The Art of Raymond Chandler: Finger Man

A number of Raymond Chandler's works made their first paperback appearance in Avon books, and the covers were always stunning. This one is by Lionel Gelb. Finger Man and Other Stories (yeah, I know the cover says "The", but on the title page it's gone), published in 1946, includes the title story and "Smart-Aleck Kill" from Black Mask, "The Simple Art of Murder" from Atlantic Monthly, and "The Bronze Door" from Unknown. The text of "Finger Man" and "Smart-Aleck Kill" in this volume may differ from other versions now in print. Chandler is said to have revised several of his stories for the 1950 hardcover collection The Simple Art of Murder.

Sam Spade: The Stopped Watch Caper

Some extra-nice bits in this episode from April 10, 1949. Effie's sister Buffy fills in because Effie is visiting her sick friend, actress Lurene Tuttle (who, of course, plays Effie). And later we meet a character doing a perfect impression of Peter Lorre. "Thank you, Jimmy Stewart," says Spade. All this and a detective story too.

The Stopped Watch Caper Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Previous episodes in the Almanack archives:
The Apple of Eve Caper
The Prodigal Daughter Caper
The Battles of Belvedere Caper
The Vaphio Cup Caper
The Betrayal in Bumpass Hell Caper
The Bow Window Caper
The Adam Figg Caper
The Calcutta Trunk Caper 

(click to enlarge)

Forgotten Books: Homicide Johnny by Steve Fisher

This book wasn’t quite what I expected.

I amassed a lot of Steve Fisher novels twenty years back, when I was deep in the throes of hardboiled mania. I’d seen Lady In The Lake (with that incredible Fisher sceenplay) several times and scuttlebutt said he was a great hardboiled writer. But near as I recall, I never got around to reading one of his books.

Enter Homicide Johnny. Interesting title. Excellent cover. Originally published in 1940 by “Stephen Gould”, this was (I think) Fisher's fifth novel, right before I Wake Up Screaming.

I expected hardboiled. Well, it is - a little. But only in the attitude of our hero, small town homicide detective Johnny West. (Why such a small town needs a homicide specialist is never addressed, but we’ll let that go.) The prose is nicely crafted, even eloquent in spots, but never what I would call tough.

I expected sharp, memorable wise-guy dialogue, something on par with my favorite line from Lady in the Lake, where Robert Montgomery says to Audrey Totter, “Imagine you needing ice cubes.” Well, the dialogue is sharp, breezy, and sometimes playful, but it never sizzles. Johnny's investigative partner is town librarian Penny Lane (yep, no fooling), and the repartee between the two is sometimes reminiscent of The Thin Man. But I finished the book this morning, and couldn’t quote you a single line. 

I expected more thriller than mystery. Nope. This is an old-fashioned no-nonsense mystery. Every character we meet has a motive for the murders. When they’re caught in lies, they cover up with new lies, maintaining their suspect status right until the end. In the last chapter, when Johnny tells Penny he's almost figured it out, we get a one-page reminder of who the eight suspects are and what they’re doing right before Johnny’s big reveal. On the next page Johnny tells Penny (and the reader) that all the clues are out there and if she (they) were paying close attention the murderer should be obvious. Then, once the killer is exposed, Johnny talks for seven straight pages explaining to the murderer exactly what happened and why - stuff the killer already knows, of course, but the reader doesn’t. By today's standards, it's less than sophisticated.

About the cover: A fine job (as always) by Rudolph Belarski, but not quite true to the story. There is a hot blonde in the book, but she never takes off her starchy white nurse uniform. And there’s a scene where librarian Penny Lane pumps several bullets into an attacker in a basement, but her hair is the color of mahogany, and bare shoulders and heaving bosom are hardly her style. Nor is there any reason to believe it is unduly, uh… chilly in the basement.

If I’ve made Homicide Johnny sound like a bad book, I apologize. It was a quick read and I enjoyed it. I expect you’ll enjoy it even more, because you’ll know what to expect. A brand new paperback reprint is available on Amazon from a publisher called “Black Mask”, about which I know nothing. Amazon also offers a kindle version for $3.19.

Check out the list of this week's other Forgotten Books on Patti Abbot's pattinase.

Guest Blogger: Allen Wiener, co-author of David Crockett in Congress

Editor's Note: I got to know Allen Wiener via email while he was working on his previous project, Music of the Alamo, with Alamo Journal editor Bill Chemerka. Well, now he has another book out, co-authored with James R. Boylston, on another subject dear to my heart - Davy's career in Congress. I haven't seen the book yet, but I certainly intend to, and I asked Allen to tell us about it. Over to you, Allen.

Crockett in Context

One of the things that drove me to do a book on David Crockett was my dissatisfaction with earlier works on the Tennessean. Most of them paid disproportionate attention to his brief involvement in the Creek War in 1813, his even shorter time in Texas and death at the Alamo, and his hunting adventures. Although he spent most of his adult life in politics, those years have typically been given short shrift and were superficially presented, confusing and inaccurate. Crockett was typically seen as a clueless bumpkin who did not understand political issues or process, mindlessly stubborn and easily manipulated by Whig politicians. It was as if nothing he did in politics made any sense.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. Crockett had a clear understanding of politics and the legislative process. He knew all about deal-making and alliance building, but he showed one trait uncommon to most career politicians -- he put the interests of his constituents above all else, including his political fortunes and the demands of his party. But this could only be seen if the issues Crockett dealt with were understood in the context of his time. He served during the rise of Jacksonian popular democracy, which spread suffrage and opened elected office to more citizens than had been the case under the more elitist Federalists. His contemporaries were Andrew Jackson, the first non-Federalist president, fellow-Tennessean James K. Polk, who became Jackson’s point man in Congress, and Martin Van Buren, founder and organizer of what would become the Democratic Party, Jackson’s second vice president and his hand-picked successor.

These anti-Federalist leaders aimed their appeal squarely at the “common man,” long disenfranchised and subjected to the rule of eastern elites since the country’s birth. Their priorities were to eliminate corruption from government, reduce the central government’s power and spending, and legislate for the general good, not special interests. However, once in power, they showed favoritism toward their own cadre of elites and cronies and often acted against the best interests of the common folk in the name of reducing government interference. And they had zero tolerance for anyone in their party who did not move in lock step with them.

Although Crockett agreed with many broad Jacksonian goals in principle, he had never allied with Jackson in Tennessee politics. He began to oppose the president’s policies when he saw that they were often detrimental to his constituents, mostly poor farmers, despite Jackson’s populist rhetoric. Crockett locked horns with Polk over land reform and opposed Jackson’s cruel Indian removal policy as well as his destruction of the Second Bank of the United States, which dried up badly needed credit that was essential to small businesses and farmers. Crockett viewed Jackson's assertion of presidential power as a threat to the Constitution and the union. Unlike Jackson and Polk, he favored internal improvements because better transportation facilities aided commerce and benefited business. He understood that only the Federal government could manage the job and that the fears of states’ rights advocates, who opposed any exercise of Federal power, were shortsighted and counter-productive. His opposition made him a pariah among Jacksonians, who prized blind loyalty more than integrity.

In each of his four bids for reelection, Jackson’s forces did all they could to unseat Crockett, but he still managed to win two of those contests and, when he lost it was by narrow margins, demonstrating his own appeal and the degree of anti-Jackson sentiment in his district. Crockett’s actions, thus, make perfect sense and should be applauded. He often proclaimed his refusal to buckle to party pressure, insisting that his first duty was to the people “whose servant I am,” a view rarely adhered to -- then or now.

The Story With No Name Part 17 by Peter Averillo

Walt Arnside is back, and he's pissed.

Peter Averillo, one of the 21 authors featured in the soon-to-be-released Express Westerns anthology A Fistful of Legends, has turned in a fine, gritty new addition to this round-robin saga.

Read Part 17 now at Open Range.
Parts 1-16 are conveniently collected at The Culbin Trail, featuring work by such folk as I.J. Parnham, Chuck Tyrell, Jack Giles, Chuck Martin, James J. Griffin, Joseph A. West, Robert S. Napier, Richard Prosch, Paul Dellinger and me.

Take that, NaNoWriMo!

.

Seven days to go.

As of this moment, I’m 200 words ahead of schedule and looking at a downhill dash to the finish.

Week 3 was way smoother than Week 2. Yeah, I had a couple of major plot questions to work out, but my wife and I went to dinner again (this time during happy hour) and by the time we finished I had the answers.

Still, I barely averted another crisis when my fingers were working faster than my brain. I’d planned a major twist for the middle of Act III, where a supporting character switches sides. Somehow I blew right through that scene, realizing only later that the wrong character had made the jump - and the rest of the plot now hinged on them both having new allegiances. This took some furious brainstorming, but it worked out, and the scene is now stronger.

And I’m finding it easier to get my rhythm. I normally have to chug out two or three hundred stodgy words to clean the pipes, but it now takes only a couple of sentences.

How all this will carry over to the rewrite stage, I don’t know, but I’m hopeful. Maybe I’ll set a 30-day limit on that too.

Before starting this project, I polled members of my critique groups to see if any cared to join me. Only one was tempted, but she had other commitments. Another, mystery writer Doug Levin (he of EQMM Jan 2008 and an issue TBA), suggested my time might be better spent writing a mess of short stories. The more I ponder that idea, the more I like it, so sometime soon I’m hoping to stage my own personal ShoStoWriMo, and commit to cranking out 10 or 15 stories, or maybe 30 flashes. Thanks, Doug!

The TV Show I Loved: Davy Crockett

Yeah, I know. It's a no-brainer. When Patti Abbot put out the call for folks to muse on this subject today, I knew this show would have to be the one. I loved a lot of others too, of course, and could just as happily have picked Zorro, or Maverick, or The Swamp Fox. But this, is, after all, Davy's Almanack, and he hangs around peering over my shoulder at everything I write. He'd make life a living hell if I denied him this honor.

Besides, Davy's was the first show that captivated me so thoroughly, and I reckon it's had the longest lasting effect. Yes, I still say "reckon" and "ain't" on a regular basis, and while those words were certainly not invented by Davy or Disney, it was this show that drove them so deep into my vocabulary that they ain't never coming out.

Another thing that stuck with me was Davy's attitude, and his motto: Be sure you're right, then go ahead. Davy relied on his own common sense. When told what to do, he'd do it - providing it made sense. But if orders or social conventions didn't jibe with his notion of common sense, he'd just grin and ignore 'em. And though I've sometimes struggled with the grinning part, I believe I have the ignoring down pat.

This show had everything. Action, adventure, humor, and a catchy theme song tying it all together. And there were so many great scenes: Davy trying to grin down the bear. Davy facing down General Jackson's cannon. His half-horse, half-alligator speech to Congress. Swinging his rifle as the last defender of the Alamo. Making Mike Fink eat his hat.

For all the effect it had on the culture of the time (1954-55), I'm still amazed it only lasted five episodes. In fact, Disney only planned to make three, finishing with Davy's last stand at the Alamo, but the public acclaim (and merchandising craze) was so powerful they brought him back from the dead for two more episodes. To further satisfy demand, the first three episodes were pieced into the feature film Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955) and the last two became Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956).

And the song! In 1955 alone, the Bill Hayes version made #1 on the Billboard charts, Fess Parker's version (the second of four he recorded) made #5 and Tennessee Ernie Ford made it to #7. I don't know how many times it's been recorded, but it must be close to a hundred. I have over 60 versions myself.

The Kentucky Headhunters did a great video rendition inspired by Beatles films, which you can watch on YouTube. I'd post it for you here on the Almanack, but it says "Embedding disabled by request", which I find pretty pissy. Instead, here's old Fess singing it himself:

Lester Dent in Black Mask: Angelfish

Lester Dent has been the subject of talk on Ed Gorman's new improved blog the past couple of days, and Ed speaks of Dent's fine Black Mask story "Angelfish". Well, I don't have many issues of that mag from its golden age, but I do have the Angelfish ish, and I think it's pretty cool that Dent got the cover.

The artist took a few liberties here. Oscar Sail dresses all in black, while this guy has blue trousers and a green shirt. Still, this is based on a scene from the story. Private eye Sail visits his client in her hotel room (not on a boat, as seen here), where she's in bed with the covers pulled up around her neck. When he pulls the covers down, he discovers she's tied up.

Dent's two Oscar Sail stories were his only sales to Black Mask. There undoubtedly would have been more had editor Joe Shaw not left the magazine soon after their appearance.

"Sail" from Nov. 1936, can be found in The Hard-Boiled Omnibus (edited by Shaw, 1946 & 1952), Tough Guys & Dangerous Dames (1994), and EQMM 11/53 (as "V Marks the Spot").

"Angelfish" was reprinted in Ron Goulart's The Hardboiled Dicks (1967), and The Hard-boiled Detective (1977), along with EQMM 6/47 and the EQ Anthology 1966 (as "Tropical Disturbance").