Sun 19 Apr 2020
Archived Mystery Review: E. V. CUNNINGHAM – The Case of the Sliding Pool.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[6] Comments
E. V. CUNNINGHAM – The Case of the Sliding Pool. Sgt. Masao Masuto #5. Delacorte, hardcover, 1981. Dell, paperback, 1983.
On page one we are told that Masao Masuto is a Zen Buddhist. On page two, that he is a Nisei, which means that he was born in the US of Japanese parents. And on page three we learn that when called upon, he serves as half of the homicide squad of the Beverly Hills police force. He’s a complex character, and it shows.
This is not his first case, and if, like me, you haven’t read any of his earlier ones, you’ll want to go back and get your hands on them. In the one at hand, heavy rains sweep away a huge concrete swimming pool, leaving behind the burial ground of what now is nothing more than a thirty-year-old skeleton.
Faced with this challenge, Detective Sergeant Masuto immediately reconstructs the crime that must have taken place. Forthcoming are some of the most imaginative deductions since the days of Sherlock Holmes. (Or should that be Charlie Chan, whom Masuto is most often accused by his colleagues of emulating?)
As it turns out, his theories, based on what seems to be little more than educated guesswork, not surprisingly do have some gas in them. Masuto, however, while not as overly modest in regard to his abilities as an Inspector Ghote, say, is also not too proud to change his working hypotheses as he goes.
If it were not for the sudden, unexpected bombshell Cunningham explodes on the reader on page 152 [of the hardcover edition], wholly unanticipated and completely changing the direction of Masuto’s investigation, this would have had to have been ranked as one of the top detective novels of he year.
The book is still terrifically readable, but you will feel like giving Cunningham a kick in the spot where he most deserves it for all the holes that are left behind when he’s done.
The Sgt. Masao Masuto series —
Samantha. Morrow 1967.
The Case of the One-Penny Orange. Holt 1977.
The Case of the Russian Diplomat. Holt 1978.
The Case of the Poisoned Eclairs. Holt 1979.
The Case of the Sliding Pool. Delacorte 1981.
The Case of the Kidnapped Angel. Delacorte 1982.
The Case of the Murdered Mackenzie. Delacorte 1984.
April 19th, 2020 at 10:09 pm
It’s a good series. I enjoyed the standalone titles Fast did as Cunningham too, several of which were filmed.
Masuto is a likable and bright protagonist though once in a while the suspense element overwhelms the detective story a little.
April 20th, 2020 at 6:47 am
I read these when they were new, and I also enjoyed them without thinking they were anything special.
April 20th, 2020 at 1:16 pm
I agree with you both. It’s a fun but essentially forgettable series. I wonder how many other series detectives working in the US back then had Japanese backgrounds?
Or even now, for that matter.
April 20th, 2020 at 9:45 pm
Poul Anderson’s half Swedish half Japanese sleuth comes to mind, and I think Will Oursler had a Japanese American sleuth in on book. That’s about it, and I may be remembering the Oursler wrong.
April 20th, 2020 at 11:31 pm
Poul Anderson’s detective was Trygve Yamamura, who appeared in many three novels and at least one short story. I read one of the novels, which I enjoyed, but if you asked me for any details, I couldn’t come up with any. I always meant to read another, but until the Internet came along, all I could ever find was just the one.
I don’t know a lot about Oursler’s mystery fiction, so if he’s the author you’re thinking of, I’m no good in terms of coming up with any of detective characters. For some reason I was thinking of Philip Wylie, but why, I don’t know.
We’re both probably missing some current writers and characters.
April 21st, 2020 at 9:46 pm
The hero of Wylie’s THE SPY WHO SPOKE PORPOISE is Hawaiian, but I can’t recall off hand if he is part Japanese. He may be the one you are thinking of.
The Oursler is DEPARTURE DELAYED (in paperback as part of an ACE Double) and I think at least one of the major characters is a Japanese American Intelligence Agent.
There are quite a few series with Japanese sleuths now, but most of them are set in Japan and don’t feature Japanese American characters as protagonists.
I can’t think of many in movies and television. There was Jack Soo on BARNEY MILLER and James Shigeta in THE CRIMSON KIMONO and that’s about it as far as major characters go. HAWAII FIVE-O (both series) had Chinese police regulars, but I can’t recall any Japanese American characters.
Of course I’m sure there are plenty of examples, but I can’t think of any that play major roles in the story save the ones I’ve mentioned.
I reviewed a book within a book that was about a writer trying to write a mystery in 1941 with a Japanese American hero, but that is one of the few examples I can think of.