In my travels to all my favorite used book store haunts, I dig and dig and dig like I’m Charles Bronson in THE GREAT ESCAPE. I come across books that have seen better days – covered in dust and with an aroma that will make some sneeze. This week, we feature three of such finds, all with a lovely lady on the cover.
THE OBITUARY CLUB by Hugh Pentecost – In a nutshell, this 1958 novel – the second of the Lt. Pascal series – take a germ of a idea from Agatha Christie and runs with it: namely, TEN LITTLE INDIANS‘ conceit of a group of people all having a common connection for which someone is trying to kill them off.
The book starts off with the reading of a will of former big-time comedian Charles Seely. His will is a sort of a giant practical joke, with the inclusion of a bizarre, lottery-like gimmick: Each beneficiary is assigned a number that will be kept in a envelope. Then everyone picks a number that will match up with those envelopes. The kicker is once a person dies in this little group, whoever has their number will inherit a chunk of money.
As interesting as this all sounds, you can safely assume what happens: Attempts made on one character’s life over and over. The problem is that this book feels like a car whose wheels constantly lock up on you. Every time you feel like you’re cruising along, it conks out on you, be it the bad writing or the forced overexplanations. It’s maddening for a reader to follow, and will drive today’s reader insane with frustration. Even when the big reveal is explained, you still get that herky-jerky feel. At least the cover is cool, which is what sold me on the book.
THE PACE THAT KILLS by William Fuller – That title says it all, because the pace of 1956 this book will kill your attention span. It’s pretty much one of those “everyone has a dark past” stories, with secrets all coming out in one night of sheer terror. Too bad my mind wandered more then Moses in the desert. This is another case of the cover being so eye-catching and alluring, I couldn’t pass it up. After reading the actual story, I should have.
Each central character is given pages upon pages of backstory that go nowhere fast. The main plot is about two escaped convicts who – after shooting a deputy and breaking free – take refuge in a town where one of them used to live. Will criminals ever learn? Go somewhere else, morons.
We then are told about three women with shady pasts. For the life of me, I was phasing in and out at this point. If OBITUARY CLUB locked wheels, this one was stuck in molasses. Of course, Danny has a history with one of the women and all sorts of Cassevetes-lite melodrama happens, with all the tension on a slow simmer until the climactic end.
PACE tries to titillate with one of the backstories of a girl who was a teen when she ran away from home almost getting raped by a trucker, but she runs away before he gets his chance – which is what I should have done 50 pages into this mess. Great cover does not equal great prose inside.
START SCREAMING MURDER by Talmage Powell – What is it with a lot of the detective series being set in Florida? I mean, where are the Idaho private-eye novels? This 1962 book is part of the Ed Rivers series, which is a fine addition to the genre from the prolific Powell.
It needs to be pointed out that this book will ruffle some of the PC police’s feathers, with references to midgets and dwarves throughout. It starts out with someone trying to bash in Rivers’ head with a blackjack, only to discover his apartment has been broken into by a lady 3 feet tall: Tina La Flor, who works the carnival circuit.
Now she wants to break free from her manager, Bucks Jordan, who is the one who tried to knock out Ed. Tina does not explain why she is hiding out in his apartment; she just wants Ed to help her out. Well, as Ed digs around to find Bucks, it leads him into something bigger: a ship off the coast with some suspicious passengers also interested in why Ed is looking around. After Ed confronts Bucks, the latter turns up dead with a bashed-in skull.
Oh, what a little mystery we have here, with the plot taking us through a conspiracy that has ties to some old money. Be warned if you find the same edition I’ve got, the back cover gives away the ending. What the hell were these publishers thinking?
Powell peppers MURDER with some great suspense, like when Ed is trapped in a trunk with very little air to breathe, or introducing a pair of robbers who will shoot first and don’t care if you want to answer questions. I’m just grateful this book was not a clunker like the other two in this column.
Next time: Norm Abram welcomes you to THIS OLD HOUSE. –Bruce Grossman
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Bruce, I love your column, even though I don’t read the genre myself. I know I live about 30 minutes north of you, and was wondering if you would share some of your used bookstore haunts, as I’ve pretty much exhausted mine, and hope you know of some that I don’t! In any case, keep up the great reviews1
Great reviews. Sorry the first two weren’t that good. At least the last one was pretty cool. I did really like the cover for “The Pace That Kills.” She’s quite sexy. I loved your remark about being like Charles Bronson in “The Great Escape.” That’s a great movie, plus Bronsnon is one of those tough guy actors I always admired.
I’ll send you off the list Steve
William Fuller wrote the Brad Dolan series which is really pretty good. It’s too bad this standalone isn’t up to the standard.