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John J. Malone #5
Trial by Fury
A Chicago lawyer must save his big-city friends from small-town corruption in this “triumphantly rowdy” mystery (Time) that’s also “exciting [and] hard as nails” (The New Yorker).
When club owner Jake Justus and his wife, Helene, flee a sweltering Chicago summer for rural Jackson County, Wisconsin, they expect sweet-as-apple-pie locals and calm lakes for fishing. Instead, they become the bait: When the town’s two-term senator is shot to death, Jake and Helene are held as material witnesses—and, if the fathead sheriff has anything to say about it, suspects.
Attorney John J. Malone comes to help out his friends, but in a town where everybody knows everybody—be it by blood, sex, or church socials—only out-of-town strangers are fit to be accused. Oh yeah? So what’s their motive for the second murder? Or the third? And the fourth? To find out, Malone will turn Jackson County upside down—with pleasure—and give it a good shake. It might be easier than finding a decent bar!
“The Dorothy Parker of detective fiction” is back with the unbeatable trio of sharp-witted attorney John J. Malone and snarky high-society couple Jake and Helene (William Ruehlmann).
Trial by Fury is the 5th book in the John J. Malone Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
When club owner Jake Justus and his wife, Helene, flee a sweltering Chicago summer for rural Jackson County, Wisconsin, they expect sweet-as-apple-pie locals and calm lakes for fishing. Instead, they become the bait: When the town’s two-term senator is shot to death, Jake and Helene are held as material witnesses—and, if the fathead sheriff has anything to say about it, suspects.
Attorney John J. Malone comes to help out his friends, but in a town where everybody knows everybody—be it by blood, sex, or church socials—only out-of-town strangers are fit to be accused. Oh yeah? So what’s their motive for the second murder? Or the third? And the fourth? To find out, Malone will turn Jackson County upside down—with pleasure—and give it a good shake. It might be easier than finding a decent bar!
“The Dorothy Parker of detective fiction” is back with the unbeatable trio of sharp-witted attorney John J. Malone and snarky high-society couple Jake and Helene (William Ruehlmann).
Trial by Fury is the 5th book in the John J. Malone Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
209 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1941
18 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
About the author
Craig Rice
103 books56 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 9, 2020
A delightfully silly novel, one of many involving lawyer John J. Malone and his friends Helene and Jake Justus. This is the first of the series I read; you don't need to know much about the characters. They are all one-dimensional anyway. Malone is a hard-drinkin', cigar smokin' lawyer, but he is neither a fast talker nor a shyster. Imagine Perry Mason, Paul Drake, and Otis the Town Drunk rolled into one. Jake Justus, by nature of his good looks and flaming temper, is a magnet for trouble. When he is picked up by a small town sheriff in connection with the murder of a senator, Helene calls for Malone. A minister friend of my father used to say: "God may created civilization but the devil created the small town." That line fits Jackson, Wisconsin to a T. Usually comic romps like this turn me off. They are too arch by half. Rice is too good a writer though. One chapter, in which Malone searches for Jake in the company of a bloodhound named Hercules, is flawlessly written and rather poignant. Malone finds that he is able to have a satisfactory conversation with Hercules, fueled by gin of course.
February 16, 2016
Written in 1941, I enjoyed this novel a great deal. Ms. Rice can certainly write. Serious and humorous, sometimes a little corny but I think that was to do more with the age of the novel. She isn't Raymond Chandler, the darkness isn't there. But this story had me guessing to the last few pages. I will certainly look out for more by her in junk shops, charity shops and car boot sales. I suggest you do the same.
July 11, 2024
Written in 1941, this book reflects its times. Jake and Helene Justus have gone north from Chicago up to Jackson, Wisconsin. They wanted to have a relaxing vacation and go fishing, so they stop in the county courthouse to buy fishing licenses. They meet the janitor, Harvey Button, familiarly known as "Buttonholes" who shows them around the building and then ex-Senator Gerald Peveley is shot to death, his body falling down the stairs. Sheriff Marvin Kling, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, decides to arrest Jake as the most obvious suspect. Helene contacts their lawyer friend, John Joseph Malone, who comes out from Chicago and gets Jake out. But the mystery remains, who killed the ex-Senator? And eventually there are more murders. A bomb goes off in a bank, killing a teller (there were no ATMs in those days). Malone, in spite of not wishing to be involved with investigating a small-town murder and just wanting to go home to Chicago, nevertheless can't just abandon his friends. He discovers all kinds of secrets that this small town has and how they impact his understanding of the murders, who was involved and why. Book is a real page-turner from the golden age of mid-20th century mysteries. The author, Craig Rice, was a one of the accomplished women mystery writers of that era and died in 1957.
August 14, 2024
This 1941 mystery is the fifth in the series of Chicago lawyer John Malone and takes place in a small town called Jackson, Wisconsin, where Malone is called to help his two friends Jake and Helene Justus, who are involved as witnesses and also as suspects in a murder case. Then there are other murders, but often the situations in which the three are involved are laughable, especially if the caretaker Buttonholes or the sheriff Kling are present. The dog Hercules arrives almost at the end of the book but I would say he is important 😄. The story takes place in August and everyone is always very hot and sweaty so it would be better not to read the book in the summer when it is 40 degrees.
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July 10, 2023I didn't enjoy this one as much because I was still trying to wrap my mind around the concept of Jake and Helene wanting to go fishing. There had to be a better excuse to get them into the courthouse.
Anyhow, Malone and his bloodhound more than make up for that. More screwball noir, and I ain't mad at it.
Anyhow, Malone and his bloodhound more than make up for that. More screwball noir, and I ain't mad at it.
Read
September 24, 2022Silly.
March 6, 2021
This is a 1941 book by American author Craig Rice and is the 5th book in her Chicago criminal defense lawyer and amateur detective John J. Malone series. The series is half hard-boiled crime story and half screwball comedy. The writing is witty and the book is quite a good laugh. The story also moves very fast and the plot is very complex and interesting.
Spoiler Alert. The setting of this book is in a hot August in 1941 in a small town called Jackson in Wisconsin. While Malone’s good friends Jake and Helene Justus were travelling in Wisconsin, they visited the Jackson County Courthouse to get a fishing license. While they were there, the prominent and rich ex-Senator Gerald Peveley was shot dead in the courthouse. Being the only strangers in town and with a hot temper, Jake immediately became a suspect. After Jake was put in jail for assaulting a sheriff deputy, Helene convinced Malone to travel to Wisconsin to help, given the total incompetence of the sheriff in the small town and their prejudices against city slickers. As Malone looks into the case, he discovered there are a lot of family secrets in the small town and there are various currents and cross currents at work. Soon after Malone arrived, there were additional murders. Before the case was solved, there had been four murders and one attempted murder committed by the same person, all using different weapons and methods: Senator Peveley was shot with a gun; bank teller Magnus Linkermann was killed with a bomb; town rebel Cora Belle Fromm was strangled with a bath towel, old spinster Ellen McGowan had her throat cut with a knife; and Jake himself was almost killed when he was set up by the murderer who incited a lynch mob against him.
What happened was years ago a Harold McGowan embezzled $20,000 of school board funds while in charge of the school board. Later Harold died of a heart attack. His daughter Ellen McGowan, a very proud and competent woman, knew that if Harold’s sudden death is known, an audit will be triggered when a new person takes over the position. So Ellen secretly buried Harold in the family house basement and covered it with concrete. She then took over Harold’s position by claiming she is just helping her father when Harold is visiting California for health reasons. After she is secure in her position, she then announced Harold has died in California. In the meantime, Ellen embezzled $20,000 herself and covered the shortfall of her father’s account. However, her plan was discovered by county treasurer Alvin Goudge. Alvin then blackmailed Ellen to embezzle more money. In the end, the total embezzled amount was $76,000, most were paid to Alvin. When Ellen’s brother Luke McGowan told his friend Cora Belle Fromm about his helping pour concrete in the basement of Harold’s home, Cora, who is a very smart woman, figured out Harold is dead and Ellen is embezzling money. Cora then told Senator Peveley her suspicion, which caused the Senator to call Alvin to demand to see the books. Alvin, afraid his blackmail and embezzlement scheme would be discovered, shot the Senator in an ingenious scheme. Then, Alvin put a bomb in the bank where the school funds records are kept so as to destroy the records. Unfortunately, he killed a bank teller in the process. Since Cora the story about Harold’s death, Alvin has to kill her as well. Finally, afraid Ellen McGowan might confess to the embezzlement, Alvin killed her as well. Having committed four murders, Alvin needs a scapegoat. So, he devised an ingenious plan. He inflamed public sentiment and formed a Citizens Anticrime Committee and demanded police do something to stop the series of murders. He also secretly convinced Jake to hide out in place only Alvin knows about to ride out the mob sentiment, who are getting suspicious about Jake since he is an outsider. After Jake has disappeared, Alvin used that against Jake and convinced the town people that Jake must be the murderer who has gone into hiding. He then leaked Jake’s hiding place to an incensed mob and have them firebomb and attack Jake’s hideout, hoping that Jake would be killed. Ultimately, Malone arrived just in time and saved Jake and solved all the murders. The title of the book, Trial by Fury, is probably a word play on the lynch mob that tried to be judge, jury and executioner on the outsider Jake.
Spoiler Alert. The setting of this book is in a hot August in 1941 in a small town called Jackson in Wisconsin. While Malone’s good friends Jake and Helene Justus were travelling in Wisconsin, they visited the Jackson County Courthouse to get a fishing license. While they were there, the prominent and rich ex-Senator Gerald Peveley was shot dead in the courthouse. Being the only strangers in town and with a hot temper, Jake immediately became a suspect. After Jake was put in jail for assaulting a sheriff deputy, Helene convinced Malone to travel to Wisconsin to help, given the total incompetence of the sheriff in the small town and their prejudices against city slickers. As Malone looks into the case, he discovered there are a lot of family secrets in the small town and there are various currents and cross currents at work. Soon after Malone arrived, there were additional murders. Before the case was solved, there had been four murders and one attempted murder committed by the same person, all using different weapons and methods: Senator Peveley was shot with a gun; bank teller Magnus Linkermann was killed with a bomb; town rebel Cora Belle Fromm was strangled with a bath towel, old spinster Ellen McGowan had her throat cut with a knife; and Jake himself was almost killed when he was set up by the murderer who incited a lynch mob against him.
What happened was years ago a Harold McGowan embezzled $20,000 of school board funds while in charge of the school board. Later Harold died of a heart attack. His daughter Ellen McGowan, a very proud and competent woman, knew that if Harold’s sudden death is known, an audit will be triggered when a new person takes over the position. So Ellen secretly buried Harold in the family house basement and covered it with concrete. She then took over Harold’s position by claiming she is just helping her father when Harold is visiting California for health reasons. After she is secure in her position, she then announced Harold has died in California. In the meantime, Ellen embezzled $20,000 herself and covered the shortfall of her father’s account. However, her plan was discovered by county treasurer Alvin Goudge. Alvin then blackmailed Ellen to embezzle more money. In the end, the total embezzled amount was $76,000, most were paid to Alvin. When Ellen’s brother Luke McGowan told his friend Cora Belle Fromm about his helping pour concrete in the basement of Harold’s home, Cora, who is a very smart woman, figured out Harold is dead and Ellen is embezzling money. Cora then told Senator Peveley her suspicion, which caused the Senator to call Alvin to demand to see the books. Alvin, afraid his blackmail and embezzlement scheme would be discovered, shot the Senator in an ingenious scheme. Then, Alvin put a bomb in the bank where the school funds records are kept so as to destroy the records. Unfortunately, he killed a bank teller in the process. Since Cora the story about Harold’s death, Alvin has to kill her as well. Finally, afraid Ellen McGowan might confess to the embezzlement, Alvin killed her as well. Having committed four murders, Alvin needs a scapegoat. So, he devised an ingenious plan. He inflamed public sentiment and formed a Citizens Anticrime Committee and demanded police do something to stop the series of murders. He also secretly convinced Jake to hide out in place only Alvin knows about to ride out the mob sentiment, who are getting suspicious about Jake since he is an outsider. After Jake has disappeared, Alvin used that against Jake and convinced the town people that Jake must be the murderer who has gone into hiding. He then leaked Jake’s hiding place to an incensed mob and have them firebomb and attack Jake’s hideout, hoping that Jake would be killed. Ultimately, Malone arrived just in time and saved Jake and solved all the murders. The title of the book, Trial by Fury, is probably a word play on the lynch mob that tried to be judge, jury and executioner on the outsider Jake.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2022
A Cheesehead lynch mob?
In this fifth book in the John J. Malone series, it’s early 1941 and WWII is merely a dark cloud on the horizon. Jake Justus and wife Helene have driven to rural Wisconsin to fish, Helene togged out in her usual assortment of expensive, fashionable clothes. They’ve stopped at the county courthouse to pick up licenses and are waiting out a summer storm. Before the storm abates, a body with a bullet in it comes tumbling down the stairs and suddenly all eyes are on Jake as the prime suspect for a murder.
Chicago-bred Helene is flummoxed, but Jake was raised in a tiny burg in Iowa and is well versed in small-town suspicion of “strangers.” The reasoning goes: There hasn’t been a murder here for 32 years. This stranger pulls in and someone gets shot. Arrest him." Simple logic, right?
Before you can say “false arrest”, their friend John J. Malone is on the bus to Jackson, Wisconsin. After all, Malone has kept many a Chicago criminal out of prison. Dealing with small town officials should be a cinch.
He reckons without the town’s cast of eccentric characters, including the late, unlamented Senator who took a bullet and then a fall. He was an unpleasant man and cordially disliked by everyone, including his wildcat of a daughter. She’s engaged to the town District Attorney, a likable young guy with a dangerous habit of romancing several women at a time.
The Senator also had a brother, whom Malone regards as the most suspicious man in town. Harvey Peveley is convinced that it’s still 1929, that Hoover is President, and (horrors!) that Prohibition is still in force. Malone hated Prohibition and he's not up for a rehash.
The sheriff isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he knows he’s facing election in a few months and he’s reluctant to offend a voter by arresting him or her for murder, evidence be damned. A stranger in town is a gift from God and Sheriff Marvin Kling is not man who ever said no to a gift or a bribe.
Malone manages to convince the sheriff not to arrest Jake, but they’re all stuck there until after the inquest. Then the sheriff decides that handsome D.A. Jerry Luckstone looks good for the murder and half the women in town are ready to tear down the jail to get him out. Jerry gets around.
The skeleton from the local High School anatomy class is stolen. The town Good-Time Girl (a gangster’s ex-wife who’s moved back to Jackson to settle scores) is hinting that she knows who killed the Senator and why. Then there’s another murder and a bomb destroys the town bank. Some of the town fathers decide that the lawlessness has gone far enough and they aim to eliminate the obvious source - Jake.
The finale has Malone trying to track down Jake before the lynch mob gets him, aided by a bloodhound with a good nose and bad feet. It’s a hoot and rises to farce more than once, but ludicrous situations and witty banter aren’t all the book offers. Rice’s characters are may be exaggerated, but they’re REAL. They’re motivated by fear, greed, love, and old hurts, just like the rest of us.
Rice’s books were so strongly associated with Chicago that I wondered if she could pull off a small-town setting. I should have given her more credit. This is one of her best.
In this fifth book in the John J. Malone series, it’s early 1941 and WWII is merely a dark cloud on the horizon. Jake Justus and wife Helene have driven to rural Wisconsin to fish, Helene togged out in her usual assortment of expensive, fashionable clothes. They’ve stopped at the county courthouse to pick up licenses and are waiting out a summer storm. Before the storm abates, a body with a bullet in it comes tumbling down the stairs and suddenly all eyes are on Jake as the prime suspect for a murder.
Chicago-bred Helene is flummoxed, but Jake was raised in a tiny burg in Iowa and is well versed in small-town suspicion of “strangers.” The reasoning goes: There hasn’t been a murder here for 32 years. This stranger pulls in and someone gets shot. Arrest him." Simple logic, right?
Before you can say “false arrest”, their friend John J. Malone is on the bus to Jackson, Wisconsin. After all, Malone has kept many a Chicago criminal out of prison. Dealing with small town officials should be a cinch.
He reckons without the town’s cast of eccentric characters, including the late, unlamented Senator who took a bullet and then a fall. He was an unpleasant man and cordially disliked by everyone, including his wildcat of a daughter. She’s engaged to the town District Attorney, a likable young guy with a dangerous habit of romancing several women at a time.
The Senator also had a brother, whom Malone regards as the most suspicious man in town. Harvey Peveley is convinced that it’s still 1929, that Hoover is President, and (horrors!) that Prohibition is still in force. Malone hated Prohibition and he's not up for a rehash.
The sheriff isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he knows he’s facing election in a few months and he’s reluctant to offend a voter by arresting him or her for murder, evidence be damned. A stranger in town is a gift from God and Sheriff Marvin Kling is not man who ever said no to a gift or a bribe.
Malone manages to convince the sheriff not to arrest Jake, but they’re all stuck there until after the inquest. Then the sheriff decides that handsome D.A. Jerry Luckstone looks good for the murder and half the women in town are ready to tear down the jail to get him out. Jerry gets around.
The skeleton from the local High School anatomy class is stolen. The town Good-Time Girl (a gangster’s ex-wife who’s moved back to Jackson to settle scores) is hinting that she knows who killed the Senator and why. Then there’s another murder and a bomb destroys the town bank. Some of the town fathers decide that the lawlessness has gone far enough and they aim to eliminate the obvious source - Jake.
The finale has Malone trying to track down Jake before the lynch mob gets him, aided by a bloodhound with a good nose and bad feet. It’s a hoot and rises to farce more than once, but ludicrous situations and witty banter aren’t all the book offers. Rice’s characters are may be exaggerated, but they’re REAL. They’re motivated by fear, greed, love, and old hurts, just like the rest of us.
Rice’s books were so strongly associated with Chicago that I wondered if she could pull off a small-town setting. I should have given her more credit. This is one of her best.
September 12, 2017
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September 23, 2014
WHY HASN'T EVERYONE READ THESE? I think I blame the terrible reprint covers.
I want to be Helene for Halloween, except it never occurs to me to say things like "Is this a private riot, or can I buy a ticket to it?" Also, the hair would be tricky.
I did miss Von Flanagan in this one, but all the amazing Malone moments - particularly the Hercules bits, and lines like "One is a murder, two is a sex slaying, three is a massacre" - soften the blow.
I want to be Helene for Halloween, except it never occurs to me to say things like "Is this a private riot, or can I buy a ticket to it?" Also, the hair would be tricky.
I did miss Von Flanagan in this one, but all the amazing Malone moments - particularly the Hercules bits, and lines like "One is a murder, two is a sex slaying, three is a massacre" - soften the blow.
June 8, 2018
Felt a lot like a Thin Man movie or book. The MCs are slightly jaded big city hot shots trying to find peace and quiet in rural Wisconsin. Instead, they get murder and mayhem. Occasionally I thought it dragged a bit but mostly I enjoyed it. The whole thing is so convoluted no reader will figure it all out. :)
November 12, 2020
This was pure fun in a different than usual setting for our intrepid heroes; Jake, Helen, and, of course, John J. Malone. Maybe it's because I've been reading a different series recently, with a much more serious tone, but this book felt like a tonic. Lighthearted and fast-paced, it was a pleasure.
September 23, 2024
Another fun murder mystery with Jake, Helene and John J Malone. Written in 1941.
November 20, 2023
Definitely more serious than the previous books in the series, still enjoyed it, and it didn't lose the weird humor.
Want to read
January 17, 2019Synopsis: Jackson, Wisconsin hadn't had a murder in 32 years. Then the Justus's are accused of shooting a former Senator. They call Malone.
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