RARA-AVIS: Wade Miller


Juri Nummelin (jurnum@utu.fi)
Tue, 17 Aug 1999 13:47:32 +0300 (EET DST)


I have read (in Finnish translations) some other Wade Miller books than that have already been mentioned: Devil May Care (1950) stars adventurers Biggo Venn and Dan Toevs (peculiar names). They travel to Mexico to solve some fraud - the book is somewhat confused and a little boring. Miller doesnt seem to be at home with this kind of thing: the book resembles "The Glass Key" and "Red Harvest" stuff, but it never gets to full speed. Fatal Step (1948) stars Max Thursday, who is very sympathetic PI, a loser to some degree and an alcoholic. He solves the case almost by accident, but unfortunately the solution is not believable.

On my reading list there is also Badge of Evil (1956), written under the Whit Masterson byline, which has been made into "Touch of Evil", one of the best crime movies ever made. I have read that the book does not have the same ambivalence than the Welles movie. (Also Guilty Bystander has been filmed, with Joseph Pevney as director, but the lead actor<s name escapes me.)

As for Dan J. Marlowe, he is really tough but I think that Richard Stark made it all better.

Juri Nummelin jurnum@utu.fi

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