Sun 25 Sep 2022
An Archived Review by Bob Adey: BEN BENSON – Beware the Pale Horse.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
BEN BENSON – Beware the Pale Horse. Captain Wade Paris #2. Mill, hardcover, 1951. Unicorn Mystery Book Club, hardcover, 4-in-1 edition. Bantam #1070, paperback, 1953. Wildside Press, softcover, 2018.
Competent, well clued and thought out police procedural starring State Detective Wade Paris. Paris’s difficulties stem not only from trying to find out who killed both a police colleague and oriental art collector, Charles Endicott, but also from the political pressures that are put upon him to wrap things up quickly and successfully.
This political angle is brought in most convincingly and the investigation itself is logical and systematic. The clues are spread with care and cunning and the main one I should have spotted deceived me
Short on humour but otherwise I can find nothing to complain of in this very professional job. A pity (from my point of view) as it’s the first I’ve read of half a dozen Benson’s I own, and I was looking for an excuse to make a small reduction in the overcrowding on my shelves. Now I’ll be looking for even more Bensons!
September 25th, 2022 at 12:22 pm
Read this recently, thoroughly enjoyed it. Hope to take up more Benson titles in both the Wade Paris and Ralph Lindsey series.
September 25th, 2022 at 6:09 pm
I’ve had various Benson books on my shelves over the years but don’t recall ever reading one. There’s an ebook edition of this one from Wildside Press, so I’m going to give it a try.
September 25th, 2022 at 8:03 pm
I haven’t read anything by Benson in maybe 60 years. But over that same period of time I stopped reading police procedurals by almost everyone else as well. This old review by Bob Adey tells me that maybe I was wrong abut that. You’re right. A Kindle version may be the way to go.
September 25th, 2022 at 10:47 pm
I’ve enjoyed most of the Benson books I read. I preferred the Wade Paris series but enjoyed Ralph Lindsey too.