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Danny Boyd
The Ice-Cold Nude
Cover art by Robert McGinnis
126 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
17 people want to read
About the author
Carter Brown
570 books52 followersCarter Brown was the pseudonym of Alan Geoffrey Yates (1923-1985), who was born in London and educated in Essex.
He married Denise Mackellar and worked as a sound engineer for Gaumont-British films before moving to Australia and taking up work in public relations.
In 1953 he became a full-time writer and produced nearly 200 novels between then and his retirement in 1981.
He also wrote as Tex Conrad and Caroline Farr.
His series heroes were Larry Baker, Danny Boyd, Paul Donavan, Rick Holman, Andy Kane, Randy Roberts, Mavis Siedlitz and Al Wheeler.
He married Denise Mackellar and worked as a sound engineer for Gaumont-British films before moving to Australia and taking up work in public relations.
In 1953 he became a full-time writer and produced nearly 200 novels between then and his retirement in 1981.
He also wrote as Tex Conrad and Caroline Farr.
His series heroes were Larry Baker, Danny Boyd, Paul Donavan, Rick Holman, Andy Kane, Randy Roberts, Mavis Siedlitz and Al Wheeler.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 11, 2024
Carter Brown generally has his private eye Danny Boyd work out of New York where he has his office, but in this entry to the Danny Boyd series, the setting is Santo Bahia in California. Boyd has been recommended to a local jewelry store to investigate a theft that the insurance company won’t pay out on. Poolside Plastics has sponsored a beauty contest where the three contest finalists are photographed wearing a custom made tiara featured in Elmo’s Jeweler’s window. On the day that the three entrants tried on the tiara somehow the real one got replaced with a fake.
The jewelry store receptionist is Tamara O’Keefe is a redhead with ice flowing through her veins and tells Boyd to stop harassing her and go find the tiara. Boyd is given a list of the three contestants starting with Louise Lamont as well as Machin, the publicity manager for the plastics company, and Rutter, the president of the plastics company.
What follows is Boyd trying to interview Louise but getting stopped by thugs guarding her door, a visit to Ritter’s office and later Ritter’s home where his wife Myrna purposefully draws Boyd into the guest bedroom only to be caught rather quickly by Mr. Ritter in a scene that seems to have occurred there on a regular basis.
Boyd thinks he found the missing tiara but it’s only another fake adorning a corpse in the shower. Nude she was a flamboyant painting come to life, “except for that bullet hole in her forehead. Now she was an ice-cold Go-diva—or would be as soon as the water was turned off.”
The beauty contest theme at first seems like a cheap trick to draw the reader’s attention, but it’s just a lead in for what turns out to be a complicated scheme. Boyd finally figures it out but not before the body count climbs to five, two of whom Boyd claims responsibility for. And not before half the town wants to run him out of town.
The jewelry store receptionist is Tamara O’Keefe is a redhead with ice flowing through her veins and tells Boyd to stop harassing her and go find the tiara. Boyd is given a list of the three contestants starting with Louise Lamont as well as Machin, the publicity manager for the plastics company, and Rutter, the president of the plastics company.
What follows is Boyd trying to interview Louise but getting stopped by thugs guarding her door, a visit to Ritter’s office and later Ritter’s home where his wife Myrna purposefully draws Boyd into the guest bedroom only to be caught rather quickly by Mr. Ritter in a scene that seems to have occurred there on a regular basis.
Boyd thinks he found the missing tiara but it’s only another fake adorning a corpse in the shower. Nude she was a flamboyant painting come to life, “except for that bullet hole in her forehead. Now she was an ice-cold Go-diva—or would be as soon as the water was turned off.”
The beauty contest theme at first seems like a cheap trick to draw the reader’s attention, but it’s just a lead in for what turns out to be a complicated scheme. Boyd finally figures it out but not before the body count climbs to five, two of whom Boyd claims responsibility for. And not before half the town wants to run him out of town.
October 29, 2013
I've always had a thing for hardboiled stories. I loved Raymond Chandler. I'd tried Dashiell Hammet and enjoyed how the story flowed but missed Chandler's social and societal commentary. I tried James M. Cain, reading his posthumously completed The Cocktail Waitress and didn't like it. I thought maybe it was due to it being finished and finessed by someone else. I'd read Japanese hardboiled novels and liked them.
So, now I turned to Carter Brown, aka Alan Geoffrey Yates. He wrote hundreds of books in various genres, including hardboiled. I'd seen a few of his books, including this title, at the Southbank Book Market in London but I didn't pick any up. My loss. Back home, I decided to give his stories a go, and started with this one.
I have to say I enjoyed it. The plot was kind of weak and the characters were developed only as archetypes of the genre. But it read fast and fun. The dialogue and narrative never held the story down but it also never left you feeling like you were watching a rerun of an old TV show. I think that the hardboiled genre is excellent research material for writers of all types of fiction. Pacing, word choice, and voice are almost always executed perfectly. No matter if the plot is weak, the sexism strong or the bad guys cardboard cutout thugs, it's a good yarn.
So, now I turned to Carter Brown, aka Alan Geoffrey Yates. He wrote hundreds of books in various genres, including hardboiled. I'd seen a few of his books, including this title, at the Southbank Book Market in London but I didn't pick any up. My loss. Back home, I decided to give his stories a go, and started with this one.
I have to say I enjoyed it. The plot was kind of weak and the characters were developed only as archetypes of the genre. But it read fast and fun. The dialogue and narrative never held the story down but it also never left you feeling like you were watching a rerun of an old TV show. I think that the hardboiled genre is excellent research material for writers of all types of fiction. Pacing, word choice, and voice are almost always executed perfectly. No matter if the plot is weak, the sexism strong or the bad guys cardboard cutout thugs, it's a good yarn.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews