Thu 24 Sep 2015
GEORGE HARMON COXE – The Camera Clue. Alfred A. Knopf, hardcover, 1937. Dell #27, mapback edition, no date [1943?]. Dell #453, mapback edition, 2nd printing, no date [1950].
Another useful feature of these old Dell mapbacks, besides the obvious one, of course, is the listing of the cast of characters, right before the title page. The map didn’t help much with the mystery this time, but it is interesting to note that of the twenty characters listed, at least nine of them are on the scene outside the murdered man’s office when Kent Murdock stops to take a candid shot of a sandwich advertising man on stilts.
Most of them don’t want their picture taken, either. Murdock’s office soon begins to resemble Grand Central Station, with worried people continually running in and out, desperately trying to keep him from publishing theirs in the newspaper. Murdock’s assistant, Gowan, even gets his skull crushed in, by someone even more desperate than the others.
This was George Harmon Coxe’s third novel — Kent Murdock is still definitely married, and whatever became of Joyce Murdock anyway? Formerly a writer for Black Mask and the other detective pulps of the twenties and thirties, Coxe was never known as a great wordsmith, and his massive total of camera-oriented plots soon became rather repetitious.
He was a pretty good master of misdirection, however, and here’s a fine example of how he played the game of “fool the reader” so well. The big climax misfires just slightly, but even so I have to admit, I was caught off-balance by its outcome, exactly as I was supposed to be. In one sense I wasn’t even close, and I am chagrined to say I should have been.
And no, the sandwich man didn’t do it.
Rating: C plus.
September 24th, 2015 at 8:56 pm
At this late date, I no longer remember which of the two mapbacks I was referring to in paragraph one of this review. I may not even have known that their were two Dell mapback printings, with completely different covers.
In any case, I decided to show you both of them.
September 24th, 2015 at 10:56 pm
I love the Dell mapbacks and have just about all of them, over 500 books. The crossword puzzle books were the hardest to find. I thought these paperbacks would someday become valuable but they still are inexpensive.
I didn’t realize there were two Dell versions of the map.
September 25th, 2015 at 3:36 pm
Coxe was a fine craftsman, never spectacular, but always reliable. His somewhat softboiled version of hard boiled was easy to read and his plots usually well handled.
September 25th, 2015 at 5:01 pm
You summed up Coxe’s appeal for me as well, David. I’ve always liked his series characters a lot more than his standalone mysteries, but I’ve never read one of his books I didn’t enjoy.
September 25th, 2015 at 5:05 pm
Walker, Comment #2.
A complete set of Dell mapbacks used to be the goal of every paperback collector in the country, but today’s readers, including mystery fans, neither know about them nor do they care.
I’ve spent some time this week going through my stock of mystery paperbacks listed for sale on Amazon, and none of the mapbacks I’ve checked out have sales rankings below 10 million. Unless maybe they’re in super nice condition, as a collectible, mapbacks are totally dead in the water.
September 26th, 2015 at 12:48 am
I’ve read lesser Coxe, but I don’t recall a bad one and I read quite a lot. Like you I preferred Casey and Murdock, but he did a few outstanding singles.
Overall though his skill at boiling a plot always impressed me.