Thu 10 Mar 2011
Reviewed by Barry Gardner: HAROLD ADAMS – A Perfectly Proper Murder.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[6] Comments
HAROLD ADAMS – A Perfectly Proper Murder. Carl Wilcox #11. Walker, hardcover, 1993. No paperback edition.
This is one of my favorite series, with a regional and historical background set in Depression era South Dakota and Minnesota.
Carl Wilcox is an ex-con, now a semi-itinerant sign painter. He finds himself looking for work in Podunkville, and quickly manages to offend the town’s leading citizen. The next day the man is found murdered, and Wilcox briefly comes under suspicion.
Thanks to his past help to his hometown law, he is enlisted by the local cop to help investigate the case. It turns out that the murdered man wasn’t really a very nice person, with wife-beating and wholesale philandering among his more easily provable sins. Darker yet are hinted at. Suspects include but are not limited to his young wife and his children by an earlier marriage.
Once again, Adams’ strengths are quickly apparent. The first-person narrative is easy and unforced, and the dialogue is realistic and entertaining. Adams has a knack for characterization in few words, and all of the the players come alive enough to believe in and relate to.
The small-town ambiance of the time is thick enough to cut with a knife, and tasty to boot. On the down side, I think Adams may be overworking the device of Wilcox helping the law, and this is a very slender book for the price. It’s still a fine series, though, from a fine writer.
The Carl Wilcox series —
1. Murder, 1981
2. Paint the Town Red, 1982
3. The Missing Moon, 1983
4. The Naked Liar, 1985 (Shamus nomination)
5. The Fourth Widow, 1986
6. The Barbed Wire Noose, 1987
7. The Man Who Met the Train, 1988
8. The Man Who Missed the Party, 1989
9. The Man Who Was Taller Than God, 1992 (Shamus Award)
10. A Perfectly Proper Murder, 1993
11. A Way with Widows, 1994
12. The Ditched Blonde, 1995
13. Hatchet Job, 1996
14. The Ice Pick Artist, 1997
15. No Badge, No Gun, 1998 (Shamus nomination)
16. Lead, So I Can Follow, 1999
March 11th, 2011 at 12:30 am
I really liked this series, but at some point it just felt as if he rang as many changes as possible on the idea of Wilcox wandering into a small town, being suspected of the crime, then helping solve it.
That said he had a real feel for the Depression era setting and the small towns and desperate people Wilcox encountered were sharply drawn.
But to be frank eventually I picked one up that I knew I had never read and yet could have sworn I had already read it.
March 11th, 2011 at 1:24 am
You tell that Barry was starting to feel the same way, even though it was one of his favorite series. I’d have to agree. Coming up with new plots for stories taking place in Depression era South Dakota must have gotten tougher and tougher as the series went on.
I’m not sure if I own this one or not, but it was about the same time I stopped reading them. Adams’ first few books came out as paperback originals (from Ace/Charter) and when I read them, they were like nothing I’d ever read before. The setting first, then the characters. The feeling for the era nearly took my breath away.
By the time PERFECTLY PROPER MURDER came along, though, the books were coming out in hardcover without paperback editions trailing along after. Moving up to hardcover status worked out much better for Adams, I’m sure, financially that is, but personally, if the books had continued to come out in paperback, I’d have stayed with the series a whole lot longer. I’m missing quite a few of them toward the end of the run.
I’ve submitted this book and Barry’s review as a “Friday” Forgotten book for Patti Abbott’s blog. Both Harold Adams and Carl Wilcox had a good run, and when they were good, they were very good. They ought to be remembered for that,.
March 11th, 2011 at 7:58 am
I hadn’t realized there were that many in the series as I only read the first few. I have been meaning to go back and try another and this might push me to it. I do remember how much Barry liked it.
March 11th, 2011 at 9:46 am
The first books in this series (the PBOs) are my favorites because they were quite unusual at that time. I remember the joy of discovering Carl Wilcox. I continued to buy them in hardback, usually at conventions, and read them with gradually less enthusiasm. The last couple I purchased remain unread. I felt the series had gone lame.
I need to give them a try but am more likely to read the non-series WHEN RICH MEN DIE, which intrigued me via cover and blurb to buy it but then disappeared into my stacks.
One final thought, Adams (or his hardback publisher) came up with some excellent titles, such as LEAD, SO I CAN FOLLOW and THE THIEF WHO STOLE HEAVEN.
March 11th, 2011 at 11:45 am
I remember seeing the Walker editions at The Book Carnival, a mystery specialty bookstore in Orange, CA, but thinking they were high priced for such a small number of pages. I’d not seen any reviews that I recall, so I skipped them. As you say, Steve, if it had been a paperback I’d probably have bought it. I may seek out the first one, in paperback.
March 11th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Like you, Steve, I stopped reading this series when it went into hardcover only mode. I still have the paperback editions around here somewhere. I’ll have to dig them out and reread them after this fine review and discussion. Like everything else, maybe all these books will appear as ebooks someday.