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Melville Fairr #3
Jethro Hammer
“Jethro Hammer” by Craig Rice (as Michael Venning)
“No one will get you out of your vacation hammock too easily, once you've started. … There are deftly drawn characters, colorful backgrounds and pungent, believable dialogue to round out this Grade-A thriller.”—The New York Times
"Breathlessly exciting"—The Chicago Sun-Times
From the jacket:
Once you have read the introductory chapter, nothing short of fire or flood will prevent you from finishing Jethro Hammer.
Once in a while, because of its eminent readability, a book emerges from the many to take its place at the top of any reader’s list. Jethro Hammer is such a book, embracing all the qualifications of top ranking fiction as well as embodying the spine tingling drama and needling action of the best psychological novel.
Will Donahue, blacksmith, was a simple-hearted friendly man who loved children, stray cats, and everything lonely and helpless. It was only natural, when the pale, undernourished baby was found wailing in a church, that Will take him to his home, give him a name (Jethro Hammer), and raise him as one of his own children. After Will’s death, his now fully grown family, selfish to the core, declined to cut Jethro in on the fortune the blacksmith had amassed. The disappearance of Jethro Hammer (which lasted twenty years), his return, his revenge and his death unfold with a dramatic simplicity that well makes felt the embittered strength of the cast off man.
[2013 July 31: completely re-proofed in-house
“No one will get you out of your vacation hammock too easily, once you've started. … There are deftly drawn characters, colorful backgrounds and pungent, believable dialogue to round out this Grade-A thriller.”—The New York Times
"Breathlessly exciting"—The Chicago Sun-Times
From the jacket:
Once you have read the introductory chapter, nothing short of fire or flood will prevent you from finishing Jethro Hammer.
Once in a while, because of its eminent readability, a book emerges from the many to take its place at the top of any reader’s list. Jethro Hammer is such a book, embracing all the qualifications of top ranking fiction as well as embodying the spine tingling drama and needling action of the best psychological novel.
Will Donahue, blacksmith, was a simple-hearted friendly man who loved children, stray cats, and everything lonely and helpless. It was only natural, when the pale, undernourished baby was found wailing in a church, that Will take him to his home, give him a name (Jethro Hammer), and raise him as one of his own children. After Will’s death, his now fully grown family, selfish to the core, declined to cut Jethro in on the fortune the blacksmith had amassed. The disappearance of Jethro Hammer (which lasted twenty years), his return, his revenge and his death unfold with a dramatic simplicity that well makes felt the embittered strength of the cast off man.
[2013 July 31: completely re-proofed in-house
249 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1944
10 people want to read
About the author
Craig Rice
101 books57 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 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 27, 2018
Not a typical Craig Rice mystery. Taken on its own terms the book explores the life of the title character, murdered early in the book. The detective, Melville Fairr, tries to determine why Jethro Hammer was murdered and of course who did it. Fairr had been hired by Hammer to protect him from what he believed, rightfully as it turns out, his own murder. Most of the book consists of Fairr investigating Hammer's past life and the people who played roles in it. The most interesting aspect of the book is Fairr's own conflict over revealing the identity of the murder. The choice he makes and why is the most satisfying part of the book. The overwhelming majority of the book however consists of interviews with Hammer's relatives and flashbacks relating to Hammer's life and these sections were not particularly vivid or interesting, with the exception of those relating to the murderer. An odd book with an intriguing premise and extended sections of dull narrative.
December 23, 2012
Third of the Melville Fair books, which were written by Craig Rice under the Venning pen name.
The Venning books, while mysteries, are also character studies and this book is no exception. The title character is the "adopted" son of a family who has taken him in but never made him feel a part of the family. The events are seen through the eyes of the various family members and we see how their lives have developed with and without money.
A highly recommended book.
The Venning books, while mysteries, are also character studies and this book is no exception. The title character is the "adopted" son of a family who has taken him in but never made him feel a part of the family. The events are seen through the eyes of the various family members and we see how their lives have developed with and without money.
A highly recommended book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews