The case book of Jimmie Lavender

by Vincent Starrett

Twelve delightful mystery stories featuring one of the Golden Age's greatest detectives from the author of Murder in Peking.From their headquarters in Chicago, private investigator Jimmy Lavender, with his trademark lock of white hair, and his sidekick, Gilly, tackle some of the city's toughest cases. Their assignments have been known to take them all over the country and even to foreign lands.Featured in this volume are twelve of their finest adventures from the 1920s and 30s, including "The Lisping Man," "Recipe for Murder," "The Man Who Couldn't Fly," "The Sealed Room," "The Raven's Claw," and "The Woman in Black." Prepare for all the fun and action as Jimmy and Gilly bring criminals to justice.

350 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

AKA Charles Vincent Starrett, or Charles Starrett

Vincent Starrett was a book collector, author, bibliographer, and a Sherlock Holmes scholar. He has been referred to as part of Chicago's "literary renaissance” and has written or edited more than 50 books of essays, criticism, fiction, biography, poetry, and bibliography.

Reviews

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many of these stories take place in the 1930's even though the book read was c.1944. And all but about 2 take place in Chicago. Jimmie Lavender and his sidekick 'Gilly.' tackle sensitive cases where they can get shot at but also can patter with the knobs.

One of the joys of reading this is knowing the city that this is the setting. They go to the Newberry Library (and take out something!) and they talk of a Mission near Congress and State area.... (which was called the Pacific Garden Mission and has now moved a bit more west.) They also traveled to some of the suburbs and also to Wisconsin- where murder awaited solving.

Some fun quick detective stories! Quite fun, not too serious.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A Story Goes With It" (as Damon Runyon would say.)

I'd never heard of Vincent Starrett until his books started showing up in Kindle editions. He was a crime reporter for a Chicago newspaper, but also the son of a bookseller. For twenty-five years, he wrote a weekly column about books. He also wrote mystery novels, poetry, biographies, and is best know for being an avid fan of Sherlock Holmes. If his stories are reminiscent of Holmes and Watson, it's no coincidence.

These stories appeared in magazines in the 1920's and 30's and were collected in a book in 1944. Only a very stupid or very lazy writer fails to make his short stories pay off at least twice. The detective is named for a Chicago Cubs pitcher back in the day. The real James ("Jimmy") Lavender was a tall, good-looking Georgia native. He only spent a few years in the big leagues, but he reportedly threw a mean spitball when he got the chance. He happily gave Starrett permission to use his colorful name and these stories are the result.

Lavender (always called "Jimmie" in the stories) has a sidekick, one Charles "Gilly" Gilruth. Lavender is a Chicago P.I. and Gilly accompanies him on his adventures and then writes them up. They take on murderers, conmen, and assorted bad guys. Sometimes there's a paying client and other times Lavender works for the fun of it. He's not averse to turning over his client to the police if the client turns out to be the guilty party. He's a detective, not a defense lawyer.

These are NOT imitations of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Lavender and Gilly use taxis, not horse-drawn carriages. They smoke cigarettes, not pipes. Gilly calls Lavender by his first name. Can you imagine Dr Watson calling Holmes "Sherlock'? Come to think of it, no one ever called Holmes by his first name except his older brother Mycroft. I suppose he had no choice.

I was struck by the friendliness of the police officers. If they aren't as reverential as the Scotland Yard inspectors toward Sherlock Holmes, they're happy to have Lavender involved in their cases. (Except for the one who turned out to be the guilty party, of course.) It's a great contrast to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, who got beaten up every time he encountered a policeman.

I reread one of the stories, looking for the clue(s) I missed the first time, but there were none. The "Fair Play" philosophy of mystery writing was introduced by the women who dominated British mystery writing in the post-Holmesian era. Christie, Sayers, Marsh, Allingham, and Mitchell promised to always provide clues so that the reader can solve the mystery if he/she is sharp enough. Sherlock Holmes' creator would have laughed at the idea. To Conan Doyle, the point of a brilliant detective is to dazzle the audience and Starrett patterned these stories after the Sherlock Holmes tales which he loved.

Starrett was a competent writer, but not an out-standing one. These stories are formulaic, but great fun. The author's goal was clearly to entertain and he succeeded. In the introduction, he thanks the editor who first published the stories and Ellery Queen for republishing them.

I like to imagine his astonishment if he knew that (decades after his death) they are appearing as e-books and being introduced to readers who were born long after he wrote them. That's the miracle of e-publishing. It gives us a chance to read not only the stories of Hammett and Chandler and Sayers, but also the many good second-stringers. I enjoyed these stories and I think other mystery fans will, too.

[Theunis Snyman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jimmy Lavender and his sidekick Gilly is an American kind of Sherlock Holmes. He solves various kinds of cases including a locked room murder which Lavender “solved” years before it was committed. His cases are quite interesting and ingenious.

I would have liked more information on the relationship between Lavender and Gilly, but perhaps that is dealt withnin the other collections of Lavender which I haven’t read. But in this book the two are rather flat persons and not much is said about their personalities. Compare that with the personalities of Hercule Poirot and dr. Fell to see what is missing.

Eventually I will try and find the other collections, because the stories itself is interesting and good. But at the moment my TBR pile is very high. And I must finish it first.

[Patrizia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Devo dire la verità, il maggior piacere nella lettura di queste brevi storie 'poliziesche' nasce dall'ambientazione nella Chicago anni '20, dei gangster, dei nababbi, del proibizionismo, del giornalismo aggressivo... Un'ambientazione tutt'altro che artificiosa o improbabile, perché sono proprio quelli in cui l'autore scrisse i suoi racconti e i suoi romanzi.
Questa raccolta contiene una dozzina di storie, ciascuna della dimensione giusta per una lettura di mezz'ora. Mezz'ora di gradevole relax.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very good. Apparently author was a Sherlock Holmes expert and has written definitive biography of Holmes. Maybe he should have stayed in his lane.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: twelve short stories featuring Jimmy Lavender including The Sealed Room in which a politician is found dead.