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Ed & Am Hunter #4
Compliments of a Fiend
A detective scours Chicago for his missing uncle in this classic mystery by “a real pro—a natural storyteller” ( The New York Times Book Review ).
Young Ed Hunter and his uncle Ambrose, an ex-carnie, have been making their mark as private detectives in post-WWII Chicago, and one day their agency gets a call from someone seeking help. Apparently, the problem involves carnivals, so Ambrose steps in to put his expertise to work—and then disappears.
To find his partner, Ed will have to pound the seedy streets of the city, get involved with a fortune teller, and delve into an old story about an “Ambrose collector,” in this smart, quirky entry in the Edgar Award–winning series.
Young Ed Hunter and his uncle Ambrose, an ex-carnie, have been making their mark as private detectives in post-WWII Chicago, and one day their agency gets a call from someone seeking help. Apparently, the problem involves carnivals, so Ambrose steps in to put his expertise to work—and then disappears.
To find his partner, Ed will have to pound the seedy streets of the city, get involved with a fortune teller, and delve into an old story about an “Ambrose collector,” in this smart, quirky entry in the Edgar Award–winning series.
206 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1950
7 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Fredric Brown
816 books360 followersFredric Brown was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was one of the boldest early writers in genre fiction in his use of narrative experimentation. While never in the front rank of popularity in his lifetime, Brown has developed a considerable cult following in the almost half century since he last wrote. His works have been periodically reprinted and he has a worldwide fan base, most notably in the U.S. and Europe, and especially in France, where there have been several recent movie adaptations of his work. He also remains popular in Japan.
Never financially secure, Brown - like many other pulp writers - often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker, and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons.
Never financially secure, Brown - like many other pulp writers - often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker, and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 27, 2024
In this the fourth novel of the series, Ed and his uncle Ambrose, former carnies, are living in a rooming house in Chicago and working for an eight-man detective agency, hoping to some day open their own agency. Estelle, another carnie, has accompanied them to the rooming house and works at a local diner.
This one breaks from the usual pattern in the series as Ed, who is presented as the young and innocent detective, operates on his own, after Ed disappears into thin air. The agency received a call asking for a former carnie with a lot of experience and the call came from a Mr. Collector, Ambrose Collector to be clear. Uncle Am never made it to the hotel where he was supposed to meet the potential client. Also, the client was never registered at the hotel.
You can feel real panic in Ed’s heart as Uncle Am doesn’t come back that night. In between playing kissing games with Estelle, Ed painstakingly traces his uncle’s footsteps on the day he disappeared, hoping for one clue even as the possibility that he still alive gets dimmer and dimmer.
The one clue he seems to have is a throwaway line Estelle threw out when Ed initially wondered where his uncle had gone to. She jokes that maybe he was picked up by an Ambrose Collector, but has no idea where she heard it or even that it was a line in a Charles Fort book.
Nothing about this case – if you can call uncle Am’s disappearence a case — makes sense. But the guy who had the hotel room Am was headed to was connected with defending numbers or policy makers and we get – through Ed’s wide innocent eyes- a lesson in how that business – which dominated cities for years- worked.
It is an interesting read and a clue as to how Ed would operate on his own without fear uncle Am – slowly, methodically, and deliberately.
This one breaks from the usual pattern in the series as Ed, who is presented as the young and innocent detective, operates on his own, after Ed disappears into thin air. The agency received a call asking for a former carnie with a lot of experience and the call came from a Mr. Collector, Ambrose Collector to be clear. Uncle Am never made it to the hotel where he was supposed to meet the potential client. Also, the client was never registered at the hotel.
You can feel real panic in Ed’s heart as Uncle Am doesn’t come back that night. In between playing kissing games with Estelle, Ed painstakingly traces his uncle’s footsteps on the day he disappeared, hoping for one clue even as the possibility that he still alive gets dimmer and dimmer.
The one clue he seems to have is a throwaway line Estelle threw out when Ed initially wondered where his uncle had gone to. She jokes that maybe he was picked up by an Ambrose Collector, but has no idea where she heard it or even that it was a line in a Charles Fort book.
Nothing about this case – if you can call uncle Am’s disappearence a case — makes sense. But the guy who had the hotel room Am was headed to was connected with defending numbers or policy makers and we get – through Ed’s wide innocent eyes- a lesson in how that business – which dominated cities for years- worked.
It is an interesting read and a clue as to how Ed would operate on his own without fear uncle Am – slowly, methodically, and deliberately.
April 4, 2024
The fourth in the Ed and Am Hunter series by Frederic Brown, first published in 1950. Ed and his uncle Am (Ambrose) have left the carnival life and are working at a Chicago PI firm. Am has gone missing, and Ed, with the assistance of their detective agency and the police are on the case. The book provides a good sense of the nitty gritty of private investigative work. While they are working on finding Am, you learn a little bit about skip tracing. But you get a real education on how numbers used to work. The numbers racket paid out about 50 cents on every dollar bet. The payoff is approximately the same as today's lottery, except of course house money today theoretically goes to fund education, etc.
Frederic Brown was a very prolific writer of many genres, especially science fiction and mysteries. Up until recently I only had read his science fiction, but have been making up for lost time with his mysteries. I expect to continue reading this series. I would read them in order.
Frederic Brown was a very prolific writer of many genres, especially science fiction and mysteries. Up until recently I only had read his science fiction, but have been making up for lost time with his mysteries. I expect to continue reading this series. I would read them in order.
April 29, 2025
Compliments of a Fiend by Fredric Brown is book 4 in the Ed & Am Hunter mystery series. Brown was a prolific SciFi writer (not my bag), a script writer for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour tv series, as well as a masterful mystery writer. While not quite as good IMO as the first 3 in series, it is a captivating tale of many twists and dead ends— with few good leads to pursue, young Ed tries to discover the fate of his uncle Am -who has gone missing, sometime after 4pm, not returning home, and without explanation at the Starlock Detective Agency, where both work.
Ed Hunter works tirelessly with the agency owner Ben Starlock and Police Captain Bartlett to unravel the disappearance, but without success. Let’s review— “It was strange, somehow, to listen to her talking and to watch the flying tip of her pencil, to know that the two were coordinating; it was almost as though the pencil was doing the talking.”‘My name is Collector Ambrose Collector.’ —‘talk to Ben Starlock about a job I might want him to handle for me.’ - “he said he needed a man with lots of carnival experience, one who’d traveled with a lot of carnivals and knew a lot of people in that game.” — Am(brose) is ex-carny and now detective, so he certainly fit the bill… Ambrose Collector hardly a coincidence- but what the hell.
Writer Brown, through Ed, provides a highly methodical and detailed approach towards learning the fate of uncle Am, and discovering the people and cause of his disappearance. In the course of which, the reader learn the steps of skip tracing, how the numbers rackets work, plus some crackpot astrology and clairvoyance— but one dead end after the other.
I would recommend the other 3 books in the series first. Without a developed affection for young Ed Hunter, and also prior appreciation for the intricacies of Fredric Brown’s plotting -some might say common place in his depiction of the times and peoples of mid century America- I fear the reader will not make it through this case.
This reader did, and enjoyed the experience. That is all.
Ed Hunter works tirelessly with the agency owner Ben Starlock and Police Captain Bartlett to unravel the disappearance, but without success. Let’s review— “It was strange, somehow, to listen to her talking and to watch the flying tip of her pencil, to know that the two were coordinating; it was almost as though the pencil was doing the talking.”‘My name is Collector Ambrose Collector.’ —‘talk to Ben Starlock about a job I might want him to handle for me.’ - “he said he needed a man with lots of carnival experience, one who’d traveled with a lot of carnivals and knew a lot of people in that game.” — Am(brose) is ex-carny and now detective, so he certainly fit the bill… Ambrose Collector hardly a coincidence- but what the hell.
Writer Brown, through Ed, provides a highly methodical and detailed approach towards learning the fate of uncle Am, and discovering the people and cause of his disappearance. In the course of which, the reader learn the steps of skip tracing, how the numbers rackets work, plus some crackpot astrology and clairvoyance— but one dead end after the other.
I would recommend the other 3 books in the series first. Without a developed affection for young Ed Hunter, and also prior appreciation for the intricacies of Fredric Brown’s plotting -some might say common place in his depiction of the times and peoples of mid century America- I fear the reader will not make it through this case.
This reader did, and enjoyed the experience. That is all.
August 19, 2018
Compliments to the Author
“Compliments of a Fiend” is the fourth in Frederic Brown’s series about Ed Hunter and Uncle Am, former carneys turned private detectives. An interesting detective mystery, there is a good deal of realism as the first two-thirds of the novel portray the rather dull and unproductive nature of exhaustive and fruitless investigative work. The mundane interviews, retracing steps, searching for clues, and coming up empty, takes up most of the book.
There is a quirky assortment of fringe characters. An astrologer and a fortune teller are strong figures in the plot, and much of the story revolves around the esoteric writings of Charles Fort. There is only a hint of violence, just one dead body, and sex is only a suggestion.
Still, the characters are, for the most part, human and believable, and Brown does a nice job of explaining how the numbers racket works in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Novels of this era are a good reminder of the impact of technology as we see characters running around looking for phone booths, page boys calling out names, stenographers taking dictation with shorthand, and operatives combing through newspapers for information.
Overall a pleasant novel, though I prefer something more hard-boiled or closer to noir. Still, Frederic Brown has done a great job of developing characters in Ed and Am Hunter, as well as the others. The series started with Ed and Am getting together after Ed’s father’s death, the two working together at a carnival, joining a Chicago detective agency, and now they are set to form their own agency which I look forward to in the next novel.
“Compliments of a Fiend” is the fourth in Frederic Brown’s series about Ed Hunter and Uncle Am, former carneys turned private detectives. An interesting detective mystery, there is a good deal of realism as the first two-thirds of the novel portray the rather dull and unproductive nature of exhaustive and fruitless investigative work. The mundane interviews, retracing steps, searching for clues, and coming up empty, takes up most of the book.
There is a quirky assortment of fringe characters. An astrologer and a fortune teller are strong figures in the plot, and much of the story revolves around the esoteric writings of Charles Fort. There is only a hint of violence, just one dead body, and sex is only a suggestion.
Still, the characters are, for the most part, human and believable, and Brown does a nice job of explaining how the numbers racket works in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Novels of this era are a good reminder of the impact of technology as we see characters running around looking for phone booths, page boys calling out names, stenographers taking dictation with shorthand, and operatives combing through newspapers for information.
Overall a pleasant novel, though I prefer something more hard-boiled or closer to noir. Still, Frederic Brown has done a great job of developing characters in Ed and Am Hunter, as well as the others. The series started with Ed and Am getting together after Ed’s father’s death, the two working together at a carnival, joining a Chicago detective agency, and now they are set to form their own agency which I look forward to in the next novel.
June 8, 2017
The fourth case for uncle and nephew detectives Am and Ed Hunter finds Uncle Am kidnapped and Ed working with the Starlight Agency and the police to try to find Uncle Am. The case involves the numbers rackets, a beautiful lady who is in love with Ed, but who he may not love, and the hint that somebody out there may be hunting and collecting people named Ambrose.
This is the weakest entry thus far. Honestly, it's because there isn't a whole lot going on for large stretches of the book. And honestly, Ed isn't as interesting a character as Am...so the lack of Uncle Am is noticeable. That said, the book does a good job of showing the frequent drudgery of detective work that is almost universally glossed over in mystery novels, particularly those of this vintage.
It's worth a read, but it's a let-down after three good books in a row in the series.
This is the weakest entry thus far. Honestly, it's because there isn't a whole lot going on for large stretches of the book. And honestly, Ed isn't as interesting a character as Am...so the lack of Uncle Am is noticeable. That said, the book does a good job of showing the frequent drudgery of detective work that is almost universally glossed over in mystery novels, particularly those of this vintage.
It's worth a read, but it's a let-down after three good books in a row in the series.
December 2, 2024
A Different Kind Of Ed & Am Mystery
Usually in Brown’s Ed & Am mysteries, the nephew-uncle team of Ed and Ambrose Hunter work together to solve the case. But in this novel, Ed works alone (with the help of his detective boss and a policeman friend) to find his uncle, who’s gone missing. Since the novels are written in the voice of Ed, it works pretty well, and Brown is an expert storyteller. At about the 3/4 mark Ed tells us who the bad guy is and that the case is about to solved, so at that point it becomes more a suspense thriller than a mystery, but that’s fine. One side note: the works of a writer named Charles Fort are referenced and play a part in the story, and he was a real person who likely influenced Brown’s science fiction work. Also, Brown references one of his own science fiction short stories, Pi In The Sky, toward the end of the book. Overall, a pleasantly diverting mystery.
Usually in Brown’s Ed & Am mysteries, the nephew-uncle team of Ed and Ambrose Hunter work together to solve the case. But in this novel, Ed works alone (with the help of his detective boss and a policeman friend) to find his uncle, who’s gone missing. Since the novels are written in the voice of Ed, it works pretty well, and Brown is an expert storyteller. At about the 3/4 mark Ed tells us who the bad guy is and that the case is about to solved, so at that point it becomes more a suspense thriller than a mystery, but that’s fine. One side note: the works of a writer named Charles Fort are referenced and play a part in the story, and he was a real person who likely influenced Brown’s science fiction work. Also, Brown references one of his own science fiction short stories, Pi In The Sky, toward the end of the book. Overall, a pleasantly diverting mystery.
October 29, 2025
This is the fourth book in the Ed & Am series, an uncle and nephew duo, trying to save enough to start their own agency. This time around Am, short for Ambrose is missing for almost the entire novel, Uncle Am has been kidnapped. Ed spends his time following up on Am's case log, hoping to find what happened to him.
This novel is fast-paced and self-contained and quite satisfying. I recommend this novel
This novel is fast-paced and self-contained and quite satisfying. I recommend this novel
October 15, 2019
Fredric Brown's easy-going, down-to-earth plotting and prose style walk us through another tricky mystery in the contemporary Chicago of the late 1940s. I've now read four of these early Fredric Brown novels because Stewart Masters Publishing put together an omnibus volume in 2002, and because my public library had a copy in the system when I went fishing for it. Thank you!
April 13, 2022
First of this series that I didn't care for, so-so, but I'll still likely give the next entry a try.
March 26, 2025
Giallo minore di Brown, insolitamente sobrio (termine da intendere senza metafore) per gli standard dell'autore, con atmosfere più vicine al noir tutto gangster e locali notturni che al mystery classico, nonostante lo schema whodunit sia fondamentalmente rispettato. Aperto da un incipit bizzarro in grado di catturare subito l'attenzione (il collezionista di Ambrogi), il romanzo possiede pure risvolti narrativi interessanti, ma nel complesso non appassiona, a causa di personaggi un po' tagliati con l'accetta e atmosfere non particolarmente incisive.
**!
**!
September 14, 2012
This book kind of killed me at the end, another great read from one of my favorite, under-appreciated authors. It's interesting, because very little happens in this book, it's secretly all about the characters, which coincides with past titles like The Fabulous Clipjoint.
October 7, 2012
First Fredric Brown I ever read, and the process of the detecting and the very eerie "Ambrose Collector" made it fascinating. I got it in UK Boardman edition from my grandfather many years ago.
February 26, 2013
Damn good hard boiled novel. I got lucky and found five original paperbacks written by Fredric Brown recently. Can't wait to read them all!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews