What do you think?
Rate this book
Judge Priest turns detective,
313 pages of excellent text. Two complete mystery novels in one single volume - solved by one of America's favorite fiction characters.
313 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1937
3 people want to read
About the author
Irvin S. Cobb
308 books18 followers(Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb)
American author, humorist, editor and columnist from Paducah, Kentucky who relocated to New York during 1904, living there for the remainder of his life.
He wrote for the New York World, Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, as the highest paid staff reporter in the United States.
Cobb also wrote more than 60 books and 300 short stories. Some of his works were adapted for silent movies. Several of his Judge Priest short stories were adapted for two feature films during the 1930s directed by John Ford.
American author, humorist, editor and columnist from Paducah, Kentucky who relocated to New York during 1904, living there for the remainder of his life.
He wrote for the New York World, Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, as the highest paid staff reporter in the United States.
Cobb also wrote more than 60 books and 300 short stories. Some of his works were adapted for silent movies. Several of his Judge Priest short stories were adapted for two feature films during the 1930s directed by John Ford.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 10, 2020
Would prefer a 2.5 star rating. Cobb can tell a yarn, but his ability to tell a mystery is basically to hide all discoveries and then do a long reveal at the end. Also, this book (1936,7) has not aged well though I would say it accurately portrays the racism of the time. And for a book set in Kentucky, I'd swear that Judge Priest was from a much deeper part of the south.
There are two "mysteries" 1. Judge Priest suspects something amiss at a hearing to approve inheritance to be split to two remaining family members- he does uncover a problem. 2. There is a kidnapping and murders etc... While the events are interesting, Priest gathers information that we don't get to see or hear. He keeps that all to himself. I was able to figure out what was going on in both of the stories and ended up being correct. But it was a guess made on standard "who benefits" the most rules.
There is a lot of phonetic dialogue, which irks me quite a bit so... if it doesn't bother you disregard this.
From what I gathered about this author was he was quite popular during his time. His descriptions of people and places are colorful. While I got this to read a mystery, it was more like following along a person who wants to figure out a crime (but we aren't allowed to see clues.) So, while Cobb can write, he hadn't mastered the skills of many other mystery writers of the same time.
I believe this character had quite a run as well and that there are a number of other stories with him in it.
There are two "mysteries" 1. Judge Priest suspects something amiss at a hearing to approve inheritance to be split to two remaining family members- he does uncover a problem. 2. There is a kidnapping and murders etc... While the events are interesting, Priest gathers information that we don't get to see or hear. He keeps that all to himself. I was able to figure out what was going on in both of the stories and ended up being correct. But it was a guess made on standard "who benefits" the most rules.
There is a lot of phonetic dialogue, which irks me quite a bit so... if it doesn't bother you disregard this.
From what I gathered about this author was he was quite popular during his time. His descriptions of people and places are colorful. While I got this to read a mystery, it was more like following along a person who wants to figure out a crime (but we aren't allowed to see clues.) So, while Cobb can write, he hadn't mastered the skills of many other mystery writers of the same time.
I believe this character had quite a run as well and that there are a number of other stories with him in it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review