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Scott Jordan #2
Suddenly A Corpse
“Don't push your luck, baby! A pretty gambler like you would make a prettier corpse.”
The story begins with a phone call and a dead man and escalates from there with fast action and some very good detection.
The story begins with a phone call and a dead man and escalates from there with fast action and some very good detection.
225 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1949
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30 people want to read
About the author
Harold Q. Masur
78 books9 followersHarold Q. Masur was an American lawyer and author of mystery novels.
He graduated from the New York University School of Law in 1934 and practiced law between 1935 and 1942. Then he joined the U.S. Air Force. In the late 30s he started writing Pulp Fiction. In 1973 he was President of the Mystery Writers of America
He graduated from the New York University School of Law in 1934 and practiced law between 1935 and 1942. Then he joined the U.S. Air Force. In the late 30s he started writing Pulp Fiction. In 1973 he was President of the Mystery Writers of America
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 15, 2025
Masur’s Scott Jordan is a lawyer, not a private eye. Nevertheless, he seems far more like a private eye than an attorney right down to being handy with his dusts and trained in judo. In this novel, and throughout the series, Jordan is rarely in the courtroom. Here, he makes but one appearance when he accidentally picks up a client accused of shoplifting at a jewelry store and comes face to face with how corrupt the system can be. But, with his client being a no-show, he doesn’t have to make a legal argument to the court.
The novel opens with a man coming to his office and immediately collapsing with a bullet in his back after telling Jordan to be on the lookout for danger. The police are reluctant to face-value accept Jordan’s story of what happened and his lack of knowledge of who the victim is: a Victor Grove, private eye out if New Orleans.
Soon thereafter, Jordan received a call from an eccentric millionaire Lennox Ainsley asking if he’s made any progress on the case and Jordan is thoroughly confused as he has never had contact with the old man before: “He was a shrunken specimen with sunken eyes and collapsed cheeks. A wafer-thin nose hung over bloodless lips like a linoleum knife. Allowing eighty pounds for bones and interior fittings, I doubted there would be ten pounds left over for meat. Wisps of hair the color of tarnished silver clung to the bony rim of a narrow skull. Except for his eyes, glitter-sharp and arresting in their sockets, you might mistake his face for a death’s-head. That, and the penetrating quality of his voice.” What a description Masur offers!
Ainsley, who has but two months to live, wants desperately to find his lost niece last tracked to New Orleans by Grove.
“It’s called a life estate with the residual remainder in someone else,” Ainsley admits. So when he dies his father’s money will all go his heirs which consist of an evil swindling stepson who is demanding early dibs on his money and the missing niece. Ainsley is so adamant the stepson not inherit that at one point he discusses how to lose it all in bad stock picks or to give it away in his lifetime.
The niece Louise has her own femme fatale problems though. It turns out she married and her husband signed over everything to her when he went to prison on an involuntary manslaughter drinking driving case and she took her time while he was behind bars liquidating all his assets and skedaddling off to who knows where. And now the husband is angry beyond anger is is days away from getting out of prison, having served his sentence and now has nothing to return to.
In between dating Ainsley’s centerfold-shaped nurse, Jordan is busy trying to track down the missing niece and avoid being bludgeoned by the crazy stepson. As to the nurse, he tells us: “She moved in the seat a little and her shoulder touched mine. It triggered a whole series of electrical impulses. Some girls can snap a G-string in your face and nothing happens. Others can raise a man’s temperature to fever pitch just by their presence. Carmen affected me like that.”
But things quickly reach a crescendo as bodies fall around Jordan and he is no closer to figuring out where the niece is.
Masur dies an excellent job at presenting this action-packed crime novel.
The novel opens with a man coming to his office and immediately collapsing with a bullet in his back after telling Jordan to be on the lookout for danger. The police are reluctant to face-value accept Jordan’s story of what happened and his lack of knowledge of who the victim is: a Victor Grove, private eye out if New Orleans.
Soon thereafter, Jordan received a call from an eccentric millionaire Lennox Ainsley asking if he’s made any progress on the case and Jordan is thoroughly confused as he has never had contact with the old man before: “He was a shrunken specimen with sunken eyes and collapsed cheeks. A wafer-thin nose hung over bloodless lips like a linoleum knife. Allowing eighty pounds for bones and interior fittings, I doubted there would be ten pounds left over for meat. Wisps of hair the color of tarnished silver clung to the bony rim of a narrow skull. Except for his eyes, glitter-sharp and arresting in their sockets, you might mistake his face for a death’s-head. That, and the penetrating quality of his voice.” What a description Masur offers!
Ainsley, who has but two months to live, wants desperately to find his lost niece last tracked to New Orleans by Grove.
“It’s called a life estate with the residual remainder in someone else,” Ainsley admits. So when he dies his father’s money will all go his heirs which consist of an evil swindling stepson who is demanding early dibs on his money and the missing niece. Ainsley is so adamant the stepson not inherit that at one point he discusses how to lose it all in bad stock picks or to give it away in his lifetime.
The niece Louise has her own femme fatale problems though. It turns out she married and her husband signed over everything to her when he went to prison on an involuntary manslaughter drinking driving case and she took her time while he was behind bars liquidating all his assets and skedaddling off to who knows where. And now the husband is angry beyond anger is is days away from getting out of prison, having served his sentence and now has nothing to return to.
In between dating Ainsley’s centerfold-shaped nurse, Jordan is busy trying to track down the missing niece and avoid being bludgeoned by the crazy stepson. As to the nurse, he tells us: “She moved in the seat a little and her shoulder touched mine. It triggered a whole series of electrical impulses. Some girls can snap a G-string in your face and nothing happens. Others can raise a man’s temperature to fever pitch just by their presence. Carmen affected me like that.”
But things quickly reach a crescendo as bodies fall around Jordan and he is no closer to figuring out where the niece is.
Masur dies an excellent job at presenting this action-packed crime novel.
August 11, 2008
I discovered Masur through a recent article in the Village Voice celebrating undeservedly obscure authors.
Article here
Recommender Jennifer Egan got me with this:
Jennifer Egan
You Can't Live Forever, by Harold Q. Masur
In recommending the mystery novels of Harold Q. Masur—all, sadly, out of print—I can do no better than quote the first two paragraphs of You Can't Live Forever:
"It started with a summons, a brunette, and a Turk.
"The summons was in my pocket, the brunette was in trouble, and the Turk was dead."
In his savvy, stylish novels of the '40s and '50s, Masur manages to wink continuously at the detective genre even as he revels in it.
After reading Suddenly A Corpse I agree completely. I work in a university library and we have a mystery collection with at least ten Masur's, Looking forward to the rest.
Article here
Recommender Jennifer Egan got me with this:
Jennifer Egan
You Can't Live Forever, by Harold Q. Masur
In recommending the mystery novels of Harold Q. Masur—all, sadly, out of print—I can do no better than quote the first two paragraphs of You Can't Live Forever:
"It started with a summons, a brunette, and a Turk.
"The summons was in my pocket, the brunette was in trouble, and the Turk was dead."
In his savvy, stylish novels of the '40s and '50s, Masur manages to wink continuously at the detective genre even as he revels in it.
After reading Suddenly A Corpse I agree completely. I work in a university library and we have a mystery collection with at least ten Masur's, Looking forward to the rest.
August 23, 2018
Scott Jordan, straight shooting, hard working lawyer, just wants to run his practice in peace and maybe find a little love. It that so much to ask? So how do all these dead bodies and mystery keep springing up around him? Nothing to do but solve them I guess, despite the hinderance of the DA, the police, and just about everyone else.
Reasonably entertaining. No last minute surprises. Clues in story. No loose ends.
An Inner Sanctum Mystery
Reasonably entertaining. No last minute surprises. Clues in story. No loose ends.
An Inner Sanctum Mystery
December 7, 2016
loved this book! a fast paced, well written, old fashioned mystery. A very quick read but well worth it if you are into this genre. I am very glad I stumbled upon this mostly unknown author (which upon further reading had an interesting life himself) and look forward to finding more of his books.
November 7, 2020
A quick, fun read that feels a lot like the Hardy Boys grew up and developed a drinking problem.
February 15, 2023
One of the most underrated detective/lawyer characters of this era/genre Scott Jordan imo, these stories had a nice mix of light violence, light sexuality, good dialogue and Perry Mason levels of mystery solving, like always I will offer nothing of the story line but highly recommend any of the early Scott Jordan stories.
December 3, 2008
It was decent enough, though less of a serendipity than _Bury Me Deep_. Scott Jordan is more of a smartass than I remember, and he tends to abrade people for no good reason. It drops the character of Dulcy Cambreau, which was something of a loss: the romantic interest here is a pleasant counterweight to the trainlike plot, but as a character Carmen O'Meara is not memorable enough to really make an impression.
I'm not sure if dropping Dulcy was the right decision; both paths seem to be fairly cliche. On one hand, the married sluths of Nick and Nora Charles, from The Thin Man, and on the other, the playboy bit done to death. I wish there were a third path.
Most of the plot I figured out very early on, mostly by figuring that nothing happens by coincidence.
I'm not sure if dropping Dulcy was the right decision; both paths seem to be fairly cliche. On one hand, the married sluths of Nick and Nora Charles, from The Thin Man, and on the other, the playboy bit done to death. I wish there were a third path.
Most of the plot I figured out very early on, mostly by figuring that nothing happens by coincidence.
August 16, 2025
My first Scott Jordan. Masur’s writing flirts with being too cute sometimes, but overall this was tough and satisfying, and the mystery was complex without being ludicrous.
I’ll aim to read more from this series.
I’ll aim to read more from this series.
January 12, 2012
A really good old fashioned who-done-it! To bad they don't write them like this anymore.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews