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Comaday and Cohen #1
Penelope
What do most women do when they reach their early forties, when their children are at college and their husbands wealthy and successful? Sit at home and arrange the flowers or work for charity, or live for the evenings, no doubt. But Penelope Hastings did none of those things. The evenings were no longer worth waiting for now that her husband, Vice-President of the City Federal Bank of New York, had become pompous and tiresome; and flowers and chocolates were just not enough.
No. The gentle charming Penelope, who looked so young for her age, devised a far more novel way of injecting excitement into the monotony of her upper-class life. She decided to robe her husband's bank.
Her adventure involved her with Dr Gregory Mannix, her text-book psychoanalyst, with Messrs Cohen and Comaday of New York police and with the mysterious Sadaba of haute couture fame.
Penelope's career of organised crime makes a riveting and a comic tale. She is a splendid creation and well worthy of her place in the gallery of heroines so far presented by Mr Cunningham - Sylvia, Alice, Shirley, Lydia and Phyllis.
No. The gentle charming Penelope, who looked so young for her age, devised a far more novel way of injecting excitement into the monotony of her upper-class life. She decided to robe her husband's bank.
Her adventure involved her with Dr Gregory Mannix, her text-book psychoanalyst, with Messrs Cohen and Comaday of New York police and with the mysterious Sadaba of haute couture fame.
Penelope's career of organised crime makes a riveting and a comic tale. She is a splendid creation and well worthy of her place in the gallery of heroines so far presented by Mr Cunningham - Sylvia, Alice, Shirley, Lydia and Phyllis.
246 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
3 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
E.V. Cunningham
35 books10 followersEV Cunningham is a pseudonym used by author: Howard Fast, and under that name he wrote 21 mystery novels plus two others, one under his own name and one using another pseudonym Walter Ericson.
He was educated at George Washington High School, graduating in 1931. He attended the National Academy of Design in New York before serving with the Office of War Information between 1942 and 1943 and the Army Film Project in 1944.
He became war correspondent in the Far East for 'Esquire' and 'Coronet' magazines in 1945. And after the war he taught at Indiana University, Bloomington, in the summer of 1947, a year in which he was imprisoned for contempt of Congress, concerning his communistic views.
He became the owner of the Blue Heron Press in New York in 1952, a position he held until 1957. And he was the founder of the World Peace Movement and a member of the World Peace Council from 1950 to 1955 and was later a member of the Fellowship for Reconciliation. In 1952 he was an American Labour Party candidate for Congress for the 23rd District of New York.
He received a great many awards between 1933 and 1967.
He married Bette Cohen in 1937 and they had one son and one daughter.
Under his own name he wrote 35 works of fiction plus a variety of history and critical works, short stories, plays and a screenplay, 'The Hessian' (1971) plus a book of verse with William Gropper.
He died died at his home in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, on 12 March 2003.
Gerry Wolstenholme
March 2022
He was educated at George Washington High School, graduating in 1931. He attended the National Academy of Design in New York before serving with the Office of War Information between 1942 and 1943 and the Army Film Project in 1944.
He became war correspondent in the Far East for 'Esquire' and 'Coronet' magazines in 1945. And after the war he taught at Indiana University, Bloomington, in the summer of 1947, a year in which he was imprisoned for contempt of Congress, concerning his communistic views.
He became the owner of the Blue Heron Press in New York in 1952, a position he held until 1957. And he was the founder of the World Peace Movement and a member of the World Peace Council from 1950 to 1955 and was later a member of the Fellowship for Reconciliation. In 1952 he was an American Labour Party candidate for Congress for the 23rd District of New York.
He received a great many awards between 1933 and 1967.
He married Bette Cohen in 1937 and they had one son and one daughter.
Under his own name he wrote 35 works of fiction plus a variety of history and critical works, short stories, plays and a screenplay, 'The Hessian' (1971) plus a book of verse with William Gropper.
He died died at his home in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, on 12 March 2003.
Gerry Wolstenholme
March 2022
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 13, 2022
When I saw this book on my shelves I did not recognise the author and did not know who EV Cunningham was. So I started reading and very quickly I realised that he was quite an accomplished author, not only did the tale grip me immediately, it was apparent that he was a fine writer. So I decided to investigate and to my surprise I discovered that EVC is a pseudonym for Howard Fast, whose 'April Morning' I had read many years ago (BG - that is before goodreads!) and admired.
'Penelope' is aptly sub-titled 'An Entertainment' and quite rightly so because it is just that; mysterious, comic, sad and with a cast of eccentric characters who leap off the page.
Penelope is a housewife in her early forties with grown-up children and a husband who is immersed in his work as Vice-President of the City Federal Bank of New York. This situation leads her to a therapist, Dr Gregory Mannix, who she sees her on a daily basis and with whom there is a close attachment.
During the course of their consultations he is surprised to hear some of her exploits, undertaken presumably to relieve the boredom, and when she reveals the really big one, he is shocked. And this leads to a variety of comic situations, that leave her life and her relationship with her husband in confusing turmoil.
And when Messrs Canon and Comaday of the New York Police get involved, her life becomes even more complicated and is worsened when the mistress of haute couture, the mysteriously named Sadaba, becomes involved when it gets even worse.
And then, to cap it all, there is a most surprising, and perhaps a little far-fetched, ending that makes 'Penelope' an absorbing, enjoyable and most entertaining read.
Interestingly, Howard Fast, who wrote around 35 books under his own name, wrote 21 mystery novels and his comment was after the first of them 'Sylvia' was, 'The success of that initial book, which was made into a film, was very pleasant at the time, and I decided to do another. They were far more fun to write than serious novels, and so one following another, I kept at it. That's more or less the story.'
Thank goodness he made the decision to continue!
'Penelope' is aptly sub-titled 'An Entertainment' and quite rightly so because it is just that; mysterious, comic, sad and with a cast of eccentric characters who leap off the page.
Penelope is a housewife in her early forties with grown-up children and a husband who is immersed in his work as Vice-President of the City Federal Bank of New York. This situation leads her to a therapist, Dr Gregory Mannix, who she sees her on a daily basis and with whom there is a close attachment.
During the course of their consultations he is surprised to hear some of her exploits, undertaken presumably to relieve the boredom, and when she reveals the really big one, he is shocked. And this leads to a variety of comic situations, that leave her life and her relationship with her husband in confusing turmoil.
And when Messrs Canon and Comaday of the New York Police get involved, her life becomes even more complicated and is worsened when the mistress of haute couture, the mysteriously named Sadaba, becomes involved when it gets even worse.
And then, to cap it all, there is a most surprising, and perhaps a little far-fetched, ending that makes 'Penelope' an absorbing, enjoyable and most entertaining read.
Interestingly, Howard Fast, who wrote around 35 books under his own name, wrote 21 mystery novels and his comment was after the first of them 'Sylvia' was, 'The success of that initial book, which was made into a film, was very pleasant at the time, and I decided to do another. They were far more fun to write than serious novels, and so one following another, I kept at it. That's more or less the story.'
Thank goodness he made the decision to continue!
October 8, 2022
This was a Very Good Story
It is hard to explain, but I really liked this book a lot.
James R. Hastings is the president of City Federal Bank. He has built a state of the art burglar proof bank. Three weeks later the bank is robbed.
It is hard to explain, but I really liked this book a lot.
James R. Hastings is the president of City Federal Bank. He has built a state of the art burglar proof bank. Three weeks later the bank is robbed.
February 24, 2025
What a strange little story. It felt more like a screenplay for a movie than a book. I disliked everyone and didn’t care for the characters at all. The ending felt like a comedic buildup to another movie. I don’t know- it’s bizarre.
November 20, 2019
Penelope (1965)
Frizzante anche se inverosimile.
Frizzante anche se inverosimile.
June 19, 2014
A quick and quirky read. The storyline is worth wrapping your head around once you get past the elementary writing style. The plot is quite good and 2/3 of the way through you can begin to make educated guesses as to where the story might end up going.
June 2, 2011
I liked the first half of this book. I was amused and interested to find out what happened next, but the second half wasn't nearly as funny or as well thougth out. The ending seemed silly to me.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews