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42 Days For Murder
Roger Torrey was a "Black Mask" pulp magazine mystery writer, but "42 Days for Murder" was first published as a book by Hillman-Curl in 1938.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 26, 2023
A frantically-paced, smart-mouthed hardboiled machination from 1938. I was happy, mostly.
Wendel’s wife has fled to Reno to set divorce proceedings in motion, so he hires our tough but clever narrator to get there and find out what’s going on. The client is talking like it’s a complete mystery why his betrothed would run away with wish to finalize, and she took off without so much as an argument or explanation. So, to Reno we go. Connell, our detective, has a mix of surprises, unhelpful and suspiciously helpful, pretty much on arrival, but one thing is clear: Mrs. Wendel has linked up with lawyer Crandall and is hard to pry away from his influence. Further, Crandall takes her places, and this draws in a shady roster of motley types, many linkable to illegal operations in town. Soon, there’s a corpse, but maybe not one that could be foreseen - but possibly attached to the Wendel discontent. On top of all of this, Crandall’s friends and associates inexorably rope in a link to a disgusting group of creeps who get young ladies hooked on drugs and forced into prostitution. The trick is figuring what any of it has to do with a divorce that may not even happen.
Connell has trust issues with everyone he meets, in regards to this crime combo plate, but he does put a fair amount of faith in a few law types who seem uncorrupted…including one who has vengeance on his mind when it comes to what young girls roped into prostitution has done to his family affairs. We get not one but two exciting gun battles, lots of punching and sapping, and there’s booze for everyone.
Unfortunately, the N-word occurs once, in a reference to a white guy’s skin tone where he got clocked. It just sucks that we fans of old hardboiled crime novels have to put up with this - and on that note I will segue over to the women characters. You know, the situation is somewhat lamentable, as usual…and yet, I would say that it’s not even so much, in this book, how the women are portrayed, as how the men treat them or speak of them. The women are sort of two-dimensional and fit certain types, but every now and then, maybe here more than in other books like this one, they become more 3D and fight against the labels the men give them. The men are actually the problem.
My edition had a lot of typos (after initially seeming like it would spare me). Crandall, Crandell, Connell, Connel, Wendel, Wendell. A pain in the neck, especially when Wendel becomes Wendell in the same paragraph. Putting this aside, I can say this was very entertaining, like Red Harvest, or Green Ice, or David Dodge novels like Death and Taxes. Tarantino flitted through my mind, even - this is more Jackie Brown than Pulp Fiction, I would say. Recommended to fans of the genre who are looking for the hidden winners.
Wendel’s wife has fled to Reno to set divorce proceedings in motion, so he hires our tough but clever narrator to get there and find out what’s going on. The client is talking like it’s a complete mystery why his betrothed would run away with wish to finalize, and she took off without so much as an argument or explanation. So, to Reno we go. Connell, our detective, has a mix of surprises, unhelpful and suspiciously helpful, pretty much on arrival, but one thing is clear: Mrs. Wendel has linked up with lawyer Crandall and is hard to pry away from his influence. Further, Crandall takes her places, and this draws in a shady roster of motley types, many linkable to illegal operations in town. Soon, there’s a corpse, but maybe not one that could be foreseen - but possibly attached to the Wendel discontent. On top of all of this, Crandall’s friends and associates inexorably rope in a link to a disgusting group of creeps who get young ladies hooked on drugs and forced into prostitution. The trick is figuring what any of it has to do with a divorce that may not even happen.
Connell has trust issues with everyone he meets, in regards to this crime combo plate, but he does put a fair amount of faith in a few law types who seem uncorrupted…including one who has vengeance on his mind when it comes to what young girls roped into prostitution has done to his family affairs. We get not one but two exciting gun battles, lots of punching and sapping, and there’s booze for everyone.
Unfortunately, the N-word occurs once, in a reference to a white guy’s skin tone where he got clocked. It just sucks that we fans of old hardboiled crime novels have to put up with this - and on that note I will segue over to the women characters. You know, the situation is somewhat lamentable, as usual…and yet, I would say that it’s not even so much, in this book, how the women are portrayed, as how the men treat them or speak of them. The women are sort of two-dimensional and fit certain types, but every now and then, maybe here more than in other books like this one, they become more 3D and fight against the labels the men give them. The men are actually the problem.
My edition had a lot of typos (after initially seeming like it would spare me). Crandall, Crandell, Connell, Connel, Wendel, Wendell. A pain in the neck, especially when Wendel becomes Wendell in the same paragraph. Putting this aside, I can say this was very entertaining, like Red Harvest, or Green Ice, or David Dodge novels like Death and Taxes. Tarantino flitted through my mind, even - this is more Jackie Brown than Pulp Fiction, I would say. Recommended to fans of the genre who are looking for the hidden winners.
June 5, 2014
For ex-piano player turned private eye Shean Connell, it was supposed to be a simple divorce case. His moderately rich client comes home one day to find his wife of a few months packed up and gone to Reno to establish six weeks residency for divorce purposes. She refuses to see him and he and a friend are literally ridden out of town by the local police.
Connell soon finds more than he bargained for when two shots are taken at him, thugs keep trying to beat him up, and the wife's maid is found in an alley, a stab wound in her neck.
Our hero feels that last is the key.
He also has to deal with her sleazy lawyer, Feds, local cops, and an obstinate client that keeps putting himself in harm's way.
Published in 1938, this was the author's only novel, though he was a frequent contributor to the pulp magazines with over two hundred-eighty short stories and longer pieces.
Connell soon finds more than he bargained for when two shots are taken at him, thugs keep trying to beat him up, and the wife's maid is found in an alley, a stab wound in her neck.
Our hero feels that last is the key.
He also has to deal with her sleazy lawyer, Feds, local cops, and an obstinate client that keeps putting himself in harm's way.
Published in 1938, this was the author's only novel, though he was a frequent contributor to the pulp magazines with over two hundred-eighty short stories and longer pieces.
July 17, 2021
One star if you like good writing and modern treatment of characters, because this is true pulp of its time. Original copyright is 1938, which makes it authentically noir, except for the fact the protagonist isn't really flawed. There's only one Chandler, so they had to read something else by someone else between his offerings and apparently this was part of it.
June 12, 2014
An excellent mystery by a writer for Black Mask magazine.
Shean Collins is a San Francisco PI who is hired by a millionaire to find his wife. She's in Reno, filing for divorce, and refuses to talk to her husband.
It's all a deep dark mystery with murders, and some great gun fighting at the end. While it's funny, it never quite crosses the line into screwball, Shell Scott type mystery.
A very good book.
Shean Collins is a San Francisco PI who is hired by a millionaire to find his wife. She's in Reno, filing for divorce, and refuses to talk to her husband.
It's all a deep dark mystery with murders, and some great gun fighting at the end. While it's funny, it never quite crosses the line into screwball, Shell Scott type mystery.
A very good book.
January 23, 2012
This is a cult classic I've been putting off for years, but there really isn't that much to recommend. What starts out to be a simple divorce case for a private eye turns into a whole lot more. Good Black Mask stuff, but not great.
March 6, 2021
An immensely enjoyable read. A great novel about a divorce that more than meets the eyes in late ‘30s Reno. Very thankful for having been introduced to Roger Torrey after reading The Big Book of Pulp.
April 29, 2014
Surprisingly readable 1930s private eye tale of dodgy divorce in Reno.
May 25, 2012
Fun hard-boiled novel, written by one of the BLACK MASK masters.
July 5, 2015
Definitely Hammett-like. Quick and enjoyable read.
The snappy dialogue made me LOL a few times.
The snappy dialogue made me LOL a few times.
February 19, 2026
Roger Torrey was one of the famed "Black Mask Boys," along with writer greats such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler-- all of whom wrote hard-boiled detective fiction. Torrey's 200+ short stories published in the Black Mask pulp fiction magazine were extremely popular. "42 Days for Murder" was Torrey's only novel; he died before he could pen another.
BTW -- interesting to note: Roger Torrey's family used to own a silent picture movie theater. Torrey earned extra money playing the piano as accompaniment.
"42 Days for Murder" was a rather tough read for me -- though admittedly, I'm not much into that genre or era. However, he was my dad's half-brother, so I've collected some of his memorabilia plus facts about his life, much of which had previously been unknown. He was definitely an interesting fellow.
BTW -- interesting to note: Roger Torrey's family used to own a silent picture movie theater. Torrey earned extra money playing the piano as accompaniment.
"42 Days for Murder" was a rather tough read for me -- though admittedly, I'm not much into that genre or era. However, he was my dad's half-brother, so I've collected some of his memorabilia plus facts about his life, much of which had previously been unknown. He was definitely an interesting fellow.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews