Tue 29 Apr 2014
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: ASA BAKER [Brett Halliday] – Mum’s the Word for Murder.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
William F. Deeck
ASA BAKER – Mum’s the Word for Murder. Stokes, hardcover, 1938. De11 #743, paperback, 1953, as by Brett Halliday; several other Dell printings likely, including Dell #5918, 1964.
Asa Baker — the narrator, not the pseudonymous author — writes Westerns when he doesn’t have writer’s block. Thinking of branching out into the mystery field, he accompanies his friend Jerry Burke, co-ordinator of law enforcement in El Paso, Texas, while he investigates several murders that had been advertised beforehand in the newspaper. Three unconnected killings take place, each announced in advance, with the primary suspects all having unimpeachable alibis.
The plot is a good one. While contending something is a “first” is folly without having read every mystery published, I will say it is the earliest example known to me of this device. The most well-known use of it didn’t appear until 1950.
That having been said, I cannot otherwise recommend the novel. Baker fancies himself the superior of the El Paso Chief of Detectives, but is just as much a nitwit. Jerry Burke is colorless. The writing is little above hack.
In addition, the paperback edition also has the flaw, or so I would contend, of having been updated. For example, pay phones cost a dime in the edition I read [from 1964] , whereas they were only a nickel in 1938.
Editorial Note: Mike Nevins reviewed this same book in one of his columns late last year, while you can find my comments on The Kissed Corpse, the other “Asa Baker” title, posted here on this blog earlier this year.
May 2nd, 2014 at 11:59 am
Doesn’t sound like one to pursue. The cover is by?
May 2nd, 2014 at 2:33 pm
I have a copy myself, but you’re right. I’m a completist when it comes to Brett Halliday (not to mention all mystery fiction of a certain era, for that matter), but I’m sure that this isn’t one of his better ones.
As for the cover, my copy isn’t handy, so I’m hesitant in guessing who the artist is, except to say that it isn’t Robert McGinnis, who did a slew of Mike Shayne novels that came out from Dell around the same time as this one.
May 2nd, 2014 at 7:52 pm
Steve, I occasionally have that “completist” gene kick in, too! I had many of the Brett Halliday paperbacks, but they’ll all over at SUNY at Buffalo now. And I don’t find many paperbacks of this vintage anymore.
May 2nd, 2014 at 9:38 pm
George, it wouldn’t be difficult to find a copy of this book online, if you went looking. I found maybe a dozen or more offered for sale on abebooks.com in VG condition in the $6 to $9 range, for example, including postage. On the other hand, if you’re looking in used bookstores or at library sales, then you’re right. Forget it. You might never come across a copy in years of looking. In fact, in many sections of the country, good luck in finding a good used bookstore anywhere close by.