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Murder Plus: True Crime Stories from the Masters of Detective Fiction
A collection of twenty-five true crime stories culled from the pages of old pulp magazines features works by such masters of detective fiction as Jim Thompson, Dashiell Hammett, Robert Bloch, Ellery Queen, Harlan Ellison, and others. Simultaneous.
"The Shambles of Ed Gein" by Robert Bloch
"A Killer with Women" by Charles Burgess
"Madame Murder" by D. L. Champion
"Mystery Man Lucks and His Missing Bucks" by Harlan Ellison
"The Dancing Beauty and the Fatal Trap" by Robert Faherty
"The Footprint in the Snow" by Bruno Fischer
"The Scar-faced Fugitive and the Murdered Maid" by Leslie Ford
"The Case of the Movie Murder" by Erle Stanley Gardner
"Murder with Music" by Brett Halliday
"Who Killed Bob Teal" by Dashiell Hammett
"A Scream in the Dark" by Nunnally Johnson
"Strangled" by Day Keene
"Shield of the Innocent" by Eleazar Lipsky
"Once Aboard the Lugger" by Stuart Palmer
"The Last of Mrs Maybrick" by Patrick Quentin
"Murder in Chicago" by Craig Rice
"Case of the Catalogue Clue" by Jim Thompson
"The Body in Sector R" by Lawrence Treat
"Germany's Mistress of Crime" by S.S. Van Dine
"Clue of the Poison Pen" by Lionel White
"Invaders from the Sky" by Harry Whittington
"The Shambles of Ed Gein" by Robert Bloch
"A Killer with Women" by Charles Burgess
"Madame Murder" by D. L. Champion
"Mystery Man Lucks and His Missing Bucks" by Harlan Ellison
"The Dancing Beauty and the Fatal Trap" by Robert Faherty
"The Footprint in the Snow" by Bruno Fischer
"The Scar-faced Fugitive and the Murdered Maid" by Leslie Ford
"The Case of the Movie Murder" by Erle Stanley Gardner
"Murder with Music" by Brett Halliday
"Who Killed Bob Teal" by Dashiell Hammett
"A Scream in the Dark" by Nunnally Johnson
"Strangled" by Day Keene
"Shield of the Innocent" by Eleazar Lipsky
"Once Aboard the Lugger" by Stuart Palmer
"The Last of Mrs Maybrick" by Patrick Quentin
"Murder in Chicago" by Craig Rice
"Case of the Catalogue Clue" by Jim Thompson
"The Body in Sector R" by Lawrence Treat
"Germany's Mistress of Crime" by S.S. Van Dine
"Clue of the Poison Pen" by Lionel White
"Invaders from the Sky" by Harry Whittington
324 pages, Paperback
First published April 8, 1992
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December 25, 2017
"The Shambles of Ed Gein," Robert Bloch, 1960.
"A Killer with Women," Edward Burgess, 1951.
"Madame Murder," D. L. Champion, 1954.
`"Mystery Man Lucks and his Missing Bucks," Harlan Ellison, 1956.
"The Dancing Beauty and the Fatal Trap," Robert Faherty, 1949.
"The Footprint in the Snow," Bruno Fischer, 1945.
"The Scar-Faced Fugitive and the Murdered Maid," Leslie Ford, 1941.
"The Case of the Movie Murder," Erle Stanley Gardner, 1947.
"Murder with Music," Brett Halliday, 1945.
"Who Killed Bob Teal?" Dashiell Hammett, 1924.
"A Scream in the Dark," Nunnally Johnson, 1925.
"Strangled," Day Keene, 1951.
"Shield of the Innocent," Eleazar Lipsky, 1951.
"Once Aboard the Lugger," Stuart Palmer, 1952.
"The Last of Mrs. Maybrick," Patrick Quentin, 1943.
"Murder in Chicago," Craig Rice, 1945.
"Case of the Catalogue Clue," Jim Thompson, 1948.
"The Body in Sector R," Lawrence Treat, 1945.
"Germany's Mistress of Crime," S. S. Van Dine, 1943.
"Clue of the Poison Pen," Lionel White, 1942.
"Invaders from the Sky," Harry Whittington, 1958.
[bold indicates the stories that were worth reading the book for]
So this is an anthology with a very loose premise: true crime written by people who are (or were once) famous for writing other things, mostly detective fiction. Most of these stories were published in True Detective and her sister pulps (although not Bloch's); most of them are most likely true crime, but given the custom of changing names, the "as told to" trope, and the very loose relationship the detective pulps had with reality, I have my doubts about some of them. Hammett's may be improbable enough to be true, but it's so tidy that I'm dubious (also, it's narrated by the Continental Op). Van Dine's entry is narrated by Philo Vance (although Grete Beier was a real person). I don't think the Johnson is even pretending to be true. I do appreciate Gerald's passionate love for the pulps and his desire to salvage what he can from their mostly ignored, abandoned, and destroyed history--I just don't agree with 100% of his choices in selection.
My favorites are the ones that are (1) marked by felicity and confidence of writing style--and in which the narrator is definitely a character in the narrative, even if not at all a character in the story--and (2) meta, that are talking about their own process of storytelling. Bloch, of course, is writing about the inspiration for Psycho, Gardner is writing about the unsolved murder of William Desmond Taylor, Palmer is writing about his experience of crime reporting & the truly bizarre murder of Walter Wanderwell, and Craig Rice is writing about the story of the murder of Rheta Wynekoop. (I've tried Craig Rice's mysteries, but had to stop because I don't think alcoholism is funny--Dashiell Hammett pushes right up to the edge in The Thin Man; Craig Rice falls straight over. But "Murder in Chicago" is restrained enough by the reality of its subject matter that Rice's morbid sense of humor matched step with mine.) The other entries range from well done to pedestrian to "why is this here?" (Harlan Ellison falls into that last category, in case you were curious). But Bloch, Gardner, Palmer, and Rice are fabulous.
"A Killer with Women," Edward Burgess, 1951.
"Madame Murder," D. L. Champion, 1954.
`"Mystery Man Lucks and his Missing Bucks," Harlan Ellison, 1956.
"The Dancing Beauty and the Fatal Trap," Robert Faherty, 1949.
"The Footprint in the Snow," Bruno Fischer, 1945.
"The Scar-Faced Fugitive and the Murdered Maid," Leslie Ford, 1941.
"The Case of the Movie Murder," Erle Stanley Gardner, 1947.
"Murder with Music," Brett Halliday, 1945.
"Who Killed Bob Teal?" Dashiell Hammett, 1924.
"A Scream in the Dark," Nunnally Johnson, 1925.
"Strangled," Day Keene, 1951.
"Shield of the Innocent," Eleazar Lipsky, 1951.
"Once Aboard the Lugger," Stuart Palmer, 1952.
"The Last of Mrs. Maybrick," Patrick Quentin, 1943.
"Murder in Chicago," Craig Rice, 1945.
"Case of the Catalogue Clue," Jim Thompson, 1948.
"The Body in Sector R," Lawrence Treat, 1945.
"Germany's Mistress of Crime," S. S. Van Dine, 1943.
"Clue of the Poison Pen," Lionel White, 1942.
"Invaders from the Sky," Harry Whittington, 1958.
[bold indicates the stories that were worth reading the book for]
So this is an anthology with a very loose premise: true crime written by people who are (or were once) famous for writing other things, mostly detective fiction. Most of these stories were published in True Detective and her sister pulps (although not Bloch's); most of them are most likely true crime, but given the custom of changing names, the "as told to" trope, and the very loose relationship the detective pulps had with reality, I have my doubts about some of them. Hammett's may be improbable enough to be true, but it's so tidy that I'm dubious (also, it's narrated by the Continental Op). Van Dine's entry is narrated by Philo Vance (although Grete Beier was a real person). I don't think the Johnson is even pretending to be true. I do appreciate Gerald's passionate love for the pulps and his desire to salvage what he can from their mostly ignored, abandoned, and destroyed history--I just don't agree with 100% of his choices in selection.
My favorites are the ones that are (1) marked by felicity and confidence of writing style--and in which the narrator is definitely a character in the narrative, even if not at all a character in the story--and (2) meta, that are talking about their own process of storytelling. Bloch, of course, is writing about the inspiration for Psycho, Gardner is writing about the unsolved murder of William Desmond Taylor, Palmer is writing about his experience of crime reporting & the truly bizarre murder of Walter Wanderwell, and Craig Rice is writing about the story of the murder of Rheta Wynekoop. (I've tried Craig Rice's mysteries, but had to stop because I don't think alcoholism is funny--Dashiell Hammett pushes right up to the edge in The Thin Man; Craig Rice falls straight over. But "Murder in Chicago" is restrained enough by the reality of its subject matter that Rice's morbid sense of humor matched step with mine.) The other entries range from well done to pedestrian to "why is this here?" (Harlan Ellison falls into that last category, in case you were curious). But Bloch, Gardner, Palmer, and Rice are fabulous.
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