BOB McKNIGHT – Running Scared.

Ace Double D-469; paperback original; 1st printing, 1960.

   I meant to say something about George Harmon Coxe’s “workmanlike” prose in my recent review of Murder for Two, but it could be said just about as well right here. [The phrase is a common one; Google just a moment ago produced about 3000 hits.] What I mean by the term is this: a style of writing that you just don’t notice.

   Nothing so fancy as to call attention to itself, although as a standard that’s hardly enough. It can’t be anything other than a subjective assessment, one that varies from person to person.

   Nonetheless, assuming that there is such a concept, I think that “workmanlike prose” was more common with writers whose background was working for the pulp magazines. Writers whose job it was to tell a story, to get on with it, before their readers got bored and went on to something else.

   Coxe was such a writer. Frank Gruber was another. The most famous was probably Erle Stanley Gardner. None would get much of notice for their writing from a professor of literature, but because they were good writers, they captured the reader’s attention from page one onward.

   Although I don’t believe he ever wrote for the pulps. He came along a little too late for that. He was a paperback writer. He never had a book come out in hardcover, so in the overall scheme of things he’s on a far lower scale than either a Gardner or a Coxe, who both made it big. But a storyteller? Yes.

   The plot of Running Scared is that of your basic, everyday nitwit hero in a not quite everyday basic situation. He’s the kind of guy who has reasons for not calling the cops on page two — for if he had, there would be no story. He watches a murder take place, committed by someone driving his ex-wife’s car, and then he gets a call warning him that she has reported the car stolen. By him.

   He goes to her apartment (after being beaten up by two hoods on the way), befriends another girl there, hides her in a bathroom hamper when the cops come calling, and then finds her shot to death inside the hamper when the cops leave.

   I am not making this up. Actually, it reads very well. McKnight had the knack of making you believe nonsense like this all the while you realize that it is nonsense. Workmanlike prose, remember? One could easily picture an Alan Ladd or a Dick Powell in the leading role.

   But in the end, this is about all there is to say about the book. The pace is terrific, and I guarantee you that once stated, you will keep reading. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you that there is any overall depth to either the characters or the story. It’s too lightweight to be considered memorable, and the non-meticulous details of the plot are exactly that.

   What Running Scared is, though, is fun to read.

[UPDATE] 12-09-08.   My comments on the other half of this Ace Double will be posted here shortly. For the record, it is Man-Killer, by Talmage Powell, an author who really did start out writing for the pulp magazines before shifting into a career, mystery-wise, of mostly paperback originals.

   As for Bob McKnight, here below is a complete list of his novel-length mystery fiction, as compiled in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. Surprisingly enough to me, when I wrote this review I obviously didn’t recognize PI Nathan Hawk as being in this book and as being a series character. I thought so little of him, apparently, that I didn’t even mention his name. (I don’t think he was the main protagonist, but perhaps he was.)

   And as long as I’ve brought him up, Nathan Hawk is included in Kevin Burton Smith’s website devoted to Private Eye fiction. He says, in part: “Tough guy eye NATHAN HAWK, transplanted northerner in Sun City, Florida, shot and slugged his way through ten novels published by ACE in the late fifties and early sixties. Detective Lieutenant Toby Duane lends a hand when he can, and dishes out plenty of friendly ‘damn yankee’ jibes along the way.”

   Running Scared is the only one of McKnight’s books I’ve ever read. Even though my judgment was qualified, I’m a sucker for books with wacky openings like this, even if the endings don’t pan out so well in comparison. Given an opportunity, I absolutely would read another.

McKNIGHT, BOB. 1906-1981. Mining engineer, pilot and horse-racing handicapper before semi-retiring to Florida.
      Downwind (n.) Ace Double D-217, 1957 [Santa Fe, NM]
      Murder Mutuel (n.) Ace Double D-279, 1958 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]

      The Bikini Bombshell (n.) Ace Double D-387, 1959 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]

      Swamp Sanctuary (n.) Ace Double D-411, 1959 [Florida]
      Kiss the Babe Goodbye (n.) Ace Double D-447, 1960 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]
      Running Scared (n.) Ace Double D-469, 1960 [DELETE Nathan Hawk; ADD setting: Florida (St. Petersburg)]
      Secret Sinners (n.) Merit 35, 1960 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]
      A Slice of Death (n.) Ace Double D-419, 1960 [Florida]
      Drop Dead, Please (n.) Ace Double D-511, 1961 [Florida]

      The Flying Eye (n.) Ace Double F-102, 1961 [Florida]
      A Stone Around Her Neck (n.) Ace Double F-143, 1962 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]
      Homicide Handicap (n.) Ace Double F-229, 1963 [Nathan Hawk; Florida]

GRAHAM THOMAS – Malice Downstream.

Fawcett Books; paperback original; 1st printing, December 2002.

   Graham Thomas is a Canadian writer (British Columbia) who seems to have the British down pat, both the countryside and the countrymen. This is the fifth case for Detective-Chief Superintendent Erskine Powell, all paperback originals, and in the age of bloated mysteries running up to 400 pages or more, they’re lean and mean at a mere 200 plus.

   In Malice Downstream Powell is found recuperating from a previous injury at a small village called Houghton Bridge, known almost only for its superb chalk stream fishing, and home of the renown Mayfly Club. Taking his mind off his almost healed leg, and to a lesser extent his failing marriage, Powell also finds murder, with roots in the past. Totally out-of-bounds in taking a hand in investigating a case he shouldn’t be, he’s obviously the epitome of a busman on holiday.

   The detective work is solid if not flashy, with a villain rather obvious from first meeting, but if fly-fishing is an art you’re interested in, this is the book for you. And even if you’re not, if you can enjoy reading about the enthusiasm that someone else has for their near-obsessive hobbies, then this is also the book for you.

   Overall a male-oriented book, but still very cozy in nature. Snug and insightful, in a minor key sort of way.

[UPDATE] 12-09-08. Until I looked him up in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, I did not know that Graham Thomas was a pen name, but it is so. I’m guessing, of course, but perhaps Kosakoski did not sound “British” enough to someone whose opinion mattered.

   Using his entry in CFIV as a basis, here below is a complete list of the Graham Thomas mysteries. Chief Supt. Erskine Powell is in all of them.

   Note: In the original version of this review, I stated that Malice Downstream was the sixth in the series. It does not appear to be so, nor was there ever a sixth.

THOMAS, GRAHAM. Pseudonym of Gordon Kosakoski, 1950- .
      Malice in the Highlands. Ivy, pbo, Jan 1998.

      Malice in Cornwall. Ivy, pbo, June 1998.
      Malice on the Moors. Ivy, pbo, Aug 1999.
      Malice in London. Ivy, pbo, April 2000.
      Malice Downstream. Fawcett, pbo, Dec 2002.

   Note that the movies listed below, each based on an Agatha Christie novel or short story, are only those which are not included in the original Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. (They are included in the Revised CFIV, but not in this expanded version, as well as the online Addenda, where they also are.)

   For more information on each of the movies or TV series episodes mentioned, follow the links provided to their corresponding IMDB entries.

CHRISTIE, AGATHA

   ● After the Funeral. TV movie [series episode]: Granada, 2005 (scw: Philomena McDonagh; dir: Maurice Phillips. SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● At Bertram’s Hotel. TV movie : BBC/PBS, 1987 (scw: Jill Hyem; dir: Mary McMurray) . SC: Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickson)

   ● The Body in the Library. TV movie: BBC/PBS, 1984 (scw: T. R. Bowen; dir: Silvio Marizzano). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickson). Also: Granada, 2004 (scw: Kevin Elyot; dir: Andy Wilson). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Geraldine McEwan)

   ● By the Pricking of My Thumbs. TV movie: Granada, 2006 (scw: Peter Medak; dir: Stuart Harcourt). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Geraldine McEwan), Tuppence & Tommy Beresford (Greta Scacchi & Anthony Andrews ). [Miss Marple did not appear in the book version.]

   ● Cards on the Table. TV movie [series episode]: Granada, 2005 (scw: Nick Dear; dir: Sarah Harding). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) [and Zoë Wanamaker as Ariadne Oliver]

   ● A Caribbean Mystery. TV movie: Stan Margulies, 1983 (scw: Sue Grafton, Steve Humphrey; dir: Robert Michael Lewis). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Helen Hayes). Also: BBC, 1989 (scw: T. R. Bowen; dir: Christopher Pitt). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickson)

   ● Dead Man’s Folly. TV movie: CBS, 1986 (scw: Rod Browning; dir: Clive Donner). SC: Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) [and Jean Simmons as Adriadne Oliver]

   ● Death on the Nile. TV movie: London Weekend/A&E, 2004 (scw: Kevin Elyot; dir: Andy Wilson). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● Dumb Witness. [Published in the US as Poirot Loses a Client.] TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend, 1996 (scw: Douglas Wilkinson; dir: Edward Bennett). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● Evil Under the Sun. TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend, 2001 (scw: Anthony Horowitz; dir: Brian Farnham). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● Five Little Pigs. [Published in the US as Murder in Retrospect.] TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend, 2003 (scw: Kevin Elyot; dir: Paul Unwin). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● 4:50 from Paddington. [Published in the US as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!] TV movie: BBC/A&E, 1987 (scw: T. R. Bowen; dir: Martyn Friend). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickson). Also: Granada, 2004 (scw: Stephen Churchett; dir: Andy Wilson). SC: Miss Jane Marple (Geraldine McEwan)

   ● Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. [Published in the US as Murder for Christmas.] TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend/PBS, 1994 (scw: Clive Exton; dir: Edward Bennett). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● Hickory Dickory Dock. TV movie [series episode]: London Weekend, 1995 (scw: Anthony Horowitz; dir: Andrew Grieve). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● The Hollow. TV movie [series episode]: Granada/A&E, 2004 (scw: Nick Dear; dir: Simon Langton). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

   ● The Hound of Death and other stories. TV movie The Last Seance, based on ss in this collection: Granada, 1986 (scw: Alfred Shaughnessy; dir: June Wyndham-Davies)

   ● Lord Edgware Dies. TV movie: CBS, 1985, as Thirteen at Dinner (scw: Rod Browning; dir: Lou Antonio). SC: Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov). Also: Carnival/A&E, 2000, as Lord Edgware Dies (scw: Anthony Horowitz; dir: Brian Farnham). SC: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

DRESSED TO KILL. Fox Film Corporation, 1928. Irving Cummings, director; Edmund Lowe, Mary Astor, Ben Bard, Robert Perry, Joe Brown, Tom Dugan, John Kelly, Robert Emmet O’Connor, Ed Brady, Charles Morton. Shown at Cinecon 41, September 2005.

   This silent movie bears no relationship to any of the three films released between 1941 and 1980 that have the same title. This Dressed to Kill is what we used to call “a cops & robbers movie.” The stars are Edmund Lowe and Mary Astor (whom we all remember for her role in The Maltese Falcon).

   Lowe’s character is the boss of a gang that specializes in big heists, and Astor plays an attractive young woman who becomes his girlfriend. On the night of a robbery, the gang dresses in formal clothes, pretending to be a group of wealthy gentlemen going out on the town.

   When they arrive at the site of the robbery, they change into their regular duds, and when making their getaway they again put on their formal clothes. I suppose this explains the meaning of the title.

   A mystery element enters the plot when Astor’s character becomes Lowe’s girlfriend (read mistress). We wonder why such a smart young lady would get involved with gangsters. Is she working for the police? Or is she just a pretty gal who’s seeking a fast, glamourous life?

   Dressed to Kill is well directed by Irving Cummings. Lowe and Astor give good performances. The photography has a noirish look, and the sets and costumes nicely represent the art deco era. Although not a masterpiece, certainly not in the same class as von Sternberg’s 1927 Underworld, the film is very entertaining and would certainly please silent movie buffs.

CELESTINE SIBLEY – Ah, Sweet Mystery

Detective Book Club; hardcover reprint [3-in-1 edition]. First Edition: HarperCollins, 1991; paperback reprint, 1992.

   It would take some investigating to be sure, but there may be record of sorts that was set with the publication of this book, Sibley’s second mystery novel. Atlanta newspaper reporter-columnist Kate Mulcay appeared in the first one, The Malignant Heart, which was published in 1958, and she’s in this one as well, only a mere 33 years later. (There may have been wider gaps between series appearances by a given character, but between the author’s first and second mystery, with the same character?)

   Sibley, also a newspaper columnist, also from Atlanta, was 74 when she wrote this one, and she went on to write four more Mulcay books, the final one in 1997, two years before she died.

   Kate, now widowed in Ah, Sweet Mystery, is of an indeterminate age, but she’s still actively writing her columns and going along on a police raids. Hints of her life with her husband Benjy, a member of the Atlanta police force, suggest that he appeared in the first book, but Kate now lives on her own.

   Dead is Garney Wilcox, a cutthroat real estate developer intent on transformed quiet corners of Atlanta and environs into apartment complexes. Confessing to the crime is his stepmother, Miss Willie, whom Garney had recently persuaded to abandon her long-time home for the comforts of a rundown nursing manor.

   There are only a few mystery novels, I am sure, which incorporate the songs and mystique of Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald as part of the plot, but this is one of them. Also an underlying theme is the sense that pieces of traditional southern living and hospitality are disappearing, and that life in general in the South is changing. “Little enough country left,” Kate says on page 211. “I come this way if I have time.”

   The mystery itself is not nearly as strong as the nice homey feeling that Sibley creates, giving Kate guidance as she seeks out the roots of true southern culture. Puzzling to me was the dead man, who seems to have been electrocuted as part of his travails, rubbing up against a raw wire in a house where the electricity has been cut off. And while the culprits seem fairly obvious, the actions of the dead man’s wife are unfathomable, or at least unexplained.

   On the basis of a sample of size one, Sibley’s books, while sound as social statements and weak as detective novels, should still be more widely known than I think they are. (They’ve all come out as paperbacks, but I don’t think I’ve ever come across a used one.)

[UPDATE] 12-08-08. For the record, here’s a list of all of Celestine Sibley’s mystery fiction, thanks to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. Kate Mulcay appears in all five:

SIBLEY, CELESTINE (1917-1999)
      * The Malignant Heart. Doubleday 1958.

      * Ah, Sweet Mystery. Harper 1991.
      * Straight As an Arrow. Harper 1992.
      * Dire Happenings at Scratch Ankle. Harper 1993.
      * A Plague of Kinfolks. Harper 1995.
      * Spider in the Sink. Harper 1997.

WOMAN OF STRAW. United Artists, 1964. Gina Lollobrigida, Sean Connery, Ralph Richardson, Alexander Knox, Johnny Sekka. Based on the book by Catherine Arley (Collins Crime Club, UK, 1957; no US edition) previously published in France as La Femme de Paille in 1953. Director: Basil Dearden.

   What you should do first is go to British mystery writer Martin Edwards’ blog, where he cited the book the film is based on as part of Patti Abbott’s “Forgotten Books” project on her blog. This is a joint enterprise in which every Friday people post suggestions of books worth being recognized again (or for the first time).

   I hadn’t heard of either the book or the movie, but when I read Martin’s write-up and then I learned that Sean Connery and Gina Lollobrigida played the two of the three leading parts in the film, I couldn’t resist.

   I haven’t ordered a copy of the book, but I was able to obtain a DVD of the movie version rather easily. Most of professional reviews have been negative (Variety and so on), but with one tiny qualification on my part, in my opinion most of the professional reviews are wrong. If you are a fan of detective fiction and if you ever come across a copy of this movie, by all means, don’t hesitate. Snap it up at once.

   From Martin’s account, the book takes place in Germany, and the movie takes place in England (and Majorca), but from there, the basic plot line sounds the same.

   When a wealthy old man with a world-hating disposition (Ralph Richardson) needs a nurse, his nephew who hates him and for good reason (Sean Connery) makes sure that the nurse he gets (Gina Lollobrigida) is the one that the nephew wants.

   Mr. Connery (of course) has a plan.

   Let me describe the wheelchair-bound uncle this way, using the nephew’s own words. “He treats his servants [black] as dogs, and his dogs as servants.” Nurse Maria resists the nephew’s plans for her at first, but 50 million dollars is very, very tempting. Nonetheless, her resistance — and eventually making him come to her, the uncle, that is, not her to him — is what eventually wins him over.

   And believe it or not, her charm not only works on the nephew, as it has all along, but the uncle’s behavior seems to take a turn for the better as well.

   I’d have to agree that wealthy (and unlikeable) people being murdered by relatives for their money is old hat stuff in detective fiction, and maybe this is what turned the professional reviewers off. That and the fact that it takes a long time to develop the characters with very little happening.

   I didn’t mind it at all. Delicious! Sean Connery is super suave, Miss Lollabrigida is delectable with just a hint of naivete, and Ralph Richardson as an upper-crust man who’s unhappy with both life and wealth — it is a role he was born to play.

   And when the expected event happens, it doesn’t happen the way I expected it to happen, and there’s no way I could have turned this movie off from that point on, no matter what. I was glued to the chair. Suspense? Yes, and I’m only sorry I can’t tell you more.

   But I did mention a tiny qualification for my praise for this movie, and that’s the ending, which came a little too fast and seemed a little too pat to be totally satisfactory.

   I may have to watch the movie all the way through again sometime, just to be sure, but I’ve already watched the ending twice, and no, I’m not really displeased.

   It’s only a quibble, and a minor one. Other than that, I’m going to repeat myself, and recommend this highly as a Must See.

   I’ve been continuing with the alphabetized listings for the online Addenda for the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. I’m now in the C’s, as you may recall.

   Note that many of these new listings are of film versions of stories and novels already included in CFIV. If such is the case, bibliographic details for the books themselves are omitted.

CHARLES, ROBERT. Pseudonym of Robert Charles Smith, 1938- . Other pseudonym: Charles Leader. Author of numerous spy and adventure novels included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. Add the titles below, and SC: Capt. Mark Falcon = MF, for the two books so indicated.
      Falcon SAS: Blood River. Linford pb, 1999. Setting: Borneo. MF
      Falcon SAS: Firestrike. Linford pb, 1999 MF

      Persons Reported. Linford pb, 2000

CHARLES, THERESA. Pseudonym of Irene Maude Mossop Swatridge, 1905-1988 & Charles John Swatridge, 1896-1964. Add birth and death dates. Under this name, the author of seven books published in the US as gothic romances. Other pseudonyms for Irene Swatridge: Leslie Lance & Jan Tempest. For a short discussion of this author’s books, see this earlier post on the Mystery*File blog.

CHARTERIS, LESLIE
      The Saint Goes West. Show second film as: Lux, 1960, as Le Saint mène la danse, aka The Dance of Death (scw: Albert Simonin, Jacques Nahum, Yvan Audouard; dir: Nahum). SC: Simon Templar (Félix Marten).
      Vendetta for the Saint. [ghostwritten by science fiction writer Harry Harrison] TV movie: ITC, 1969 (scw: Harry W. Junkin, John Kruse; dir: Jim O’Connolly). SC: Simon Templar (Roger Moore).

CHASE, JAMES HADLEY
      My Laugh Comes Last. Film: MGM, 1995, as The Set Up (scw: Michael Thoma; dir: Strathford Hamilton)

CHASTAIN, THOMAS
      Death Stalk. TV movie: Wolper, 1975 (scw: John W. Bloch, Stephen Kandel; dir: Robert Day)

CHESTER, PETER. Pseudonym of Dennis Phillips; other pseudonyms Simon Challis, Peter Chambers & Philip Daniels. As “Peter Chester,” the author of five mystery stories listed in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. A series character named Johnny Preston is in three of them, although not the one below. A British writer, Phillips was much prolific as “Peter Chambers.” Under this byline he wrote over 35 mystery and detective novels, many with American private eye Mark Preston. Whether Johnny Preston is also a PI is not known. Note that “Peter Chambers” is also the name of the PI who was one of US writer Henry Kane’s most frequent series characters.
      The Traitors. Herbert Jenkins, UK, hc, 1964. Add setting: England

CHESTERTON, G. K. TV movie, based on the Father Brown stories: Marble Arch, 1979, as Sanctuary of Fear (scw: Don M. Mankiewicz, Gordon Cotler; dir: John Llewellyn Moxey). SC: Father Brown (Barnard Hughes)

CHILD, LEE. Add: Pseudonym of James D. Grant, 1954- . Born in England; studied law; living in NYC; TV director turned writer. Author of four “Jack Reacher” novels included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV through the year 2000; the series continues through the present day. Twelve have appeared so far, with a 13th scheduled for 2009. Reacher is a former Army MP officer who attracts trouble wherever he goes.

JAMES SALLIS – Drive. Poisoned Pen Press, hardcover, September 2005; Harvest Books, trade paperback, September 2006.

DUANE SWIERCZYNSKI – The Wheelman. St. Martins, hardcover, September 2005; trade paperback, November 2006.

   There are those who say that too many of us identity ourselves too much with our jobs. That’s certainly true of the protagonists of these two fast-moving novels.

   Sallis’s lead character has simply taken the name Driver because that’s what does, both as a movie stunt driver and as a getaway specialist. Swierczynki’s Patrick Lennon is an apparently mute Irishman who harbors secrets even from the reader.

   Both stories spin off from capers gone wrong. Indeed, could anyone write a novel about a caper that goes off without a hitch? And would anyone read it?

   Sallis’s lean tale spins back and forth in time and ultimately leads to a point where Driver will have to decide whether he can still exist in the form he’s created or evolve into something else. If you get what I’m getting at, you know Sallis and you know this is as readable as it is speculative.

   Good, lean, intriguing.

   The Wheelman, on the other hand, speeds forth in the aftermath of a botched bank robbery and doesn’t stop until there’s virtually no one standing.

   Patrick Lennon finds himself flailing about among a cross section of Philadelphia Mafioso, Russian gangsters and corrupt bottom feeders, none of whom are as clever as they think, most of whom are double-crossed by sharpies who are in turn double-crossed by even rougher scoundrels.

   At first, I thought the book was going over the top but then it came gradually clear that this isn’t so much a hardboiled caper as it is a black comedy, one that ends with an appropriately bitter chuckle that could also be perceived as a death rattle.

   Grand, nasty fun.

HIGH TREASON. GB/Tiffany, 1929; Maurice Elvey, director; Benita Hume, Jameson Thomas, Humberston Wright, Basil Gill, James Carew, Judd Green, Milton Rosmer, Henry Vibart, Irene Rooke, Renee Ray. Shown at Cinecon 41, September 2005.

   This was a science fiction film previously unknown to me and to, I suspect, a majority of the audience. Although it was filmed in both sound and silent versions, the sound track had decomposed, and only the silent version appears to survive.

   Set in the mid-20th century, some twenty years after the date of the film’s release, it chronicles an explosive situation in which subversive capitalists and terrorists, working behind the scenes, are attempting to set off a war between the two major international powers represented by North America and Britain and continental governments.

   (The writer of the program notes seems to think Britain and the US are a co-joined superpower even though the film makes it clear that Washington and London are the leaders of their respective alliances.)

   This was released two years after the seminal German science fiction film, Metropolis. High Treason has none of the visionary power of Lang’s film but its simplistic view of the future city (airplanes landing on roofs, and TV) is somewhat compensated for by a plot which culminates with the murder of the leader who’s pushing for war by the world’s leading pacifistic in an attempt to derail the race toward disaster.

   It’s certainly superior to the rather silly American SF film Just Imagine (1930) but it will not be until 1936 that Britain, with the release of Things to Come, will produce an important science fiction film.

ANNE PERRY – Funeral in Blue

Fawcett; paperback reprint, 1st printing, September 2002. Hardcover edition: Ballantine, 2001.

   All that Victorian private enquiry agent James Monk can remember of his life are the last six years, his memory lost in a coach crash, but his abilities as a detective are still intact. This is the 12th of his cases to appear in book form, and the first that I’ve read. (Perry has also written at least 22 mysteries in which Thomas and Charlotte Pitt are the detectives. She is one prolific lady.)

   Besides having a solid, almost palpable sense of time and place — London in September (always foggy) plus glorious, free-spirited Vienna — the story Perry tells is as complicated as any detection aficionado could possibly wish.

   The wife of the doctor with whom Monk’s wife Hester works as a nurse for has been murdered. Her portrait was being painted, and her body is found in the artist’s studio, along with the artist’s live-in model. Once the artist has been eliminated from suspicion, Dr. Beck, as the husband, is the most obvious other suspect.

   There is more to the story. Both Dr. Beck and his wife were young revolutionaries together in Vienna, fighting tyranny in the 1848 uprising, and failing, but after they also became lovers, they seem to have found their infatuation with each other fading, after 13 years of humdrum life in England. To track down clues about their hidden past, Monk is required to make a memorable trip to Austria, where he learns a great deal, but only a small hint of anything tangible to help in Beck’s defense.

   Perry is a meticulous writer, with a great care to physical detail. It is therefore all the more puzzling when small glitches in the mystery itself appear. Small matters unknown to the reader are referred to before the facts are revealed by Monk in his investigation. And when what one witness says ignores what another has stated, it seems to go without notice — nor it is a clue that fits in place later, as an overly observant reader might suspect.

   Worse, especially if you’re a fan of courtroom drama, Perry will have you turning the pages as fast you can, only to have Monk take the stand — but for the prosecution, which makes no sense at all, except for dramatic effect. The effect is powerful, but it wouldn’t, couldn’t have happened that way. (Could it?)

   Net result: Funeral in Blue is an engrossing period novel, a small triumph of historical fiction, but it’s marred by a seemingly indifferent approach to mystery telling. This could easily have been a five star detective novel, with an ending as good as one of Agatha Christie’s, but it hits on only five cylinders, not six.

   The book is still very much worth reading, but if you were to gather from my comments above that I was disappointed, you’d be right.