The Case of the Glamorous Ghost by Erle Stanley Gardner

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

Daughter of a rich father whom she totally buffaloes, Eleanor Corbin goes on rampages in high society and low, causing outrage over her escapades. Then she blames her recurring amnesia and lies low in a private sanitarium.

But as this novel opens, her latest toying with scandal – romping about a lover’s lane in nothing but a filmy frilly thing – has gotten her older half-sister Olga worried about the family reputation. Olga also agonizes that the semi-nude antics are a cover for wanton or even illegal activities. Olga hires lawyer Perry Mason to deal with the press and police while Olga persuades Eleanor to come clean about what she’s been up to. Eleanor claims her darn amnesia is preventing her from recalling anything of the last couple of weeks but a collision with another car.

The murder victim is Eleanor’s fortune-hunter and drifter of a husband – or boyfriend, whatever he was. Eleanor had a gun of the same caliber with which the victim was shot. Getting Eleanor off the hook of Lt. Tragg and DA Burger seems particularly impossible in light of the tight skein of circumstantial evidence wound around her. The brilliant trial sequence is over 100 pages long, one of the longest in the 82-book canon.

As usual in a Mason novel, the murder investigation uncovers many more nefarious goings-on.

There is also vandalism, narks, smuggling, blackmail, narcotics, impersonation, and secret bugging devices. In a strong scene between Perry and his lying client, Perry blunts warns her to be straight with the facts since she’s facing her own execution by cyanide poisoning for first-degree murder.

Gardner treats the subject of sex with more frankness than usual. In the Mason novels, sex hardly comes up as a topic or motive. Still, Perry sends Della to act a decoy in a high class hotel, whose safe has received the “glittering assortment of gems.” Perry asks about her defenses against the predatory males on the prowl at the hotel. She replies:

Adequate, but not impregnable. I didn’t give them the impression that they were storming the Maginot Line. I let them feel that the territory might be invaded, conquered and occupied but definitely not as the result of one skirmish. In other words, I was sophisticated, amused and — I didn’t slam any doors.

Yeah, it’s so Fifties, but still — whoa. While in Gardner’s novels starring Bertha Cool and Donald Lam, it’s assumed that normal healthy adults who aren’t married go off for fun-filled weekends together, spicy talk and easy-going attitudes are rare in a Mason novel. Anyway, this novel, the 46^th one and published in 1955, is worth reading for the both fan and novice.

Into the Free by Julie Cantrell

Review by Mirah W. (mwelday)

I typically read fellow reader reviews before starting a new book.  Not always to get the synopsis but just to see how people rated the book.  I usually look for the 4-5 star range.  Lately I’ve found myself in a bit of a book slump.  Books others have really enjoyed I found rather lackluster. ..until now.  The general reviews for ‘Into the Free’ by Julie Cantrell were glowing so I decided to give it a chance.  I am so glad I did.  I think this might be one of the best books I’ve read in a while.

Picture it (sorry to get all Sophia from The Golden Girls on you, but it works here): Rural Depression-era Mississippi.  An abusive and absent rodeo father, a troubled mother destined to stay with her abuser, and a young girl being lured into the mystery of traveling gypsies in an effort to escape the tragedy of her life.

There are some wonderful characters in this book.  Young Millie is our heroine and she is a fighter.  She may not always see herself that way, but she is.  River is a traveler who gives Millie hope.  Bump is the rodeo boy with a heart of gold.  And there are some characters who made me want to rip pages out of the book (mainly Millie’s grandparents), but I think sometimes they’re the ones who really make me love the ‘nice’ characters even more.

For me, this book embodied what I loved most about ‘The Help’ and ‘The Secret Life of Bees’.  The coming-of-age tale as old as time, yet told a little bit differently.  Cantrell offers the reader a glimpse into times gone by and a chance to see ‘real’ life with all of its ugliness and beauty.

If you’re like me and looking for a book to restore some hope and faith after a series of blah reads, give ‘Into the Free’ a chance.

Edge of Dawn by Lara Adrian

Review by Kelsey O.

**SPOILER WARNING even though I try to make my reviews as spoiler free as possible, sometimes it is unavoidable**

Lara Adrian transports her Midnight Breed series to 20 years into the future after First Dawn. Tensions are high among the humans and the vampires. The Order’s leader, Lucan, is trying to balance the prickly relationship but soon discovers that there are other forces inside and outside the Order working against them and these forces are trying to make the vampires out to be the bad guys.

Edge of Dawn focuses on the breed warrior Kellan and his breedmate, Mira. Kellan was supposedly killed eight years before and Mira has felt empty ever since. He was her best friend and only lover and it was all taken away from her in a ball of fire. Only revenge keeps her motivated and fighting for the Order. Then one day during a routine “babysitting” mission, Mira discovers a life shattering secret, Kellan is still alive. What is worse, he is the leader for the rebels. Kellan has lived with major regret this entire time but after what he saw in Mira’s eyes that night eight years before, he figured he had no choice.

Adrian takes her readers on an emotional rollercoaster. Kellan thinks that disappearing was the way to protect Mira only to discover that he has been wrong all along. There is no way to avoid your destiny and his involves facing the Order and paying for what he has done. As Kellan and Mira try to figure out who the actual bad guys are; they also discover that they can no longer deny their love for each other.

This series definitely got a new makeover and the storyline is refreshed. I was unable to put the book down once I started. The ending reveals where Adrian is going with the series and I for one want to be first in line for this ride.

8 Faces At 3 by Craig Rice

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

This story, published in 1939, is the first of eleven mysteries starring lawyer John J. Malone.  A mean old aunt, who wrote a mean old will, is done in with her own letter-opener. The cops suspect her niece Holly. She claims a nightmare woke her up. While wandering the house, she noticed that all the clocks stopped at 3 o’clock. When she stumbled upon her aunt’s corpse, she fainted. Publicity agent Jake Justus and his love interest heiress Helene Brand are convinced of Holly’s innocence and work with copper John J. Malone to find the real killer.

This is a screwball mystery along the lines of movie version of The Thin Man. Meaning that alcohol is both the fuel and exhaust of the humor.  Helene likes speeding on Chicago’s icy streets:

They spun west into Wacker Drive, turned south again, swung suddenly into a parking lot, struck a patch of ice, skidded around once, grazed the corner of filling station, and came to full stop beside a startled attendant. Jake reached for a cigarette, his hands shaking.

“Baby,” he said admiringly, ”baby, that was as skillful drunken driving as I’ve ever seen.”

I know, isn’t this appalling? Levity. Vulgarity. Smoking.  DWI. Plus, we are subjected to cynical Depression-era wisecracks: “If there was such a thing as ethics among human beings, there wouldn’t be any need for lawyers.” The quips are more Groucho Marx than Oscar Wilde:

If your sister has committed this crime….

If she has, it’s all the more reason for getting a good lawyer.

Again, just disgraceful. But it’s funny as heck too.  Jake Justus and Helene Brand make a Nick and Nora-like couple. Neither one can be described as a thinker. Practical Jake is so impulsive and active that he punches out the DA. To test a theory, Helene jumps down a laundry chute. These are just two examples of the bizarre antics in this nutty plot. One critic at Southern Illinois University said, Justus and Helene “apply their own snoop and blunder technique of investigation to the affair.”

So like I hinted, our more evolved generation, which sees wine more as medicine than “bottled poetry,” may reject with scorn and horror the reckless and unhealthy choices made in this vintage mystery. However, readers who like Damon Runyon or Ellery Queen or antique wiseacre Americana  will enjoy.

Notes:

1. Fun Fact #63: In 1946, Craig Rice was the first mystery writer to appear on the cover of Time Magazine.

2. The phrase “bottled poetry” is by Robert Lewis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island.

And Four To Go by Rex Stout

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

Some readers are fans of the Nero Wolfe novels, while others prefer the novellas. Me, I prefer the novellas since the novels (especially the early ones) suffer from padding. Plus, plots can be wafer-thin in Wolfe novels —  but skinny plots are enough for a novella.

First published in magazines such as Look, Collier’s and The Saturday Evening Post, the novellas were then bundled in paperbacks with titles that included a number (like this one) or harkened to a number (Homicide Trinity).

Three of the four stories collected here are related to holidays. The last story, the best one, is the least fantastically unrealistic story. George Orwell said we readers are taken with the London created as a world of its own by Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens.  So it is with Rex Stout’s imagined New York City. Wolfe’s brownstone and office at 618 West 35th Street. Holiday parades and shopping and museums. Lively street scenes and restaurants. Even the long-gone telephone exchanges  – Algonquin, Gramercy, Swinburne – evoke feelings of nostalgia and the reassuring appreciation that the Wolfe stories are never going to change.

Christmas Party – Unconvinced that Archie is in fact engaged, Wolfe implements a bizarre strategy to leave the brownstone and spy on him. A monkey wrench is tossed into the gears of his tactic when a party guest is poisoned by cyanide. The one is hilariously satisfying for reasons I can’t possible reveal in a review.

Easter Parade – In a fit of orchid envy, Wolfe sends Archie to the Easter Parade to snatch a sample of a new variety from the corsage of the wife of Wolfe’s orchid enthusiast-rival. The problem is that the wife collapses dead, which attracts the attention of the authorities. The story is attractive mainly due to the absurdity of the premise.

Fourth of July Picnic (aka The Labor Union Murder) – Wolfe shows his colors by, shockingly, leaving the brownstone and giving a speech at a picnic of a union of restaurant workers. But one of the attendees gets knifed. To stave off being arrested, Wolfe has to trick the killer into betraying himself. A good puzzle, with fine scene setting.

Murder is No Joke (aka Frame-up for Murder) – This is an ordinary whodunit story that showcases Wolfe’s ability to associate unconnected facts and arrive at a parsimonious solution. Also, the story harks back to yesteryear when it was okay not to suffer churls or poor English. The elitist Wolfe gets in his digs at the grammar-challenged homicide detective. Cramer: And when I come and ask what you sent Goodwin there for, ask you plainly and politely, you say that you will — What are you laughing at?’ …. Wolfe:  ‘It escaped me, Mr. Cramer. Your choice of adverbs. Your conception of politeness.’

When it comes to Nero Wolfe, my order of preference is early novels good, later novels better, and novellas best. Thankfully, all are well represented at PBS, so order away.

The Dark Winter by David Mark

Review by Vicky T. (VickyJo)

Finding a new author is such a treat for me.  If I took a minute and thought about it, I would realize that I “know” too many authors and have far too many books on the mountain of books I want to read (Mt. To Be Read), but still—it’s an addiction.  I love new authors.

David Mark is both new-to-me and just plain new.  His first novel “The Dark Winter” was just published, and based on some early rave reviews, I bought a copy for my library (I’m the director of a public library system) and decided to read it first.

It’s a mystery set in England.  If you categorize your mysteries, it’s a police procedural.  Our hero, Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy is a Scotsman, a big man who can use his size to intimidate when he thinks about it, who loves his wife and young son beyond all reason, and who is a believer in ‘right.’  Justice is supposed to prevail, and he’s not comfortable with any other solution.

A series of seemingly unconnected murders has the department jumping.  A young girl is knifed down by someone with a machete during a church service; a man is severely burned in a house fire and taken to the burn unit, where he is set alight again and dies in his hospital bed.  McAvoy (and the reader) begins to see a pattern where no one else does, especially when he adds in an alleged suicide of a retired trawlerman.  Can he tie these various threads together in time to prevent further deaths?  For this is surely the work of a serial killer, someone who is targeting survivors; and as we know, serial killers always strike again.  The true mystery here is not the pattern to the killings, but the motivation and the identity of the killer.

The author doesn’t always tell us things; he shows us.  He creates a complete character in Aector, someone with a bit of a mysterious background, but with a strong moral compass and the need to see justice served. The secondary characters are also well drawn, and the cold, brutal town of Hull is made real by excellent writing.  The reader is enticed into this story, led along various paths, until the tension is humming and it becomes almost impossible to put the book down.

This is supposed to be the first novel in a series, and I hope that’s true.  I would love to get to know Aector McAvoy better!