Mon 31 Jan 2011
Reviewed by Marvin Lachman: PATRICK QUENTIN and CHARLOTTE ARMSTRONG.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
â— PATRICK QUENTIN – Puzzle for Puppets. Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 1944. Paperback reprints include: Pocket #420, 1946; Avon, 1980; International Polygonics Ltd (IPL), 1989. Filmed as Homicide for Three (Republic, 1948; with Warren Douglas & Audrey Long as Peter & Iris Duluth).
[… Among the recent offerings from IPL is the] fast-paced and even more enjoyable Puzzle for Puppets by Patrick Quentin, my choice as the best book in the Peter Duluth series.
Wartime San Francisco is portrayed vividly, especially its hills, cable cars, and Chinatown, as Naval Lieutenant (jg) Duluth’s plans for a romantic weekend leave with Iris, his actress wife, are constantly hindered by theft and murder.
This intemtptus-based frustration leads to even stronger emotion when he is framed for the murder and must track down the guilty party if he wishes to stay out of jail, let alone spend time with Iris.
â— CHARLOTTE ARMSTRONG – A Little Less Than Kind. Coward-McCann, hardcover, 1963. Paperback reprints include: Ace Double G-540, no date [1965]; Berkley S2173, 1972; IPL, 1989.
More serious, though no less readable, is Charlotte Armstrong’s A Little Less Than Kind (1963), about the attempt of a young man to prove that his new stepfather murdered his father.
Perhaps Pasadena is an unusual setting for a modern working out of Hamlet, but in the expert hands of Armstrong, one of the great writers of domestic suspense, the reader’s attention and emotions are grabbed early in the book, and then it is almost impossible to put it down.
Vol. 11, No. 4, Fall 1989 (slightly revised).
Editorial Comment: My apologies for not being able to come up with images of either of the two IPL covers. I think the two I did locate should do almost as well, however.
February 1st, 2011 at 3:12 am
Steve
Ironically you used the covers for the editions of the books I have.
Patrick Quentin, who was also Q Patrick and a team of writers one half of which was Hugh Wheeler who frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim on stage, and the Duluth’s were favorites of mine, coming closer to Nick and Nora than the North’s in voice and in several good outings over the years alone and with their pal Lieutenant Trant.
Peter Duluth may also be the only character in fiction played by both Lex Barker and Van Heflin (both pretty good films — THE FEMALE FIENDS and THE BLACK WIDOW) the latter with Gene Tierney as Iris.
The books were well worth reading, the plots were well written, the wit actually witty, and the sophistication real. I haven’t seen the film adaptation of this one, though I’d love to.
And I agree PUPPETS is probably the best of the lot what with the evocation of San Francisco and the urgency of the wartime atmosphere.
Charlotte Armstrong is too little read today. If nothing else, THE UNSUSPETED (great film too) is a bit of a tour de force, and almost every book I can recall reading by her a superior suspense novel.
February 1st, 2011 at 11:41 am
I’ve read a couple of the Duluth books, but not all of them, and in particular not this one.
You can read my review of PUZZLE FOR PLAYERS here: https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=1309
I have discovered that HOMICIDE FOR THREE is available on DVD in the collector-to-collector market. My first selection of movies from one seller who has it is on its way to me now (not including this one) so I’d better hold off on a recommendation until I know how reliable he is. But at least the movie exists.
More, when I know more.
February 1st, 2011 at 12:39 pm
The movie version of Puzzle for Puppets is relatively faithful to the book.
The movie is harmless, but it lacks zest or pizazz. It doesn’t have an especially lively cast. Someone like Dennis O’Keefe or William Lundigan would have given it a lift.
February 1st, 2011 at 11:48 pm
I love that Charlotte Armstrong paperback cover. That’s from the “Dark Shadows” Gothic craze era, when all these paperback reprints appeared with cover illustrations of dazed (terrified?) women wandering around creepy Gothic estates. Usually it’s midnight or thereabouts and the good ladies are clad in flowing white nightgowns.