Mon 20 Apr 2020
A 1001 Midnights PI Mystery Review: GEORGE CHESBRO – Shadow of a Broken Man.
Posted by Steve under 1001 Midnights , Reviews[2] Comments
by John Lutz
GEORGE CHESBRO – Shadow of a Broken Man. Mongo #1. Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 1977. Signet, paperback, 1978.
This is the first Chesbro novel featuring Dr. Robert Fredrickson – a professor of criminology who doubles as a private detective, is a dwarf, and is known to his friends as Mongo. A onetime top circus performer, Mongo possesses some very useful skills for tight situations, among them tumbling and gymnastic ability and a black belt in karate.
While preparing to leave for vacation in Acapulco, Mongo is approached by Mike Foster, who married the widow of’ famous architect Victor Rafferty. Foster’s wife. Elizabeth, happened to see a photograph of a new museum in an architectural magazine, and is convinced that the design is the work of her husband. But Victor died five years ago, and the museum’s design is listed as the work of a man named Richard Patera. Victor Rafferty died from a fall into an open melting furnace, so there was essentially no body to be recovered, and Elizabeth is haunted by the conviction that Rafferty is still alive. Mike Foster’s marriage is suffering; he wants Mon to clear up this matter so he and Elizabeth can get on with their lives.
Mongo assumes there won’t be too much complication here, so he postpones his vacation and accepts the case. His first move is to consult professor of design Franklin Manning, resident architectural genius, who flatly tells Mongo that the museum is Rafferty’s design, without question. And suddenly Mongo is involved in something much more complex and dangerous than he imagined. Russian and French agents are part of the package, as are U.N. Secretary Rolfe Thaag and more than one victim of Communist brutality.
The writing here is literate and fast-paced, the plot is intricate, the concept is bizarre yet entirely plausible. This is a well-spiced recipe that results in haute cuisine.
Chesbro is also the author of City of Whispering Stone (1978), An Affair of Sorcerers (1979), and The Beasts of Valhalla (1985), which likewise feature Mongo.
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Reprinted with permission from 1001 Midnights, edited by Bill Pronzini & Marcia Muller and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2007. Copyright © 1986, 2007 by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust.
Bibliographic Note: By the time his career in books was over, Mongo had appeared in a total of 13 novels and one story collection, most of which had previously been published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine or Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.
April 20th, 2020 at 10:05 pm
At first I thought Chesbro was going over the top as the series became more fantastic, but by keeping it grounded in the relationship between Mongo and his brother Garth he avoided that trap.
Granted the series took wilder turns from psychics, to a take on the Lord of the Rings, and a circus with its own werewolf, but it also benefited from Chesbro’s knowledge of broken children and his work with them and the deep human side of Mongo’s voice.
Chesbro wrote a good piece about creating Mongo and the difficulties he ran into with his dwarf sleuth. It appears along with some of his early shorts in some of the Mysterious Press ebook editions of his books.
April 20th, 2020 at 11:33 pm
I read quite a few of the early Mongo’s, but as I recall, they finally became too over the top for me. But yes, what you say about the books is what I found as well.