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John J. Malone #3
The Wrong Murder (Library of Crime Classics) by Craig Rice
There's the bet Jake made on his wedding day when socialite Mona McClane announced that she could get away with murder. Features socialite Helene Justus. Set in Chicago.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1940
31 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Craig Rice
102 books56 followersPseudonym for Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig aka Daphne Sanders and Michael Venning.
Known for her hard-boiled mystery plots combined with screwball comedy, Georgiana 'Craig' Rice was the author of twenty-three novels, six of them posthumous, numerous short stories, and some true crime pieces. In the 1940s she rivaled Agatha Christie in sales and was featured on the cover of Time Magazine in 1946. However, over the past sixty years she has fallen into relative obscurity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Ri...
Known for her hard-boiled mystery plots combined with screwball comedy, Georgiana 'Craig' Rice was the author of twenty-three novels, six of them posthumous, numerous short stories, and some true crime pieces. In the 1940s she rivaled Agatha Christie in sales and was featured on the cover of Time Magazine in 1946. However, over the past sixty years she has fallen into relative obscurity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Ri...
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
June 28, 2022
THAT ENDIIIINGGGGG, so good.
December 22, 2023
This is number three in the Malone series. And there is certainly a shift in from the first book (I didn’t read the second.). I read this as it takes place during the holidays. Here Jake and Helene are married. (I don’t know if this is a spoiler but they talk about it right away.). There is a bet that someone makes at a party about wanting to kill someone and then - of course- someone is murdered.
It reads to me like a movie as each chapter follows the next in terms of plot. And at times it can be a dull way to progress a story. However, once you’re at 1/2 way things are actually moving. It is fun to have a turn through various places in Chicago and there are a couple of ways that Jake and Helene shake a tail that is a perfect use of the “loop” area.
Fairly fun, though I did see that the there is a book called The Right Murder and that is a following storyline from this book.
Also, as usual, these characters could drink a fleet of criminals under the table.
It reads to me like a movie as each chapter follows the next in terms of plot. And at times it can be a dull way to progress a story. However, once you’re at 1/2 way things are actually moving. It is fun to have a turn through various places in Chicago and there are a couple of ways that Jake and Helene shake a tail that is a perfect use of the “loop” area.
Fairly fun, though I did see that the there is a book called The Right Murder and that is a following storyline from this book.
Also, as usual, these characters could drink a fleet of criminals under the table.
September 8, 2019
"You'll end up with more holes in you than a pair of 10 cent socks."
Now if I was involved in something that also involved Chicago gangsters and I was given a warning like that by a lawyer who's kept many of those gangsters out of prison, I'd be out of town on the next bus. But Jake Justus ignores the warning and keeps right on poking his nose in murders even though it means postponing his honeymoon.
Jake is a press agent who is currently without clients, which means he has no means of support. Today we'd call him an alcoholic, but in 1940, he's just a regular guy who likes to drink until he slides under the table. He's just married Helene Brand, the quintessential "madcap heiress" beloved of 1940's screen writers. She out-drinks the boys, tears down the Chicago streets like a stock car racer, and doesn't mind spending the occasional night in jail because she can make money shooting craps with the cops. The happy couple is having a VERY liquid wedding reception hosted by Helene's father. If I tell you that the apple didn't fall far from the tree, you know everything you need to know about him.
The reception is attended by several wealthy, prominent Chicago families and includes ageing madcap heiress Mona McClane. That's right. TWO madcap heiresses in one book! She's spent her life seeking thrills, but she has one thing left on her bucket list. She wants to commit a murder in broad daylight with lots of witnesses and get away with it. To sweeten the pot, she offers ownership of a profitable Chicago nightclub to the person who can pin the murder on her. Of course, Jake takes the bet.
And a grubby little man IS murdered in broad daylight on a crowded street in downtown Chicago. In 1940, there are no suburban malls and people who want to Christmas shop go downtown. The sidewalks are crowded and eager shoppers are jostling each other. In the noise and excitement, someone shoots the little guy and his body is carried along by the crowd. No one saw the shooter.
Eager to win the bet and collect his nightclub, Jake turns to his friend John J. Malone, Chicago's most successful defense lawyer. Malone never defended the dead guy, but a little digging discovers that he was involved in some very shady activities with some very dangerous people. And those wealthy, respectable folks who attended Jake and Helene's wedding reception turn out to have some dirty secrets.
I don't think this is the best Craig Rice book, but it's still a fine read. Jake and Helene and Malone make a dynamic trio. A quartet if you count George Brand, who's as daffy and entertaining as his daughter. A quintet if you count Malone's old pal Captain von Flanagan of the Chicago Police Department, who's dragged into the business with his usual grumpy reluctance. He hates being a cop almost as much as Malone hates being sober, but he's a cop every day and Malone is seldom sober. Von Flanagan's given up his plan to retire and buy a mink ranch. Now he's dreaming of a pecan farm in Georgia. Why mess with rodents when you can sit back and watch trees grow?
Of course, there's another murder and lots of secrets come out. It's incredible how many people had a motive for wanting to kill the dead guy. But when part of your business is arranging murders for hire, you make enemies. Comes with the territory.
Like all of Rice's books, this one races along, filled with antics and wild characters and witty banter. "I know what I'm doing." "You're drunk!" "I still know what I'm doing." No one has ever done drunk-with-dignity better than Rice's characters.
I strongly urge that you read the Malone books in order. This one ends in a cliff-hanger and the final solution is contained in "The Right Murder." Some critics have accused Rice of glorifying immorality, but she believed in justice as well as in Jake Justice. The stiffs deserve their fates and you don't feel sorry for the killers when they're eventually caught. Live by the sword; die by the sword. And in a wide-open town like Chicago, there's never any shortage of swords. Rice's books are pure fun.
Now if I was involved in something that also involved Chicago gangsters and I was given a warning like that by a lawyer who's kept many of those gangsters out of prison, I'd be out of town on the next bus. But Jake Justus ignores the warning and keeps right on poking his nose in murders even though it means postponing his honeymoon.
Jake is a press agent who is currently without clients, which means he has no means of support. Today we'd call him an alcoholic, but in 1940, he's just a regular guy who likes to drink until he slides under the table. He's just married Helene Brand, the quintessential "madcap heiress" beloved of 1940's screen writers. She out-drinks the boys, tears down the Chicago streets like a stock car racer, and doesn't mind spending the occasional night in jail because she can make money shooting craps with the cops. The happy couple is having a VERY liquid wedding reception hosted by Helene's father. If I tell you that the apple didn't fall far from the tree, you know everything you need to know about him.
The reception is attended by several wealthy, prominent Chicago families and includes ageing madcap heiress Mona McClane. That's right. TWO madcap heiresses in one book! She's spent her life seeking thrills, but she has one thing left on her bucket list. She wants to commit a murder in broad daylight with lots of witnesses and get away with it. To sweeten the pot, she offers ownership of a profitable Chicago nightclub to the person who can pin the murder on her. Of course, Jake takes the bet.
And a grubby little man IS murdered in broad daylight on a crowded street in downtown Chicago. In 1940, there are no suburban malls and people who want to Christmas shop go downtown. The sidewalks are crowded and eager shoppers are jostling each other. In the noise and excitement, someone shoots the little guy and his body is carried along by the crowd. No one saw the shooter.
Eager to win the bet and collect his nightclub, Jake turns to his friend John J. Malone, Chicago's most successful defense lawyer. Malone never defended the dead guy, but a little digging discovers that he was involved in some very shady activities with some very dangerous people. And those wealthy, respectable folks who attended Jake and Helene's wedding reception turn out to have some dirty secrets.
I don't think this is the best Craig Rice book, but it's still a fine read. Jake and Helene and Malone make a dynamic trio. A quartet if you count George Brand, who's as daffy and entertaining as his daughter. A quintet if you count Malone's old pal Captain von Flanagan of the Chicago Police Department, who's dragged into the business with his usual grumpy reluctance. He hates being a cop almost as much as Malone hates being sober, but he's a cop every day and Malone is seldom sober. Von Flanagan's given up his plan to retire and buy a mink ranch. Now he's dreaming of a pecan farm in Georgia. Why mess with rodents when you can sit back and watch trees grow?
Of course, there's another murder and lots of secrets come out. It's incredible how many people had a motive for wanting to kill the dead guy. But when part of your business is arranging murders for hire, you make enemies. Comes with the territory.
Like all of Rice's books, this one races along, filled with antics and wild characters and witty banter. "I know what I'm doing." "You're drunk!" "I still know what I'm doing." No one has ever done drunk-with-dignity better than Rice's characters.
I strongly urge that you read the Malone books in order. This one ends in a cliff-hanger and the final solution is contained in "The Right Murder." Some critics have accused Rice of glorifying immorality, but she believed in justice as well as in Jake Justice. The stiffs deserve their fates and you don't feel sorry for the killers when they're eventually caught. Live by the sword; die by the sword. And in a wide-open town like Chicago, there's never any shortage of swords. Rice's books are pure fun.
October 19, 2021
I really enjoy the books of Craig Rice for a few reasons. One is that I live in Chicago and they're all set in the Chicago of the 1930's or 40's. Chicago is a silent character with her streets as the backdrop to these dizzy tales of Helene Justus, a blonde heiress with a passion for booze, driving fast and solving crimes. Her boyfriend (and in this book new husband) is Jake Justice, a publicist who also is a hard drinking, crime solving man with a total devotion to Helene. John J. Malone, the couples' closest friend and lawyer, also a heavy boozer, rounds out this merry trio who stumble over corpses with disturbing regularity.
In The Wrong Murder the plot twists on a bet, made by another North Shore millionairess Mona McClane and Jake Justus, on the night of Helene and Jake's nuptuals. Many drinks are consumed, several bodies are discovered, gangsters are involved and Helene and Jake must postpone their honeymoon on the off chance that Jake solves the murder, hangs it on Mona and wins ownership of her Casino.
So much fun!
In The Wrong Murder the plot twists on a bet, made by another North Shore millionairess Mona McClane and Jake Justus, on the night of Helene and Jake's nuptuals. Many drinks are consumed, several bodies are discovered, gangsters are involved and Helene and Jake must postpone their honeymoon on the off chance that Jake solves the murder, hangs it on Mona and wins ownership of her Casino.
So much fun!
June 11, 2008
Marvelous screwball mystery, highly soused and always on its feet! There's an amazing pace to Craig Rice's work, and not just within the novel as well: The Wrong Murder and Rice's previous novel, The Corpse Steps Out, both happen in the course of a few days. One picks up right where the other left off. (And so does Rice's next book, The Right Murder.) More than just being entertaining, there's almost an apocalyptic decadence, as though the whole world is about to collapse, and these characters are trying to do everything they can before time is up. Its an ethos shared by many 1930s Hollywood movies, and it is no doubt the product of the times: prohibition (and its repeal), the Great Depression, the growing crisis in Europe, union clashes in America, and the growing debate around Communism. All of these are decidedly absent in Rice's work, as they are in most '30s movies, nevertheless they were decidedly NOT absent in the minds of readers at the time, and it is this aversion to politics that signals the greatest drive in the characters: the growing fear that their lives, their whole society, country, and civilization, is on the verge of collapse, and they have nothing to do. So--they drink!
July 9, 2013
Another good one from Craig Rice, the alcoholic mistress of the screwball mystery. This is #3 in this series, wherein a woman bets Jake Justus that she can commit a murder in public, with lots of witnesses, of someone no-one will mourn, and get away with it. The very next day, the newspaper reports that just that has happened. Justus, along with his new wife Helene and his lawyer friend John J. Malone, try to prove that she did it.
Many laughs on the way to finding the guilty party, and a sudden twist at the very end make this an enjoyable read.
It takes place in 1940 Chicago.
Many laughs on the way to finding the guilty party, and a sudden twist at the very end make this an enjoyable read.
It takes place in 1940 Chicago.
September 22, 2013
Craig Rice always provides a fun, tongue-in-cheek mystery that captures a by-gone era. So much fun to read.
May 3, 2016
read SOMETIME in 1997
June 13, 2017
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
May 3, 2019
Madcap fun, as usual.
February 24, 2022
Great
November 30, 2022
Always fun, don't know why this trio wasn't as popular as Nick and Nora.
July 4, 2024
Jake Justus and Helene Brand have just been married and are at a party, where Jake runs into Mona McLane, whose mansion they are at for the party. Mona is expressing her world-weariness and says it would be interesting for her to murder someone just for the feeling and experience. She ends up making a bet with Jake that she can do it and get away with it. If Jake can prove that she did it, she will give him the Casino that she owns. Well, the next day, a man who turns out to be Joshua Gumbril is shot to death at a major intersection in downtown Chicago (this whole story is set in the Chicago area), amid a crowd of holiday shoppers - it's just a few days before Christmas. Because of the crowds, he doesn't fall down right away and when he does the crowd is freaked out but the murderer has gotten away. The timing is seemingly right for it to have been Mona's deed. So, Jake is interested in solving the mystery. He has his pal, lawyer John J. Malone to help him out. So, there are all kinds of twists and turns, as in any great whodunit. It turns out there are a number of people who could have had plausible motives for killing Joshua Gumbril. And eventually there are other murders. And Jake and Malone have to deal with the cops, headed up by Officer Daniel Von Flanagan (who added the "Von" to his last name so people wouldn't think he was just another Irish cop). Book is a real page-turner.
December 31, 2019
Craig Rice is unique in the annals of mystery fiction
The Wrong Murder or The Right Murder, there is no one like Craig Rice - the Gods of mystery writers broke the mold after they created her - even if you discount whodunnit part of her books, which definitely falls into the category of “baffles the reasonably intelligent person”, the sheer hilarity of the romp is priceless, right down to the unforgettable characters and their names too - flossie, ogletree. Once I finish all her books, I am going to reread them in order. Five stars do not do her justice.
The Wrong Murder or The Right Murder, there is no one like Craig Rice - the Gods of mystery writers broke the mold after they created her - even if you discount whodunnit part of her books, which definitely falls into the category of “baffles the reasonably intelligent person”, the sheer hilarity of the romp is priceless, right down to the unforgettable characters and their names too - flossie, ogletree. Once I finish all her books, I am going to reread them in order. Five stars do not do her justice.
March 11, 2024
A Nicely Done 1940s Mystery
This is the third of Rice’s John J. Malone mysteries and, in my opinion, the best one yet. (I’m currently reading them in order.) Set in Chicago in the 1940s, it follows Malone and his friends as they try to figure out who committed a couple of related murders involving both the city’s lowlifes and its high society folk. With snappy writing and a well-constructed plot, it’s an entertaining and easy read. There are also some funny running gags and nice little character quirks that add to the fun. All in all, a delightfully old-fashioned whodunnit.
This is the third of Rice’s John J. Malone mysteries and, in my opinion, the best one yet. (I’m currently reading them in order.) Set in Chicago in the 1940s, it follows Malone and his friends as they try to figure out who committed a couple of related murders involving both the city’s lowlifes and its high society folk. With snappy writing and a well-constructed plot, it’s an entertaining and easy read. There are also some funny running gags and nice little character quirks that add to the fun. All in all, a delightfully old-fashioned whodunnit.
Read
April 25, 2020Ms Rice continues to provide outrageous plots and situations. Wile Malone is her crime solver and can fix anything, Jake and his new bride are as jaded as Rice herself and give us an unbelievable picture of a dysfunctional couple. I think I would have love to know her if I could have tolerated the smoke. It was very much a man's world and her female is able to ignore a lot to live likfe on her own terms.
November 24, 2019
Simply amazing and one of the best book :D
Read
August 14, 2022This one started out much slower than the previous one and didn't seem to have as much humor. The mystery, however, came together nicely in the end.
Read
September 17, 2022Madcap.
April 3, 2023
Murder, theft, sibling rivalry, and more fun told in an amusing voice by an expert narrator. All’s well that ends well on this interesting (and fun) jaunt
July 22, 2016
An ok crime book with a multitude of characters that were hard to keep straight. The first book I've read by this author. The plot was interesting in that the characters knew there would be a murder before it happened, which added some suspense. However, I didn't care for the main characters, and didn't feel like they were developed well enough. Perhaps, that would change with reading some other books by the author - this book's ending mentions "The Right Murder" as the sequel of sorts to this one - but I don't feel compelled to read it.
May 14, 2014
I may be crazy, but this adventure felt less wacky, and I like maximum wackiness here. And I felt like the author was figuring out the conclusion at the end, and had a harder time following some of these characters. But still good fun, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
October 9, 2008
One of the 100 Best Mystery titles, this is a fast-paced, Nick-and-Nora style mystery with a satisfying plot and a surprise at the end. Great fun!
September 28, 2014
Not Rice's strongest effort, but we remain optimistic for the next installment. There are some good driving scenes and nicely drawn peripheral characters.
Want to read
September 23, 2018Synopsis: on his wedding day, John Malone bets Mona McClane that she can't get away with murder.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews