Thu 17 Feb 2011
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: JEANNETTE COVERT NOLAN – “I Can’t Die Here.”
Posted by Steve under Authors , Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Crime Fiction IV , Reviews[2] Comments
William F. Deeck
JEANNETTE COVERT NOLAN – “I Can’t Die Here.” Julian Messner, hardcover, 1945. Detective Novel Classic #49, digest paperback, no date [1946].
Described inaccurately as a “whilom” lieutenant of the State Police (Illinois?), Lace White is fifty, unmarried, and a writer of historical novels. In this novel, one of several featuring her, she is an obviously intelligent woman who nonetheless operates with no apparent police training and seemingly no common sense.
Though Dudley Shane, who has married into the rich Motley family in Capital City, has, or so we are told, a saint for a wife, Shane is a womanizer, without much staying power it would seem. Thus he has enemies, and thus he is shot one night and dies in his apartment, but not before one of his lovers has taken an overdose of amytal.
Called in as a special investigator, White detects well with people, not well with tangible evidence. Finding blood near the door of Shane’s office, she does nothing about it until the evidence is no longer needed. The murder weapon is a .38 Colt revolver, with, as you will no doubt not be surprised to hear, a working silencer, which White accepts unquestioningly.
Considering who the murderer is, the deceased’s actions — before he becomes deceased, of course — are inexplicable. The author portrays White, against type, as a foolish risk taker. Finally, the manifold awesome coincidences don’t help matters any.
Bio-Bibliographic Data: Bill guessed the locale of this novel to be Illinois, but Al Hubin in his Revised Crime Fiction IV, says it was Indiana, only one state to the right.
Here’s a list of all six Lace White books, as adapted from CFIV. These are author’s only works of crime fiction:
JEANNETTE COVERT NOLAN. 1897-1974.
Where Secrecy Begins (n.) Long 1938.
Profile in Gilt (n.) Funk 1941. [aka Murder Will Out, Detective Novel Classics #8, 1942]
Final Appearance (n.) Duell 1943.
“I Can’t Die Here†(n.) Messner 1945.
Sudden Squall (n.) Washburn 1955.
A Fearful Way to Die (n.) Washburn 1956.
Nolan’s papers were donated to the University of Southern Mississippi Library as part of their de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection.
Quoting from their website: “During her lifetime, Ms. Nolan wrote over forty-five children’s books including biographies, essays, and historical non-fiction. Although she wrote for both children and adults, she is most noted for her work in children’s literature. In 1961, she was awarded the Indiana Authors’ Day Award for Spy for the Confederacy. In 1968, Ms. Nolan was added to the Indiana University Writers Conference Hall of Fame. The next year she was named a Litterarum Doctor, an honorary doctor of letters and literature. She died on October 12, 1974.”
February 17th, 2011 at 9:14 pm
Bill wasn’t very impressed with Lace White’s abilities, but if her career started in 1938, is it possible that she was one of the first female state troopers to appear in the annals of crime and detective fiction?
April 21st, 2011 at 11:50 pm
Steve, you are very close, and Bill is correct. Jeannette was a Hoosier who moved to Indy (Capital City) and was a member of the leading edge of female 1sts prior to and during WW II. And, shortly after WW II, became my godmother (I, of course, was too young to choose at the time). My mother who was the 1st female Asst US Attorney in IN and a co-founder and 1st president of the IN Women’s Bar Assoc and my father chose her. So, yes, this book was a very early version of CSI: SVU