BRUCE ZIMMERMAN – Thicker Than Water.

Detective Book Club; reprint hardcover [3-in-1 edition]. First edition: HarperCollins, 1991. Paperback reprint: Harper, 1993.

   In the five year period from 1989 to 1994, Bruce Zimmerman wrote four mystery thrillers featuring phobia therapist Quinn Parker, but since then he seems to have disappeared. Or at least I’ve found nothing more about him than what’s in Al Hubin’s Crime Fiction III, even using a quick search on the Internet. The four books and nothing more.    [See also the UPDATE below.]

   From the book at hand, the second in the series, Zimmerman seems to have been aiming at the moderately-boiled Travis McGee market. Treating phobia patients as a profession seems to be a good way of getting the San Francisco based Parker into all kinds of scrapes, but in this book, nothing is made of it.

   Parker gets involved this time when he gives a good buddy a hand after he inherits a half-million dollar estate in Jamaica and finds there are exceedingly dangerous strings attached.

   Zimmerman is very good at thumbnail dead-on descriptions of the people found in his books, and more than once I was brought suddenly to attention by a plot twist that was (to say the least) unexpected. But as a detective, Quinn Parker is — well, if inept is not quite the right word, then to say the least, he’s not very good at it. One additional death, if not two, can be attributed directly to Parker’s entirely unsavvy approach to the business at hand.

   Worse, he seems all but blithely unaware of it. He swallows hard, and it’s on to the next chapter. Nor is the ending particularly neat and tidy, with one explanation in particular producing (in my mind) many more questions than answer.

   From mind-boggling turns of plot to mind-blowing maladroitness, that’s the mix. Worth spending an evening’s reading time on, but not likely to be remembered strongly by more than a few of those who do.

[UPDATE] 12-18-08. First of all, notice that I referred to Crime Fiction III in this review. The latest edition of Al Hubin’s book (but available only on CD) is the Revised Crime Fiction IV.

   Secondly, either the Internet contains more than it did six years ago, or I’m getting better at Google. Was Google around six years ago? Maybe not. Either way, I found out why there were four Quinn Parker mysteries (as stated in the review) and only four.

   Bruce Zimmerman, as it turns out, discovered Hollywood, or Hollywood discovered him. To his lasting great fortune, Zimmerman started writing for TV in 1998, and in 2000 he turned producer. Series to his credit in the latter capacity (thanks to IMDB) include The District, Judging Amy, Desperate Housewives, CSI: NY, and K-Ville. (I really liked that last series, a cop show taking place in New Orleans, but I think I was the only one. After last year’s writers’ strike, it never returned.)

   And thanks to the previously mentioned Crime Fiction IV, slightly expanded, here’s a list of the mystery novels that Bruce Zimmerman produced:

ZIMMERMAN, BRUCE. 1952- . Series character: Quinn Parker, in all four.
      Blood Under the Bridge. Harper, hc, 1989; St.Martin’s, pb, 1990.   [Nominated for an Edgar in the Best First Novel category.]

      Thicker Than Water. Harper, hc, 1991; ppbk, 1993.
      Full-Bodied Red. Harper, hc, 1993; ppbk, 1994.
      Crimson Green. Harper, hc, 1994; ppbk, 1995.

    Included in this post are authors in the A-C section of the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin.

   In all likelihood, this will be the last of these posts I’ll do on the blog. While I’m pleased with the results, it takes more time that it should to double post them. From now on, annotated additions and corrections like these will be found only on the primary CFIV website.

COEN, FRANKLIN. 1912-1990. US movie & TV screenwriter with many credits between 1936 and 1974. Add the second of the two books listed below. This now constitutes the author’s complete entry in the Revised Crime Fiction IV.
   The Plunderers. Coward McCann, US, hc, 1980. Severn House, UK, hc, 1981. “A high-speed, high-stakes thriller – Nazi greed against all the pride of Paris.”
   -Vinegar Hill. Rinehart, 1950. Setting: US South. TV movie: Art & Anne, 1995, as Deadly Family Secrets (scw: Brian Taggert; dir: Richard T.Heffron)

COFFEY, BRIAN. Pseudonym of Dean R. Koontz.
   The Face of Fear. TV movie: CBS, 1990 (scw: Dean R. Koontz, Alan Jay Glueckman; dir: Farhad Mann)

COLE, ALEXANDER. Pseudonym of Justin Scott, q.v. Other pseudonym: J. S. Blazer; add new pseudonym: Paul Garrison. As “Alexander Cole,” the author has only one entry in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. See below:
   The Auction. Jove, US, pb, 1983. Add British edition: Granada, hc, 1985, as by Justin Scott. “Kidnapped. The most valuable man in the world. The bidding starts at $5 million…”

COLE, MARTINA
   The Jump. TV movie: BBC, 1998 (scw: Martina Cole; dir: Richard Standeven)

COLLINS, JACKIE. Pen name of Jacqueline Collins Lerman, 1941- . Prolific bestselling author; much of her fiction has criminous components. Add the second of the two novels below.
   Chances. Partial basis for TV movie [mini-series]: NBC, 1990, as Lucky/Chances (scw: Jackie Collins; dir: Buzz Kulik). SC: Lucky Santangelo (Nicollette Sheridan), Gino Santangelo (Vincent Irizarry)
   Lucky. Simon & Schuster, hc, 1985; Collins, UK, hc, 1985. SC: Santangelo family; setting: Las Vegas, NV. Partial basis for TV movie [mini-series]: NBC, 1990, as Lucky/Chances (scw: Jackie Collins; dir: Buzz Kulik). SC: Lucky Santangelo (Nicollette Sheridan), Gino Santangelo (Vincent Irizarry)

COLLINS, MAX ALLAN
   The Road to Perdition. Film: Dreamworks, 2002 (scw: David Self; dir: Sam Mendes)

COLLINS, WILKIE
   Basil. Film: Kushner-Locke, 1998 (scw & dir: Radha Bharadwaj)
   The Moonstone. TV movie: BBC/PBS, 1996 (scw: Kevin Elyot; dir: Robert Bierman)
   The Woman in White. TV movie [series episode/Dow Hour of Great Mysteries]: NBC, 1960 (scw: Frank Ford; dir: Paul Nickell)

CONDON, RICHARD
   The Manchurian Candidate. Film: Paramount, 2004 (scw: George Axelrod; dir: Jonathan Demme)

CONNELLY, MICHAEL
   Blood Work. Film: Warner, 2002 (scw: Brian Helgeland; dir: Clint Eastwood)

CONRAD, JOSEPH
   The Secret Agent. TV movie [mini-series]: BBC, 1967 (scw: Alexander Baron; dir: Gerald Blake). Also: BBC, 1992 (scw: Dusty Hughes; dir: David Drury)
   -Victory. Doubleday, 1915; Methuen, 1915. Silent film: Paramount, 1919 (scw: Jules Furthman; dir: Maurice Tourneur). Sound film: Paramount, 1930, as Dangerous Paradise (scw: William Slavens McNutt, Grover Jones; dir: William A. Wellman). Also: Paramount, 1940 (scw: John L. Balderston; dir: John Cromwell). Also: Miramax, 1995 (scw & dir: Mark Peploe)

CONROY, A. L. This is this author’s only entry in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. [In spite of the similarity of names, there is no evidence to suggest that the author was Al Conroy, aka Marvin H. Albert.]
   Storefront Lawyers. (Bantam, pb, 1970) Novelization of TV movie [series episode/Storefront Lawyers] entitled A Man’s Castle: CBS, 1970 (scw: unknown; dir: Lee H. Katzin)

SCOTT, JUSTIN (BLAZER). 1942- . Pseudonyms: J. S. Blazer, Alexander Cole, q.v. Add pseudonym: Paul Garrison. His father, A. Leslie Scott, was the author of approximately 250 western novels, including many under several pen names; his mother, Lily K. Scott, wrote novels, many of them romances, as well as short stories for the slicks and pulp magazines. Also a novelist is his sister, Alison Scott Skelton. Under his own name, the author of many crime and detective novels included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV.
   The Auction. Grafton, hc, 1985. Add: This is the British edition of a book published in the US earlier as by Alexander Cole, q.v.

   I’ve recently split the previous A through H page of the online Addenda to Al Hubin’s Revised Crime Fiction IV into two sections, A through C and D through H. These entries obviously come from the A-C page, falling immediately after Agatha Christie’s entry:

CHRISTMAN, ELIZABETH. Add as a new author. 1914- . Ref: CA. Literary agent, 1946-69; faculty member at DePauw University, University of Notre Dame, 1969- .
   -A Nice Italian Girl. Dodd Mead, hc, 1976. TV movie: Brut Productions, 1977, as Black Market Baby (scw: Andrew Peter Marin; dir: Robert Day)

CHRISTOPHER, MATTHEW F. Prolific author of sports novels for boys. The title below is his only entry in the Revised Crime Fiction IV.
   Look for the Body. Phoenix Press, hc, 1952. Add setting: Midwest. Leading character: Brooks Carter, physician.

CHURCHILL, EDWARD. 1895-1972. Author of many stories in the pulp fiction magazines between roughly 1929 and 1952, plus one hardcover mystery novel cited in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. See below:
   Menace of Death. Dodge, hc, 1937. Add settings: New Jersey, Washington D.C. Leading character: Captain Kirkland Crane of US Army Intelligence.

CLANCY, TOM
   The Sum of All Fears. Film: Paramount, 2002 (scw: Paul Attanasio, Daniel Pyne; dir: Phil Alden Robinson). SC: Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck)

CLARK, MARY HIGGINS
   ● All Around the Town. TV movie: PAX, 2002 (scw: Peter Mohan; dir: Paolo Barzman)

   ● The Anastasia Syndrome and other stories. TV movie Lucky Day, based on ss in this collection: PAX, 2002 (scw: Peter Mohan; dir: Penelope Buitenhuis)

   ● Before I Say Goodbye. TV movie: PAX, 2003 (scw: Jon Cooksey, Ali Marie Matheson, John Benjamin Martin; dir: Michael Storey)

   ● The Cradle Will Fall. TV movie: Cates Films, 1983 (scw: Jerome Coopersmith; dir: John Llewellyn Moxey)

   ● A Cry in the Night. TV movie: Telescene, 1992 (scw & dir: Robin Spry)

   ● I’ll Be Seeing You. TV movie: PAX, 2004 (scw: John Benjamin Martin; dir: Will Dixon). [No writing credit given to Mary Higgins Clark.]

   ● Let Me Call You Sweetheart. http://imdb.com/title/tt0129198/: Family Channel, 1997 (scw: Christopher Lofton; dir: Bill Corcoran)

   ● Loves Music, Loves to Dance. TV movie: PAX, 2001 (scw: Peter Mohan; dir: Mario Azzopardi)

   ● Moonlight Becomes You. TV movie: Family Channel, 1998 (scw: David Kinghorn; dir: Bill Corcoran)

   ● My Gal Sunday. TV movie A Crime of Passion, based on ss in this collection: PAX, 2003 (scw: John Benjamin Martin, Carl Binder; dir; Charles Wilkinson)

   ● Pretend You Don’t See Her. TV movie: PAX, 2002 (scw: Donald Hounam; dir: Rene Bonniere)

   ● Stillwatch. TV movie: CBS, 1987 (scw: Laird Koenig, David E. Peckinpah; dir: Rod Holcomb)

   ● We’ll Meet Again. TV movie: PAX, 2002 (scw: Michael Thoma, John Benjamin Martin; dir: Michael Storey)

   ● Weep No More, My Lady. TV movie: CBS, 1992 (scw: Michel Andrieu, Leila Basen, Robert Levine; dir: Andrieu)

   ● While My Pretty One Sleeps. TV movie: Hallmark/Family Channel, 1997 (scw: David Kinghorn; dir: Jorge Montesi)

   ● You Belong to Me. TV film: PAX, 2001 (scw: Irina Diether; dir: Paolo Barzman)

CLEWS, ALAN. Add as a new author. British television and film screenwriter.
   A Child of Air. Headline, UK, hc, 1995. Setting: Scotland. [“An old-fashioned ghost story of rolling mists, Scottish lairds, and something nasty behind the curtains.” Storyboards for a proposed film can be found online.]

COE, CAPTAIN. Joint pseudonym of Edward Card Mitchell and Lincoln Springfield, 1865- . Author of one title cited in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. Add year of birth of the latter author; death date unknown.
   The Coroner’s Understudy. Arrowsmith, UK, hc, 1891.

   Part I was posted about a week ago. Here’s the same introduction I used as a prologue and an explanation back then:

   Note that the movies listed below, each based on an Agatha Christie novel or short story, are only those which are not included in the original Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. (They are included in the Revised CFIV, but not in this expanded version, as well as the online Addenda, where they also are.)

   For more information on each of the movies or TV series episodes mentioned, follow the links provided to their corresponding IMDB entries.

CHRISTIE, AGATHA
   ● The Man in the Brown Suit. TV movie: Warner, 1989 (scw: Carla Jean Wagner; dir: Alan Grint). SC: Colonel Race (Ken Howard)

   ● The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. TV movie: BBC/A&E, 1992, as The Mirror Crack’d (scw: T. R. Bown; dir: Norman Stone). SC: Miss Marple (Joan Hickson)

   ● The Moving Finger. TV movie: BBC/PBS/A&E, 1985 (scw: Julia Jones; dir: Roy Boulting) . SC: Miss Marple (Joan Hickson). Also: Granada, 2006 (scw: Kevin Elyot; dir: Tom Shankland). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Geraldine McEwan)

   ● The Mystery of the Blue Train. TV movie: Granada, 2005 (scw: Guy Andrews; dir: Hettie MacDonald). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● The Murder at the Vicarage. TV movie: BBC/A&E, 1986 (scw: T. R. Bowen; dir: Julian Amyes). Also: ITV, 2004 (scw: Stephen Churchett; dir: Charles Palmer). SC: Miss Marple (Joan Hickson)

   ● Murder in Mesopotamia. TV movie [series episode]: A&E, 2001 (scw: Clive Exton; dir: Tom Clegg). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● A Murder Is Announced. TV movie: BBC/PBS, 1985 (scw: Alan Plater; dir: David Giles). SC: Miss Marple (Joan Hickson) Also: ITV, 2005 (scw: Stewart Harcourt; dir: John Stickland). SC: Miss Marple (Geraldine McEwan)

   ● Murder Is Easy. TV movie: CBS, 1982 (scw: Carmen Culver; dir: Claude Whatham)

   ● The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. TV movie [series episode]: BBC, 2000 (scw: Clive Exton; dir: Andrew Grieve). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet).   [The movie is reviewed here on the M*F blog.]

   ● Murder on the Links. TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend Television,1995 (scw: Anthony Horowitz; dir: Andrew Grieve). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● Murder on the Orient Express. TV movie: MediaVest, 2001 (scw: Stephen Harrigan; dir: Carl Schenkel). SC: Hercule Poirot (Alfred Molina)

   ● The Mysterious Affair at Styles. TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend/A&E/PBS, 1990 (scw: Clive Exton; dir: Ross Devenish). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● Nemesis. TV movie: BBC/PBS, 1987 (scw: T. R. Bowen; dir: David Tucker). SC: Miss Marple (Joan Hickson)

   ● The Pale Horse. TV movie: A&E, 1997 (scw: Alma Cullen; dir: Charles Beeson)

   ● Peril at End House. TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend Television,1990 (scw: Clive Exton; dir: Renny Rye). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● A Pocket Full of Rye. TV movie: BBC/PBS, 1985 (scw: T. R. Bowen; dir: Guy Slater). SC: Miss Marple (Joan Hickson)

   ● Sad Cypress. TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend Television, 2003 (scw & dir: Dave Moore). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● The Secret Adversary. TV movie: London Weekend/PBS, 1982 (scw: Pat Sandys; dir: Tony Wharmby). SC: Tuppence & Tommy (Francesca Annis & James Warwick)

   ● The Seven Dials Mystery. TV movie: London Weekend Television, 1982 (scw: Pat Sandys; dir: Tony Wharmby). SC: Supt. Battle (Harry Andrews)

   ● The Sittaford Mystery. [Published in the US as Murder at Hazelmoor.] TV movie: Granada, 2006 (scw: Stephen Churchett; dir: Paul Unwin). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Geraldine McEwan). [Miss Marple did not appear in the book version. The film version seems to have been universally panned.]

   ● Sleeping Murder. TV movie: BBC/PBS, 1987 (scw: Kenneth Taylor; dir: John Davies) SC: Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickson). Also: Granada, 2005 (scw: Stephen Churchett; dir: Ed Hall). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Geraldine McEwan)

   ● Sparkling Cyanide. TV movie: CBS, 1983 (scw: Sue Grafton, Steve Humphrey, Robert Malcolm Young; dir: Robert Lewis). Also: ITV, 2003 (scw: Laura Lamson; dir: Tristam Powell). SC: Colonel Race (Oliver Ford Davies, as “Col. Geoffrey Reece”).

   ● Taken at the Flood. TV movie: Granada, 2006 (scw: Guy Andrews; dir: Andy Wilson). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● They Do It with Mirrors. TV movie: CBS, 1985, as Murder with Mirrors (scw: George Eckstein; dir: Dick Lowry). SC: Miss Marple (Helen Hayes). Also: BBC/A&E, 1991, as They Do It with Mirrors (scw: T. R. Bowen; dir: Norman Stone). SC: Miss Marple (Joan Hickson)

   ● Three-Act Tragedy. TV movie: CBS, 1986, as Murder in Three Acts (scw: Scott Swanton; dir: Gary Nelson). SC: Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov)

   ● Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? TV movie: London Weekend, 1980 (scw: Pat Sandys; dir: John Davies, Tony Wharmby)

   ● The Witness for the Prosecution. TV movie: CBS, 1982 (scw: Billy Wilder, Harry Kurnitz, Lawrence B. Marcus; dir: Alan Gibson)

BENJAMIN WOLFF – Hyde and Seek.

Avon, paperback original; 1st printing, October 1984.

   A blurb from Tony Hillerman is on the back cover, and he makes the book sound promising, if not more so: “A great story, a skillful storyteller … action-suspense fans are going to love this one.”

   I hate to disagreed with Mr. Hillerman, but I do. I thought the story was murkily plotted, that Wolff is an unpolished story-teller, and that while I personally didn’t go wild over it, maybe the book did sell well in army post bookstores. Not that it’s in Donald Pendleton’s league, but when it comes down to it, whose are?

   From the publicity blurb on the front cover, I was also led to believe that this was a private eye yarn. As it turns out, though, the only real connection the protagonist of the story, John Byron Hyde, has with that profession is through a part-time job he has doing an insurance investigator’s books.

   He is also a part-time karate instructor, however, and a disillusioned post-traumatized Vietnam vet, and (after some thought) nobody I’d really rather care to know. (There goes the rooting interest.) When he’s asked by a girl (a knockout, of course) to help her find her brother, who’s mysteriously disappeared, he ends up in a sour-tasting melange of drug smuggling, South American politics, and the semi-benevolent order of The Good Helpers of our Lady The Mother of God.

   After something of a conclusion has taken place (at least everybody’s motivations are laid out in the open), the story is clearly continued into the next volume of Mr. Hyde’s adventures. I have a copy — it’s here somewhere– but if/when I find it, the question is, will I read it? You have two guesses, the same as I, and the second doesn’t count.

[UPDATE] 12-11-08.   An uneasiness I have whenever I pull a review out of my archives that’s as negative as this one is that it turns out to have been written by someone I know, but writing under a pen name at the time. Not that I fear writing negative reviews (not all books can be as wonderful as the publicity guys make them sound), but generally speaking, I tend not to write reviews of books by authors I know.

   It turns out that Wolff was a pen name, and that there were only two of John Hyde’s adventures. My review had nothing to do with the latter. No more than 40 people may have seen this review when it first appeared; more than likely it was only a tenth of that.

   From the Revised Crime Fiction IV by Allen J. Hubin:

WOLFF, BENJAMIN. Pseudonym of Louis Chunovic; see also Charles Heath.
      Hyde and Seek (Avon, 1984, pb) [John Byron Hyde; Los Angeles, CA]
      Hyde in Deep Cover (Avon, 1985, pb) [John Byron Hyde; Bolivia]
      Nasty Boys (Berkley, 1991, pb) [Las Vegas, NV]

HEATH, CHARLES. Generally a pseudonym of Ron Renauld, but also note the book below:
      Operation Desert Sun: The Untold Story [by Louis Chunovic] (Dell, 1984, pb) [A-Team; Middle East]. Novelization of the “A-Team” TV series.

TALMAGE POWELL – Man-Killer.

Ace Double D-469; paperback original. First printing, 1960.

   Speaking of “workmanlike prose,” as I was a little while ago — in the review of the other half of this Ace Double, as a matter of fact — I know Talmage Powell wrote a good deal for the pulps, so I’m not surprised to find anything he wrote totally readable — even, to coin a phrase, “hillbilly mystery fiction,” of which this might be a prime example (complete with moonshiners, deputy sheriffs and other dumb hicks).

   [The other half was Bob McKnight’s Running Scared, and you can find my comments here.]

   If a lack of tightly knit plotting may have been McKnight’s Achilles heel in the other half of the double volume, then a tendency toward melodramatic dialogue is Powell’s in his portion. Or maybe I’m not the one to judge. Perhaps old aristocratic ladies now on hard times actually speak the way they do in this book while contemplating their future — and the future of wayward sons who (in this book) insist on helping a poor hill girl accused of killing her husband days before her divorce becomes final.

   Or maybe the subject matter just naturally leads toward melodrama. More solidly plotted than McKnight’s book, Man-Killer nonetheless lacks the compulsive (not to say screwy) readability of Running Scared, which, on the whole, if you were to ask, I’ve decided is the better of the two.

[UPDATE] Later the same day.   I didn’t do it ahead of time, and maybe I should have, but in the first comment to this post, August West happened to mention Talmage Powell’s private eye character Ed Rivers. Having a few minutes on my hands, I followed up with a list of all five detective novels that he was in. Check it out.

BOB McKNIGHT – Running Scared.

Ace Double D-469; paperback original; 1st printing, 1960.

   I meant to say something about George Harmon Coxe’s “workmanlike” prose in my recent review of Murder for Two, but it could be said just about as well right here. [The phrase is a common one; Google just a moment ago produced about 3000 hits.] What I mean by the term is this: a style of writing that you just don’t notice.

   Nothing so fancy as to call attention to itself, although as a standard that’s hardly enough. It can’t be anything other than a subjective assessment, one that varies from person to person.

   Nonetheless, assuming that there is such a concept, I think that “workmanlike prose” was more common with writers whose background was working for the pulp magazines. Writers whose job it was to tell a story, to get on with it, before their readers got bored and went on to something else.

   Coxe was such a writer. Frank Gruber was another. The most famous was probably Erle Stanley Gardner. None would get much of notice for their writing from a professor of literature, but because they were good writers, they captured the reader’s attention from page one onward.

   Although I don’t believe he ever wrote for the pulps. He came along a little too late for that. He was a paperback writer. He never had a book come out in hardcover, so in the overall scheme of things he’s on a far lower scale than either a Gardner or a Coxe, who both made it big. But a storyteller? Yes.

   The plot of Running Scared is that of your basic, everyday nitwit hero in a not quite everyday basic situation. He’s the kind of guy who has reasons for not calling the cops on page two — for if he had, there would be no story. He watches a murder take place, committed by someone driving his ex-wife’s car, and then he gets a call warning him that she has reported the car stolen. By him.

   He goes to her apartment (after being beaten up by two hoods on the way), befriends another girl there, hides her in a bathroom hamper when the cops come calling, and then finds her shot to death inside the hamper when the cops leave.

   I am not making this up. Actually, it reads very well. McKnight had the knack of making you believe nonsense like this all the while you realize that it is nonsense. Workmanlike prose, remember? One could easily picture an Alan Ladd or a Dick Powell in the leading role.

   But in the end, this is about all there is to say about the book. The pace is terrific, and I guarantee you that once stated, you will keep reading. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you that there is any overall depth to either the characters or the story. It’s too lightweight to be considered memorable, and the non-meticulous details of the plot are exactly that.

   What Running Scared is, though, is fun to read.

[UPDATE] 12-09-08.   My comments on the other half of this Ace Double will be posted here shortly. For the record, it is Man-Killer, by Talmage Powell, an author who really did start out writing for the pulp magazines before shifting into a career, mystery-wise, of mostly paperback originals.

   As for Bob McKnight, here below is a complete list of his novel-length mystery fiction, as compiled in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. Surprisingly enough to me, when I wrote this review I obviously didn’t recognize PI Nathan Hawk as being in this book and as being a series character. I thought so little of him, apparently, that I didn’t even mention his name. (I don’t think he was the main protagonist, but perhaps he was.)

   And as long as I’ve brought him up, Nathan Hawk is included in Kevin Burton Smith’s website devoted to Private Eye fiction. He says, in part: “Tough guy eye NATHAN HAWK, transplanted northerner in Sun City, Florida, shot and slugged his way through ten novels published by ACE in the late fifties and early sixties. Detective Lieutenant Toby Duane lends a hand when he can, and dishes out plenty of friendly ‘damn yankee’ jibes along the way.”

   Running Scared is the only one of McKnight’s books I’ve ever read. Even though my judgment was qualified, I’m a sucker for books with wacky openings like this, even if the endings don’t pan out so well in comparison. Given an opportunity, I absolutely would read another.

McKNIGHT, BOB. 1906-1981. Mining engineer, pilot and horse-racing handicapper before semi-retiring to Florida.
      Downwind (n.) Ace Double D-217, 1957 [Santa Fe, NM]
      Murder Mutuel (n.) Ace Double D-279, 1958 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]

      The Bikini Bombshell (n.) Ace Double D-387, 1959 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]

      Swamp Sanctuary (n.) Ace Double D-411, 1959 [Florida]
      Kiss the Babe Goodbye (n.) Ace Double D-447, 1960 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]
      Running Scared (n.) Ace Double D-469, 1960 [DELETE Nathan Hawk; ADD setting: Florida (St. Petersburg)]
      Secret Sinners (n.) Merit 35, 1960 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]
      A Slice of Death (n.) Ace Double D-419, 1960 [Florida]
      Drop Dead, Please (n.) Ace Double D-511, 1961 [Florida]

      The Flying Eye (n.) Ace Double F-102, 1961 [Florida]
      A Stone Around Her Neck (n.) Ace Double F-143, 1962 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]
      Homicide Handicap (n.) Ace Double F-229, 1963 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]

GRAHAM THOMAS – Malice Downstream.

Fawcett Books; paperback original; 1st printing, December 2002.

   Graham Thomas is a Canadian writer (British Columbia) who seems to have the British down pat, both the countryside and the countrymen. This is the fifth case for Detective-Chief Superintendent Erskine Powell, all paperback originals, and in the age of bloated mysteries running up to 400 pages or more, they’re lean and mean at a mere 200 plus.

   In Malice Downstream Powell is found recuperating from a previous injury at a small village called Houghton Bridge, known almost only for its superb chalk stream fishing, and home of the renown Mayfly Club. Taking his mind off his almost healed leg, and to a lesser extent his failing marriage, Powell also finds murder, with roots in the past. Totally out-of-bounds in taking a hand in investigating a case he shouldn’t be, he’s obviously the epitome of a busman on holiday.

   The detective work is solid if not flashy, with a villain rather obvious from first meeting, but if fly-fishing is an art you’re interested in, this is the book for you. And even if you’re not, if you can enjoy reading about the enthusiasm that someone else has for their near-obsessive hobbies, then this is also the book for you.

   Overall a male-oriented book, but still very cozy in nature. Snug and insightful, in a minor key sort of way.

[UPDATE] 12-09-08. Until I looked him up in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, I did not know that Graham Thomas was a pen name, but it is so. I’m guessing, of course, but perhaps Kosakoski did not sound “British” enough to someone whose opinion mattered.

   Using his entry in CFIV as a basis, here below is a complete list of the Graham Thomas mysteries. Chief Supt. Erskine Powell is in all of them.

   Note: In the original version of this review, I stated that Malice Downstream was the sixth in the series. It does not appear to be so, nor was there ever a sixth.

THOMAS, GRAHAM. Pseudonym of Gordon Kosakoski, 1950- .
      Malice in the Highlands. Ivy, pbo, Jan 1998.

      Malice in Cornwall. Ivy, pbo, June 1998.
      Malice on the Moors. Ivy, pbo, Aug 1999.
      Malice in London. Ivy, pbo, April 2000.
      Malice Downstream. Fawcett, pbo, Dec 2002.

   Note that the movies listed below, each based on an Agatha Christie novel or short story, are only those which are not included in the original Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. (They are included in the Revised CFIV, but not in this expanded version, as well as the online Addenda, where they also are.)

   For more information on each of the movies or TV series episodes mentioned, follow the links provided to their corresponding IMDB entries.

CHRISTIE, AGATHA

   ● After the Funeral. TV movie [series episode]: Granada, 2005 (scw: Philomena McDonagh; dir: Maurice Phillips. SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● At Bertram’s Hotel. TV movie : BBC/PBS, 1987 (scw: Jill Hyem; dir: Mary McMurray) . SC: Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickson)

   ● The Body in the Library. TV movie: BBC/PBS, 1984 (scw: T. R. Bowen; dir: Silvio Marizzano). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickson). Also: Granada, 2004 (scw: Kevin Elyot; dir: Andy Wilson). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Geraldine McEwan)

   ● By the Pricking of My Thumbs. TV movie: Granada, 2006 (scw: Peter Medak; dir: Stuart Harcourt). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Geraldine McEwan), Tuppence & Tommy Beresford (Greta Scacchi & Anthony Andrews ). [Miss Marple did not appear in the book version.]

   ● Cards on the Table. TV movie [series episode]: Granada, 2005 (scw: Nick Dear; dir: Sarah Harding). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) [and Zoë Wanamaker as Ariadne Oliver]

   ● A Caribbean Mystery. TV movie: Stan Margulies, 1983 (scw: Sue Grafton, Steve Humphrey; dir: Robert Michael Lewis). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Helen Hayes). Also: BBC, 1989 (scw: T. R. Bowen; dir: Christopher Pitt). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickson)

   ● Dead Man’s Folly. TV movie: CBS, 1986 (scw: Rod Browning; dir: Clive Donner). SC: Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) [and Jean Simmons as Adriadne Oliver]

   ● Death on the Nile. TV movie: London Weekend/A&E, 2004 (scw: Kevin Elyot; dir: Andy Wilson). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● Dumb Witness. [Published in the US as Poirot Loses a Client.] TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend, 1996 (scw: Douglas Wilkinson; dir: Edward Bennett). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● Evil Under the Sun. TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend, 2001 (scw: Anthony Horowitz; dir: Brian Farnham). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● Five Little Pigs. [Published in the US as Murder in Retrospect.] TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend, 2003 (scw: Kevin Elyot; dir: Paul Unwin). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● 4:50 from Paddington. [Published in the US as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!] TV movie: BBC/A&E, 1987 (scw: T. R. Bowen; dir: Martyn Friend). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickson). Also: Granada, 2004 (scw: Stephen Churchett; dir: Andy Wilson). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Geraldine McEwan)

   ● Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. [Published in the US as Murder for Christmas.] TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend/PBS, 1994 (scw: Clive Exton; dir: Edward Bennett). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● Hickory Dickory Dock. TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend, 1995 (scw: Anthony Horowitz; dir: Andrew Grieve). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● The Hollow. TV movie [series episode]: Granada/A&E, 2004 (scw: Nick Dear; dir: Simon Langton). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● The Hound of Death and other stories. TV movie The Last Seance, based on ss in this collection: Granada, 1986 (scw: Alfred Shaughnessy; dir: June Wyndham-Davies)

   ● Lord Edgware Dies. TV movie: CBS, 1985, as Thirteen at Dinner (scw: Rod Browning; dir: Lou Antonio). SC: Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov). Also: Carnival/A&E, 2000, as Lord Edgware Dies (scw: Anthony Horowitz; dir: Brian Farnham). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

CELESTINE SIBLEY – Ah, Sweet Mystery

Detective Book Club; hardcover reprint [3-in-1 edition]. First Edition: HarperCollins, 1991; paperback reprint, 1992.

   It would take some investigating to be sure, but there may be record of sorts that was set with the publication of this book, Sibley’s second mystery novel. Atlanta newspaper reporter-columnist Kate Mulcay appeared in the first one, The Malignant Heart, which was published in 1958, and she’s in this one as well, only a mere 33 years later. (There may have been wider gaps between series appearances by a given character, but between the author’s first and second mystery, with the same character?)

   Sibley, also a newspaper columnist, also from Atlanta, was 74 when she wrote this one, and she went on to write four more Mulcay books, the final one in 1997, two years before she died.

   Kate, now widowed in Ah, Sweet Mystery, is of an indeterminate age, but she’s still actively writing her columns and going along on a police raids. Hints of her life with her husband Benjy, a member of the Atlanta police force, suggest that he appeared in the first book, but Kate now lives on her own.

   Dead is Garney Wilcox, a cutthroat real estate developer intent on transformed quiet corners of Atlanta and environs into apartment complexes. Confessing to the crime is his stepmother, Miss Willie, whom Garney had recently persuaded to abandon her long-time home for the comforts of a rundown nursing manor.

   There are only a few mystery novels, I am sure, which incorporate the songs and mystique of Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald as part of the plot, but this is one of them. Also an underlying theme is the sense that pieces of traditional southern living and hospitality are disappearing, and that life in general in the South is changing. “Little enough country left,” Kate says on page 211. “I come this way if I have time.”

   The mystery itself is not nearly as strong as the nice homey feeling that Sibley creates, giving Kate guidance as she seeks out the roots of true southern culture. Puzzling to me was the dead man, who seems to have been electrocuted as part of his travails, rubbing up against a raw wire in a house where the electricity has been cut off. And while the culprits seem fairly obvious, the actions of the dead man’s wife are unfathomable, or at least unexplained.

   On the basis of a sample of size one, Sibley’s books, while sound as social statements and weak as detective novels, should still be more widely known than I think they are. (They’ve all come out as paperbacks, but I don’t think I’ve ever come across a used one.)

[UPDATE] 12-08-08. For the record, here’s a list of all of Celestine Sibley’s mystery fiction, thanks to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. Kate Mulcay appears in all five:

SIBLEY, CELESTINE (1917-1999)
      * The Malignant Heart. Doubleday 1958.

      * Ah, Sweet Mystery. Harper 1991.
      * Straight As an Arrow. Harper 1992.
      * Dire Happenings at Scratch Ankle. Harper 1993.
      * A Plague of Kinfolks. Harper 1995.
      * Spider in the Sink. Harper 1997.