Fri 2 Dec 2016
Archived PI Review: GEORGE C. CHESBRO – City of Whispering Stone.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
GEORGE C. CHESBRO – City of Whispering Stone. Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 1978. Signet, paperback, 1979.
Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Bob Frederickson, alias Mongo the Magnificent, former circus dwarf with a Ph.D. in criminology, now moonlighting as the world’s shortest private detective!
This case of the missing Iranian weight-lifter is actually Mongo’s second, and it takes him deep into the web of revolution threatening that ancient oil-rich kingdom as it struggles to make its way into this century. Plenty of bodies pile up, and lots of double (and redoubled) agents, but as in cheap carnival sideshows, the emphasis seems to be more on flash than substance.
Cotton candy also comes to mind.
— Reprinted from The MYSTERY FANcier, Vol. 3, No. 1, Jan-Feb 1979.
December 2nd, 2016 at 6:46 pm
Ah, but for some of us it was highly addictive cotton candy. Any one who can write a mystery novel modeled on LORD OF THE RINGS (SECOND HORSEMAN OUT OF EDEN) has something going for him.
But admittedly, I read them for the company of Mongo and his friends.
December 4th, 2016 at 1:06 am
As it so happens, I don’t really remember anything about this one, not even writing this review. But I have read others in the series, and we’ll have to agree to disagree about the merits of Mongo and his friends, as none of the others have stuck in my memory either.
December 4th, 2016 at 8:11 am
I only read the short story collection about Mongo – IN THE HOUSE OF SECRET ENEMIES – and never felt the urge to read more. But I did read and quite enjoy his non-series book BONE.
December 4th, 2016 at 8:18 am
I may try reading HOUSE OF SECRET ENEMIES the next time I come across it in my collection. I’d forgotten this short story collection existed. All but one of the stories preceded the first novel in the series and came from either MIKE SHAYNE or ALFRED HITCHCOCK magazines. Perhaps in shorter doses the over-the-topness I found in the novels will be more to my liking.