Sat 29 Nov 2014
Archived Review: WILSON TUCKER – To Keep or Kill.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[11] Comments
WILSON TUCKER – To Keep or Kill. Rinehart & Co., hardcover, 1947. Lion #21, paperback, 1950; Lion Library LL84, 1956.
Tucker, who is probably better known today for his science fiction, wrote a total of five Charles Horne mysteries for Rinehart back between 1946 and 1951. After that he apparently decided he was better off not trying to write detective fiction, even as a sideline.
Not that he left the field completely, but I think he probably made the right decision.
Horne is a private eye. Most of his work is done for insurance companies. He quite vehemently does not do divorce work. The small metropolis of Boone, Illinois, where he has his office, is a figment of Tucker’s imagination, although there is a Boone County (up near Rockford).
This is the second Horne book. As it begins, he is witness to an explosion. He thinks it’s a practical joke at first, but when it goes off it takes part of a city block and a couple of victims with it. Later, Horne is kidnapped and kept a prisoner in the home of the girl who planted the bomb. She’s a redhead, tall, beautiful, and as loopy as a loon.
She is in love with Horne, she has been stalking him for months, and now that she “owns” him, so to speak, she expects — well, this was written before such explicit intentions could be stated, but those are the kinds of intentions she has. Viewed from today’s more permissive perspective, Horne’s brave resistance to temptation seems both admirable and refreshingly naive.
Tucker’s style in this book is a burbling, slap-happy one, somewhat reminiscent of Fredric Brown in nature. In all, however, it hardly manages to disguise a total apparent lick of respect for logical thought processes. Or let me put it another way: the sort of logic that is used by all concerned would make sense only to the well-confined inmates of a lunatic asylum.
It wouldn’t be hard to enjoy this quirky excuse for a detective story immensely. There is a thin line, it is said, between genius and lunacy. If I’d been able to follow the plot at all, I’d have said this was the work of the former.
As for a letter grade, I’m not too sure of this one at all, but if it means anything to you, what I’m going to do, if I don’t change my mind tomorrow, is give this book a definite (C plus?).
The Charles Horne series —
The Chinese Doll. Rinehart, 1946. Dell Mapback #343, 1949.
To Keep or Kill. Rinehart, 1947. Lion #21, 1950.
The Dove. Rinehart, 1948.
The Stalking Man. Rinehart, 1949. Mercury Mystery #150, no date.
Red Herring. Rinehart, 1951.
November 29th, 2014 at 5:40 pm
I only vaguely remember reading this one, and without the review in front of me, I probably wouldn’t remember it at all.
I wish now that I’d read more of the other Horne books than I have, which is none. I wonder if Tucker ever became more serious with them than he was with this one — based, of course, on the comments I made.
November 29th, 2014 at 7:45 pm
Tucker was a really good SF writer and even managed one good SF/Mystery, so I may look around for some of these. I like screwball and don’t mind if they are a bit goofy if they are fun.
I mean in the real world John J. Malone and Jake and Helen would all have been winos. It’s one sub genre I give the benefit of its own internal logic — if any.
November 29th, 2014 at 7:46 pm
I read THE CHINESE DOLL and I recall it favorably, but why sort of eludes me right now. I knew Horne sounded familiar.
November 29th, 2014 at 8:33 pm
My collection of Dell mapbacks is somewhat scattered but fairly accessible. I think I’ll see if CHINESE DOLL is anywhere where I can get at it right away.
December 5th, 2014 at 9:25 am
Like David, I’ve read a fair amount of Wilson Tucker’s SF. I think I have a copy of THE CHINESE DOLL around here somewhere. I knew Tucker wrote some mysteries, but I don’t think I’ve read many reviews of Tucker’s non-SF work.
December 5th, 2014 at 11:34 am
I see that Patti Abbott has chosen this book as my entry for this week’s list of Friday’s Forgotten Books:
http://pattinase.blogspot.com/2014/12/fridays-forgotten-books-friday-december.html
I think you’re right, George. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that none of Tucker’s mysteries have been reviewed since they first came out.
And even if not so, I think that all of his mysteries would qualify as “forgotten,” no doubt about it.
December 5th, 2014 at 1:59 pm
I read – and reviewed on my blog – The Man In My Grave in May of this year.
https://brokenbullhorn.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/ffb-the-man-in-my-grave-by-wilson-tucker/
Not part of this series, it remains, I believe, his best-known mystery, mostly because of the catchy title. I enjoyed it.
December 5th, 2014 at 2:50 pm
Glad to know that I was wrong about Tucker’s mysteries never being reviewed. And what’s more, I recognize this one as one I’ve read, so maybe I’ve reviewed it too.
December 5th, 2014 at 2:54 pm
Well, if I reviewed MAN IN MY GRAVE on my blog, my search engine didn’t find it.
But I did find that Bill Deeck reviewed two of Tucker’s mysteries:
CHINESE DOLL https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=20102
and
MAN IN MY GRAVE https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=7927
I’ve been doing this blog too long. I didn’t remember either of these.
December 6th, 2014 at 5:57 pm
STARK HOUSE’s DANIEL PORT OMNIBUS VOL. 1 by Peter Rabe just arrived. On the back cover: a quote from David Vineyard from MYSTERY*FILE and Dan Stumpf…also from MYSTERY*FILE. I guess everyone knows the Mystery Illuminati hang out at MYSTERY*FILE! Congratulations David and Dan! And, of course, Steve who hosts the party.
December 6th, 2014 at 6:16 pm
Thanks, George. It’s been a grey dreary rainy day here in CT, and I needed some cheering up!