8 Faces at 3

John J. Malone #1

by Craig Rice

Jake Justus and Helene Brand met over the corpse of Aunt Alexandria. So it was probably a good thing that somebody had decided to stab her three times and leave her to freeze into horrible rigidity in front of the wide-open window.

The chief suspect was Holly Inglehart, the murdered woman's niece. Jake couldn't blame the police for not believing Holly's crazy story about the dream, the alarms going off, every clock in the house set at three, and a murderer who made beds. When Jake set out to investigate, his first discovery was Helene, socialite friend of the Ingleharts - much too beautiful for Jake's piece of mind, and much too smart for the police.

Jake knew that Holly needed legal help, and he called in hard-boiled, hard-drinking, Chicago lawyer John Joseph Malone. And it came to pass that Jake met Helene and Helene met Malone, and thus was formed the daffiest trio of detectives to romp their somewhat inebriated way through '40s mystery fiction.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Classics, Crime, Humor, Ebooks, Mystery Thriller

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

Pseudonym 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...

Reviews

[Rob Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic (1939) murder mystery with a clever storyline that is light-hearted and enjoyable despite feeling rather contrived (though aren’t most plots found in this genre somewhat contrived?)

I’d heard of Rice over the years, so when I saw a copy of the first book published by this author at a local bookstore, I snapped it up; I’m always eager to experience the novel that thrust a specific writer into the public eye and to see what they did with a familiar genre to make it their own.

To my surprise, Craig Rice is a woman. Of course, many women over the centuries have written under male-sounding pen names, I just wasn’t aware she had done this. In my copy's introduction, Lisa Lutz explains that Rice was the first mystery writer to make the cover of Time magazine, so, while she’s not heard of much today, she was apparently quite popular in her heyday and hobnobbed with some of the glitterati of the times (Gypsy Rose Lee, George Sanders, etc.).

Eight Faces at Three sets up an intriguing puzzle from the get-go: an old woman is murdered and found by her niece who (in grand amnesia-trope tradition) can’t remember what she was doing during the hours before/during/after the murder and who becomes the prime suspect. Another crazy element of the story is that all the clocks in the house are stopped at 3:00 (a.m.). Also, someone had called the house earlier in the night pretending to be the niece and luring three other household members away on a wild goose chase for a few hours.

Plenty more mystery fodder is added along the way -- mysterious new characters, arrests, vanishings, more murders -- so the action keeps up a nice pace.

Among the other main characters is a lawyer/detective who, left to his own devices, might have pulled this book into noir territory. Fortunately he’s assisted (and often hindered) by a wise-cracking, heavy-drinking, chain-smoking man and woman reminiscent of the witty, fast-talking couples of those 30s and 40s cinematic Golden Era screwball comedies.

If you live in or around Chicago you’ll get an added charge out of this book as the characters zip around the city and the North Shore.

The whodunnit isn’t hard to figure out, and some elements of the howdunnit are pretty guessable; the whydunnit, however, mostly surprised me.

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real Rating: 3.25* of five

**PLEASE READ MY NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS**

A gallant first novel, written in the vein of Hammett's The Thin Man series, by a real-life Nora Charles called Craig Rice. (Is anyone else sick to death of having to make hyperlinks because the book/author search function is spotty at best?) I liked Miss Rice's turns of phrase, I enjoyed returning to a period in history that was always very real to me since my parents lived through it, and I'm a total sucker for wisecracking fur-wearing hard-drinking goodtime gals.

The mystery itself was rudimentary. I had only two suspects from the get-go and it was the one I didn't favor who did it. I wasn't willing to suspend disbelief to the point I wasn't calling out the obvious plot holes in my notes. But damn, what fun to go for a drunken car ride and not be expected to tut disapprovingly over it. That don't happen in this day and time.

These moldy goldy oldies are coming at us thick and fast as authors' estates realize they have a small window left where they can monetize aging copyrights. The folks at Open Road Media and Farrago and the like make deals for ebook/Print-on-Demand rights with agents and families for long-culted or -forgotten authors, digitize their backlist, and Bob's your auntie! All the stuff Meemaw and Miss Tillie the Town Librarian read in 1940 is there to tempt the nostalgic and amuse the jaded.

I got this on my Kindle when it was Early-Birded for $1.99 and, since I already knew I liked Craig Rice, felt perfectly okay about risking chump change (hey, $2 is 1% of my monthly income, and even *I* think it's chump change for a chance to get a book) on an unknown title. I'm not sorry. Well, not really. A little bit maybe.

See, the digitization process can result in odd malapropisms. The example that got me all on the warpath about this was when I ran across multiple instances of the word "foe" in place of "the." Now that's not even close. So I started doing that thing I do where I call out ever fuckup I run across. That is never a good sign. If the stinkin' file has pissed me off to that level, I am close to w-bomb angry. (Thirteen w-bombs in a non-romance book!!! I came entirely too close to an ischemic event over that and it still rankles. Clearly.) Out of 38 notes, 25 were malapropisms. And I didn't start snarking until I was 37% into the book.

Part...most...maybe all of this is down to the process of digitizing old books. Especially old books like this one, where the likelihood of a clean copy of the original publisher's edition being disassembled and fed into the machinery is small. The scanners probably got a paperback reprint in poorish condition, or a book club edition, or some other poorly printed artifact. The errors creep in on scanned books no matter what. And hellfire, I got me a $2 book, so I can cope, right?

But I can't help myself. I think, "Self, what if we'd forked over $6, $7, $8 for the full-price Kindle file and we had to keep mentally correcting the text? Would we feel all lark-singin' happy about that? No sirree, we would not!" Since I frequently agree with myself, especially when I have a good point, I decided to start counting the crappy proofreading screw-ups.

Disheartening.

Indie authors who don't pay for proofreading AND copyediting (different tasks, and both are distinct from line editing, which isn't a total overlap with conceptual editing, but hey whatcha gonna do) I comprehend. I don't understand or condone, but I do comprehend. But these reprint houses are profitable businesses. They should invest a good bit into making sure I, their fee-paying customer, have the best and most stress-free reading experience. I am likely not to recommend their product to others if they do not do so.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

As so often happens, I have to thank author, editor and lawyer Martin Edwards for directing me to a new series. Edwards’ most recently anthology, A Surprise For Christmas: And Other Seasonal Mysteries, features a short story by Craig Rice (a female author despite her name, which was her legal name!) that made me eager to check out Rice’s series.

Eight Faces at Three is the first in a series that features wisecracking, hard-drinking press agent Jake Justus and dour, disheveled, hard-drinking lawyer Joseph J. Malone. Justus describes Malone as “a lawyer who could get her out of trouble if she’d committed a mass murder in an orphanage, with seventeen policemen for witnesses.” That doesn’t prove an exaggeration.

Justus and Malone bear more than a resemblance to Rex Stout’s Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe, characters who premiered just a few years before Eight Faces at Three was published in 1939. But the plot was pretty good and the dialogue was snappy, so I didn’t mind one bit. Rice’s view of society is a bit darker than Stout’s (and there’s nearly nonstop drinking), and the stories are set in Chicago rather than New York; however, Stout fans will especially savor this book, although any Golden Age cozy fan will be pleased. I’ve already started the next in the series, which is a compliment in itself. Recommended.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a smell of death in the room, death and a premonition of horror yet to come, of terror unspeakable and indescribable, of blood, violence, and a world gone red and mad.

Doesn't exactly sound like a screwball comedy mystery thriller, does it? But that's... somewhat... what it is.

~ thanks largely to the character of Helene Brand, close chum of the main suspect Holly Inglehart. This series debut novel is said to be in the vein of 'The Thin Man' - but Helene, though she's never far from a drink, is a Nora Charles without a Nick. She goes stag in this world of murder.

She's actually more like Katherine Hepburn's Susan in 'Bringing Up Baby', even if her quips could be a bit juicier (for a more solid landing in Susan-Land). Helene takes next to nothing seriously, which could just be a defense mechanism but, like all of the novel's population, character development is scant.

Still, Helene is also out for a beau.

In the storyline, the mechanics of the whodunit are just about all. ~ which proves sufficient. Rice is a talented-enough writer to know how to keep readers teased in puzzlement. What adds to the 'fun' is that, when it comes to the murderer, there isn't much to choose from... so the Rubik's Cube of possibility is perhaps less than half the size of a regular combination.

~ which proves somewhat maddening... until things turn progressively preposterous... and then deadlier than they already were.

All told, aside from its more humorous aspect (which does set it apart), this may not be among the most original of diversions - but the discriminating mystery enthusiast may find little to complain about.

[X · Rating 4 out of 5]

This screwball comedy murder mystery was a ton of fun! I burned through it in one sitting - lots of classically dry one liners, the Jake and Helene show was super entertaining, and I didn’t quite figure out the motive ahead of time but the clues were there for those who like that kind of thing.

On Jake and Helene - this book was way hornier than I expected and I’m not mad about it lol, loved the running gag about how they keep getting interrupted right when it’s about to get good… oh, and her secret [redacted], and his bestie and close personal friend the [redacted] owner!

This book was originally published in 1939 and there is some not-great content/references/language re. fat people, Jewish people, and Chinese people, so be aware going in. Also, women are constantly being referenced to as “wenches” - not sure if that was a quirk of the author or a 1930s publisher substitute for bitch, or something else.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rice has been getting a bit of attention as of late. This is my introduction to her, and her Chicago lawyer main character, John J. Malone. This is the first of a series, and while he solves the crime, more time is spent here on his later supporting characters, Jake and Helene.
Chicago is a bit 2-dimensional, although I do like the cakes of ice along the lakeshore.
When they go on a group bender, I wonder if the places named were recognizable in 1939.
Lots of characters, so it did take me the first 40 pp or so to get who's who and what's what straight.
After that it just sped along - short chapters and short sentences. A litte too much of characters wondering aloud if this might have happened, or that, how about this?
LOADS of drinking. No, sex, but lots of flirting and implied scanty outfits. This would have made a fun Pre-Code movie! As is, it is compared to screwball comedies, and especially to "The Thin Man" series. Quick, witty - drunk.
I do prefer mysteries where we the reader can maybe figure out Who Dun It - but here there is some information not revealed until the very end (everybody in the library/bedroom for the, "This Is How It Was Done" scene).
Read as an ebook, some typos. BTW, listed as @250 pp - really it is 215, with the rest being taken up by chapters from the second volume in the series, and some info on the series reprinter, The Mysterious Press.
I've got one other in the series as an ebook already, so I'll get to it some day.
Nice Intro, and there is some question whether Rice was the ghostwrier for Gypsy Rose Lee - whose "The G-String Murders" I have an ebook copy of as well.
Great story of Rice later in life (she died fairly young), when she was known to use ghostwriters herself. She called up her editor and asked, "I sent you my latest, have you read it yet?" His reply was, "I have - have you?"
Fun romp.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty entertaining story and characters -- although if real people drank as much as these characters, I think they'd have been unconscious most of the time.

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! What a read. Of course it helped that it took place in and around Chicago. I kept wondering what town on the North Shore Maple Park was supposed to be. My old town of Evanston had one mention - when they were stashing a car on a side street.

A number of twists and turns. It starts off with a number of clocks stopped at 3:00 AM. And although people should have been in bed all their beds are made.

I can't wait to get going on Rice's next book.

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank Netgalley and W. W. Norton & Company for a review copy of Eight Faces at Three, the first novel to feature Chicago lawyer John J. Malone, originally published in 1939.

When Holly Inglehart is found next to the body of her murdered aunt and her fingerprints are the only ones on the knife that killed her she is promptly arrested for murder. Her neighbour and friend, Helene Brand, and her husband’s manager, Jake Justus, believe her pleas of innocence and engage John J. Malone to represent her. Together they investigate other potential suspects and other puzzles, like why all the clocks in the house stopped at three.

I enjoyed Eight Faces at Three which has a good mystery, several puzzles and a satisfactory resolution where all is explained. Obviously it is a novel of its time as many of the situations wouldn’t fly in modern times with its technology and forensics, but it’s a pleasant change to step back into an era where brain power solves cases and science is a bit of a dirty word.

The novel certainly gives the reader plenty to think about, notably who, when and why, and there are plenty of anomalies, like the clocks, to puzzle over. Some are easier to guess than others, but basically I didn’t have a clue until the most salient facts are revealed in the denouement. I would call it cheating but there are hints throughout the novel and I disregarded them, due to the distraction of Helene and Jake’s antics.

Omg, can those two drink. Initially their partying and repartee is amusing but it gets wearing as the novel progresses. Apparently Jake does his best thinking when drunk, as if. The series is named after the lawyer John J. Malone and while he pulls it all together at the end he doesn’t take star billing as the novel is told from Jake Justus’s point of view.

I found Eight Faces at Three an interesting read that held my attention with the puzzles it poses.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the perfect screwball comedy mystery. While I enjoyed the mystery and found the solution clever, it was the repartee between Jake and Helene that kept me laughing and turning pages. Written in '39 as I recall, there are a few phrases and actions that would be frowned upon today but are a product of their time. I'm glad no one tried to edit those out-- if we only see things in light of modern sensibilities we lose sight of how far we have progressed (or not). Anyway, this reprint has an intro by Lisa Lutz which was very good. A couple of the reprints have had authors being very critical and analytical of the book to the point where I didn't even read one because the intro made it sound dreadful. Lutz went with the flow. As others have gone over the plot and the drinking, drinking, drinking, I'll just say I could see the movie version in my head. Helene would have been played by Lauren Bacall, blue pajamas, galoshes, and all, while Jake would have been standard leading man of the day. Malone, the lawyer and alleged lead character, could have been played by several different actors-- including Bogart. This was a lot of fun.

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a first book in the series it is solid. You have three detectives of sorts. Jake, Helene and Malone. After reading a little about Rice's bio- I wonder if Helene is based on the herself. Jake seems to do journalism/or in this instance publicity, Helene (woman with money), Malone defense lawyer. There is enough alcohol consumed that all three should have died from it.

It reads like a movie and the dialogue is great. I basically started to have it play out as a movie when I read it.

A dream and a murder is where you begin; and the accused is a sure bet it seems to everyone but Jake and Holly, that Holly did the murder. But as the trio work their crazy way through the evidence and basically think more like the police than the police- you realize that all is not what it appears.

Is it fair play. for the most part yes. There are some reveals at the end that "wouldn't be revealed until the end." The mystery is good, and the humor helps keep it light. Also fun is that I know where they are in the story as streets are called out in Chicago and environs.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 (I seem to be rating a lot of books with 3.5 stars lately) This novel was written in 1939 and considered a zany, screwball mystery. Times do change, and while I knew which lines were supposed to be funny, I didn't have much reaction to them as such. It might be better as a movie.
In any case, it was enjoyable, and a pretty complicated mystery. I am planning to continue with the series.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Eight Faces at Three is a reformat and re-release of the first book featuring John J. Malone written by Craig Rice. Originally published in 1939, this edition was released 3rd August 2021 as part of the American Mystery Classics series. It's 288 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats in this edition. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a relentlessly lighthearted banter filled alcohol and cigarette-soaked mystery and the first book to feature Rice's lawyer sleuth John Malone. It's definitely a product of its time period and hearkens back to the days of witty repartee drawing room comedies of the stage. I honestly found much of the dialogue forced and found myself (after a while) reading the lines as if they were read by actors in a play which lent a frenetic quality to the banter, but did nothing for the narrative as a whole.

The mysteries, resolution, and denouement are pretty well constructed and satisfying. It's the dialogue and relentlessly, almost frenetically, witty writing which are somewhat wearying.

I would recommend the series as a whole to fans of period mysteries and republishing in new matching formats certainly saves readers (like me) from having to hope that they serendipitously find an old dogeared paperback copy circa 1940 which escaped being recycled in the WW2 paper drives, but this book in particular won't be for all readers.

Three and a half stars. It's good to see these lesser known gems from the American mystery golden age being dusted off and reprinted for new generations of readers.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of in the line of descendants of the 'The Thin Man', by Dashiel Hammett. Heavy drinking, wise cracking, detective couple + one. I found it mildly amusing but a bit too imitative, but worth another try with this author. A period piece for sure.

[K.B. Hallman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highly entertaining. Fun, likable characters.

[Angie Boyter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love mysteries, especially the classic kind, but I had never heard of Craig Rice until I saw her name in another book listed among luminaries like Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie. I was rather disappointed. The best part was reading a book set in the 30s that was actually written then and got all the details accurate, like only having one phone in a huge house.
It went downhill from there. Rice gets a bit too heavy with the light-hearted tone, and NO ONE could drink as much as this crowd. But must of it was just unbelievable. When the district attorney tries to arrest Helene, for example (I was not aware DAs arrest people, but MAYBE it could be done in that era.), she gets angry and slaps him! Then when he grabs her Jake hits him and knocks him out!! AND THE DA DID NOT FOLLOW UP WITH ANY CHARGES??
The ending was equally implausible in a number of way, but I won't say anything to avoid spoilers.
So sorry! I was really anticipating a fun read!

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked this book more if it wasn't for the basic premise that all people think better drunk. The author is proud that her characters are drunk most of the time, the police and authorities are drunk most of the time and the only sober person is the victim who deserved to die. I must not overlook the Asst DA who really only got drunk on one occasion but did imbibe sometimes just for fun.

[Daniel Stainback · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great read. There were a few times where I thought the characters were over explaining things, but they were drunk on rye so I gave them a pass. I'm definitely going to check out the other books in the series.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

The smart lines and humor are there--just hidden in the padded plot. I know I'd have enjoyed this more had it been a short story.

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The series debut first published in 1939 featuring lawyer John J. Malone and his two compatriots Jake Justus and Helene Brand. A fairly decent plot with lots of booze and screwy situations.

[Leandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

CW: racist undertones, a joke involving the R word, and reckless driving while intoxicated

Imagine waking to all of the clocks in your home having mysteriously stopped at 3 o’clock in the morning, the house deserted with the exception of your old, miserly aunt. But then you discover that your aunt is dead with a pen knife stuck in her chest. This is the living nightmare that Holly Inglehart finds herself in, and everyone – even Holly herself – cannot help but think the girl went mad and slayed her oppressive aunt for money and freedom. One person is certain of her innocence, however. Jake Justus, the manager of Holly’s new husband and band leader Dick Dayton, feels it in his bones that she has been framed. And he hires old friend John J. Malone, defender of the typically guilty, to save her from the electric chair.

I swear that with every American cozy mystery I read, I become more and more certain that these authors were just trying to create the wildest, most absurd yet hilarious, mysteries to ever exist. First I thought this about John Dickson Carr and Vincent Starrett, and now Craig Rice, born Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig. She is a very new author for me. Her novel, Eight Faces at Three, is the first in her John J. Malone series. The Mysterious Bookshop chose this book for one of its April book clubs, and I am so thrilled that it influenced me to splurge and purchase the Penzler Classics edition. There is so much to love about this mystery, and here’s to hoping my review does it justice!

Rice does a wonderful job setting up her readers in Chicago during the dead of winter. The icy roads and low temperatures do not stop this novel’s characters from participating in the fast life: benders, beer for breakfast, and serious hangovers. I swear alcohol in its many forms acts as an additional character! Naturally, this adds to the action and pure chaos that ensues as what becomes an actual squad of amateur detectives drive all around Chicago chasing down leads and participating in some shady business themselves in order to find the real murderer. Setting the mystery aside for the moment, I just loved being immersed in the time period with its big bands and scandalous newspaper headlines. We still have newspapers today, yes, but access to the news through our devices lessens the chance that you will buy a paper and see “HEIRESS KILLS AUNT IN THE NIGHT” on the front page.

My favorite aspect of the novel is its clever, eccentric band of characters...

Full Review:
https://greatgraydays.home.blog/2022/...

[Sue F · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun introduction to the John J Malone series…

I had read a few of the John J Malone books by Craig Rice, a long time ago, in tattered paperbacks from the used bookstore, and liked them. So I was pleased to have a chance to review a new e-book version of the first in the series, Eight Faces at Three. Oddly enough, in spite of the fact that it’s the first in the series, I hadn’t read this title before – I guess none of the used bookstores I used to haunt ever had a copy! And I found I really enjoyed seeing the series characters in the “early days” - especially watching as Jake Justus meets Helene, and also seeing the early Malone.

As Eight Faces opens, Holly Inglehart awakens from a troubled sleep to find everyone gone from her Aunt Alex’s house, except herself and Aunt Alex – but Aunt Alex is dead. Oh, and all of the clocks in the house are stopped at 3 o’clock. Unfortunately, Holly herself has the best motive to kill her aunt, but her fiancé, bandleader Dick Dayton, and his agent, Jake Justus, don’t think she did it. Luckily for Holly, Justus is friends with John J Malone, and brings him in on Holly’s side. What follows is a wild ride through arrests, escapes, hide-outs, clues, red herrings, assaulted DAs, and mysterious little men, before Malone finally figures out what happened. But figure it out he does. And, of course, as mentioned above, this is the book where Helene Brand, who is probably my favorite character in this series, makes her entrance.

Rice’s books have always felt to me like British Golden Age mysteries, amped up with some American jazz-age flavor, a big dose of humor, and a lot of alcohol. (Which latter I now understand better, having read the excellent introduction to Eight Faces written by Lisa Lutz.) Like all of Rice’s books (the ones I’ve read, at least), you have to suspend disbelief a little bit to enjoy the ride and the humor, but I’ve always thought that was worth the trade, and the same is true for Eight Faces as well. If you try to take it too seriously, you’ll sort of miss the point, but if you’re looking for a quick, fun, light-hearted mystery, Eight Faces at Three will fill the bill. And finally, my thanks to American Mystery Classics/Penzler Publishers for the advance review copy.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eight Faces at Three: A John J. Malone Mystery reminds me of the wisecracking movies starring Rosalind Russell and Katherine Hepburn in the 1940's. And it never lets up! It was more of a fun puzzle than deep thought, but the writing was clever, and the plot was unsolvable (for me, anyway). I did, however, become somewhat judgy about the amount of alcohol consumed by all and sundry. Maybe things were different in 1939, when this book was written.

Here's a portion of description regarding John J. Malone, the lawyer inhabiting the series beginning with this book:
"John Joseph Malone did not look like a lawyer. A contractor, or a barkeep, or a baseball manager, perhaps. Something like that. At first sight he was not impressive. He was short, heavy--though not fat--with thinning dark hair and a red, perspiring face that grew more red and more perspiring as he talked. He was an untidy man; the press of his suits usually suggested that he had been sleeping in them, probably on the floor of a taxicab. His ties and collars never became really close friends, often not even acquaintances. Most of the buttons on his vest were undone, and almost invariably he had one shoelace untied.
"His courtroom manner was spectacular and famous. It was hardly because of his voice, which had once been publicly described as sounding like a pair of old rusty gates swinging in the wind. His gestures were simple; he had two. He pointed a dramatic finger or pounded a dramatic fist. He also wiped his red face with a soiled and crumpled handkerchief every five minutes, or whenever a pause for dramatic effect was indicated."

Also, the introduction is by, none other than, Lisa Lutz, always a pleasure...

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long, long ago I read (devoured) Murder Ink and its sequel Murderess Ink. Back in those pre-internet days they represented a treasure trove of information about mystery novels not to be found anywhere else. It's where I first discovered Craig Rice, although it proved nearly impossible (without Kindle reprints, or Abebooks.com) to find any of her writing. One day, I hoped. I was sure I would love her!

And it turns out I don't. This book just rubs me the wrong way. Humans don't behave like humans, or possibly they behave like very stupid ones. Journalists wander all over a crime scene shortly after a murder is committed. Detectives reject the idea that anyone else could have a motive for killing an unpleasant old woman (literally, one character says something like "I think an outsider could have faked the phone call then come in and killed her," and the lawyer responds "but no one else had a motive," despite not knowing anything about the old lady, and (I'm making stuff up) her possible secret life as spy, blackmailer, bigamist, etc. Everyone drinks, heavily, and they seem to think it's cute, and they seem to function as if they aren't drinking, which isn't how it works—you end up cognitively impaired fairly quickly.

So I don't find it fun, I don't find it interesting, everyone annoys me, and I was relieved to decide to put it aside about a third of the way in. Even if the solution were especially clever, I don't want to spend time with these people while we get there.

(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)

[tortoise dreams · Rating 3 out of 5]

They say you learn something new every third day. "Craig Rice" was actually born Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig (1908-57) and as a child was adopted by an aunt whose surname was Rice. Now largely forgotten, the author was famous in her day and the first mystery writer featured on the cover of Time magazine. Which made me wonder how many other mid-list writers I've falsely pigeon-holed because of a pseudonym. Eight Faces at Three was Rice's first novel and the first of a total of 14 mysteries featuring hard-drinking attorney John J. Malone. In this first episode he's just one of three male leads mixed in with two female leads. Too many characters cause the story to be a wee bit clunky and there's not enough space for them all to be developed. Two characters will be having a lengthy conversation when a third voice surprisingly pipes up -- the reader forgot anyone else was there. Set in Chicago, the murder mystery is light-hearted and humorous in a Nick and Nora slash Thin Man vein featuring lots (and lots and lots) of heavy drinking and witty banter with the traditional big dramatic reveal at the end. The mystery takes a back seat to the repartee, which is only mildly annoying as the leads' detection abilities are minimal, with the characters often going over the same ground for pages at a time, not solving much but finding new confusions. The mystery itself is fairly pedestrian depending a lot on coincidence and the far-fetched, while the reader will be generally one step ahead of the "detectives." Determinedly average and mildly entertaining, Rice may have intended this for Hollywood. Not a necessary read but I'm curious about where the underdeveloped Attorney Malone went from here, so I'll be seeking out the next installment, The Corpse Steps Out (1940).

[Barry Rosen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Craig Rice's novel, released in 1939, has recently been re-published with an intro by mystery writer Lisa Lutz, which makes sense, as Lutz's comic sensibility probably comes closer than any current writer of which I'm aware to Rice's comedic flair. Rice, a woman who was forced to employ a masculine name to get published, writes in a manner reminiscent of the best of the Thin Man series, which featured the brilliant actors William Powell and Myrna Loy as society swells who solved mysteries while engaging in sparkling repartee. The mystery here involves a young society woman who appears to have killed her aunt, although her recollection of what happened is seriously impaired. Complicating things is that the woman secretly married a band leader the day before, and her aunt would not have approved. Rice's mystery solver is the disheveled slob of an attorney, John J. Malone, who is brought into the action by his good friend Jake - the William Powell figure who manages the band the accused's husband leads- who meets and begins an adult relationship with the accused's best friend, Helene. The mystery is of secondary importance, though, to the characters and the dialogue. There's a great deal of comic banter between Malone and Jake, and between Jake and Helene. It's all great fun, if perhaps lightweight fun.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written decades ago by Craig Rice (pseudonym), this witty book is chock full of secrets and mystery. Though I have read hundreds of mysteries written in this era this is my first book by this author. It was originally published in 1939. Not only are there many twists but also snippets of romance.

Following the discovery of a very dead body, some are convinced that Holly is the murderer. Her twin brother Glen, along with an unlikely legal team including Hyme Mendel, Andy Ahearn and Joe Malone are baffled. As the characters investigate...and drink copious amounts of alcohol...they wade through haze, lies and truths to find answers. And to add to perplexity is the matter of the meaning of "three". What is someone trying to impart?! Why?

My favourite parts of this book are the excellent writing and wit, sometimes causing me chuckle to myself. The significance of "three" is interesting, as is the title. However, the excessive drinking is a bit much and detracted somewhat.

My sincere thank you to Penzler Publishers and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this book...how wondrous it is to discover new-to-me authors! Kudos to you for re-publishing this Golden Age book.

[Mary Warnement · Rating 3 out of 5]

A madcap mystery that called to mind Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby as I read it, although the introduction (which I always read after finishing) makes a better comparison with William Powell and Myrna Loy of the Nick & Nora movies. I've never seen them, but from what I've heard, their drinking makes the comparison obvious. I felt a little woozy just reading about the amount of rye (among other drinks) put away by all our characters but esp the leads, John Malone, Jake Justus, and Helene Brand. Who is the lead? The series is named for the lawyer Malone, whom the introduction nails by comparing to Lou Grant. But we see most of it through the eyes of Jake. I would say Helene steals the lead as she does every scene she is in.

Craig Rice was a woman whose upbringing seemed to inspire the basics of our damsel in distress Holly Ingelhart. Abandoned by parents and brought up by aunt. One hopes the real life aunt treated her better than the fictional murder victim. I will read more of Georgiana Craig's mysteries, but I will need some time in between; my liver can't take the fictional drowning.

[Orçun Güzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sadece mantık gösterisi olan İngiliz polisiyesine veya maço Amerikan hardboiled crime tarzına mesafemden dolayı bir türlü Agatha Christie ve Raymond Chandler okuyamadım. Craig Rice'ın tarzı bu türlerin ikisine de girmiyor veya ikisinin ortasında. Bu romanı sevdim, çünkü esprili ve iyi kurulmuş bir gizem var; renkli tiplemeler, komik ayrıntılar var; profesyonel dedektif olmayan üç kişi suçu çözmeye çalışırken ucundan suça bulaşıyor; bir de tahmin edilemeyen bağlantılarla dolu bir final, tabii ki büyük artı puan. Her yeni olay gelişiminde bütün varsayımların üstünden geçmeseler veya bu kadar içmeyip biraz ayık kalsalar iyi olurdu; daha az konuşma daha çok aksiyon da fena olmazdı, ama sorun değil - mirasyedi Helene Brand, müzisyen menajeri Jake Justus ve avukat John J. Malone, yine de sıkı bir üçlü. "Screwball mystery" denen tarzıyla Craig Rice, kadın gizem yazarları içinde ayrı bir yere sahip gibi geldi bana.
(Tabii ki kitabı zamanında bir sahaftan almıştım ve "Acaba kısaltılmış çeviri mi?" sorusu okurken kafamda yankılandı. Malum, eskiden orijinal metni biraz kısaltıp çevirmek yaygın bir uygulamaymış. Sait Faik'in Simenon'u kısaltarak çevirmesi gibi.)

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holly Inglehart wakes up and finds her Aunt Alexandria murdered. Aunt Alex is sitting in a chair facing an open window with three stab wounds to her chest. It is winter, the story takes place in the Chicago area. Her brother Glen and Parkins, a family servant, are gone, having been called away by a phone message that Holly was injured in an accident and is in the hospital. But when they arrive at the hospital, they find no trace of Holly, so they return home and discover the murder with Holly passed out in Aunt Alex's room. The police are called, and Holly is the prime suspect, so she is arrested and hauled off to the county jail. She has just secretly been married to Dick Dayton, a band leader. Dick's business manager is Jake Justus who cannot believe Holly is guilty, so they contact the trial lawyer, John Joseph Malone who has a reputation for getting defendants acquitted. It comes out that Aunt Alex was going to change her will to disinherit - Holly? Anyway, this is where the story proceeds from with all its twists and turns. A great whodunit from the Golden Age of detective fiction - it was first published in 1939.