Thu 23 Feb 2023
A Locked Room PI Mystery Diary Review: ANTHONY BOUCHER – The Case of the Solid Key.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews[6] Comments
ANTHONY BOUCHER – The Case of the Solid Key. Fergus O’Breen #3. Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 1943. Popular Library #59, paperback, 1945. Pyramid X-1733, paperback, 1968.
A chance meeting in a Hollywood restaurant between Norman Harker, a would-be playwright fresh from Oklahoma, and Sarah Plunk, an actress of Carruthers Little Theater, involves them both in blackmail, attempted fraud, and murder.
Fergus O’Breen is the detective, with Harker as his Watson and the assistance of Lieutenant Jackson of the LA police. Originally hired to investigate Carruthers, Fergus connects him an unsolved fifteen year old murder case and convinces an insurance company to allow him to investigate the death. “Probably the only case on record where a killer thanked the detective who spotted him.â€
The writer of the back cover blurb [of the Pyramid edition] obviously has not read the book. Lewis Jordan was not a blackmailer, did not die, and nobody wanted the killer not to be found. It was a locked room murder made to look like an accident, and everyone but Fergus would have accepted it.
The [introductory description] inside the front cover is not much better – it gives away the first twist of the double-twist ending. Mr. Boucher should sue this publisher. The solid key is the key to the locked room, and not even Carr could have done it better. Occasionally the characters act strangely, but everything has its explanation. Quiet wit is unobtrusive and adds a great deal to the general Hollywood background.
Amusing note: A description of the [totally fictional] pulp magazine Dread Stories is included.
Rating: ****½
February 24th, 2023 at 6:31 am
I have often wished that Boucher had found the time to write many more novels but the man had so many irons in the fire that I am grateful for the seven that he did write.
February 24th, 2023 at 10:51 am
I have been putting off reading one of the seven, Nine Times Nine, for a very dimwittd reason. Once I’ve read it, I will have read all seven and there won’t be any more.
February 24th, 2023 at 11:35 am
Steve, I have embraced the same dimwitted reason too often for too many authors. But now I’m at the age when I realize I could be hit by a truck tomorrow.
February 24th, 2023 at 11:45 pm
Boucher in some ways was a Carresque writer without the Gothic trappings and the hints of horror. Like Carr his wit and nods toward almost slapstick comedy could at times threaten to overcome the books, certainly with O’Breen.
This is my one hold out of the Boucher novels and it is high time I read it before it is too late.
February 25th, 2023 at 12:15 am
I was so impressed with what I said in this old review that I’ve decided to find my copy and read it again.
Unless I come across my copy of NINE TIMES NINE before then.
February 25th, 2023 at 11:56 am
Another thought, just briefly. I wonder what portion of folks attending Bouchercons these days have any idea who it is that they’re honoring?