A Night in Tunisia*
Review of the Grove Press Kindle eBook edition (2011) with an Introduction by Francine Prose of the Heinemann (UK) & Doubleday & Co. (USA) hardcover original (1969).

Last night, oddly enough after his disturbing conversation with Adams, Ingham had thought of a title for his book, The Tremor of Forgery. It was much better than the two other ideas he had had. He had read somewhere, before he left America, that forgers’ hands usually trembled very slightly at the beginning and end of their false signatures, sometimes so slightly the tremor could be seen only under a microscope.

There are some aspects to this noirish tale, set in Tunisia, where it crosses over with Highsmith's more famous portrayals of sociopathic characters such as Tom Ripley in The Ripliad Pentalogy (1955-1991) and Charles Anthony Bruno in Strangers on a Train (1950). Howard Ingham is an innocent writer character who is drawn into a morally ambiguous world in his environment and his own fiction. There are 2 deaths during the book, one found by Ingham and one likely caused by him, but neither are reported on. The impression is given that the local tourist industry and bureaucracy would prefer that crime not be publicized even if it resulted in murder.

Ingham is on a working vacation to the seaside town of Hammamet in Tunisia. He is there to work on a film script in advance of the arrival of the film's director. The latter never writes and never arrives, and eventually Ingham learns that he has committed suicide back in New York City. Ingham's own girlfriend Ina also does not write and Ingham suspects an involvement with the director. Ingham stays on in Hammamet to work on a new novel, a Robin Hood-like tale of a character who embezzles from his business in order to aid disadvantaged people. He forms friendships with two other local visitors, an American propagandist Francis Adams and a Danish artist Anders Jensen. One night while walking home from Jensen's apartment, Ingham stumbles over a dead body in the street, the victim of an apparent cutthroat robbery. Ingham doesn't call the police and doesn't mention the murder.

See front cover at https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BEP4l1MZOfA/TfnCy9u-M4I/AAAAAAAACwA/b874HPZxUZU/s400/...
The dust jacket for the original UK edition published by Heinemann in 1969. Image sourced from Existential Ennui (see link below).

Ingham has items stolen during his stay and especially resents an old local thief named Abdullah whom he had seen in the act. One evening there is a break-in at Ingham's rented bungalow and in the dark he throws his typewriter at the head of the thief who collapses outside. Ingham locks his door and ignores further outside sounds. In the morning there is no body outside, but Abdullah is also no longer seen in the vicinity. The houseboys deny that any body was found. Ingham believes that he probably killed Abdullah, but decides to keep quiet about it. Eventually he confesses to Jensen. The latter, who is also resentful about the locals who have apparently stolen his beloved dog, tells him to forget it. Adams however is suspicious and then Ina arrives from the USA as well. Ingham is lost in a moral quandary of whether to confess all or to keep silent.

I found the tension and moral ambiguity of The Tremor of Forgery to be very compelling and the evasiveness and self-justification of Ingham made for a suspenseful character study. The atmosphere of the Tunisian setting was also well crafted and definitely gave the impression that Highsmith must have spent time in the area.

Footnote and Soundtrack
I couldn’t resist using this title for my lede, having recently come across film director Neil Jordan’s first book of short stories Night in Tunisia (1993) and being reminded of the Dizzy Gillespie bebop jazz tune, first called “Interlude,” and which later had lyrics added and was first sung by Sarah Vaughn in 1944, which you can listen to here.

Other Reviews
Not a full review, but author Graham Greene said: "Miss Highsmith's finest novel to my mind is The Tremor of Forgery, and if I were to be asked what it is about I would reply, 'Apprehension'."

Not an original review from 1969, but this later 2011 review does include photos of both the original UK and USA covers at Existential Ennui: The Tremor of Forgery by Patricia Highsmith.

Trivia and Links
The Tremor of Forgery has not been adapted for film unlike many other Highsmith novels (e.g. Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Carol (aka The Price of Salt), The Two Faces of January, etc.). A recent biographical film documentary was released in 2022 called “Loving Highsmith” directed by Eva Vitija for which you can see the trailer here. ( )

Just like Camus's The Stranger, only different. ( )

Set in the mid-1960s, American protagonist Howard Ingham, an author, has traveled to Tunisia to work on a screenplay with a director, who has not yet arrived. While waiting, Ingham decides to begin his next novel. Howard is anxious that he has not heard from his fiancé, Ina. He meets two other men and strikes up an acquaintance. Francis Adams is an American broadcasting anticommunist messages to Russia. Anders Jensen is a Danish artist. Howard finds himself embroiled in a mysterious disappearance and possible death of an Arab man.

The theme of this novel parallels the theme of the book Ingham is writing. As Ingham states, “Essentially, it’s whether a person makes his own personality and his own standards from within himself, or whether he and the standards are the creation of the society around him.” The plot follows Ingham’s ethical decisions, where he is at times influenced by his current environment as opposed to what he would have done if he were still living in the United States. This book is too slow-paced to be described as a thriller. It is more a psychological study of behavior.

Though it may not pack a lot of action, the character development makes up for it. Ingham is often alone with his thoughts, or in conversation with Adams and Jensen. Their interactions, along with the thread of mystery, kept my attention. This is my first book by Highsmith. Her writing style reminds me a bit of Graham Greene, sans religion.
( )

Amazingly great book! Painfully slow in an authentic way, traces the development of Howard Ingham in Tunisia, dealing with shifty locals, blabby American expatriates, unfaithful sort of fiancé, and possibly homosexual stirrings for a fellow travelling Dane. It does appear that he kills a local Arab rather accidentally and then worries about for weeks afterward. The poor, weak girlfriend Ina gives him a hard time about it but finally gives in it appears out of laziness. Finally he decides to dump her in a gesture of renewed life (the life of the dog once that dead is in fact alive and now recovering). He obviously wants to go away with the Dane, but he doesn't really seem gay- unless I am wrong (???) - just that he is tuned in to the Dane and at ease with him. The fact that he doesn't go right at the end, but promises to go soon is probably the right call. Beautiful. ( )

On the cover of this is a quote purported to be from writer Graham Greene: "Highsmith's finest novel" & I'm inclined to agree. As w/ "Found in the Street" [see my review of that here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/391882.Found_in_the_Street], the deaths aren't central mysteries to be solved, they're psychological mood setters. &, again as in "Found..", descriptions of personalities & the basic attitudes toward life that they represent are really the central concern.

Highsmith's sympathetic depiction of the main character, a writer, is gentle & sensitive to a remarkably refined level. Unlike anything else I've read by this author so far, Highsmith brings in politics: anti- Vietnam War, an exposure of American imperialist arrogance, etc.. But none of it's heavy-handed. As in her treatment of the Lindemann character in "Found..", Highsmith's OWL is presented in a well-rounded way despite his obnoxiousness.

The setting is Tunisia & Highsmith uses the cultural clash between the main character's NYC background & Arab culture to present a view of humanity in wch no oversimplification prevails. I don't know if Highsmith ever went to Tunisia but on pp106 & 113 she references a bk wch I assume/deduce she may've consulted in order to make "A Tremor of Forgery" more realistic: Norman Douglas' Fountains in the Sand: The main character, Ingham, has the bk w/ him:

"Ingham would never see Miss Darby again, he supposed, which mattered neither to her nor to him. He was reminded of a passage in the Norman Douglas book which he had liked, and he picked up the book and looked for it. Douglas was talking about an old Italian gardener he had met by accident somewhere in Tunisia. The passage Ingham had marked went:

"...he had travelled far in the Old and New Worlds; in him I recognized once again that simple mind of the sailor or wanderer who learns, as he goes along, to talk and think decently; who, instead of gathering fresh encumbrances on Life's journey, wisely discards even those he set out with."

Unlike most crime fiction writers, Highsmith has a gentleness here that reminds me of Jean Genet's. There's no need to wallow in brutality to keep this reader, at least, engrossed. 2 people possibly die violent deaths, the reader never discovers the circumstances of one of them & is never sure whether the other person has even died. This is very subtle - where lesser writers wd metaphorically splatter the blood as much as possible in the reader's face in order to shock them into paying attn, Highsmith takes the much more difficult path of trying to address the complex psychological, cultural & social circumstances surrounding the event - leaving some of these a mystery when it's appropriate to do so to create an understanding of the main character's situation.

Also unlike many of Highsmith's own novels (I think particularly of her "A Suspension of Mercy" [my review of that is here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/158885.A_Suspension_of_Mercy]), the characters don't inevitably spiral down to their doom b/c of bad decisions. In my review of "..Suspension.." I write:

"2 fairly ordinary people, a married couple, have some minor quirks. Their bad decisions follow one after the other in believable ways that're related to their quirks. Things cd go one way or the other - almost all the way to the end. But the bad decisions eventually lead to a tragedy that's even more tragic b/c of its sheer stupid unnecessariness."

& this is certainly NOT the case in "The Tremor of Forgery" - although Highsmith sets up the reader to frequently wonder whether it will be. Decisions that Ingham makes seem to be heading in a self-destructive direction: his non-reporting of a corpse found, his staying on in Tunisia, his continued friendship w/ the OWL, his prevaricating over his relationship w/ Ina, his avoidance of a more public confronting of his altercation w/ a burglar. But instead of using these behaviors of Ingham's to ensnare him, Highsmith chooses a less sensational & perhaps more realistic way in wch things get worked out in moderation.

Even the title of the bk is cleverly misleading & an opportunity for Highsmith to make writerly self-reference. My applause, Patricia Highsmith! I wish you were still alive so I cd compliment you in person! ( )