Forgotten Books: The DADA Caper by Ross H. Spencer

Ross H. Spencer most likely did NOT invent a whole new style of storytelling. I’m guessing his peculiar technique had been used before. But when The DADA Caper was unleashed upon the world in 1978, it was certainly new to me. And probably to most other folks too.

Just what is that style? In a nutshell, it’s very short chapters with one-sentence paragraphs and no quotation marks. Some chapters read more like poetry than prose.

Most folks thought The DADA Caper was pretty cool back in '78, and it was successful enough for Spencer to follow up with four more adventures of detective Chance Purdue. I remember reading three of them. I suppose the gag could get stale after a while, but on this first reading in over twenty years it was fresh and new, and a nice interlude between “normal” works of fiction.

Here’s a sample chapter. Yep, this is a complete chapter:

___Chance Purdue.
___That is my name.
___Private Detective.
___That was my occupation.
___I handle anything.
___That was my slogan.
___Room 506 Braddock Building.
___That was my address.
___One-year lease.
___Three hundred a month.
___That was my mistake.

Here’s another, also complete, chapter:

___Betsy would breeze into the office about eleven in the morning.
___Almost every day.
___Betsy worked nights usually.
___She would sit in the client’s chair.
___After she had dusted it.
___With wild swooping motions.
___So I would know that she knew nobody had sat in it.
___Betsy would lean back and cross her long legs.
___Betsy wore very short skirts.
___And black underclothing.
___Most of the time.
___She would say how goes it Philo?
___I would shrug.
___I would say oh just great.
___Betsy would say how good is just great?
___I would say right now I am running down a few missing space capsules for NASA.
___Betsy would toss her head.
___Her blonde hair would shimmer.
___Her pale blue eyes would twinkle.
___She would say horsecrap.
___Then she would say I’ll take you to lunch.
___I would say okay.

And the fun doesn’t stop there. Instead of numbers or titles, each chapter is introduced with a few words of wisdom from an old coot named Monroe D. Underwood, who also drifts in and out of the story. A few samples:

…oncet there was a woman who took no for an answer…they stuffed her and put her in a museum…

…you show me a man what asks questions first and I’ll show you a man what is still looking for a right answer…

…oncet I knowed a man who had seven sons…named all of the Horatio…soon as they growed up they lynched him…

…feller what said every cloud got a silver lining didn’t know aluminum foil when he seen it…

I read this book in about two hours and came away happy. So yeah, I’ll be moving on to the next two already in my collection. Will I seek out books 4 and 5? We’ll see.

Check out all of this week’s fabulous Forgotten Books at pattinase.