Thu 25 Jun 2009
LESLEY EGAN – Look Back on Death (Doubleday/Crime Club, 1978.
Lawyer Jesse Falkenstein’s preoccupation with parapsychology is evident from page one on. Confirmed skeptics of ESP, clairvoyance, and mediums who can contact spirits of the dead are warned that while this case of murder which occurred eight years earlier does contain a good deal of detection via exhaustive legwork, the source of the final clue is sure to irritate their sensitive sensibilities more than a little.
Egan, who also writes the Dell Shannon books, otherwise does her usual fine job with dialogue and sharp characterization.
Biblio-biographical data:
From Wikipedia: “Barbara ‘Elizabeth’ Linington (1921 – 1988) was a prolific American novelist. She was awarded runner-up scrolls for best first mystery novel from the Mystery Writers of America for her 1960 novel, Case Pending, which introduced her most popular series character, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza.
“Her 1961 tome, Nightmare, and her 1962 novel, Knave of Hearts, another entry in the Mendoza series, were both nominated for Edgars in the Best Novel category.”
Besides mystery fiction under her own name, Leslie Egan and Dell Shannon, Elizabeth Linington also wrote other crime and detective as by Anne Blaisdell and Egan O’Neill.
While she is considered an early female pioneer in the field of police procedurals, there are others, of course, such as Helen Reilly‘s Inspector McKee books, which preceded hers by many years.
In later years Linington was criticized for her lack of research and technical accuracy, fatal flaws as far as fans of the field were concerned. She was also noted for her membership in the ultra-right wing John Birch Society. Whether for either of these reasons or others, her books are not nearly as popular as they were during her lifetime.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Didn’t Linington also create the character that the television series Streets of San Francisco was based on? I’m not sure I ever read any of the Falkenstein books, though I did read a few of the Luis Mendoza titles.
She was one of the writers at the top of the midlist who was the backbone of the library system, but I wonder if she would even get in print today. Honestly I can’t recall a thing about the Mendoza books I read.
I always had the feeling her readers were drawn to the familiarity of her characters and settings not unlike fans of many television series of the time. I’m not sure I could even name a single title of one of her books.
June 26th, 2009 at 12:50 am
Back in the 1970s I sold a lot of Dell Shannon paperbacks. Those under her other names didn’t move nearly as quickly, and I think she’s fairly well faded from view. Not that she’s alone in that category.
Another midlist author who was popular back then, but male, not that that makes any difference, was Judson Philips, aka Hugh Pentecost. I sold a lot of his books back then, but not any more.
Streets of San Francisco was based on a couple of characters created by Carolyn Weston, who I’m sure almost nobody’s heard of now. There were only three books in the series. The names of her two cops were Casey Kellog and Al Krug, and believe it or not, her books took place in Los Angeles.
The pilot was based on Weston’s book POOR, POOR OPHELIA (Random House, 1972).
Quinn Martin changed the names of the characters to Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and Steve Keller (Michael Douglas), and the locale to San Francisco, and the rest is history — five seasons worth!
June 26th, 2009 at 2:06 am
Thanks for clearing up the Streets of San Francisco thing.
Hugh Pentecost/Judson Philips is unjustly neglected today, though his books were still making paperback appearances in the 90’s (at least the Pierre Chambrun books).
Of course he dates back to the pulps and the Park Avenue Hunt Club stories in Detective Fiction Weekly, one member being red haired Viking like artist John Jericho who would feature in several books of his own and a series of shorts in EQMM.
I was a big fan of the Peter Styles books that often took on subjects in the news with a social background. I guess no one reads him much today, which is a shame because he was damn good.
A few other mid list writers almost forgotten now would include Ken Crossen (probably best remembered as M.E. Chaber for Milo March and Richard Foster for the Green Lama in the pulps), Aaron Marc Stein, George Bagby, Leslie Ford, and a few who did quite well though they had little or no paperback presence.
Some of these writers kept two or three series going often under as many names, and seemed to make most of their money off lending library and Detective Fiction Book Club and Mystery Guild sales, but while their fan base was small, it was loyal and their sales were guaranteed.
There was a time when most publishing houses didn’t consider themselves healthy unless they had a stable of the mid list writers, and yet now the same publishers almost ignore them. A shame, because there was more variety out there when the mid list was healthy.