BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Harry Moseby Investigates

For those unfamiliar with the fantastic output of one Gene Hackman, let me point you in the direction of one of the best detective movies ever made: NIGHT MOVES. What makes it even better is that it wasn’t based on a book, but was a whole new creation. So how does this tie into my column? Anyone who’s seen the movie can guess that Moseby is like a lot of the detectives I’ve covered, so it’s only fitting to group them together under this title. Also, this column serves as a dedication to two writers no longer with us — this one goes out to Gregory Macdonald and James Crumley.

THE LAST GOOD KISS by James Crumley — It happens more often than I like: purchasing a book with the intention of reading it right away, only to push it aside and forgot about it. In this case, how about 10 years of waiting? When I found out of Crumley’s recent passing, I knew this 1978 novel should finally be read. Now I’m kicking myself for waiting this long.

Talk about a book that speaks to me with a writing style that hits so close to home! This is the first of Crumley’s C.W. Sughrue series. He’s a detective who would rather shoot first, then get his answers. It’s amazing how Sughrue is unlike all other literary detectives, just scraping by with repo jobs or divorce cases. But he’s also tracking down a husband who went off on a bender. Sughrue tracks down this man, Trahearne, a writer who has a serious case of writer’s block.

Trahearne wants to hang around with C.W. while he works his next case, that of missing daughter Betty Sue Flowers, who disappeared more than 10 years ago, with rumors that she was in a porn film. Since no one is quite sure where she went, it becomes apparent that Betty does not want to be found. One tip leads C.W. to a woman who acts as a house mother to girls in trouble. She explains to C. W. that it might have all been in vain.

C.W. has Trahearne in tow for most of the book, and he is the type who never follows any orders or directions C.W. gives him. Adding to our protagonist’s frustration is that Trahearne’s ex-wife wants to bed down C.W. There is so much more to the story, so to go further would ruin the impact. Crumley’s style reminds me of Raymond Chandler — which is to be expected with this type of dense storytelling — but he also makes the genre his own with some amazing prose.

NIGHTMARE IN PINK by John D. MacDonald — From 1964, the second book in the Travis McGee series takes our hero way out of his regular setting, since the whole thing takes place in New York. That might throw a few readers, especially after everything set up in THE DEEP BLUE GOOD-BY, but McGee could never turn down a favor for a friend, which is how he ends up there.

For fans of the show MAD MEN, the novel is set in that business world of the mid-’60s, but sadly, not in advertising. But there is still plenty of drinking and party girls, as they were called in the day. The plot deals with McGee getting a call from an old war buddy who wants him to help out his sister, whose husband was recently killed but had stashed 10 grand in his possessions.

The wife, Nina, is nervous that her husband was up to no good. Once there, Travis becomes her knight in tarnished armor, ready to save the day. But it becomes clear that the dead husband was tied to something much larger that of embezzlement scheme. Unluckily for McGee, the bad guys get the drop on him and plan to stick him in a crooked wing of a mental hospital by giving him a treatment of LSD. It’s discovered that all others who were in the path off the embezzler have been stuck there also.

This is probably the weakest of the McGee novels, since the mystery itself is so straightforward and by-the-numbers. The addition of McGee being drugged with never-ending hallucinations is a nice touch. It becomes apparent that this novel was probably a rush job to capitalize on the success of the first book, so you’re best off skipping on this one. You really won’t miss much, since it’s so unlike the rest of the series, which are much denser mysteries.

SHOOT THE WORKS by Brett Halliday — The first detective that came to my mind while watching NIGHT MOVES was Mike Shayne, the redheaded wonder boy who will solve the crime while the cops chase their tails. This time out, Shayne is forced into a case by his secretary, when her friend’s mother — one Mrs. Wallace — comes home a day early from a trip to find her husband dead. And not only dead, but with two plane tickets to South America that were for the day when she was actually supposed to come home.

The first thing Shayne does is hide the tickets and come up with a story for his secretary to give the cops so he can operate outside the law, which is his bread and butter. But once the cops turn up, it now looks like all the evidence is pointed at the grieving widow, with only Shayne knowing the truth that it could not have been her.

To add to the mystery, our dead man’s partners have been ripped off to the tidy sum of $1 million, so they hire Shayne to figure out the culprit. It’s just another puzzle for Shayne to figure out, with nothing but a few pieces to get a clearer picture. But as soon as he starts investigating, it seems quite apparent who the guilty party might be. That’s where Halliday makes a minor misstep, since it so obvious to the reader.

This 1957 work is another romp in the violent world of Shayne, the love-’em-and-leave-’em detective. It’s just that we are given the biggest clue early on in the book. Still, I’d rather read a simplistic Shayne story any day over some long, meandering work that was in serious need of an editor.

THE MOVING TARGET by Ross Macdonald — Probably the one literary detective who influenced NIGHT MOVES the most was Lew Archer. So it’s fitting to close out the column with the first of Archer’s cases. Those who’ve never read Macdonald might grab this 1949 book since it introduces the character to the world, but let me point out that the first few in the series are best read after you have read the later ones. The early ones ape the writing styles of Dashiell Hammett and Chandler, rather than exist in Macdonald’s own style, which would arrive in THE DOOMSTERS.

Archer is hired by a distraught wife to see if her husband is cheating. (Archer explains that he works the divorce racket to make a living — this is one aspect of the character dropped in the later novels, where Archer is a pretty much a detective-for-hire with a great reputation.) But as soon as he starts to investigate, the case take a turn into a kidnapping scheme with Archer in the middle of it all, trying to not only figure out who the kidnappers are, but where the missing husband is.

It’s extremely straightforward in the plot department and reads like a Hammett story. There are no surprises that will shock the reader, unlike the later books. Even at the outcome, it’s very matter-of-fact how it all plays out. It’s a fine introduction to one of our greatest detectives, but to really enjoy Macdonald’s characters, look later on, then come to the start of it all to see just how much the author improved.

Also, it goes without saying that this book — retitled as HARPER — and THE DROWNING POOL are the only filmed versions of the Archer series, starring the late, great Paul Newman. The character’s last name was changed for the film to Harper.

Next time: Break out those Ennio Morricone soundtracks! —Bruce Grossman

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF BRETT HALLIDAY:
• ARMED … DANGEROUS … by Brett Halliday
• BODIES ARE WHERE YOU FIND THEM by Brett Halliday
• COUNT BACKWARDS TO ZERO by Brett Halliday
• COUNTERFEIT WIFE by Brett Halliday
• FOURTH DOWN TO DEATH by Brett Halliday
• GUILTY AS HELL by Brett Halliday
• MERMAID ON THE ROCKS by Brett Halliday
• MIKE SHAYNE’S TORRID TWELVE by Brett Halliday
• NEVER KILL A CLIENT by Brett Halliday
• TARGET: MIKE SHAYNE by Brett Halliday
• WHAT REALLY HAPPENED by Brett Halliday

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF JOHN D. MACDONALD:
• THE DEEP BLUE GOOD-BY by John D. MacDonald
• THE GIRL, THE GOLD WATCH & EVERYTHING by John D. MacDonald
• A PURPLE PLACE FOR DYING by John D. MacDonald
• SOFT TOUCH by John D. MacDonald
• A TAN AND SANDY SILENCE by John D. MacDonald
• WHERE IS JANICE GANTRY? by John D. MacDonald

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ROSS MACDONALD:
• THE ARCHER FILES by Ross Macdonald
• BLACK MONEY by Ross Macdonald
• BLUE CITY by Ross Macdonald
• THE BLUE HAMMER by Ross Macdonald
• THE DOOMSTERS by Ross Macdonald
• THE INSTANT ENEMY by Ross Macdonald
• THE WAY SOME PEOPLE DIE by Ross Macdonald