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The Australian
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Australian
The Empress Murders is a new novel by a talented young actor and writer, Toby Schmitz
More than a decade ago, actor and playwright Toby Schmitz wrote a play called Empire: Terror on the High Seas about a murder spree on board an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic. It was set in 1924, the year of the British Empire Exhibition in London, where one of the most popular features was an exhibit called Races in Residence designed to show off the conquered peoples of the empire. One theatre reviewer noted that the 'fall of the victims mirrors the tumbling of the British Empire in the mid 20th century' while speculating that the dense and incident-packed play might work better as a novel. Schmitz appears to have taken the suggestion on board, turning his play into a novel and renaming it The Empress Murders (after the ocean liner, Empress of Australia). The new title is a nod in the direction of Agatha Christie but readers expecting to snuggle up with a bit of Miss Marple-style cosy crime will be in for a shock. The Empress Murders is a violent book: nobody here is dispatched with a nip of arsenic in their camomile tea. Victims are flayed, mutilated, eviscerated and impaled. The bumbling ship's detective, Inspector Archie Daniels, is up to his copper's ears in gore. Daniels suspects the killer might be the so-called London Bleeder, who has been committing gruesome murders all over Greater London, 26 bodies at last count. 'Sometimes a clean kill, strangled, slit, poisoned, sometimes an abhorrent mutilation or perversion. Sometimes a mocking message left, sometimes nothing but maggots already at play'. Coded telegrams from his boss at Scotland Yard advise 'no Bleeder activity in London since embarkation', confirming the inspector's hypothesis that the Bleeder is on board the Empress. But is he a passenger or a member of the crew? Most of the action takes place in first class, and the author holds little back in depicting the malignant racism, boorish manners and entitled indolence of the toffs as they drink and screw their way across the Atlantic. Schmitz has certainly done his homework in the fashion mags of the day: 'Nicole Hertz-Hollingsworth … skips over in patent Mary Janes, periwinkle argyle socks, purple heritage tartan knickerbockers, a champagne silk blouse with black satin bow (top button popped).' Tony, her repellent – and cuckolded - husband of three weeks, is in 'sapphire velvet sports coat with plum silk pocket square and matching tie (top button popped), white trousers knife-pleated, two-tone wing-tips'. Does the story need this intricate sartorial detail? Probably not, but Schmitz's careful cataloguing of upper-class white privilege steers us towards the novel's central themes of racism and class warfare. His inventories of wardrobes and jewellery boxes mimic the mental inventories drawn up by members of the ship's crew as they plot to separate the toffs from their valuables. As an actor, Schmitz has appeared in Tom Stoppard's ultra-clever play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and there is more than a whiff of Stoppard's ingenious word-games in The Empress Murders, and of his verbosity: Some readers might find themselves skipping over such passages, overstuffed as they are with background detail, and by the author's own admission they won't miss much by doing so. The novel itself sometimes feels overstuffed, with superfluous characters as well as words, but once the murders start happening it doesn't take Schmitz long to whittle down his cast to a more manageable size. If the lurid violence of the murders functions, at one level, as an analogy of the violence of empire, it also mirrors the violence of the First World War, from which nearly all the book's characters emerge damaged, either by having taken part in it or, in some cases, by having missed it. The war scenes contain some of the novel's most graphic and visceral prose, the overwriting validated by the atrocity of the subject: Somehow Schmitz manages to hold the novel's disparate elements together, skewering a world debauched by wealth and war and empire while keeping the reader guessing about the outcome of his nautical murder mystery. Even a few short chapters narrated in the voice of the ocean liner make a crazy kind of sense as the first-class passengers guzzle gin and squabble about Dada in the ship's cocktail lounge. (Tom Stoppard's parody of Dadaism, Travesties, is another of Schmitz's acting credits.) The penultimate chapters are suitably cataclysmic, like a Jacobean tragedy in which the stage ends up covered with corpses. By the end the novel had won me over, Schmitz's clever but sometimes show-offy prose giving way to something quieter as two Irish lighthousekeepers ponder the final telegram messages sent by the Empress of Australia. It's a book that will leave you thinking. Tom Gilling is an author and critic. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Toby Schmitz is a writer, director and actor. He was most recently seen on television in Boy Swallows Universe and on stage in Gaslight. He has received nominations for his performances in The Seagull, Much Ado About Nothing and Measure for Measure. His television credits include The Twelve and Black Sails. He is also a celebrated playwright. His plays include Degenerate Art, I Want to Sleep With Tom Stoppard and Capture the Flag. He was awarded the Patrick White Award for his play Lucky. Arts News from the book world from literary editor Caroline Overington. Review Famed pieces from Monet, Renoir and Degas are going to become frequent fliers by making their second global crossing from Boston to Melbourne for this NGV exhibition.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bipartisan bill promises more resources at ports to fight fentanyl smuggling, speed up wait times
As drug smuggling attempts persist at ports of entry along the southern border, a bipartisan duo in the House of Representatives is proposing legislation to make it easier for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to do their jobs. H.r. 1924, the Border Enforcement, Security, and Trade (BEST) Facilitation Act, would make sure image technicians and supervisors are hired at the ports to more closely examine cargo scans, a policy that proponents believe would speed up wait times and make it easier to catch drugs like fentanyl from heading into the U.S. The goal is to create a specific role for scanning to make it easier on already strained agents. "The majority of the fentanyl that is intercepted is at the ports of entry because of the technology that we have," Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., who drafted H.R. 1924, told Fox News Digital. "Also because of the way that fentanyl looks and the way it gets transported, which are small pills and they can fit pretty much anywhere." Mexican Drug Cartel Leader Extradited To The Us To Face Federal Drug Trafficking Charges "Cars are taken apart and rebuilt around the fentanyl there. So when you've got these kinds of training positions, that enhances the security at the port of entry," the Arizona Republican continued, adding that the legislation comes from an idea floated by authorities on the ground. Read On The Fox News App Much of the known drug trafficking done across the border is through the ports. The majority of convictions in recent years for smuggling fentanyl specifically have been American citizens, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. "Through this kind of scanning process where goods are flowing back and forth, we can prevent the crossing of illegal drugs and also speed up the process of the legal goods coming in," Ciscomani said. He also noted that the legislation could make certain ports optimal for increasing trade and reduce wait times, which could be hours. Blue State Sheriff Unleashes On 'Un-american' Sanctuary Laws, Makes Special Offer To Homan The influx of migrants during the Biden administration put a strain on resources at the ports, which even led to longer lines as authorities were also trying to handle the wave of people crossing into the nation illegally. Despite the obstacles, CBP still seized over 21,000 pounds of fentanyl and over 158,000 pounds of meth along the southern border in fiscal year 2024 alone, according to the agency's data. "When I think about Eastern North Carolina and so many families being devastated in particular by the fentanyl crisis, we have to do something. We have to take urgent steps. We have to, you know, put aside the partisan politics because this is hitting home literally. So when I went to the border, taking three trips to the border, and in particular the Tucson sector," Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., who's co-sponsoring the legislation, told Fox News Digital. "They're gonna be able to do more inspections, and I believe that this is a pathway of actually saving lives," Davis added. Dhs Sec Noem Doubles Down On Calls For Illegal Migrants To Self-deport, Announces Enforcement Of Registry H.R. 1294 has been referred to the House Homeland Security Committee, and it comes at a time when the Trump administration is undertaking a full-scale crackdown on the border crisis, which has led to praise from Republicans and backlash from Democrats. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that only 200 people were encountered by CBP trying to illegally cross on Saturday, the lowest daily figure in 15 years. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are ongoing across the country, with some even being held at Guantanamo Bay, and troops were sent down to the southern border shortly after President Donald Trump took office last month. Click Here To Download The Fox News App Meanwhile, the overall conversation remains heated on Capitol Hill. Democratic Rep. Janelle Bynum slammed another bill by Ciscomani, the Agent Raul Gonzalez Safety Act, as akin to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 for ramping up penalties for those "intentionally fleeing" law enforcement near the border. Yet, the bill ended up passing with some bipartisan support. There have been some bright spots of compromise despite broader disputes on the issue across the nation as well. Arizona Republican lawmakers and Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes are supporting a state bill that would give permission to local authorities to shoot down drones suspected of being operated by the cartels, which would likely hinder one tool the organizations use to smuggle illicit article source: Bipartisan bill promises more resources at ports to fight fentanyl smuggling, speed up wait times
Fox News
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Bipartisan bill promises more resources at ports to fight fentanyl smuggling, speed up wait times
As drug smuggling attempts persist at ports of entry along the southern border, a bipartisan duo in the House of Representatives is proposing legislation to make it easier for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to do their jobs. H.R. 1924, the Border Enforcement, Security, and Trade (BEST) Facilitation Act, would make sure image technicians and supervisors are hired at the ports to more closely examine cargo scans, a policy that proponents believe would speed up wait times and make it easier to catch drugs like fentanyl from heading into the U.S. The goal is to create a specific role for scanning to make it easier on already strained agents. "The majority of the fentanyl that is intercepted is at the ports of entry because of the technology that we have," Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., who drafted H.R. 1924, told Fox News Digital. "Also because of the way that fentanyl looks and the way it gets transported, which are small pills and they can fit pretty much anywhere." "Cars are taken apart and rebuilt around the fentanyl there. So when you've got these kinds of training positions, that enhances the security at the port of entry," the Arizona Republican continued, adding that the legislation comes from an idea floated by authorities on the ground. Much of the known drug trafficking done across the border is through the ports. The majority of convictions in recent years for smuggling fentanyl specifically have been American citizens, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. "Through this kind of scanning process where goods are flowing back and forth, we can prevent the crossing of illegal drugs and also speed up the process of the legal goods coming in," Ciscomani said. He also noted that the legislation could make certain ports optimal for increasing trade and reduce wait times, which could be hours. The influx of migrants during the Biden administration put a strain on resources at the ports, which even led to longer lines as authorities were also trying to handle the wave of people crossing into the nation illegally. Despite the obstacles, CBP still seized over 21,000 pounds of fentanyl and over 158,000 pounds of meth along the southern border in fiscal year 2024 alone, according to the agency's data. "When I think about Eastern North Carolina and so many families being devastated in particular by the fentanyl crisis, we have to do something. We have to take urgent steps. We have to, you know, put aside the partisan politics because this is hitting home literally. So when I went to the border, taking three trips to the border, and in particular the Tucson sector," Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., who's co-sponsoring the legislation, told Fox News Digital. "They're gonna be able to do more inspections, and I believe that this is a pathway of actually saving lives," Davis added. H.R. 1294 has been referred to the House Homeland Security Committee, and it comes at a time when the Trump administration is undertaking a full-scale crackdown on the border crisis, which has led to praise from Republicans and backlash from Democrats. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that only 200 people were encountered by CBP trying to illegally cross on Saturday, the lowest daily figure in 15 years. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are ongoing across the country, with some even being held at Guantanamo Bay, and troops were sent down to the southern border shortly after President Donald Trump took office last month. Meanwhile, the overall conversation remains heated on Capitol Hill. Democratic Rep. Janelle Bynum slammed another bill by Ciscomani, the Agent Raul Gonzalez Safety Act, as akin to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 for ramping up penalties for those "intentionally fleeing" law enforcement near the border. Yet, the bill ended up passing with some bipartisan support. There have been some bright spots of compromise despite broader disputes on the issue across the nation as well. Arizona Republican lawmakers and Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes are supporting a state bill that would give permission to local authorities to shoot down drones suspected of being operated by the cartels, which would likely hinder one tool the organizations use to smuggle illicit drugs.
