Thanks to youse guys, I picked up a trilogy of Latimer &
a one-volume through BGSU's Pop Culture Library. I read Lady
in the Morgue, too, thought it was generally good except for
Latimer's racist streak. I say "streak" because Crane making
some racial slur seems to be in all four books of his I've
read. (Ethnic slurs, too, abound, but are not as repetitious
as the same anti-black ones.) I'm finishing up the last two
chapters of Murder in the Madhouse, and so far Bill Crane
drinks more moonshine than my car sucks gasoline. (Which is
astonishing, 'cause my car really sucks gas.) My favorite of
the four was The Dead Don't Care. Bill Crane is sent to
Miami
(and the Keys.) Great atmospherics, and the Latimer made me
wet my lips of the femme fatale in it. (Let's see, if she
were still alive, she'd be ... over a hundred years old!!
Naw, never mind.) The last Crane mystery Red Gardenias has
some serious plotting problems. Some clues were
transparent
(the badminton net in the trunk) and some downright goofy
plot twists. My disbelief failed to stay suspended. Crane has
his moments: he never interferes in a fight until one side is
clearly winning, and his patter is charmingly disrespectful
of everyone. Fight scenes are good, through 1930ish. Still,
the slurs . . .
But I did read all four.
Best wishes
Frederick Zackel
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