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Bill Crane #2
Headed for a Hearse
Crime Classics
306 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1935
About the author
Jonathan Latimer
42 books34 followersJonathan Latimer was born in Chicago on 23rd October 1906. His main series character was the private investigator Bill Crane. An important character in the development of the hard boiled genre. A notable title is Solomon's Vineyard, the controversy over the content saw the US publication delayed by nine years. The author later concentrated on screen plays and also worked for five years on the Perry Mason television series.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 26, 2009
Headed for a Hearse, second in the "Bill Crane" series of mysteries, is a lot like Murder in the Madhouse, only better. The 30's Depression atmosphere is evocative (the scene in a jazz club is particularly fine), the pacing is brisk, the hard boiled patter is full of wisecracks (though marred by the occasional racist comment), and the detectives drink copious amounts of distilled spirits.
This time, however, the plot is simpler, more calculated and more satisfying. Latimer uses to great advantage two traditional devices of the classic whodunit: 1) the "locked room" mystery, and 2) the race against time, in this case an innocent man's execution deadline (the individual chapters have headings like "Tuesday Afternoon," "Thursday Morning," "Friday Night 11:55 P.M.", etc.)
Latimer reminds me of Rex Stout because of the way he is able to combine the pleasures of Conan Doyle, Hammett and Christie, and satisfy the fans of all three. Headed for a Hearse is no exception.
May 23, 2014
I am a huge fan of Jonathan Latimer.
Latimer's Solomon's Vineyard is one of the greatest Golden Age Pulp detective novels I have ever read. I urge all fans of over-the-top detective nonsense to hunt that title down, read it, and treasure it for all of its greatness.
The William "Bill" Crane series -of which this one I've just finished is the 2nd entry- are all must-haves for fans of pulp-era hardboiled dicks.
I don't want to discuss the plot of this one.
Let's just call it a "locked room" mystery, but it's not like any "locked-room" mystery you've ever read. It's another Jonathan Latimer screw-ball romp with intriguing obscure pop-culture references (including a reference to character actor Chic Sale that nearly knocked me out of my chair). And a brilliantly rendered cast of memorable characters -including "Crane" and his side-kick,
tough guy/fellow-op, "Doc Williams".
If you're easily offended by a blatant racism that greets the reader in nearly every chapter, be forewarned.
Regardless of ethnicity, if you are of African-American, Jewish, Greek, Italian, Swedish, or Irish ancestry rest assured that you'll find many a crude insult made towards your particular lineage.
The book was originally published in 1935 but the date of publication hardly makes the racist asides any less egregious.
Outstanding introduction by Max Allan Collins deserves 5 stars alone -but read it after reading this novel. And be sure and read the mini-bio at the back of this Library of Crime Classics 1990 edition. Latimer was responsible for the screenplays of such classic films as TOPPER RETURNS, THE GLASS KEY, and NOCTURNE.
Highest of all possible recommendations!
December 24, 2025
Latimer’s “Headed for a Hearse” has a title that hints at what Robert Westland is expecting in six days. The macabre opening chapter sets Westland on death row, bantering with other inmates, all expecting that their number was up. Westland had long ago given up hope, though he still maintained his innocence. But that’s the mantra you always hear in prison: some other dude did it.
The evidence arrayed against Westland in the case of his wife Joan’s murder was tight as a drum. Before they parted ways and began living separately, they had put an impregnable lock on the apartment door with only two keys that could not be duplicated by an ordinary locksmith. He had one still and the other was found on a table near her bloody body the morning when worried persons broke the apartment door down to get to her. There were no other exits. A package door was too small for ingress or egress. The windows were all locked from the inside and the apartment at too high a level to be entered at any rate. Only Westland with his key could have gotten out and locked the place up.
Other facts as well pointed solidly to Westland’s obvious guilt, including that he claimed he went there on a phone call from his new fiancé claiming that Joan had called and caused a ruckus. The fiancé, however, made no such call. Westland was heard in a long yelling argument with Joan. A gunshot was heard about the time he claimed he left. No one though saw him leave. And his gun was missing, but it clearly matched the type of gun that would have fired the fatal round into his wife’s head.
The evidence showed quite beyond a reasonable doubt that only Westland could’ve killed her and so the jury had found. He was, indeed, sewed up tight.
But after giving up all hope for six months, Westland gets a letter hinting that there might be evidence. Westland suddenly comes to life and hires an attorney, who, in turn, hired Bill Crane and Doc Williams since their boss, the Colonel, was not available on such short notice. Crane and Williams appear on the outside to be bumbling fools, flailing at windmills, collapsing drunk, and not getting anywhere much at all. But, Crane’s exterior persona seems to hide an intellect as keen as those found on Baker Street. Crane finally at the end calls everyone in to the meeting room in the prison and reveals who done it and why.
Latimer does a great job, contrasting the last desperate hours of a man on death row with the unhurried life outside the prison walls where at times it appears the detectives have lost the sense of urgency that should always be propelling them forward.
The evidence arrayed against Westland in the case of his wife Joan’s murder was tight as a drum. Before they parted ways and began living separately, they had put an impregnable lock on the apartment door with only two keys that could not be duplicated by an ordinary locksmith. He had one still and the other was found on a table near her bloody body the morning when worried persons broke the apartment door down to get to her. There were no other exits. A package door was too small for ingress or egress. The windows were all locked from the inside and the apartment at too high a level to be entered at any rate. Only Westland with his key could have gotten out and locked the place up.
Other facts as well pointed solidly to Westland’s obvious guilt, including that he claimed he went there on a phone call from his new fiancé claiming that Joan had called and caused a ruckus. The fiancé, however, made no such call. Westland was heard in a long yelling argument with Joan. A gunshot was heard about the time he claimed he left. No one though saw him leave. And his gun was missing, but it clearly matched the type of gun that would have fired the fatal round into his wife’s head.
The evidence showed quite beyond a reasonable doubt that only Westland could’ve killed her and so the jury had found. He was, indeed, sewed up tight.
But after giving up all hope for six months, Westland gets a letter hinting that there might be evidence. Westland suddenly comes to life and hires an attorney, who, in turn, hired Bill Crane and Doc Williams since their boss, the Colonel, was not available on such short notice. Crane and Williams appear on the outside to be bumbling fools, flailing at windmills, collapsing drunk, and not getting anywhere much at all. But, Crane’s exterior persona seems to hide an intellect as keen as those found on Baker Street. Crane finally at the end calls everyone in to the meeting room in the prison and reveals who done it and why.
Latimer does a great job, contrasting the last desperate hours of a man on death row with the unhurried life outside the prison walls where at times it appears the detectives have lost the sense of urgency that should always be propelling them forward.
August 7, 2024
3. 5 stars.
This is the third of the Crane series. (Above it says 2 but on another list it's 3) A man on death row for killing his estranged wife, receives information that could prove him innocent. He gets to contact his biz partner and also some lawyers. And with this wisp of hope. They have about 5 days to find the truth. The hunt is on! It’s hard boiled, but not as hard as other stories of this genre. It’s human hard boiled. To be honest it would have been better off with some of the hard boiled pastiche left out; but this style was on the rise during this time.
The story takes place in Chicago and a suburb. You get to see all the information so the nice thing is you can try and figure out things too. What I like about the main “detective” Crane is that he looks at everything without making assumptions. Some of the investigating brings them into harm’s way. For others it’s deadly.
What I found interesting was after all the investigating, and seeing so many people have various things revealed- the end where the truth is revealed, is a surprise in many ways. Won’t say more, but at the core the mystery is a good one.
This is the third of the Crane series. (Above it says 2 but on another list it's 3) A man on death row for killing his estranged wife, receives information that could prove him innocent. He gets to contact his biz partner and also some lawyers. And with this wisp of hope. They have about 5 days to find the truth. The hunt is on! It’s hard boiled, but not as hard as other stories of this genre. It’s human hard boiled. To be honest it would have been better off with some of the hard boiled pastiche left out; but this style was on the rise during this time.
The story takes place in Chicago and a suburb. You get to see all the information so the nice thing is you can try and figure out things too. What I like about the main “detective” Crane is that he looks at everything without making assumptions. Some of the investigating brings them into harm’s way. For others it’s deadly.
What I found interesting was after all the investigating, and seeing so many people have various things revealed- the end where the truth is revealed, is a surprise in many ways. Won’t say more, but at the core the mystery is a good one.
June 25, 2013
This was from 1935, but it had virtually the same plot as the last Cornell Woolrich novel I read (the Phantom Lady from 1942). They both involve a man on death row and the race against time to find the real killer of his wife and free him. Honestly, neither of them are great or satisfying mysteries, though the Woolrich stood out (of course). I've liked Latimer a lot, but lately I've read his earlier ones, and either my taste changed or he became a better writer later.
September 9, 2023
Given that Robert Westland is facing the electric chair within seven days for the murder of his estranged wife, there were times when the investigation by the New York detective duo of Bill Crane and Doc Williams seemed to grind exceedingly slow . This was is stark contrast to the smart and zippy style of writing which characterises this mid-1930s Chicago-set ,hard-boiled-ish tale by the journalist and screen writer,Jonathan Latimer, who went on to write scripts for the Perry Mason TV series.
Very much of its time in its depiction of the lifestyle of the rich, the political graft and gangsterism, the racial slurs freely voiced- this is not for any reader offended by any or all of a wide range of prejudices- it does have some interesting features which take it out of the run-of-the-mill.
The writing is good, not just in the dialogue but also in descriptive passages as here when Crane breakfasts after an epic evening drinking bourbon, absinthe and gin:-
“The coffee was steaming hot from a silver percolator. He gulped tomato juice with a spoonful of Worcestershire sauce in it, then tried the coffee. It was excellent, as black as tar, as pungent as garlic, as clear as dry sherry, as hot as Bisbee, Arizona. “
The plot too,while featuring cliches such as policemen mulishy sticking to the conclusions reached from a flawed case, has some doggedly meticulous private sleuthing , for instance in the tracking down of the murder weapon, and a collaborative amateur investigation akin to that of the contemporary “The A B C Murders”.
The major downsides were that the perpetrators and probable motive were not well-concealed (although there was still a minor surprise here) and that the ending came with too much of a rush and with the sudden appearance of nearly all the crucial evidence.
I enjoyed this much more than I expected and will try more of the author’s works.
Very much of its time in its depiction of the lifestyle of the rich, the political graft and gangsterism, the racial slurs freely voiced- this is not for any reader offended by any or all of a wide range of prejudices- it does have some interesting features which take it out of the run-of-the-mill.
The writing is good, not just in the dialogue but also in descriptive passages as here when Crane breakfasts after an epic evening drinking bourbon, absinthe and gin:-
“The coffee was steaming hot from a silver percolator. He gulped tomato juice with a spoonful of Worcestershire sauce in it, then tried the coffee. It was excellent, as black as tar, as pungent as garlic, as clear as dry sherry, as hot as Bisbee, Arizona. “
The plot too,while featuring cliches such as policemen mulishy sticking to the conclusions reached from a flawed case, has some doggedly meticulous private sleuthing , for instance in the tracking down of the murder weapon, and a collaborative amateur investigation akin to that of the contemporary “The A B C Murders”.
The major downsides were that the perpetrators and probable motive were not well-concealed (although there was still a minor surprise here) and that the ending came with too much of a rush and with the sudden appearance of nearly all the crucial evidence.
I enjoyed this much more than I expected and will try more of the author’s works.
July 13, 2007
Not great by any means, but I read this mainly because a wikipedia article on hardboiled fiction said it blends screwball comedy and detective noir styles. It does and this is occasionally amusing. There are some nice moments and then there are some stilted moments, but this book is, overall, competently written, although it's largely unremarkable in its style. An unfortunate scene during which the omniscient objective narrator repeatedly refers to a black character as a racial slur also lowers my overall regard for this book. Still, it's amusing and brisk, but if the central gimmick highlighted above doesn't intrigue you enough to read it, there's plenty better detective novels to turn to.
December 30, 2024
Booze, babes, and bullets - served up stylishly.
This is the second in the short Bill Crane series. The first had a terrible first chapter and I almost bailed out on this one early on, too. If there's anything I hate, it's those clock-ticking stories where the detective has to race against time to save the innocent man about to be executed. I'm too old to want my spine tingled and my nerves wracked.
My other pet peeve is a locked-room mystery and damned if it isn't one of those, too. Yet I not only finished it, but enjoyed it thoroughly. Latimer was a cut above the average hack. Bill Crane is a complicated man and we never really get a handle on what he's thinking. It helps that Latimer threw a curve ball better than Sandy Koufax..
This one lacks the zany humor of "Murder in the Madhouse." A bunch of country rube cops doing their bumbling best is hilarious. Chicago gangsters on a hit job are just scary. And it's hard to mine humor out of three men who are going to be executed in a few days.
You have to believe that Robert Westland (an intelligent man with a comfortable life, a private income and a girlfriend he adores) sat in a jail cell for months, passively waiting for execution and not lifting a finger to save himself. Then less than a week before his execution date, he decides he wants to live after all. It's absurd, but mystery readers have to swallow some absurdities or there would be no mysteries. Complaining does no good.
Bill Crane's agency sends him and his crude sidekick Doc Williams to the Windy City to see what they can do. The clock is ticking. Westland had a solid motive for killing his estranged wife. He's desperate to marry his sweet GF. Miss Emily Lou Martin isn't exactly what I expected, given her wholesome name, but Westland is smitten with her.
Who would benefit from Joan Westland's death and the execution of her husband? Westland's servant inherits money and his story isn't always consistent. There's an idiot cousin who'd be Westland's heir IF the condemned man hadn't left everything to Miss Emily Lou. Cousin needs money, but would the Westland deaths get him any?
Westland has two partners in his stock brokerage firm. Both seem fond of Westland and anxious to save his neck. It's the middle of the Great Depression and stock brokers are hard up, but both of these guys are living large. Motive?
Then there's Miss Emily Lou, who inherits a bundle. Could a sweet, innocent girl who lives with her aunt and uncle and sends fruit baskets to her condemned BF have a motive for hurrying the guy to the grave? Keep in mind that he's worth more to her alive than dead.
Crane and Williams have their work cut out for them. Governors grant reprieves (even temporary ones) reluctantly and ONLY if there's compelling proof that serious mistakes were made. Unless Westland's team can produce the real murderer quickly, he's going to the Hot Squat.
Thank God it's Chicago. There's a warden who's eager to aid in the pursuit of justice for a small fee. There's a fast-talking lawyer with plenty of experience in murder cases. He has the advantage of not giving a rat's ass who's guilty as long as he gets paid. There are more gangsters per square foot than any place outside of Alcatraz.
That's a double edged sword. Some gangsters are willing to provide evidence (for a price) while others are willing to bump off the guy who has the evidence (for a price.) Others will bump off the guys who bumped off the guy with the evidence (for a price) to cover their tracks. A scorecard will be helpful.
It's not my kind of book, but Latimer is so good I was pulled along in spite of myself. Max Collins claims Latimer was in line behind Hammett and Chandler. Not their equal, but close. I have to agree with him, but Latimer has his own style and it's hard to compare him with anyone. Craig Rice wrote screwball mysteries that move from speak-easies to boardrooms to luxurious homes, but Bill Crane is a professional detective. In his own way, he takes his job seriously.
It's interesting to speculate what would have happened if Latimer hadn't followed the money and dropped this series in favor of movie and television scripts. We'll never know, but the few books he left are worth reading.
This is the second in the short Bill Crane series. The first had a terrible first chapter and I almost bailed out on this one early on, too. If there's anything I hate, it's those clock-ticking stories where the detective has to race against time to save the innocent man about to be executed. I'm too old to want my spine tingled and my nerves wracked.
My other pet peeve is a locked-room mystery and damned if it isn't one of those, too. Yet I not only finished it, but enjoyed it thoroughly. Latimer was a cut above the average hack. Bill Crane is a complicated man and we never really get a handle on what he's thinking. It helps that Latimer threw a curve ball better than Sandy Koufax..
This one lacks the zany humor of "Murder in the Madhouse." A bunch of country rube cops doing their bumbling best is hilarious. Chicago gangsters on a hit job are just scary. And it's hard to mine humor out of three men who are going to be executed in a few days.
You have to believe that Robert Westland (an intelligent man with a comfortable life, a private income and a girlfriend he adores) sat in a jail cell for months, passively waiting for execution and not lifting a finger to save himself. Then less than a week before his execution date, he decides he wants to live after all. It's absurd, but mystery readers have to swallow some absurdities or there would be no mysteries. Complaining does no good.
Bill Crane's agency sends him and his crude sidekick Doc Williams to the Windy City to see what they can do. The clock is ticking. Westland had a solid motive for killing his estranged wife. He's desperate to marry his sweet GF. Miss Emily Lou Martin isn't exactly what I expected, given her wholesome name, but Westland is smitten with her.
Who would benefit from Joan Westland's death and the execution of her husband? Westland's servant inherits money and his story isn't always consistent. There's an idiot cousin who'd be Westland's heir IF the condemned man hadn't left everything to Miss Emily Lou. Cousin needs money, but would the Westland deaths get him any?
Westland has two partners in his stock brokerage firm. Both seem fond of Westland and anxious to save his neck. It's the middle of the Great Depression and stock brokers are hard up, but both of these guys are living large. Motive?
Then there's Miss Emily Lou, who inherits a bundle. Could a sweet, innocent girl who lives with her aunt and uncle and sends fruit baskets to her condemned BF have a motive for hurrying the guy to the grave? Keep in mind that he's worth more to her alive than dead.
Crane and Williams have their work cut out for them. Governors grant reprieves (even temporary ones) reluctantly and ONLY if there's compelling proof that serious mistakes were made. Unless Westland's team can produce the real murderer quickly, he's going to the Hot Squat.
Thank God it's Chicago. There's a warden who's eager to aid in the pursuit of justice for a small fee. There's a fast-talking lawyer with plenty of experience in murder cases. He has the advantage of not giving a rat's ass who's guilty as long as he gets paid. There are more gangsters per square foot than any place outside of Alcatraz.
That's a double edged sword. Some gangsters are willing to provide evidence (for a price) while others are willing to bump off the guy who has the evidence (for a price.) Others will bump off the guys who bumped off the guy with the evidence (for a price) to cover their tracks. A scorecard will be helpful.
It's not my kind of book, but Latimer is so good I was pulled along in spite of myself. Max Collins claims Latimer was in line behind Hammett and Chandler. Not their equal, but close. I have to agree with him, but Latimer has his own style and it's hard to compare him with anyone. Craig Rice wrote screwball mysteries that move from speak-easies to boardrooms to luxurious homes, but Bill Crane is a professional detective. In his own way, he takes his job seriously.
It's interesting to speculate what would have happened if Latimer hadn't followed the money and dropped this series in favor of movie and television scripts. We'll never know, but the few books he left are worth reading.
March 28, 2022
This 1935 novel has been re-issued in the American Mystery Classics series.
Robert Westland, a guy on death row, has six days before his execution to prove he didn't kill his wife. His new lawyer, Charles Finkelstein, brings in Bill Crane, a big drinking, high living PI to help. They wander through the hard streets of Chicago's bar, nightclubs and brothels. They run up against hookers, crooked cops, sadistic prison guards and mob hit men.
Latimer mixes up the classic noir themes with a traditional locked room mystery. Westland's wife is found shot in a locked room. The only two keys that can lock the door are in the room and there is no other exit. The plot is respectable, and the locked room solution is satisfying.
Latimer has the good and bad of noir writing. The action stuff is pretty good.
"There was a quick irregular sound like a broomstick being pushed very quickly along a picket fence, and a touring car with black side curtains went past at thirty miles an hour. A man was leaning out of the front seat, shooting at them with a sub-machine gun."
The atmospheric stuff is not so good.
"It was not so windy outside, and a quiet fall of very dry snow had begun, as though someone was cutting up an ostrich boa with a pair of nail scissors." Huh?
or
"Crane came back into the living room, her face sullen without unpleasantness, her amethyst eyes slumberous, her full vermillion downward-curved lips voluptuous."
Max Allan Collins writes a helpful introduction. He acknowledges the frequent racist words and stereotypes. He makes the fair point that it accurately depicts 1935 Chicago, but it does seem that Latimer has more of that type of stuff than even most mystery writers in 1935.
Robert Westland, a guy on death row, has six days before his execution to prove he didn't kill his wife. His new lawyer, Charles Finkelstein, brings in Bill Crane, a big drinking, high living PI to help. They wander through the hard streets of Chicago's bar, nightclubs and brothels. They run up against hookers, crooked cops, sadistic prison guards and mob hit men.
Latimer mixes up the classic noir themes with a traditional locked room mystery. Westland's wife is found shot in a locked room. The only two keys that can lock the door are in the room and there is no other exit. The plot is respectable, and the locked room solution is satisfying.
Latimer has the good and bad of noir writing. The action stuff is pretty good.
"There was a quick irregular sound like a broomstick being pushed very quickly along a picket fence, and a touring car with black side curtains went past at thirty miles an hour. A man was leaning out of the front seat, shooting at them with a sub-machine gun."
The atmospheric stuff is not so good.
"It was not so windy outside, and a quiet fall of very dry snow had begun, as though someone was cutting up an ostrich boa with a pair of nail scissors." Huh?
or
"Crane came back into the living room, her face sullen without unpleasantness, her amethyst eyes slumberous, her full vermillion downward-curved lips voluptuous."
Max Allan Collins writes a helpful introduction. He acknowledges the frequent racist words and stereotypes. He makes the fair point that it accurately depicts 1935 Chicago, but it does seem that Latimer has more of that type of stuff than even most mystery writers in 1935.
April 19, 2022
I entered this book very excited and hopeful because while I wasn’t really a fan of the only other hard-boiled mystery novel I had read (Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress), I hadn’t met a Penzler Classic that I didn’t like. 😉 I was also eager to learn more about this genre after taking a film class last semester which introduced me to film noir (a genre that grew from hard-boiled lit). Alas, I finished Headed for a Hearse very disappointed but not for the reasons you may assume typical of a disappointing mystery.
The mystery itself is complex and well-detailed, and I had a lot of fun designing my own theory (correctly, I might add!) along the way. And that is must makes this such a poor reading experience for me! I adored the mystery, but I could not properly enjoy it for the overt racism and voyeurism happening consistently throughout the book. This author includes in both dialogue and narration derogatory slurs aimed at BIPOC, AAPI, Italians, Jewish people, and probably those of other demographics I have failed to list. He also sexualizes and objectifies women, describing them favorably or not so favorably depending on how they match the societal expectations of the time period. Even during the reveal scene, Latimer could not provide his readers the solution without having every single man in the room described as staring at Miss Brentino’s face and body.
Less objectionable but equally frustrating is the...
FUL REVIEW:
https://greatgraydays.home.blog/2022/...
The mystery itself is complex and well-detailed, and I had a lot of fun designing my own theory (correctly, I might add!) along the way. And that is must makes this such a poor reading experience for me! I adored the mystery, but I could not properly enjoy it for the overt racism and voyeurism happening consistently throughout the book. This author includes in both dialogue and narration derogatory slurs aimed at BIPOC, AAPI, Italians, Jewish people, and probably those of other demographics I have failed to list. He also sexualizes and objectifies women, describing them favorably or not so favorably depending on how they match the societal expectations of the time period. Even during the reveal scene, Latimer could not provide his readers the solution without having every single man in the room described as staring at Miss Brentino’s face and body.
Less objectionable but equally frustrating is the...
FUL REVIEW:
https://greatgraydays.home.blog/2022/...
August 5, 2018
A so-so combination of locked room mystery solved by a hard-boiled detective. I don't think the characters including Crane were that well drawn and I occasionally got confused about who was who. there was too much detail about every meal they ate !! It was written in 1935 and does contain the general racist and sexist attitudes of the era but you should take these in the context of the times.
September 20, 2019
I rarely read back to back books by a single author, but I'm really liking Jonathan Latimer. He writes, at least the William Crane series a mix of hard-boiled and screwball comedy about a dipsomaniac detective, who somehow manages to solve some intriguing cases. This was an early "locked-room" mystery and he handled it well.
September 22, 2020
Bill Crane is back with another case. Robert Westland, wealthy broker, has six days to live before he's executed for the murder of his estranged wife. Crane, and fellow PI Doc Williams have been hired to find the real killer, because that's the only thing that can save Westland at this late date. What results is a interesting mash-up of hardboiled detective and locked-room mystery, complete with all the suspects gathered at the end for the reveal.
This one didn't work for me quite as well as Murder in the Madhouse. Crane still drinks to the point that he's occasionally not effective. He still quips, though they don't land as often as in Madhouse. The casual racism (and I recognize when this was written) has been turned up a couple of notches. The mystery itself is okay and the solution makes sense. The addition of Williams really didn't help the story. Crane is the more interesting of the two and having Williams to play off doesn't add much.
Worth a read but definitely a let-down.
This one didn't work for me quite as well as Murder in the Madhouse. Crane still drinks to the point that he's occasionally not effective. He still quips, though they don't land as often as in Madhouse. The casual racism (and I recognize when this was written) has been turned up a couple of notches. The mystery itself is okay and the solution makes sense. The addition of Williams really didn't help the story. Crane is the more interesting of the two and having Williams to play off doesn't add much.
Worth a read but definitely a let-down.
April 22, 2023
Dated. While I appreciate books and films from bygone eras, what was (perhaps) racy, humorous, fast-paced, edgy, was tame and a let down. I'm comparing to Chandler and Hammett and Jim Thompson, not Connelly and Ellroy and Rankin.
March 24, 2024
You can picture this as an old 30’s detective movie. It’s a great book with a well thought out plot. I feel like there were and weren’t clues to who the killer was. I just wish every character had a name that started with a different letter. They all start with W and it gets confusing early on.
March 14, 2022
The book begins slowly but picks up an irresistible head of steam. Very clever.
March 16, 2022
I absolutely loved it! I couldn’t put it down. Brilliantly written. This is a must read! I can’t wait to read the next book.
April 12, 2022
I’m glad I read the end because I was curious how the murderer got away with it, but that’s about it. For most of the book, it felt like I was reading forever and getting nowhere.
May 30, 2022
awful.
October 9, 2024
A decent, period read. Does anyone know why the author seems to be obsessed with the color green?
June 19, 2023
Headed for a Hearse is a race against time for a death row inmate scheduled for execution, a locked-room mystery (and a pretty good one), and a hard-boiled (certainly hard drinking) detective story. The detective is the alcoholic Bill Crane -- this is the second (of five) in the series and maybe it would've helped to read the first. The reader learns little about the featured detective, who seems to be a minor character in his own story. We don't get inside his mind except when he's hungover, which isn't rare as he drinks powerfully if not always pleasantly. We don't know why he drinks so much. He spends more time drinking than detecting, which is concerning when his client is going to be executed in 5-4-3-2-1 days. Because of the deadline the condemned man's attorney improbably gives all the suspects assignments to help solve the mystery. There's a few too many characters but the resolution is solvable, or at least I guessed. The strongest part of Headed for a Hearse is that Latimer takes time out to paint the death row scenes; the client's cohorts are an unrepentant murderer and a homicidal maniac. The weakest part is the casual and painful racism, which I characterize as a Hemingwayesque effort to appear tough. Doesn't work. Other than that though it was an entertaining mystery. Still should've read the first installment. [3★]
April 4, 2011
It's always going to be hard to play with the hard-boiled detective format but one option, used here by Latimer, is to wait a fair bit before you introduce the private eye into proceedings.
Not only wait a bit but then even when he has been introduced play the character in a minor key until they suddenly emerge towards the last third as the principal driver of the action.
Does it work? Only to a degree. While you wait for the detective to take centre stage you naturally search for alternatives and even when the action is in full flight you find yourself as a reader holding back from giving the hero your fulsome support.
The reason for the mechanics of the book stem from the clever premise that a man who has just a couple of days before facing the electric chair suddenly decides to fight to clear his name.
Robert Westland is rich but starts the book almost happy to take the rap for the murder of his wife. But after a conversation with one of the real murderers in the cell next door to his own he decides he will fight.
Money being no object he hires a crack lawyer and a tram including colleagues, his girlfriend and a couple of recommended private detectives.
As one of the private detectives Bill Crane seems to take an age coming to the foreground of the action but once there he moves swiftly, aided by heavy doses of alcohol, to start to piece together what really did happen to Mrs Westland.
Part classic locked room part Chandler in feel the book does finally spring into life and deliver. But for me it took slightly too long and the plot twists that are unwound so quickly at the end happen before the reader is introduced to the story and as a result lose their ability to interest slightly.
Perhaps the book just hasn't aged as well as some of its contemporaries. In 1935 it might have had the reader gripped but in 2011 it struggles in places and that's not good for any 'hard-boiled' crime novel.
December 17, 2012
That’s a proper title for a thriller. None of your namby-pamby quotes from Shakespeare, train timetables or alphabetical lists of murder methods: just some alliterative directions: you know you are heading for pulp. It begins on death row: Robert Westland has convicted for murdering his wife and with less than a week until his execution he suddenly shakes off his indifference and despondency, bribes the prison warden to allow him to meet a hot shot lawyer, who brings detective Bill Crane onto the case...they’ve got to find the real murderer by Friday midnight. But they begin by collecting all those involved with the case...of course, these are the suspects: there is something of the whodunit about it, a trawling through suspects and clues...and there is the old locked room ploy, the corpse having been found locked in a room with the key on the inside, the only other key belonging to Westland. But the more it becomes focused on Crane, the more it becomes a hardnosed detective story, with obligatory drinking and wisecracks and the better it becomes...although 1930s racism is taken for granted and there is a nasty torture scene. For me there remains too much whodunit plot mechanics...I didn’t find the fit between whodunit and the mean streets particularly successful. Quite a way from the end Crane announces he knows whodunit, but he doesn’t tell us and for the rest we follow him finding the proof. When the murderer is revealed I found I had to flick back to the beginning of the book to find out who he was: he was so bland that I had forgotten his existence. Not in the class of Hammett or Chandler, but diverting enough if you are in the mood. I occasionally see other books by Jonathan Latimer in second-hand shops, but I doubt if I will bother reading another.
January 5, 2017
My review of Headed for a Hearse, along with a related cocktail, can be found on my blog.
July 2, 2022
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
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