Sat 23 Apr 2022
Pulp PI Stories I’m Reading: CAMFORD SHEAVELY “The Tie That Blinds.â€
Posted by Steve under Stories I'm Reading[4] Comments
CAMFORD SHEAVELY “The Tie That Blinds.†Novelette. Clyde Collier #1. First published in Detective Story Magazine, June 1947. Never reprinted.
I may be stretching it a bit to call Clyde Collier a private eye, but then again trouble shooters for the movie studios in the 1930s and 40s are generally allowed to be thought of to be in the category – think of W. . Ballard’s “Bill Lennox†stories as a prime example – so even if maybe Collier is in reality only a glorified PR man, he’s still a PI in my book, especially when murder is involved.
Even though it’s the lead story in the issue it’s in, it’s still a minor tale. What I think I’ll do is tell you the basics and let you see if you can’t figure out the plot on your own. Dead is one of Hollywood’s top ranked directors. What’s unusual is the way he’s dressed: in a blue coat and tan shirt, with a tie decorated with purple and maroon flowers. Later on Collier spots one of the crew playing cards, only to lose because he confuses a spade for a heart in what would otherwise be a straight flush.
Sorry, but no more hints. Not that I think you are likely to need any.
The rest of the story is padding, but that’s ameliorated by the fact that Sheavely seems to have been someone who knew his way around a movie studio. I’d never heard of the author before either, but he had about a dozen stories published in the detective pulps in the 40s, including one in Black Mask (July 1946). You may know him better as John Reese, who wrote quite a few western novels under his own name, beginning in the 50s, including ten in his Jefferson Hewitt series.
I’ve not read any of the latter, but I’ve always meant to. I believe, but am not sure, that Hewitt was a detective in the Paladin sense, who traveled the early West taking various jobs for hire. If anyone can say more, that’s what the comments are for.
April 23rd, 2022 at 8:21 pm
Interesting, but not surprising that Hollywood connection. Marlowe gets hired by a studio in THE LITTLE SISTER, Ron Goulart’s John Easy, Johnny Liddell, Peter Chambers, Honey West too and there are any number of stunt men and even actor eyes in the genre.
The idea of the studio eye wasn’t exactly fiction either. There was at least one fairly famous example who was a power broker behind the scenes in Hollywood keeping nasty secrets for the studios not to mention Dashiell Hammett worked on the Fatty Arbuckle case for Pinkertons.
April 23rd, 2022 at 9:08 pm
A western author I never read or knew about. Thanks, Steve. Will keep an eye out for his stories.
April 24th, 2022 at 8:53 am
Reese was also very prolific in the Western pulps under the pseudonym John Jo Carpenter. His Jefferson Hewitt novels are indeed Paladin-like, and I enjoyed the three or four of them I’ve read. I believe Reese also wrote the novel that the movie CHARLEY VARRICK is based on.
April 24th, 2022 at 9:20 am
Thanks for confirming what I thought I knew about the Hewitt books, James. I probably have one or two of them but who knows which storage area(s) it/they may be in.
And you’re right about about CHARLEY VARRICK. That’s something I did not know. Here’s Reese’s complete IMDb listing:
1973 Charley Varrick (novel “The Looters”)
1959 The Young Land (story “Frontier Frenzy”)
1959 Good Day for a Hanging (short story)
1956 Chevron Hall of Stars (TV Series) (story – 1 episode)
– The Voice of Murder (1956) … (story)