Mon 18 Sep 2017
PI Stories I’m Reading: MARCIA MULLER “The Holes in the System.”
Posted by Steve under Stories I'm Reading[7] Comments
MARCIA MULLER “The Holes in the System.” Rae Kelleher #2. First appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, June 1996. Reprinted in Detective Duos, edited by Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini (Oxford University Press, 1997). Collected in McCone and Friends (Crippen & Landru, softcover, 2000).
From what I have been able to determine, this is the second story in which Rae Kelleher, Sharon McCone’s assistant at the All Souls Legal Cooperative, gets the top billing. I do not believe that there was a third one, but as I’ve only discovered an earlier one after this review was first posted, I could very easily be wrong again. (See comment #3.) No matter. I just finished reading this one, and it’s a good one.
Rae is asked to look into a case brought to them by the Texas-born owner of a pawn shop in San Francisco by the name of the Cash Cow. It seems that he has recently hired a young deaf and mute boy he found on his doorstep, and he would like to find the boy’s mother, who has disappeared.
Even though Rae tells the story, fans of Sharon McCone should know that not only does she shows up to help crack the case, but this time around we get to see her through the eyes of someone else, one who considers her a mentor as well as a boss, and a friend.
What we also get is a mystery story in which some detective work is actually done, has its amusing moments, and as a bonus, is a story in which the mean streets that Raymond Chandler talked about come into play as well. Quite an accomplishment for a tale only 22 pages long!
September 18th, 2017 at 6:48 am
Rae eventually becomes a part of Sharon’s family when she marries the ex-husband of one of the latter’s sisters. She appears from time to time in the series.
September 18th, 2017 at 3:24 pm
I’m VERY far behind on the McCone books, which I like a lot but seldom think of when it’s time for picking “that next book”. I know I have none on the small TBR bookcase, but then I would have needed to put them there, wouldn’t I?
I have no memory of this character, but she sounds interesting, as does this story. I wonder if these have been collected?
September 18th, 2017 at 5:50 pm
This one has been collected, I have just learned, in a Crippen & Landru book titled McCONE & FRIENDS. From the online description, it “contains three stories told by McCone herself, as well as a novella and a short story narrated by the agency’s investigator Rae Kelleher, a story from the viewpoint of its office manager Ted Smalley, an investigation conducted by McCone’s nephew Mick Savage, and one by her long-term lover Hy Ripinsky.”
Which (uh-oh) leads me to the fact that I have been in error. The other story in this book with Rae Kelleher as the lead character is “The Wall,” first published in CRIMINAL INTENT I (Dark Harvest Books, hardcover, September 1993). This makes the one I’ve just reviewed Rae’s second outing, not her first, and I’ve called in the rewrite man (me) to make the changes accordingly.
September 18th, 2017 at 4:20 pm
No surprise from a writer who never seems to falter whatever she does.
September 19th, 2017 at 7:04 am
Mick Savage is Sharon’s nephew. He is also a computer whiz who works for his aunt. His father Ricky is the rock singer who marries Rae Kelleher.
September 22nd, 2017 at 10:09 am
I reviewed CRIMINAL INTENT a while back. It was a fine book, and a failed start to a series, with new novellas by Muller, Pronzini and Gorman…
http://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2016/12/criminal-intent-1-novellas-by-marcia.html
September 22nd, 2017 at 10:28 am
Thanks for the link, Todd. I don’t know why I hadn’t heard of this book before now, since I’m a big fan of all three authors. I don’t believe that Dark Harvest made much of an effort to make it known to mystery readers, for one thing, and for another, mystery readers don’t seem to be as interested in novella length fiction as SF and horror readers do. Just a couple of guesses on my part.