Fri 3 Oct 2025
Diary Review: RICHARD DEMING – The Sock-It-to-Em Murders.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews[9] Comments
RICHARD DEMING – The Sock-It-to-Em Murders. The Mod Squad #3. Pyramid X-1922, paperback original; 1st printing, December 1968.

While the job of translating the TV program to book form is professional enough job, especially given the lack of time allowed, and while the outer essence of the characters is there, what it is that makes the show successful is not.
But then, the TV programs seem to be content lately with putting Peter, Linc and Julie into exotic locations than taking advantage of their ability to communicate with youth, at the same time as they are finding themselves.
In this book, the title of which means nothing, they are assigned to undercover work in a factory troubles with sabotage and industrial espionage, We get all the details of plant work, but nothing more meaningful, The solution works out clearly enough, but it would not have been difficult to write this without involving the Mod Squad at all.
Rating: ***
October 3rd, 2025 at 7:53 pm
As one who was in the job market at the time, I have to ask: How in hell did Pete, Linc, and Julie always managed to find the right job at the right time to solve the case EVERY FLIPPING WEEK!!?
October 3rd, 2025 at 8:35 pm
Better writers. (How do I know? I was in the same boat.)
October 4th, 2025 at 12:47 am
I had the misfortune of reading two pretty good paperback originals by Deming back in High School: BODY FOR SALE and HIT & RUN. For the next year or so I sought out his stuff and gradually realized he was a hack–and not a very good one.
October 4th, 2025 at 2:43 am
Dan–Deming didn’t start that way, with good stories in AHMM (even into the early ’60s), but this tie-in novel seems like it might mark the end of the beginning…
October 4th, 2025 at 2:48 am
Deming also did one of the original DRAGNET novelizations which I seem to recall were pretty good. Of these I can honestly say I enjoyed the books better than any episode of the series I ever watched.
October 4th, 2025 at 7:50 am
David I tried reading a couple of Deming’s DRAGNET novels myself. This is strictly a personal opinion but I felt the DRAGNET theme music was livelier than those books.
October 4th, 2025 at 2:57 pm
And in my opinion, the DRAGNET tv shows, which were good (the first series), were even better on the radio. I haven’t read the books.
October 4th, 2025 at 11:18 pm
I read all those Mod Squad novels when they were new and recall liking them, but I was a fan of the show and wanted to like them. Even then, though, I felt Deming didn’t quite nail it. Overall, I like Deming’s work without considering him one of my favorites. His stories about one-legged private eye Manville Moon are pretty good.
October 12th, 2025 at 2:51 am
Deming was better suited to DRAGNET than MOD SQUAD anyway.