----- Original Message ----- From: "Juri Nummelin" <
juri.nummelin@postikaista.net> To: <
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, December
01, 2004 5:04 AM Subject: RARA-AVIS: Dewey; Macdonald;
Gatsby
>
> On several issues:
>
> Hubin's crime bibliography says that Dewey's first
novel "Draw the Curtain
Close" (1947) is a Singer Batts novel, not Mac. The other
novel that was mentioned is a one-off ("Every Bet's a Sure
Thing", 1953).
There's at least one Singer Batts novel earlier than that,
HUE AND CRY from 1944. That one's on the shelf right beside
me. I read it a couple of years ago, remember enjoying it,
but that's all I recall about it. I don't have a copy of
EVERY BET'S A SURE THING, but I have read it and I'm pretty
sure it features Mac. I think DRAW THE CURTAIN CLOSE does,
too, rather than Singer Batts. Singer, for those of you not
familiar with him, is not a PI but rather a small-town hotel
owner. The narrator of the books is Joe Spinder, the hotel
manager. I'm remembering more about HUE AND CRY now. There's
something of a Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin relationship between
Singer and Joe. The plot of HUE AND CRY concerns a small-town
girl who finds herself pregnant and unmarried, and I'd say
there's definitely some empathy and compassion for her. I
haven't read much by Dewey in recent years, but I think he
was a fine writer with three worthwhile series to his name --
Singer Batts, Mac, and Pete Schofield in some Dell paperback
originals, Schofield being one of the few married PIs.
James
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