Sat 26 Sep 2009
Three Reviews by Mike Nevins: DOUGLAS CLARK, CLYDE B. CLASON and ROBERT PORTNER KOEHLER.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[2] Comments
DOUGLAS CLARK – Deadly Pattern. Cassell, UK, hardcover, 1970; Stein & Day, US, hc, 1970.
In this plodding and drearily written quasi-procedural, the slightly snobbish Detective Chief Inspector George Masters and his three Scotland Yard subordinates are dispatched to a tiny English coastal town to investigate the almost simultaneous disappearances of five drab middle-class women.
When four of them are found buried by the seashore, Masters and company crawl into action, taking 169 pages to uncover a psychotic killer who should be apparent to every reader by page 30. A few deft touches of character and description don’t save this mediocre tale.
CLYDE B. CLASON – Murder Gone Minoan. Doubleday Crime Club, 1939. Hardcover reprint: Sun Dial Press, 1940. Rue Morgue Press; trade paperback, 2003. UK title: Clue to the Labyrinth, Heinemann, hc, 1939.
This one takes place on a private island off the California coast, owned by a Greek-American department store tycoon with a passion for the ancient Cretan civilization — an ideal setting for an investigation by Theocritus Lucius Westborough, professor of classics and amateur of crime.
When a priceless Minoan religious image disappears from the tycoon’s Knossos-like palace, Westborough is asked to take the case and soon encounters a mess of amorous intrigues and two murders apparently committed by a worshipper of the snake goddess of Crete.
The unusual setting justifies Clason’s abundance of classical allusions, and the sections of the story he tells in transcript and document form are neatly handled, but the plot turns out to be a routine matter of professional criminality and Westborough’s solution is hopelessly unfair to the reader. A morass of needless adjectives and circumlocutions for “he said” clutter up the ersatz-classical style beyond endurance.
ROBERT PORTNER KOEHLER – The Hooded Vulture Murders. Phoenix Press, hardcover 1947.
Our heroes are two hapless California private eyes who stumble upon the murder of a blackmailing journalist while driving through southern Mexico on the uncompleted Pan American Highway.
Naturally the bumbling native officials welcome with open arms the intrusion of two brilliant Anglo sleuths into the case, although the readers may wish the boys had stayed home.
Koehler paints local color vividly, but his novel is ineptly plotted, woefully written, pathetically characterized, laughably clued, and all in all a pretty lame excuse for a detective story.
The MYSTERY FANcier, Vol. 3, No. 3, May-June 1979.
Editorial Comment: An earlier review of the Clason book can be found here on this blog, a mere 200 posts ago.
September 29th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Mike was much too hard on Koehler and THE HOODED VULTURE MURDERS. It’s actually one of the better Phoenix titles — not at all badly written, with a well-developed Mexican background, a decent if not spectacular plot, and a denouement which Anthony Boucher, in his S.F. Chronicle review, said gave him his “first solid surprise in some time”. Boucher, who as we all know almost never offered praise unless it was warranted, went on to state: “Pleasant narration and agreeable local color off the standard tourist trail.” I agree on all fronts.
September 29th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
I’ve read one book by Koehler, but I’m fairly sure it wasn’t this one. I remember enjoying it, but since I can’t remember the title, I’d have to say I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary about it. I guess that means neither good nor bad, though!
But what your comment did, Bill, was to give me an excuse to include a list of all of Koehler’s books. (I had to look them up in CRIME FICTION IV to see if I could figure out which one it was that I read, with no success.) Several of them also came out as digest-sized paperbacks in the 1940s:
KOEHLER, ROBERT PORTNER. 1905-1988.
* Puppets of Chance (n.) Sears 1933 [France]
* The Case of the Dead Cadet (n.) Phoenix 1938 [Academia]
* The Doctor’s Murder Case (n.) Phoenix 1939 [Massachusetts]
* Sing a Song of Murder (n.) Phoenix 1941 [Pecos Appleby; New Mexico]
* Here Come the Dead (n.) Phoenix 1942 [Pecos Appleby; New Mexico]
* Murder in the Green Sedan (n.) Phoenix 1942 [Capt. Al Branson; Los Angeles, CA]
* Some Try Murder (n.) Phoenix 1943 [Pecos Appleby; New Mexico]
* Steps to Murder (n.) Phoenix 1943 [Capt. Al Branson; Los Angeles, CA]
* Corpse in the Wind (n.) Phoenix 1944 [California]
* Salute to Murder (n.) Phoenix 1944 [Central America]
* Murder Expert (n.) Phoenix 1945 [Capt. Al Branson; Los Angeles, CA]
* Tread Gently, Death (n.) Phoenix 1945 [Capt. Al Branson; Virginia]
* The Road House Murders (n.) Phoenix 1946 [Avery Gregg; Tony Ellis; New Mexico]
* The Hooded Vulture Murders (n.) Phoenix 1947 [Avery Gregg; Tony Ellis; Mexico]
* The Blue Parakeet Murders (n.) Phoenix 1948 [Avery Gregg; Tony Ellis; Central America]
Mike isn’t as hard on Clason as he was on Koehler, but I still liked MURDER GONE MINOAN better than he did. Either way, I think he pinpoints some of Clason’s weaknesses fairly well.
— Steve