Tue 14 May 2019
Archived PI Review: RICHARD ROSEN – Saturday Night Dead.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[8] Comments
RICHARD ROSEN – Saturday Night Dead. Harvey Blisssberg #3. Viking, hardcover, 1988. Signet, paperback, June 1989.
In this third adventure of PI (and former major league baseball player) Harvey Blissberg, the death of the producer of a late-night comedy show is designed to give him a smooth transition from sports-related mysteries to the world of show business. It doesn’t work. Compared to earlier entries in the series, it’s definitely not a step up.
There are a lot of suspects, many of whom Harvey quickly eliminates. In fact, most of the clues point one way, but it still comes as a surprise when Harvey decides who the killer is with nearly 80 pages to go. On page 233 Harvey admits his reasoning was all guesswork.
Neither exceptionally well told, nor more than merely bland. On the basis of this one, I think Harvey had better go back to playing the outfield.
The Harvey Blissberg series —
Strike Three You’re Dead (1984)
Fadeaway (1986)
Saturday Night Dead (1988)
World Of Hurt (1994)
Dead Ball (2001) .
May 14th, 2019 at 2:57 pm
In a footnote to this review, I went into considerable detail the reasoning Blissberg went through to decide who the killer was, with a PLOT WARNING, of course.
At this much later date, I didn’t think it as necessary to do so as it was at the time, but I can, if anyone wishes.
May 14th, 2019 at 4:15 pm
I believe Rosen was a writer for Saturday Night Live for a couple of years, so there may have been some things to learn about the show, but I can’t say I enjoyed the book.
May 14th, 2019 at 6:44 pm
From the Thrilling Detective website:
“Richard Rosen is a Harvard grad who also attended Brown University. He’s worked as a Playboy assistant editor, a restaurant chef, a writing instructor, a columnist and restaurant critic for Boston magazine, a humourist and television commentator. He’s also worked as a writer for a late-night network comedy show, which no doubt helped with the background for his third novel, Saturday Night Dead (1988), which takes place at a certain late-night network comedy show.”
Them from IMDb:
“Richard Rosen is a writer and actor, known for Saturday Night Live (1975), The Hoax (2006) and 50 Years of Television: A Golden Celebration (1989).”
May 14th, 2019 at 6:22 pm
The first one was good, but the baseball background too quickly became just that, background.
May 14th, 2019 at 6:46 pm
There have been several fictional series detectives with baseball conections, but none them have lasted very long
May 15th, 2019 at 11:00 am
I liked the first two, but didn’t bother with the rest, which, it seems, was a good thing.
May 15th, 2019 at 11:21 am
I’ kind of curious about books 4 and 5, but so far no one’s said anything about having read them.
May 15th, 2019 at 12:03 pm
Sometimes it is hard to keep up with a series that you enjoy, so when you come up with a dud it is rare that I will go back to that series.