Sun 12 May 2013
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: SAM S. TAYLOR – Sleep No More.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[5] Comments
William F. Deeck
SAM S. TAYLOR – Sleep No More. E. P. Dutton, hardcover, 1949. Signet #821, reprint paperback, October 1950.
In Blood in Their Ink, Sutherland Scott gave high marks to this novel. Oh, sure, Scott himself wasn’t much of a writer, to give him praise beyond his due, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have good taste. Gee, if we went by the theory that it takes one to know one, readers struggling through one of my reviews might question my judgments.
To make a short story long, Scott put me on to a good thing here. While it breaks no new ground, it does employ the best from the hard-boiled genre. Though not invariably excellent, the obligatory metaphors and similes are at least very good.
Recently released from the Army, Neal Cotten has established his very own detective agency in Los Angeles, where it would seem from the literature there must have been a P.I. office in every block. Business is slow until Cotten gets a client who, suspecting blackmail, wants her daughter’s spending habits investigated.
Before Cotten can turn up much information, the client’s daughter commits suicide, or so the official theory has it. With his ’35 Buick no longer fit for speed or hills, Cotten, who is in somewhat better shape, starts on the trail.
An interesting character in Cotten and an engrossing picture of early postwar Los Angeles make me forgive the appearance of a silenced revolver.
The Neal Cotten series —
Sleep No More. Dutton, 1949.
No Head for Her Pillow. Dutton, 1952.
So Cold, My Bed. Dutton, 1953.
For much more about both Sam S. Taylor and his PI character, Neal Cotten, check out “The Compleat Sam S. Taylor,” posted on this blog back in 2007.
May 12th, 2013 at 11:32 pm
A very nice Bill Deeck- I shall have a look at this book, if I can find it.
The silenced revolver- unless it is a Nagant, it won’t work.
Although I darkly remember an article in Playboy in the Seventies, called ‘Mr.Death’, about a guy who produced weaponry for the CIA, freelance.
There, a .44 revolver with a silencer makes an appearance on a CIA agent, and they, between them, should have known.
You would think.
The Doc
May 13th, 2013 at 9:46 am
Is it only automatic pistols then that can be silenced? Bill seemed to do this a lot, didn’t he? He often concluded a review with a brief sentence that makes you say, “Hey, wait a minute! Please elaborate.”
I have two out of the three Cotten books. No Head for Her Pillow — excellent title!
May 13th, 2013 at 9:51 am
The problem with silencing revolvers is the gap between the drum and the barrel. The Nagant revolver closed that gap in its action before firing. It was adopted by the Russian Imperial Army as a service revolder, and often abused for Russian Roulette, because you could not see, whether the chamber before the barrel was full.
May 13th, 2013 at 9:52 am
By some sort of coincidence, I started this book last week even before I came across it in that old fanzine I reprinted Bill’s review from.
I’m a long way from finishing it, so I can’t comment on anything involving how it comes out, but what I can tell you is that completely agree with Bill’s statement in paragraph two:
“While it breaks no new ground, it does employ the best from the hard-boiled genre. Though not invariably excellent, the obligatory metaphors and similes are at least very good.”
Anyone fond of hard-boiled PI novels ought to give at least one of Taylor’s books a try.
May 13th, 2013 at 10:01 am
I think Bill Deeck was absolutely right to critisize authors for not doing their homework.
Especially in the US, you can easily go to a shooting range, and, for some Dollars, shoot anything, up to .50 machine guns.
Talking to the shooters, and LISTENING, and shooting some revolvers and autos, would take those 100 yarder headshots with a peewee .25 2 inch barrelled .25 out of the literature .
I read a lot of historical fiction, and when I come about an archer building his longbow out of FRESH yew, and sealing it, to keep the sap IN, I cringe.
It hurts .
Raw mistakes like that can take the fun and enjoyment out of an otherwise good book,which simply does’nt have to be.
The Doc