RARA-AVIS: What I have on Spicer so far

Gary Warren Niebuhr (piesbook@execpc.com)
Sat, 18 Oct 1997 16:58:50 -0700 >Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 16:52:26 -0700
>To: llehmann@club-internet.fr
>From: Gary Warren Niebuhr <piesbook@execpc.com>
>Subject: What I have on Spicer so far
>
>> Who is Bart Spicer ?
>
>AUTHOR: Spicer, Bart
>JOINT AUTHOR:
>PSEUDONYM OF:
>ALSO WRITES AS:
>
>P. I.: Wilde, Carney
>ADDITIONAL P. I.:
>LOCATION OF OFFICE: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
>SUBJECTS:
>BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Carney's father was a carpenter who killed
himself after losses in the stock market crash. Prior to his service in
the war, Carney was a store detective for his friend Eli Lazarus Jonas.
Carney spent five years in the Criminal Investigation Department of the
Army during WWII, and served in the South Pacific. After the war, he opens
his own P. I. business. His office has an old swivel chair, a new veneered
walnut desk, and a ground-glass door that reads "Investigations" about
half-way down on the right, with his name just above it in gold leaf.
Carney is licensed, and in #2 charges $50 a day. He owns a .38. In #2, he
talks about being on retainer to Eli's department store to supervise the
security (in #3, he admits this is the only business he had when he started
and kept his agency alive), and to getting regular work from the Johnson
Insurance firm. His police contact is Lt. Jack Grodnik, but they are as
much enemies as they are friends. Carney is 6' 2", and weighs 180 lbs. (by
#4, up to 190 lbs.), and he smokes. He has dark brown hair and brown eyes.
He lives in a third floor apartment. #1 begins on his 29th birthday and
he has been a P. I. for three years. In #2, Carney has just returned from
a skiing weekend where a crash caused him a black eye. #3 takes place in
April and Carney is 30. Carney is thinking about moving his agency to a
three room suite in the Maritime National Building. He wants to
incorporate as Carney Wilde, Inc. He employees Maxwell as his op. He
kills a man in #3. By #4, the move has been made, and the lettering on the
door now reads, "Carney Wilde, Inc. Investigations. Licensed. Bonded." It
is summer, and Carney has been a P. I. for five years. #5 finds Carney
with two permanent men and four more on retainer.
>
>TITLE: The dark light
>NUMBER: 1
>ADDITIONAL TITLES:
>COPYRIGHT: 1949
>LOCATIONS: New York, New York
>Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
>ANNOTATION: The Church of the Shining Light operates a Mission to the
black district of Philadelphia. When Reverend Matthew Kimball fails to
show up for Sunday night services after traveling to New York City, his
Deacon, Andrew Jackson, Turns to Carny for help. As the P. I. penetrates
into the financial arrangements between the church, Kimball and the very
rich widow Alice Prentice, he discovers that Kimball probably never made
the trip to New York that he was supposed to have and he also discovers the
corpse of Jackson in the Mission. Then very quickly Kimball's wife is also
a corpse, and an unwanted pregnancy becomes the catalyst to a very well
crafted conspiracy by a desperate murderer. Also well crafted is this
book, which contains an interesting P. I in a plot with both well developed
characters and plenty of clues to help the reader solve the crimes.
Recommended.
>REVIEWS:
>MISC:
>CATALOG LISTINGS: Cardinal(94):$65(f)
>Freck(94):$75(vg)
>
>TITLE: Blues for the Prince
>NUMBER: 2
>ADDITIONAL TITLES:
>COPYRIGHT: 1950
>LOCATIONS: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
>ANNOTATION: Master jazzman, "The Prince," is dead and the police want to
accuse his arranger, "Stuff" Magee, with the murder as Magee was claiming
to have written all of The Prince's big hits. The Prince's daughter,
Martha, and her fiancee, Dr. Lawrence Owen, want Carney to clear The
Prince's name. Carney is willing, bring a fan of the late musician.
Having African-American clients is not easy in the 1950s for a white P. I.,
but it is much harder when Randolph Greene, a prot駩 of The Prince's
father, hates Carney on sight. The elder Prince's illness also hampers the
investigation, so Carney seeks the truth from Magee's side of the story.
He gets to romance Nancy Lucas, a jazz singer, and delve into
Philadelphia's jazz scene. This book has a nice noir feel, and has all the
requirements of a P. I. novel with the clues needed to create a nice
mystery puzzle as well. Highly recommended.
>REVIEWS:
>MISC:
>CATALOG LISTINGS: Dunn(96):$75(vg)
>Freck(94):$45(f)
>
>TITLE: The golden door
>NUMBER: 3
>ADDITIONAL TITLES:
>COPYRIGHT: 1951
>LOCATIONS: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
>ANNOTATION: Displaced persons need help adjusting to the American way of
life, and Future American is Jack Jonas's organization designed to help
them. He is concerned that some of his records are missing, and he hire
Carney to explain the mystery. Carny has been investigating some inventory
at Jack's father's store, and the loss of cosmetics may be tied to an
international smuggling operation that ties to some of the new citizens.
Carny is a rather cynical man, rather friendless and unsympathetic. His
investigation spares no one, and he is not moved by the stories of the
Holocaust survivors. Rather, he is driven to accomplish his assignment.
Spicer is an accomplished writer with a consistent tone, and deserves to be
better remembered in the canon. Recommended.
>REVIEWS:
>MISC:
>CATALOG LISTINGS:
>
>TITLE: Black sheep, run
>NUMBER: 4
>ADDITIONAL TITLES:
>COPYRIGHT: 1951
>LOCATIONS: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
>ANNOTATION: Carney would not call Jack Grodnik his friend, but the
recently promoted police captain of homicide has been suspended. Carney is
persuaded to investigate the charges by Connolly, Grodnik's
African-Amercian friend on the force. In trying to get close to the
gambler Bernie Sokol, Carney has an encounter with another P. I. that
leaves that man dead. This puts Carney on the run, and that becomes the
point of this novel. It is handled well, with all the consequential
problems logically laid out. Carney manages to hire Grodnik's daughter,
Jane, as his secretary, with a romance developing. Meanwhile, Carney is
dodging the cops, the F. B. I., and the hoods. Grodnik and Carney make an
odd couple, but their relationship propels the book to its proper
conclusion. Highly recommended.
>REVIEWS:
>MISC:
>CATALOG LISTINGS: Dunn(95):$35(vg)
>Mordida(95):$45(vg)
>
>TITLE: The long green
>NUMBER: 5
>ADDITIONAL TITLES: Shadow of fear
>COPYRIGHT: 1952
>LOCATIONS: Arizona, Tucson
>ANNOTATION: Carney is definitely out of his element when his biggest
client, Eli Jonas, calls him to the Tucson desert to find his kidnapped
granddaughter, Bibi. His big city sensibilities malfunction in the heat of
this alien landscape, and the short time Carney has to find the kidnappers
prior to the payoff only adds more pressure. Oddly, two men who could be
involved in the crime are themselves murdered. This may be the Wild West,
but it is Carney who is the wild-child. He is driven to save the young
girl, and his usual abrupt personality is even more coarse and forceful.
The ransom money to be used to rescue Bibi was to have been used to begin
an economic venture to aide the Native Americans. The startling contrast
between the poverty and despair of the reservation and Eli's millions is
pointed and provocative. Highly recommended.
>REVIEWS:
>MISC:
>CATALOG LISTINGS: Dunn(96):$25(vg)
>
>TITLE: The taming of Carney Wilde
>NUMBER: 6
>ADDITIONAL TITLES:
>COPYRIGHT: 1954
>LOCATIONS: Louisiana, New Orleans
>Shipboard
>ANNOTATION:
>REVIEWS:
>MISC:
>CATALOG LISTINGS: Freck(96):$75(f-signed)
>UncleBucks(94):$20(vg)
>
>TITLE: Exit, running
>NUMBER: 7
>ADDITIONAL TITLES:
>COPYRIGHT: 1959
>LOCATIONS: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
>ANNOTATION:
>REVIEWS:
>MISC:
>CATALOG LISTINGS: Mordida(95):$45(f)
>Freck(93):$60(f)
>
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