RARA-AVIS: Re: Craig Rice

Greg Swan (greg@swans.org)
Wed, 07 Apr 1999 18:01:09 -0700 Bill Hagen wrote:
> What titles would you suggest?

The Name is Malone (short stories, some from Manhunt, I think), My Kingdom
for a Hearse, Having a Wonderful Crime
. . . and then I'd be reaching. I've got many of her novels on the shelf,
unread.

I've pulled her first novel off the shelf, Eight Faces at Three, and have
started it. It opens with a dream of impending doom (based on one of her
own dreams), then quickly shifts gears to high society banter. These
changes of direction and mood seem common in her work.

Michael Grost (http://members.aol.com/MG4273/rice.htm) makes an
interesting claim that her work is an exercise in surrealism. He also
likens it to Ellery Queen -- which ought to go over big here! :)
Nonetheless, an interesting writer with more depth than the mystery-comedy
label implies.

Maybe more when I've finished 8 at 3.

Greg Swan
greg@swans.org

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