Fri 22 Apr 2016
Archived Mystery Review: KIN PLATT – The Screwball King Murder.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[7] Comments
KIN PLATT – The Screwball King Murder. Random House, hardcover, 1978. No paperback edition.
Private eye Max Roper’s latest sports-related caper involves the not-so-accidental drowning of a flaky left-hander who had just signed a million-dollar contract to pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Murder follows Roper like a well-trained puppy, but baseball fans will be disappointed to learn that the motive for Hondo Kenyon’s death really lies in the totally antithetical world of skin flicks and acid rock.
Slick, and superficial, detective work.
Rating: C.
The Max Roper series —
The Pushbutton Butterfly (1970)
The Kissing Gourami (1973)
The Princess Stakes Murder (1973)
The Giant Kill (1974)
Match Point for Murder (1975)
The Body Beautiful Murder (1976)
The Screwball King Murder (1978)
April 22nd, 2016 at 3:03 pm
I don’t remember either this book or Max Roper, the character. This means that both were forgettable or (more likely) too many books that I’ve read over too many years.
Says Glen Davis on the Thrilling Detective website:
“…strictly 1970’s paperback pulp, somewhat reminiscent of the Brian Brett or Milo March books, quick action-packed reads full of action meant to be chewed up, enjoyed and forgotten. It’s a tribute to the writers’ skills that so many people still have such great affection for these books.”
https://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/roper.html
April 23rd, 2016 at 7:19 pm
I read a couple, pretty much what you and Glen Davis say, though the sports angle may account for some of the popularity.
The first two books were decently reviewed and well received, but I don’t recognize any titles from three down (1974). I’m guessing whatever readers saw in the first two didn’t translate into enough to sustain the series. Five years (not counting no book in 77) sounds suspiciously like diminishing returns for the publisher.
April 23rd, 2016 at 7:39 pm
I haven’t done any analysis to see how relevant this is, but since a PI series should be in demand by a paperback readership, I sometimes look to see when a series stopped appearing in paperback. This would seem to be a gauge of some kind as to how well a series is doing.
The first Roper books were reprinted by Pyramid. After a while Charter took over and did the first four. (I don’t think the Charter books were well distributed. I don’t remember seeing any of them.)
What’s important,though, is that the last three don’t seem to have had paperback editions.
No what what this means, perhaps it does help explain why you don’t recognize any titles from three down.
April 27th, 2016 at 10:34 am
I’ve just learned this morning that Platt was most notably a cartoonist at midcentury…perhaps that helps to explain (not really, but makes for easy snark) the cartoonish nature of entirely too many of the his seventies novels. His inept YA “problem novel” HEY, DUMMY! has permanently (so far) irritated me since reading it forty years ago or so.
It was in fact in Bhob Stewart’s post-cluster I selected for this week’s link which so informed me.
April 27th, 2016 at 1:14 pm
Thanks, Todd. Looks like Platt has quite a varied career. As a starting point for those who’d like to know more, here’s the link to his Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin_Platt
July 24th, 2017 at 9:53 am
Someone (Platt himself?) adapted The Princess Stakes Murder as a 5-part episode of The Zero Hour, a radio drama hosted by Rod Serling. Howard Duff played Roper. Julia Adams and Ray Danton are also in it, and I think Denver Pyle and Greg Mullavey may also be in it uncredited.
July 24th, 2017 at 11:59 am
Thanks, Marty. I think I knew about this at the time, 1973-74, but I’d completely forgotten about it. Along with the CBS MYSTERY THEATER, ZERO HOUR was among the last great gasp of fully dramatized drama on network radio.
Here;s a link, perhaps only temporary, to a listening station for all of the multi-part stories that were broadcast on THE ZERO HOUR:
https://oldradioprograms.us/Zero%20Hour.htm
For a more detailed log, including actors and the writers whose work was adapted, check out this Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Zero_Hour_(U.S._radio_series)