THE BACKWARD REVIEWER
William F. Deeck


FRANKLIN MAYFAIR – Over My Dead Body. Book Company of America #009, paperback original, 1965.

   Rodney Valino, soon not to be a publicity man for Magno-Feierstrein Studios, has as a last assignment the publicity for Antietam, a Civil War epic starring one of the most detested men in Hollywood, Robey Hardin. Among other things, Hardin is a lecher and perhaps a blackmailer, and he has ruined several careers. He is also responsible for Valino’s losing his job.

   With most of the people involved in the new picture hating Hardin passionately, it is no surprise that he is murdered during filming. Because of Hardin’s proclivities, suspects are numerous. But the police, among them a friend of Valino’s, have their eye on the publicity man. Because of this, Valino feels he must detect on his own. He identifies the murderer and puts his life at risk, somewhat to his surprise.

   This is an amusing, literate and well-plotted novel that should have been picked up by a major publisher.

— Reprinted from MYSTERY READERS JOURNAL, Vol. 7, No. 4, Winter 1991/2, “Murder on Screen.”


Bio-Bibliographic Notes:   Franklin Mayfair was the pen name of Felix Mendelsohn, Jr. (1906-1990). This is the only crime novel he wrote under either name. Under his own name, he was also the author of “two unremarkable comic sf novels, Club Tycoon Sends Man to Moon (BCA, pbo, 1965) and Superbaby (Nash, hc, 1969; Paperback Library, 1970).” Thanks to the Science Fiction Encyclopedia for the quote.

   Book Company of America was a short-lived paperback published based in Beverly Hills CA. In the years 1964-65 they published a total of 17 books, three of which are regarded as criminous and included by Al Hubin in his comprehensive bibliography of the field, Crime Fiction IV.