BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Loud … Quiet … Loud

We’re back again with another roundup of oldies and hopefully goodies, with the common bond being that of noises we make, including one title that many consider a classic of the noir genre. Our second featured title is another foray into the world of Gothic, while the third is a book about some lawyer. Coolness points awarded to anybody who knows where I stole this week’s column title.

THE SCREAMING MIMI by Frederic Brown — This novel deals with a reporter named Sweeney, who is trying to stay sober after he stumbles upon the attack of a naked woman named Yolanda. It seems this girl would have been the fourth victim of a brutal killer called The Ripper.

All right, so that’s not that original of a name, but the book was written in 1949. Sweeney pulls his shit together to track down the killer, all because he became smitten with the intended victim. Why The Ripper targeted this woman in particular is his first order of business, with a major clue being a horrific statue of a woman screaming, called “The Screaming Mimi.”

It turns out Yolanda is a dancer at a club, and now with all this publicity, the attempt has made her a bit of a star. Sweeney is the kind of reporter who keeps all the clues to himself instead of helping out the police until he needs them, even figuring the way to capture the killer will be centered upon the statue itself.

What’s truly fascinating is how well Brown concocts the plot, never giving away the surprising revelation of the killer’s identity until Sweeney uncovers it. Plus, it delves into territories that were not as common as now — mainly, the whole psychology angle of the case. Fans of really bad Italian horror films by an overrated director might think the plot is somewhat similar, since it was loosely based on the book.

A SILENT VOICE by Susan Claudia — The first mystery of this 1967 novel surrounds its author: Claudia was a pseudonym of one William Johnston, who wrote various TV tie-in books. Now, if all you need to do to make a book Gothic is just add a castle, then this book delivers. (Bauhaus fans need not apply; this novel is not that type of Goth, folks.)

Most people will find the plot very familiar. Janet Wagner gets a job cataloging books at an old castle with a weird history. It’s home to two brothers and a sister who have a relative with ties to Nazi gold, making them pariahs of the countryside. But also it makes them incredibly paranoid since they have made it their lives’ work to discover this hidden stash of gold.

Oh, to borrow liberally from that other great gold hunt tale, THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, since that’s what this plot does over and over for its short length. Accusations are made at one other, usually with them all coming down to “you know where the gold is and you’re going to kill me.” I wish I could say this book is deeper than that, but it’s not. Literally, it’s just page upon page of this group looking for gold. Best pass on this one; like most Gothic novels, it’s not worth the time or effort.

THE CASE OF THE SCREAMING WOMAN by Erle Stanley Gardner — From 1957, it’s the return of the greatest literary lawyer: Perry Mason. He’s hired to question a husband whose wife believes he is not forthcoming with the truth. It’s not that she is divorcing him or even questioning his fidelity —  it’s more of the whopper of a story he is trying to pass off of what happened one fateful night when he tried to be a Good Samaritan to a woman whose car broke down and needed help.

When Mason finally meets John Kirby, the husband in question, the attorney finds more holes in it than Swiss cheese. Slowly, he discovers that the hubby made a pit stop with the girl in question to one Dr. Babb, who winds up dead. After some investigating, Mason finds out this good doctor was a bit of a baby broker, passing along unwanted kids to families who were in desperate need, all the while fudging the paperwork to make it look like the child was born to the wanting couple.

To throw a wrench into the whole case, Mason is given a damning piece of evidence that he will use every trick in the book to keep hidden throughout the trial. Ah, Gardner is the master at this type of storytelling, keeping the readers guessing who the real culprit is and what drove him or her to it, and especially the hoops he makes Mason jump through during the court procedure. What is truly great about this series is how easy it is to find these books in, I’d say, 90 percent of used bookstores. You won’t be disappointed, so grab one or two or even 20 of them.

Next time: Warm weather means one thing to me. —Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ERLE STANLEY GARDNER:
• THE BIGGER THEY COME by Erle Stanley Gardner
• THE CASE OF THE HESITANT HOSTESS by Erle Stanley Gardner
• THE CASEBOOK OF SIDNEY ZOOM by Erle Stanley Gardner
• CROWS CAN’T COUNT by Erle Stanley Gardner
• GOLD COMES IN BRICKS by Erle Stanley Gardner
• PERRY MASON SOLVES THE CASE OF THE PHANTOM FORTUNE by Erle Stanley Gardner
• SOME SLIPS DON’T SHOW by Erle Stanley Gardner
• SOME WOMEN WON’T WAIT by Erle Stanley Gardner
• TRY ANYTHING ONCE by Erle Stanley Gardner