavior, Chad is definitely ''not'' insane.

* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: Private detective is merely the last in a long series of successful careers for Rupert.

* AffectionateParody

Stories in this collection:

* ''The Painful Fall of a Great Reputation'': The GentlemanSnarker is deconstructed when Mr. Wimpole's reputation as the best GentlemanSnarker at London is destroyed in a party where he cannot say anything funny. Basil discovers that UpperClassTwit Sir Walter Cholmondeliegh [[spoiler: has been hired by Wimpole to act as his StraightMan in an StraightManAndWiseGuy pairing, writing StealthInsult comments for Mr Wimpole to lash at Cholmondeliegh at the precise moment. When Mr. Wimpole finds himself without his {{foil}}, his reputation is ruined]].

* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: Private detective is merely the last in a long series of successful careers for Rupert.

Each encounter sees Rupert and Basil (and their narrator) discovering a new and peculiar means by which someone earns a living, and eventually meet the WeirdTradeUnion for these entrepreneurs - the eponymous Club of Queer Trades.

* ''The Painful Fall of a Great Reputation'': The GentlemanSnarker is deconstructed when Mr. Wimpole's reputation as the best UpperClassWit at London is destroyed in a party where he cannot say anything funny. Basil discovers that UpperClassTwit Sir Walter Cholmondeliegh [[spoiler: has been hired by Wimpole to act as his StraightMan in an StraightManAndWiseGuy pairing, writing StealthInsult comments for Mr Wimpole to lash at Cholmondeliegh at the precise moment. When Mr. Wimpole finds himself without his {{foil}}, his reputation is ruined]].

* ''The Painful Fall of a Great Reputation''