Thu 31 May 2018
Mystery Review: FLOYD MAHANNAH – The Broken Angel.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Reviews[4] Comments
FLOYD MAHANNAH – The Broken Angel. Macrae Smith, hardcover, 1957. Condensed version published in Mercury Mystery Book Magazine, January 1958. Pocket #1231, paperback, 1958. Stark House Press, softcover, March 2018, combined in one volume with Backfire and Other Stories; introduction by Bill Pronzini.
In spite of owning all five of the mystery novels published by Floyd Mahannah in his relatively short lifetime, I’d never read any of them until now. My mistake, but thanks to the folks at Stark House Press, I’ve rectified it.
The Broken Angel is pure noir, through and through. It begins with two main characters, newspaper editor/writer Roy Holgren and his secretary, Sara Martin, having a one-sided affair — the kind in which he is more in love with her than she is with him, but the sex is good.
But the lady has a past, and when it catches up with her, it is with a bang. When Roy rescues her from the hospital in which she ends up, it is he who convinces her that he can help. When at last she admits to committing a murder before she came to work for him, he stays with her, but there are times in The Broken Angel when he wishes he hadn’t.
Think, perhaps of pairing William Hurt with Kathleen Turner, if you were to make a movie of this, or Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and I’d go see it, that’s for sure.
The book itself slows down a bit a bit about two-thirds of the way through. There is an overabundance of characters, all with there own secrets, and it becomes more difficult than it should be to figure out who is blackmailing who, and why.
But the ending is a rip-roarer of one, and Roy at last learns whether she loves him or not, or perhaps of even more importance, did she kill the wife of the doctor she worked for or not? Some detective work on Roy’s part answers the second question, but on balance, there may be more tension involved before the first one is answered.
Bibliography: FLOYD MAHANNAH (1911-1976) —
The Yellow Hearse. Duell 1950; Signet 1951, as No Luck for a Lady.
The Golden Goose. Duell 1951; Signet, 1952, as The Broken Body.
Stopover for Murder. Macrae-Smith 1953. Signet, 1956.
The Golden Widow. Macrae-Smith 1956. Permabook, 1957.
The Broken Angel. Macrae-Smith 1957. Pocket, 1958.
Backfire and Other Stories appears to be an original collection, consisting of five stories from Manhunt and one from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.
June 1st, 2018 at 12:54 pm
STARK HOUSE is reprinting wonderful books from the 1950s and 1960s. And, they’re canny to invite pros like Bill Pronzini to write informative introductions for these volumes. Smart!
June 2nd, 2018 at 1:19 pm
Not only is Stark House reprinting tons ofthese old novels from the 50s and 60s, but in this case it was also very good to see a collection of short stories as part of the package. Haven’t sampled them yet, but I will!
June 1st, 2018 at 1:42 pm
I bought a 1st edition of this with its striking DJ two years ago with the intent of doing a piece on Mahannah’s work on my blog. I guess I didn’t realize it was the last of his books. Years ago I had a pristine copy of NO LUCK FOR A LADY (I may still have it for all I know) and a 1st edition of THE GOLDEN GOOSE. But I’ve never read any of his books. Good to read that they’re available from Stark House who seems to have reprinted at least one book by every US crime writer who wrote during the 50s and 60s. I hope I’ll be able to get to THE BROKEN ANGEL later this year. This is definitely my kind of 1950s crime novel.
June 1st, 2018 at 11:03 pm
I haven’t tried to see how easy First Editions of Mahannah’s books might be to find now, but if I’ve seen more than one in over 40 years of poking around used bookstores, I sure don’t remember it.