Fri 5 Feb 2016
HENRY KANE – Until You Are Dead. Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 1951. Dell #580, paperback, 1952. Signet S1835, paperback, August 1960.
Of author Henry Kane’s prodigious output of over 60 novels, about half of them featured PI Peter Chambers as the main protagonist. Until You Are Dead is the first of them I’ve read in several years, and it took me a while to get used to his writing style, a combination of quick patter and a uniquely quirky view of the world. Whether that POV was Chambers’ or Kane himself, I do not know.
The story has to do with a jazz musician’s attempt to cut a deal with a mob boss whom he saw kill a man in a night club men’s room. Said jazz musician ends up dead, and it is up to Chambers to find out who and why, even though he doesn’t have a client. Not right away anyway.
Chambers, a guy with an eye for the ladies as he goes, both fires and misfires on the case, which is a medium-boiled affair with a modicum of actual detective work. A potboiler, perhaps, but all in all, once I was in sync with Kane’s style, an interesting and in its own way, an enjoyable reading experience.
Some examples thereof. From pages 85 and 86 of the Signet paperback:
Me, I like to drink (among other things). So what?
Switching gears on a dime and continuing on, from pages 86 and 87:
The girl said, “Who’s calling?”
“Peter Chambers.”
“Peter Chambers of where?”
“Of where?”
“Your firm? Whom are you connected with?”
“I am connected with nobody. Personal.”
“One moment, please.”
I held the receiver away from my ear while the plugs plugged, then I got a new voice, feminine, but just as firm.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Baylor, please.”
“Who’s calling?”
“Peter Chambers.”
“Peter Chambers? Of where?”
“I just went through that routine, sister. This is a personal call.”
“Oh. Whom do you wish to speak with?”
“Same party. Cream Baylor.”
“Your name please?”
“No change. Still Peter Chambers.”
“Thank you. Will you hold on a moment?”
I held on a moment. I lit a cigarette with one hand. I gazed fondly at the liquor cabinet. Then the voice came back. “Mr. Baylor doesn’t seem to know you, sir.”
“May I speak with him, please?”
“He’s very busy right now.”
“Look, it’s important.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“Well, can I make an appointment to see him?”
“What is it about, sir?”
“Who’s this? Who’m I talking to?”
“This is his secretary, sir.”
“Look, Miss, I’m a private, uh, a philosophical private detective.”
“Pardon?”
“A private detective.”
“Yes?”
“I’d like to see Mr. Baylor on a case rm employed on. A murder case. A young man by the name of Kermit Teshle. Wm you tell that to him, please? Tell him it’s urgent.”
“One moment, sir.”
I smoked, savagely. I ground out the cigarette. I couldn’t get to the inviting cabinet without leaving the phone. Urgent, I had said to the girl. I lived without a drink.
The voice returned. “Hello?”
“Yes?”
“Mr.Baylor can fit you in two weeks from today, Thursday, at two o’clock ”
“Look, I want to talk to the guy. Now.”
“Sorry, sir. Mr. Baylor is engaged right now.”
“It’s murder.”
“That’s right, sir.”
“Take a message for him, will you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell him to go and —”
She hung up on me.
February 5th, 2016 at 1:04 pm
Great review that just about sums up reading Henry Kane. Concerning drinking, each morning I get up and think about what books I’m going to read and what old movie I’ll watch. I also think about what beer I’ll drink with dinner or what wine I’ll drink with pasta.
It’s funny but at the pulp conventions, I’m just about the only collector who likes to drink beer. I guess PI Peter Chambers and I have something in common after all.
February 5th, 2016 at 3:01 pm
Don’t ask me why, since I enjoy Bellem, Prather, Avallone, etc., must be just personal taste, but I’ve always found these first-person Pete Chambers stories utterly unreadable. Just too damn cute. I much prefer the third-person Chambers novelshe did for Lancer in the 1970s. “Kill for the Millions” is a good ‘un. Generally, though, for the Kanes I’ll take Frank Kane; even with the self-plagarizing issue, FK can write good scene and I like Johnny Liddell; sort of a poor man’s Mike Shayne but much preferable to me then the Chambers titles like this one.
February 5th, 2016 at 3:06 pm
I loved the Chambers books. Kane’s style is addictive, snappy, and at times almost surreal but usually grounded. I thought it ironic and perfect that Kane did the Peter Gunn novelization since Chambers is the eye most like Gunn in that cool almost absurdist word playing.
Granted some of the late books are better forgotten, but there are some very entertaining books along the way.
As for the voice it is partly just Kane and a great deal Kane writing as Chambers. His Marla Trent outing is a little like this as are some of his others but it is much more pronounced with Chambers voice and persona. I think eventually it became automatic whenever Kane sat down to write from Chambers point of view since it flows quite naturally and never really seems overly contrived even in that scene above where he is going for a punchline..
February 5th, 2016 at 3:41 pm
Thanks, David, for reminding me of Henry Kane’s Peter Gunn novel. Have it on my shelf but had forgotten all about it! You’re right, it is a good read.
February 5th, 2016 at 5:24 pm
On an old episode of TO TELL THE TRUTH (well, it would have to be old, wouldn’t it?) one of the non-truth-tellers was Henry Kane. (Unless my memory is tricking me and it was Frank Kane.) When the imposters introduced themselves, panelist Henry Morgan smiled widely and said, “I’ve read some of your books!”
February 6th, 2016 at 12:58 am
As a general rule, Mark Goodson kept his panelists on their regular shows, except for special occasions.
Henry Morgan would have been exclusive to I’ve Got A Secret until that show ended its run in 1966.
This, if Morgan were to appear on To Tell The Truth, it would most likely have been on that show’s syndicated run, beginning in 1969, where he would be appearing with his Secret colleagues, Garry Moore and Bill Cullen.
Addendum: I recall a Secret show in which the panelists had to guess which one of them had a certain wastebasket, based on its contents.
Among the contents of Henry Morgan’s roundfile: a recent issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.
So there too.