Murder One

by Eleazar Lipsky

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Eleazar Lipsky was a prosecutor, lawyer, novelist and playwright born in the Bronx, New York, USA. He wrote the novels that formed the basis of two very successful films, Kiss of Death and The People Against O'Hara (based on his detective novel). Other novels include Lincoln McKeever (1953), The Devil's Daughter (1969) and The Scientists (1959), a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.

Reviews

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1948 pulp opens with a downtrodden woman waking up to find a friend on the floor unconscious. He's dead. She contacts someone who refuses to help her before the police are called and Esau "Easy" Frost, the Assistant D.A., begins his investigation into the murder of this dead man.

The book focuses on Frost making his case against the woman and once it moves to trial begins to think that this woman, who refuses to give any worthwhile information, isn't the killer. The book becomes much more psychological than I thought it would get, ultimately becoming what I thought was an early Law & Order episode.

The dialogue is first rate, Frost is a fantastic character, but the ending was flat. I didn't care for who the killer was and the motive. I'd love to read more of Frost, but in a different tale.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable, after reading a lot of pulp detective novels, i found this one refreshing. The writing is good, and story moves along nicely.