Fri 2 Mar 2018
CRAIG RICE – The Corpse Steps Out. John J. Malone, Jake Justus & Helene (Brand) Justus #2. Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 1940. Reprints include: Pocket #476, paperback, 1947. IPL, softcover, 1989. Rue Morgue Press, softcover, 2012.
If I were to put together a list of detective mysteries that take place in or around radio stations, this would have to be included, and somewhere on top of the list. When radio star Nelle Brown gets into trouble with a blackmailer (and an ex-lover) and some letters he possesses, it is up to Jake Justus, her overworked press agent, to keep her image as squeaky clean as her adoring public thinks she is.
Problem is, and it’s a big one, when Nelle goes to the blackmailer’s apartment to confront him, she finds him dead, and the letters nowhere to be found. More than that, when Jake goes to investigate, the body itself is nowhere to be found.
There are two more murders before the book is done, and at least two of them, when eventually found, have been moved hither and yon, all for a good purpose, you understand. Aiding Jake in this madcap sequence of activities are Helen Brand, vivacious socialite — and rather wealthy, as I understand it — and Jake’s attorney, John J. Malone, who is often described as crooked, but while he may skirt the edges of legalities, I would not call him crooked, not on the basis of his actions in this book.
It also may be that Jake and Helen will have managed to have gotten married by the time the next book in the series came around, but try as they may, they don’t seem to get to the altar in this one. Too many bodies disappearing and popping up again!
This is a fun book to read all the way through, save perhaps the ending, when all of the strange events that have been happenings have to be sorted out and explained, including the naming of the killer. I also caution you that there is a lot of drinking that goes on in this book. Gin, mostly, but when the supply of gin runs out, rye will do, with beer as a chaser. Or is it the other way around?
March 3rd, 2018 at 3:53 am
Even though the first book in the series is more about the soon to be Justus duo from the moment he steps on stage Malone dominates. The tough little red-haired lawyer, whose clients were always innocent, even when they were guilty, gin soaked and two out of three sheets to the windward side of blotto was just naturally more interesting than the wanna-be Nick and Nora stylings of Jake and Helen, and they were pretty good themselves.
Few came anywhere close to Rice when it came to the screwball school, and only Latimer excelled her.
Of some note I understand a new edition of Rice’s first novel HOME MADE HOMICIDE is being released.
Malone was pretty lucky on screen too, played by the likes of Pat O’Brien, Brian Donlevy, James Whitmore, and on the small screen Lee Tracy.
March 3rd, 2018 at 3:59 am
HOME SWEET HOMICIDE. Have to stop doing this at 2am.
March 3rd, 2018 at 5:37 pm
More of Rice books were released on Kindle in November including the two mentioned so far, and not only more great Malone books but also the George Saunders, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Michael Venning books.
March 3rd, 2018 at 5:42 pm
Oh, I did a review of the Malone radio series here:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=10076
March 5th, 2018 at 11:58 pm
It always needs to be reiterated for anyone who hasn’t read it, Rice and Stuart Palmer’s THE PEOPLE VS WITHERS AND MALONE teaming Malone with Hildegarde Withers is one of the best collection of novellas from the screw-ball school imaginable, one entertaining gem after another.
If at all possible find the edition with the Ellery Queen (Fred Dannay in this case) introduction that quiet properly gushes over the content. I keep hoping it will find its way into ebook form since only one of the stories (“Once Upon a Train”) is available in that format that I know of.
For anyone wanting to try Rice and not invest anything two books, THE LUCKY STIFF and THE SUNDAY PIGEON MURDERS are available from multiple sites for free download as are both the Rice and the Leigh Brackett Gypsy Rose Lee titles, THE G-STRING MURDERS and MOTHER FINDS A BODY.
Other such gems available for free download at various sites include Brackett’s NO GOOD FROM A CORPSE, Paul Cain’s FAST ONE, virtually all of Hammett, all of Chandler, all of Dan Marlowe’s Johnny Killain titles, several John McPhartland titles, Elliot Chaze, Matthew Blood’s (Brett Halliday) THE AVENGER, Roger Torrey’s 42 DAYS TO MURDER, the three Bill Lennox and one Max Hunter novel by W.T. Ballard, several Clifton Adams Westerns and suspense novels, the complete Ian Fleming, The complete Horatio Hornblower, quite a few Dornford Yates, all of Sapper McNeile, all of John Buchan, quite a few Perry Mason and Agatha Christie novels, some Allingham including TIGER IN THE SMOKE, and a smattering of other writers like Donald Hamilton (non Helm), Philip Atlee, all of Peter Cheyney’s spy, Lemme Caution, and Slim Callaghan novel, some Francis Beeding, Valentine Williams, all of Edgar Wallace, all of Talbot Mundy, a few Rex Stout, Most of E. Phillips Oppenheim, much of William LeQueux, a few Sydney Horler including two Tiger Standish,and over thirty Simenon titles about Maigret and non series.
It may take some time to find them, but Internet Archive is a good place to start and to increase your virtual pulp collection.