Fri 30 Jan 2015
LAWRENCE KINSLEY – The Red-Light Victim. Tower, paperback original, 1981.
The title and the cover design (multiple shots of a half-nude dancer) are a trifle misleading. Yes, I know that in the world of paperback promotion this is hardly anything new, but here the publisher had a glorious opportunity to cash in on the anti-nuclear movement that’s sweeping the country, and what do they pick out as the essential ingredient in this book instead? Sex, that’s what. Can you dig it?
Jason O’Neil is the hero, a Boston-based private eye who’s hired by his former girl friend’s roommate to find her. She’s a physics major and a top student at B. U., and she’s suddenly disappeared. The trail leads O’Neil to the Combat Zone all right, but only briefly. (But long enough for the cover shots to be taken, right?)
Jennifer (that’s her name) was also a high echelon member of the campus anti-nuclear organization, which, mixed with a little Cosa Nostra involvement, happens to be enough to fill out the rest of the book, with a long ways to go. It seems the group plans to … but that’s for you to read and find out, isn’t it?
As a mystery, the book rambles on for too long (over 300 pages), but its tone, wholly pessimistic about the age of the atom, is probably more effective in its purpose than a truckload of slogan-spouting rock stars, movie actresses. and other uninformed but self-proclaimed experts.
Nevertheless, and all social significance aside, the characters are vividly drawn, and the detective work is effective enough to suggest that Jason O’Neil is worthy of an encore. You’ll have to give him some time, though. He was pretty emotionally wrapped up in this one.
Rating: B minus.
Bibliographic Note: Not only was this Jason O’Neil’s solo appearance in print, it is also the author’s only entry in Al Hubin’s bibliography of crime fiction.
January 30th, 2015 at 9:30 pm
All I remember of this one, now over 33 years later, is the cover and that I read it. The story itself, or even that it was a private eye novel, I probably couldn’t have told you before unearthing this old review.
But I did remember the cover, which shows you — what?
January 30th, 2015 at 10:10 pm
It’s a memorable cover.
Once in a while a political pov can lift a book a bit above the rest simply because it gives the book another level than generic private eye.
Likely the problem here was Tower and their none to reliable distribution. Good covers and promotion weren’t really their forte. It was in may ways a publisher where good writers went to disappear in this period. It wasn’t the book that were bad, but that they were seldom attractive, often had misleading covers, and little or no effort was made to distinguish a good book from a lesser one.
January 30th, 2015 at 11:15 pm
I’m also sure that Tower published a lot of one book authors, for whatever reason. Hubin isn’t sure of Kinsley’s dates, but if he’s right, the book was published when Kinsley was 69 and he died three years later. Here’s another factor. Tower published 27 books in Hubin in 1981, 5 in 1982, then none until 1986. Distribution-wise, not many of those got further into the world than bus stop cigar stores, which is where I bought my copy. From my review, I’d have liked to have seen a second book from Kinsley, but it wasn’t to be.
January 31st, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Looks like Kinsley was 39 when the book was published, and he didn’t like the cover either.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19810409&id=iwJVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HJQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4336,1788229
January 31st, 2015 at 1:23 pm
Thanks for this, Jim. I’ll have to to tell Al Hubin that he has the dates for the wrong Lawrence Kinsley. I wonder if the real one can be tracked down. He may have some interesting things to say about the book and his writing career, too short from my point of view.
January 31st, 2015 at 1:29 pm
Since Jim’s link led to a Boca Rotan newspaper, I did some more Googling and came up with the LK whose dates Al Hubin had, perhaps the author’s father:
http://www.ancientfaces.com/person/lawrence-kinsley/5213660
Lawrence Kinsley (1915 – 1984) was born on February 26, 1915. He was born into the Kinsley family.
He died in November 1984 at 69 years of age.
Lawrence Kinsley’s last known residence is at Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, Florida.
January 31st, 2015 at 4:01 pm
Having some time on my idle hands today, I Googled around a bit and found that a Lawrence Kinsley of Lakeland, Florida has posted a few very well-written reviews of films, etc. on Amazon in the last few years and signed an online anti-nuke petition, so he may be our author. Maybe he’ll come across this discussion and get in touch.
January 31st, 2015 at 6:49 pm
Thanks, Jim. That helped a lot. I’ve found a mailing address for him (but not an email one). I think I’ll drop him a line, the old-fashioned way.
February 26th, 2015 at 8:40 pm
Success! Larry Kinsley has been found. He left a comment here about the book and his subsequent career, to which I’ve added a few other questions which he answered. I’ve cobbled everything together and made a separate post of it.
You can read the full interview here:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=32224
September 15th, 2020 at 11:30 am
In case anyone is still reading this , I am Dave Kinsley , Larry Kinsley’s brother . He can be reached at paladin777@verizon.net