In other words, that’s three Ellery Queen mysteries and two Repairman Jack novels from F. Paul Wilson. With regard to the latter, since I’ve already read THE TOMB, we’ll be covering the second and fourth of this long-running series.
THE COPPER FRAME by Ellery Queen – It’s a frame job; I’m being set up. That’s pretty much the jist of this 1965 story. Ted Saxon, a police officer in upstate New York, becomes the police chief after his father is killed in the line of duty. Being a highly respected officer in town, Ted is in for a bit of a shock: It’s New Year’s Eve and Ted is working the shift to please his fellow members of the force when he should be taking the night off.
At first, there is a speed demon who is belligerent to the arresting officers, then a cop from Buffalo who is transporting a woman wanted for a series of crimes. The officer, Morrison, claims that he is sick and rushes off to the hospital. The girl apparently attempts suicide, which Ted stops, and in the process, she claims rape; Morrison corroborates her story and the speed demon who wasn’t even there claim the same. Yeah, it’s a total frame job and halfway trough the book, I figured out a major point in the case. But it does not take away from the fun of it all.
A ROOM TO DIE IN by Ellery Queen – Also from 1965, a dead man turns up in a room locked from the inside. This is what Ann Nelson has to deal with when she finds out her long-estranged father dead. The investigating cop believes it’s suicide, perhaps because of blackmail.
But Ann, a school teacher, is certain someone killed her dad, and is her estranged mom is mixed up in it also. Ann investigates a cast of characters who all have a reason for her father’s death. Then other bodies start turning up in her investigation.
This is probably one of the better locked-room mysteries. The conclusion makes sense and you kinda have an idea of who might be behind it, but not the how or the why. Like all good mysteries, those cards are not dropped ’til a few pages before the end. There are red herrings in this book that lead you down the garden path. Trust me, if you can figure it all out before the bombshell drops, you are the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes.
COP OUT by Ellery Queen – It’s not all about the mysteries for Mr. Queen. This 1969 novel – written by the the orginal two writers and not ghostwritten like some other books by this time – is a total depature from the norm, delving into the world of harboiled crime. There are no weird deaths or puzzle-type endings to solve. This is a straightforward, on-the-lam story.
A bookkepper is under the belief he is about to make a score so he can quit his job. That is, until the robbers he has planned the heist with take the money and kill him. The book is unflinching in acts of violence like this. Your name is Malone, and you’re a state trooper with a kid. Then a gang who just robbed the local payroll show up to hide their money and take your kid as a hostage, forcing you into a position you never thought you’d be in: helping out the biggest scumbags in crime.
Like I said, this is not typical Queen; it feels like a Hard Case Crime novel, to be precise; maybe they’ll reissue it someday. It’s totally worth a read just to see what cast of chartacters the gang dresses up as to pull one of their jobs. I’ll never look at the Three Bears the same way again.
LEGACIES by F. Paul Wilson – The Repairman Jack series gets such bad placement in the bookstores since the novels venture between horror, fantasy and crime.
This time out, everyone’s favorite problem-solver Repairman Jack gets hired for a simple job, only to be retained for a much darker one. Jack is a man who lives outside the system. (For his total background, read THE TOMB.) Jack is first hired to recover stolen presents from, of all places, a pediatric AIDS clinic.
After this job is taken care of, the doctor in charge has a more personal problem she needs Jack for: Her father, whom she has not seen since she was 18, left her his house – a house that has some truly awful memories for her. But her stepbrother has plans for the house himself and wants it, and has the backing of a mysterious Arab organization. It seems her dad had his hands on some technology that people are willing to kill for, and do.
This might not be a horror novel per se, but there is a total monster in it – just not the rubber-mask kind. For a book that is more than 400 pages, LEGACIES flies faster than some of the shorter novels I’ve covered. If you’ve never read any Repairman Jack, grab THE TOMB first and work your way through. You won’t be disappointed.
ALL THE RAGE by F. Paul Wilson – This 2000 entry is pretty much a direct sequel to THE TOMB. If you haven’t read that one, you might be a little confused in certain parts of the book. Let’s just say something from THE TOMB rears its head in this one also.
This time, Jack is hired by a research scientist who believes her boos is getting pushed around by a Serbian mobster. Little does she know her boss is actually in buisness with him, making a drug that unleashes one’s inner rage. (Imagine drunk football fans and soccer hooligans – then give them angel dust; they would be tame compared to what this drug can do.) Jack thinks the job is no big deal, but he also is asked to “whack” said mobster by another party. Jack explains he does not kill people for money, but will see what he can do.
The book follows both of these leads, with the revenge storyline providing a good amount of humor. I don’t want to ruin the fun for anyone who’s never read any Jack. Again, for a book that looks so daunting when you pick it up, it just flies by. I wish all books that length could, but most of the time they just drone on about nothing. Since ALL THE RAGE and THE TOMB have both been reissued recently at a low price, there is no reason not to grab them but your own hard-headedness.
Next time: Tom Hanks’ greatest movie was MAZES AND MONSTERS, don’t you agree? –Bruce Grossman
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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• THE FOUR OF HEARTS by Ellery Queen
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