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Murder in the Gunroom
The Lane Fleming collection of early pistols and revolvers was one of the best in the country. When Fleming was found dead on the floor of his locked gunroom, a Confederate-made Colt-type percussion .36 revolver in his hand, the coroner's verdict was "death by accident." But Gladys Fleming had her doubts. Enough at any rate to engage Colonel Jefferson Davis Rand--better known just as Jeff--private detective and a pistol-collector himself, to catalogue, appraise, and negotiate the sale of her late husband's collection.
There were a number of people who had wanted the collection. The question was: had anyone wanted it badly enough to kill Fleming? And if so, how had he done it? Here is a mystery, told against the fascinating background of old guns and gun-collecting, which is rapid-fire without being hysterical, exciting without losing its contact with reason, and which introduces a personable and intelligent new private detective. It is a story that will keep your nerves on a hair trigger even if you don't know the difference between a cased pair of Paterson .34's and a Texas .40 with a ramming-lever.
There were a number of people who had wanted the collection. The question was: had anyone wanted it badly enough to kill Fleming? And if so, how had he done it? Here is a mystery, told against the fascinating background of old guns and gun-collecting, which is rapid-fire without being hysterical, exciting without losing its contact with reason, and which introduces a personable and intelligent new private detective. It is a story that will keep your nerves on a hair trigger even if you don't know the difference between a cased pair of Paterson .34's and a Texas .40 with a ramming-lever.
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1953
40 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
H. Beam Piper
296 books242 followersHenry Beam Piper was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
January 20, 2011
An old one I found online for free as an ebook. I enjoyed it. Lots of technical stuff about old guns. Wish he had written more in this style but so far I've only found si-fy that he has written. A good read with a cup of chocolate and some popcorn...
February 8, 2023
Nice story. A lot of details on antique guns, which was over my head. I know nothing about guns.
Murder, greed, robbery, mystery, suspicions. I think if you are really into guns and murder mystery, this may be the book for you.
Murder, greed, robbery, mystery, suspicions. I think if you are really into guns and murder mystery, this may be the book for you.
April 9, 2016
Roughly thirty-two years ago I went through a time of reading any and all H. Beam Piper books that I could get my hands on. Over a period of one year (1983-1984) I read approximately a dozen of his books. However it was all his science fiction works. Never found a copy of "Murder in the Gunroom" and probably wouldn't have liked it back then anyway. I was into military science-fiction and a murder mystery revolving around gun collecting would not have caught my interest back then. However we all change as the years go by (at least we should) and in the past fifteen years I've turned into an enthusiatic gun collector as well as a fan of murder mysteries. I have known for years about this novel (talk about a perfect blending of interests) and a few days ago I found a copy at one of my local used bookstores. I didn't hesitate to buy it......not that the asking price was all that steep.
Having finally come across a copy of Piper's solitary foray into the murder mystery genre I found myself opening the cover with a little trepidation. I have fond memories of Mr. Piper's writings, but as I stated at the beginning of this review, it's been over thirty years and all too often revisiting a cherised memory from younger days can result in disappointment. Well ,fortunately, I wasn't disappointed this time. "Murder in the Gunroom" was written in the early fifties and is filled with what is now politically incorrect ideas and sterotypes, but it's still a fun little book. Right off the bat I have to say that Mr. Piper (who was an enthusiatic collector of weapons in real life) knew the subject matter very very well. He writes with an authority that can only be had from actual experience. It never feels like the writing was derived solely from research. There are too many little nuances ,details, that would go by even the best researcher because they're things that one experiences, but rarely are they documented. Such as when our hero is griping about people putting stickers on pistols and the work that goes into removing those stickers. I've actually experienced that myself and I appreciated that little bit of expert detail. That's the type of thing you experience through doing. Piper is equally knowledgable about the sometime shady world of collectors and dealers. In this respect the book reminded me of the first Lovejoy novel The Judas Pair. There have been immense changes in the past twenty years thanks to the Internet and auctions are now actually an excellent way to liquidate a sizable collection, but the overall sub-culture is still the same. I've waded up to my ankles in that world a few times and this novel captures it perfectly.
Now having heaped all those laudations I have to say that the actual mystery isn't really all that difficult to figure out and Piper's attempts at throwing red herrings into the story are only mildly successful. However I think the mystery was secondary for Piper. I believe Piper wanted to write a novel about the world of gun collecting, but (probably) figured out that nobody would publish such a novel. So he spiced it up with a murder. This isn't really so unusual. I've read many a genre novel over the years in which it's obvious that the writer was more interested in something else, but also wanted to be paid, so he/she shoe-horned their real passion into the confines of a western, murder-mystery and so on and so forth.
All in all an entertaining little mystery novel made even better by the addition of gun collecting. However ,as other reviewers have pointed out, if you're not into firearms you might find the very impressive details to be rather mind-numbing after awhile. Similar to when I read a hard science fiction novel written by a physicist who just loves theoretical physics. After awhile I just skim over whole pages. So something to keep in mind if you are considering reading this book. If this doesn't deter you then "Murder in the Gunroom" is an old-fashioned novel that will help you burn up a couple hours.
Having finally come across a copy of Piper's solitary foray into the murder mystery genre I found myself opening the cover with a little trepidation. I have fond memories of Mr. Piper's writings, but as I stated at the beginning of this review, it's been over thirty years and all too often revisiting a cherised memory from younger days can result in disappointment. Well ,fortunately, I wasn't disappointed this time. "Murder in the Gunroom" was written in the early fifties and is filled with what is now politically incorrect ideas and sterotypes, but it's still a fun little book. Right off the bat I have to say that Mr. Piper (who was an enthusiatic collector of weapons in real life) knew the subject matter very very well. He writes with an authority that can only be had from actual experience. It never feels like the writing was derived solely from research. There are too many little nuances ,details, that would go by even the best researcher because they're things that one experiences, but rarely are they documented. Such as when our hero is griping about people putting stickers on pistols and the work that goes into removing those stickers. I've actually experienced that myself and I appreciated that little bit of expert detail. That's the type of thing you experience through doing. Piper is equally knowledgable about the sometime shady world of collectors and dealers. In this respect the book reminded me of the first Lovejoy novel The Judas Pair. There have been immense changes in the past twenty years thanks to the Internet and auctions are now actually an excellent way to liquidate a sizable collection, but the overall sub-culture is still the same. I've waded up to my ankles in that world a few times and this novel captures it perfectly.
Now having heaped all those laudations I have to say that the actual mystery isn't really all that difficult to figure out and Piper's attempts at throwing red herrings into the story are only mildly successful. However I think the mystery was secondary for Piper. I believe Piper wanted to write a novel about the world of gun collecting, but (probably) figured out that nobody would publish such a novel. So he spiced it up with a murder. This isn't really so unusual. I've read many a genre novel over the years in which it's obvious that the writer was more interested in something else, but also wanted to be paid, so he/she shoe-horned their real passion into the confines of a western, murder-mystery and so on and so forth.
All in all an entertaining little mystery novel made even better by the addition of gun collecting. However ,as other reviewers have pointed out, if you're not into firearms you might find the very impressive details to be rather mind-numbing after awhile. Similar to when I read a hard science fiction novel written by a physicist who just loves theoretical physics. After awhile I just skim over whole pages. So something to keep in mind if you are considering reading this book. If this doesn't deter you then "Murder in the Gunroom" is an old-fashioned novel that will help you burn up a couple hours.
April 19, 2015
I've long been familiar with H. Beam Piper's science fiction (Little Fuzzy, etc.), but it was only recently that I discovered he also wrote a detective novel, Murder in the Gunroom. Naturally I had to lay hands on this curio.
Lane Fleming was a prominent collector of antique firearms. One night when he was working in his gunroom on a new acquisition, a shot rang out and he was found dead on the floor. The coroner somewhat hastily ruled that the death was an accident; more sober heads assumed it was suicide, but that the truth was hushed up for fear of scuppering a major takeover deal involving Fleming's company. Months went by.
Now, Gladys, the dead man's trophy second wife, who loved and respected him even if never actually in love with him, suspects it was murder and wants to satisfy herself one way or the other, so she calls in PI and gun collector Jeff Rand, ostensibly to appraise Fleming's collection but in fact to do some detecting.
Soon there's another murder, this time of a dishonest gun dealer whom Fleming had been preparing to sue over the sale to him of a faked-up item. Also, it's evident that someone has been stealing the choicest items of the collection to sell them elsewhere. Could all these crimes be related? Could Jeff himself be next on the killer's list?
It's patently obvious, reading this book, that Piper was himself an avid gun collector and that Jeff Rand was an idealized version of himself. I'd like to say that I learned something about historic firearms, but I didn't; when I came to the passages that lovingly described the innards of a 1746 Throckmorton & Spinach with double-cartridge loading facilities plus emergency diaper (I may not have remembered that entirely accurately), I confess my eyes tended to glaze over. I did, though, learn something about the fascination gun collectors feel for the items of their desire; as I say, it's obvious Piper felt that passion, and he communicated it to me.
As a mystery novel, this is no great shakes. The characterization is pretty rudimentary, the setup is fairly artificial, and the writing is competent but pedestrian. But it's short and it's readable, and it does have some historic interest -- not least in its depiction of the NRA, which in the early 1950s was apparently an organization of gun collectors rather than, as in its modern incarnation, a bunch of loonies who value the "freedom" to own hi-tech wank-aids as more important than the occasional massacre of schoolchildren. When I mentioned this aspect to my wife, she recalled how in her own childhood (more recent than 1953, I hasten to add!) the NRA was an educational institution whose main concern was teaching people gun safety.
The text is enlivened with occasional libertarian drivel and with really quite a lot of drivel about General Semantics, the pseudopsychology that was popular at the time of Piper's writing (and was an obsession of another SF writer of the era, A.E. Van Vogt). Apparently Jeff Rand is such a whizzo detective because he knows to reject false Aristotelian equivalences such as assuming that, when a man's found dead on the floor with a bullet through his brain and a gun in his hand, the gun in the hand was the one that fired the bullet. Very clever. The average cop would, of course, stupidly pick up the gun and look at it and realize PDQ that it wasn't the right weapon.
After finishing the book, I checked Piper in Wikipedia to confirm my suspicion (really, conviction) that he was a gun collector. Sure enough, I was right. But then things got a bit creepy. Apparently he committed suicide using one of the guns from his own collection of historic firearms. Life being deliberately made to imitate art, or what?
Lane Fleming was a prominent collector of antique firearms. One night when he was working in his gunroom on a new acquisition, a shot rang out and he was found dead on the floor. The coroner somewhat hastily ruled that the death was an accident; more sober heads assumed it was suicide, but that the truth was hushed up for fear of scuppering a major takeover deal involving Fleming's company. Months went by.
Now, Gladys, the dead man's trophy second wife, who loved and respected him even if never actually in love with him, suspects it was murder and wants to satisfy herself one way or the other, so she calls in PI and gun collector Jeff Rand, ostensibly to appraise Fleming's collection but in fact to do some detecting.
Soon there's another murder, this time of a dishonest gun dealer whom Fleming had been preparing to sue over the sale to him of a faked-up item. Also, it's evident that someone has been stealing the choicest items of the collection to sell them elsewhere. Could all these crimes be related? Could Jeff himself be next on the killer's list?
It's patently obvious, reading this book, that Piper was himself an avid gun collector and that Jeff Rand was an idealized version of himself. I'd like to say that I learned something about historic firearms, but I didn't; when I came to the passages that lovingly described the innards of a 1746 Throckmorton & Spinach with double-cartridge loading facilities plus emergency diaper (I may not have remembered that entirely accurately), I confess my eyes tended to glaze over. I did, though, learn something about the fascination gun collectors feel for the items of their desire; as I say, it's obvious Piper felt that passion, and he communicated it to me.
As a mystery novel, this is no great shakes. The characterization is pretty rudimentary, the setup is fairly artificial, and the writing is competent but pedestrian. But it's short and it's readable, and it does have some historic interest -- not least in its depiction of the NRA, which in the early 1950s was apparently an organization of gun collectors rather than, as in its modern incarnation, a bunch of loonies who value the "freedom" to own hi-tech wank-aids as more important than the occasional massacre of schoolchildren. When I mentioned this aspect to my wife, she recalled how in her own childhood (more recent than 1953, I hasten to add!) the NRA was an educational institution whose main concern was teaching people gun safety.
The text is enlivened with occasional libertarian drivel and with really quite a lot of drivel about General Semantics, the pseudopsychology that was popular at the time of Piper's writing (and was an obsession of another SF writer of the era, A.E. Van Vogt). Apparently Jeff Rand is such a whizzo detective because he knows to reject false Aristotelian equivalences such as assuming that, when a man's found dead on the floor with a bullet through his brain and a gun in his hand, the gun in the hand was the one that fired the bullet. Very clever. The average cop would, of course, stupidly pick up the gun and look at it and realize PDQ that it wasn't the right weapon.
After finishing the book, I checked Piper in Wikipedia to confirm my suspicion (really, conviction) that he was a gun collector. Sure enough, I was right. But then things got a bit creepy. Apparently he committed suicide using one of the guns from his own collection of historic firearms. Life being deliberately made to imitate art, or what?
July 24, 2022
I read the Project Gutenberg e-book edition.
Pretty darn good tale of a gun hobbyist who dies while cleaning his new pistol.
Or maybe he was murdered?
Lots of good dialogue, and a minimum of offensive racial terms used...
I didn't know H. Beam Piper did mystery books, I've only read science fiction by him.
Be sure to read up on General Semantics before starting, it comes up several times during the story.
Pretty darn good tale of a gun hobbyist who dies while cleaning his new pistol.
Or maybe he was murdered?
Lots of good dialogue, and a minimum of offensive racial terms used...
I didn't know H. Beam Piper did mystery books, I've only read science fiction by him.
Be sure to read up on General Semantics before starting, it comes up several times during the story.
April 6, 2021
I'm familiar with H. Beam Piper mostly as a science fiction author, but I do like the occasional locked room mystery and, with a reading challenge in mind (a book with a gun or a gun on the cover), I picked up this book. There are guns: 2,500 in the collection for which someone has been murdered, not to mention the many sundry other firearms, mostly antique collectibles, littered throughout the novel.
The premise of this story is that Lane Fleming - a prominent antique pistol collector and owner of the Premix food company - has been shot in his gunroom. The death is almost immediately declared an accident (though rumors of suicide circulate), but his widow doesn't buy it. She retains former Colonel Jefferson Davis Rand - now a private detective who also writes about antique firearms for genre publications - supposedly to appraise and broker the sale of the collection on the grounds that, as a prominent and knowledgeable individual not connected to any shops or museums, he the best neutral party possible to get the highest value from the sale. Unspoken, however, is the understanding that Rand will investigate the Fleming's death to determine what actually happened and, if necessary, catch the killer.
Prospective readers should also keep in mind that Murder in the Gunroom is set in the late 40s or early 50s and, as such, depicts period typical racism ("I'll bet Rivers bought himself a big drink when Lane Fleming was killed. Fleming was all set to hang Rivers's scalp in his wigwam," Chapter Nine) and sexism ("There was a bimbo just made to be leered at, and she probably resented it like hell if she weren't," Chapter Six), with a couple of comments that sound like homophobia and religious discrimination (I hadn't ever seen 'Jesuitical' used as a derogatory description before, but there's a first time for everything, I guess). None are particularly prominent, but all are embedded in the text and accepted by the characters as normal ways of looking at and interacting with the people and world around them. As this is an older work this is not particularly surprising, but it is something to keep in mind.
From a mystery standpoint, the story is decent. It keeps moving, dropping hints and oblique statements along the way, and comes to a logical conclusion explained for all those (like me!) who didn't pick up every single implication and what they meant. The characters were a bit stiff, but alright. Overall, the story was entertaining, though probably not one that I will return to.
The premise of this story is that Lane Fleming - a prominent antique pistol collector and owner of the Premix food company - has been shot in his gunroom. The death is almost immediately declared an accident (though rumors of suicide circulate), but his widow doesn't buy it. She retains former Colonel Jefferson Davis Rand - now a private detective who also writes about antique firearms for genre publications - supposedly to appraise and broker the sale of the collection on the grounds that, as a prominent and knowledgeable individual not connected to any shops or museums, he the best neutral party possible to get the highest value from the sale. Unspoken, however, is the understanding that Rand will investigate the Fleming's death to determine what actually happened and, if necessary, catch the killer.
Prospective readers should also keep in mind that Murder in the Gunroom is set in the late 40s or early 50s and, as such, depicts period typical racism ("I'll bet Rivers bought himself a big drink when Lane Fleming was killed. Fleming was all set to hang Rivers's scalp in his wigwam," Chapter Nine) and sexism ("There was a bimbo just made to be leered at, and she probably resented it like hell if she weren't," Chapter Six), with a couple of comments that sound like homophobia and religious discrimination (I hadn't ever seen 'Jesuitical' used as a derogatory description before, but there's a first time for everything, I guess). None are particularly prominent, but all are embedded in the text and accepted by the characters as normal ways of looking at and interacting with the people and world around them. As this is an older work this is not particularly surprising, but it is something to keep in mind.
From a mystery standpoint, the story is decent. It keeps moving, dropping hints and oblique statements along the way, and comes to a logical conclusion explained for all those (like me!) who didn't pick up every single implication and what they meant. The characters were a bit stiff, but alright. Overall, the story was entertaining, though probably not one that I will return to.
March 1, 2022
Would mark this as a 3.5 in terms of a story but quite high on the amusement factor for me. The 1993 reprint of this book has a nice bio of the author and list of all his books, and the cover is a reprint of the original as well. It is really helpful to read the bio for a few reasons. 1. You find out this is his only mystery, he was a collector of guns, there is a character in the story based on himself. The bio also has some really sad elements in it as well; but you get a sense of where the story was coming from and what was a driving interest in his life.
Really enjoyed this book. A private investigator is asked to assess and help sell a gun collection as he is considered an expert in the field. This request is a disguised call to look over the situation of the death of the owner of said collection as it appeared- he was murdered and hushed up.
There is a lot of swagger and literary, science and gun lingo thrown about. There is a LOT of gushing over guns and their make etc... if this doesn't interest you you can skim through it and get on to the rest of the story. There are also elements of references to Science and Sanity & J.W. Dunne's time-theories which are conveniently known to various people as if it was very very common knowledge. There is a level of snark and machismo that I find both dated and actually funny to read. It kept the story from being overly dark.
On to the actual mystery. Interesting plot, but the path of "detecting" felt all over the place but in general- ended up with Rand talking to various people and inspecting locations. The "law" factor contained several people who were familiar with Rand, and at times they did the usual right things and wrong ones that affected finding the killer (basically - they were no where close.). I think he could have written a couple more mysteries of this character and done well.
Piper's main genre is sci-fi, but I am glad that he gave a go at a mystery. Like dropping back in time and seeing the world through the eyes of man who lived through WW2 and was making his way in life just after.
Really enjoyed this book. A private investigator is asked to assess and help sell a gun collection as he is considered an expert in the field. This request is a disguised call to look over the situation of the death of the owner of said collection as it appeared- he was murdered and hushed up.
There is a lot of swagger and literary, science and gun lingo thrown about. There is a LOT of gushing over guns and their make etc... if this doesn't interest you you can skim through it and get on to the rest of the story. There are also elements of references to Science and Sanity & J.W. Dunne's time-theories which are conveniently known to various people as if it was very very common knowledge. There is a level of snark and machismo that I find both dated and actually funny to read. It kept the story from being overly dark.
On to the actual mystery. Interesting plot, but the path of "detecting" felt all over the place but in general- ended up with Rand talking to various people and inspecting locations. The "law" factor contained several people who were familiar with Rand, and at times they did the usual right things and wrong ones that affected finding the killer (basically - they were no where close.). I think he could have written a couple more mysteries of this character and done well.
Piper's main genre is sci-fi, but I am glad that he gave a go at a mystery. Like dropping back in time and seeing the world through the eyes of man who lived through WW2 and was making his way in life just after.
May 31, 2018
It was a good diversion, as well as instructive on style. Publ. in early 1950s
Style
Coarse, cliché imagery
going at it, hammer-and-tongs
as though he had six legs and a hard shell
roaring like a bull
Hilarious variation of he said: he ejaculated and others
Heavy effect of WWII military incl. Nazi hierarchy in narrative choices and references
Social context
Before ironclad insider trading rules
pre-Miranda rights.
"In this country, a police-officer doesn't have to recite any incantation before he makes an arrest, any more than he needs to read any Riot Act before he can start shooting, but it won't hurt to warn you that anything you say can be used against you."
Colored people the accepted term back then
Style
Coarse, cliché imagery
going at it, hammer-and-tongs
as though he had six legs and a hard shell
roaring like a bull
Hilarious variation of he said: he ejaculated and others
Heavy effect of WWII military incl. Nazi hierarchy in narrative choices and references
Social context
Before ironclad insider trading rules
pre-Miranda rights.
"In this country, a police-officer doesn't have to recite any incantation before he makes an arrest, any more than he needs to read any Riot Act before he can start shooting, but it won't hurt to warn you that anything you say can be used against you."
Colored people the accepted term back then
May 17, 2022
1953. When men were Men and women were ornamental. This early Piper is hilarious to today’s reader. Every honorable man is a veteran. Plot and character take a back seat to what amounts to a detailed textbook of antique pistols, care and feeding of.
Pros:
Pleasing narrative style is keeping me reading.
Learning more than I thought I wanted to know about rare vintage weapons.
Deep respect for craftsmanship.
Not a bad whodunnit.
Cons:
Two-dimensional characters, all of whom smoke stylishly. The guns have more personality than the people.
1953.
Pros:
Pleasing narrative style is keeping me reading.
Learning more than I thought I wanted to know about rare vintage weapons.
Deep respect for craftsmanship.
Not a bad whodunnit.
Cons:
Two-dimensional characters, all of whom smoke stylishly. The guns have more personality than the people.
1953.
September 9, 2017
A well-paced murder mystery. Rand is called in ostensibly to inventory and negotiate the best price for the firearms collection of Lane Fleming, recently deceased, by his widow. Does she mean him to investigate the death too? Could a serious amateur expert like Fleming accidentally kill himdpself while cleaning a new gun? A second death follows, this time most decidedly murder, and Rand is retained to find his killer. But is he looking for one killer or two?
January 4, 2021
Known mainly for SciFi, Piper, like many writers in the day, wrote in whatever genre would pay the bills. This is a serviceable whodunit set post WWII with interesting digressions into firearms collecting. One amusing point is the character who makes his living by writing SciFi for the magazines of the day.
August 12, 2017
Interesting.
It was nice to read a story by Piper that was NOT science fiction - the only slight SF element was one of the minor characters is a science fiction writer and discusses a story idea with the protagonist.
It was nice to read a story by Piper that was NOT science fiction - the only slight SF element was one of the minor characters is a science fiction writer and discusses a story idea with the protagonist.
February 19, 2020
Piper is known for his science fiction but his only mystery is well written with many historical reference
As with all Piper stories this one is filled with historical references which any fan of history will enjoy and appreciate
As with all Piper stories this one is filled with historical references which any fan of history will enjoy and appreciate
November 12, 2022
Was gun collectors Lane Fleming death an accident as decided or a suicide. His widow Gladys approaches p.i. Jefferson Rand to appraise the gun collection to sell. But Rand believes Fleming was murdered but can he prove it.
Enjoyable mystery but too much information about guns.
Enjoyable mystery but too much information about guns.
August 25, 2024
I truly enjoyed this novel. The mystery is interesting as are the characters and plot lines. I enjoy this author's sci-fi novels, but this is the first detective mystery of his I have found. It's a good read, and nothing like his space operas.
April 9, 2019
Good detective story
Does a good job keeping to the timeframe of the decade the story takes place. Kept the plot moving well.
Does a good job keeping to the timeframe of the decade the story takes place. Kept the plot moving well.
April 14, 2020
4.25 / 5
March 1, 2021
Good hair trigger mystery.
December 26, 2021
I wish H. Beam Piper had written more mysteries. This one-and-only was every bit as good as his sci-fi novels. Interesting characters, lots of tantalizing red herrings, and a terrific conclusion.
November 12, 2022
A decent whodunnit. Early example of a gumshoe.
May 23, 2023
Great book, I listened to the free audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-QFh...
April 23, 2025
lots of murder, lots of gun. classic detective story.
June 3, 2020
Others have mentioned how technical this book is concerning antique firearms, but other than that, this was a very well put together mystery that kept me engaged throughout.
November 8, 2013
This was all kinds of bad. First, and foremost, the description of the book blatantly lies:
“Here is a mystery, told against the fascinating background of old guns and gun-collecting”… not fascinating whatsoever. The author was clearly fascinated about old guns (to the point of it being a borderline fetish!), but to the average reader, it was thick, cumbersome, and droll.
“Rapid-fire without being hysterical, exciting without losing its contact with reason”… There was no rapid-fire! There was no excitement! The book moved at such an agonizing pace, it wasn't until the 9th chapter (about midpoint through the book) that the storyline started moving forward. I kept wondering when the author would just get to the point.
“It is a story that will keep your nerves on a hair trigger even if you don't know the difference between a cased pair of Paterson .34's and a Texas .40 with a ramming-lever.” Complete fabrication. There was so much about guns in this book… makes, models, calibers, history, firing capabilities, cleaning rituals, etc. It read like a technical manual! I found it clouded up the storyline and caused me to lose focus very often. It took me a month to read this book that’s less than 200 pages!
The tone was very Noir-y. I love Noir, and you can tell the author was definitely influenced by that genre. I just don’t think he did it very well. There were so many people in the works the whole plot seemed superficial. There was no room to spend time developing characters. (Or, rather, the time that should have went to character development was poured into antique gun descriptions) And every single woman in the story was insipid, weak, or used purely as a backdrop. By the time I was finished I was angry to the point of flailing.
I definitely do NOT recommend this book. Not ever. Run from it.
“Here is a mystery, told against the fascinating background of old guns and gun-collecting”… not fascinating whatsoever. The author was clearly fascinated about old guns (to the point of it being a borderline fetish!), but to the average reader, it was thick, cumbersome, and droll.
“Rapid-fire without being hysterical, exciting without losing its contact with reason”… There was no rapid-fire! There was no excitement! The book moved at such an agonizing pace, it wasn't until the 9th chapter (about midpoint through the book) that the storyline started moving forward. I kept wondering when the author would just get to the point.
“It is a story that will keep your nerves on a hair trigger even if you don't know the difference between a cased pair of Paterson .34's and a Texas .40 with a ramming-lever.” Complete fabrication. There was so much about guns in this book… makes, models, calibers, history, firing capabilities, cleaning rituals, etc. It read like a technical manual! I found it clouded up the storyline and caused me to lose focus very often. It took me a month to read this book that’s less than 200 pages!
The tone was very Noir-y. I love Noir, and you can tell the author was definitely influenced by that genre. I just don’t think he did it very well. There were so many people in the works the whole plot seemed superficial. There was no room to spend time developing characters. (Or, rather, the time that should have went to character development was poured into antique gun descriptions) And every single woman in the story was insipid, weak, or used purely as a backdrop. By the time I was finished I was angry to the point of flailing.
I definitely do NOT recommend this book. Not ever. Run from it.
October 15, 2012
2.5 stars. Not too bad, but not exactly great either. The sole murder mystery written by a science-fiction author, its chief interest lies in its rather unique theme of antique firearms and their collectors. (I found it somewhat amusing that there were so many of these enthusiasts and collectors living in one single unremarkable small town!) It's evidently written in emulation of the "hard-boiled" American detective stories of the '40s and '50s (with occasional bewildering tangents into wordy discussions of philosophy among a few of the characters), which makes for some wryly amusing one-liners in dialogue and description; but on the other hand there's a smattering of profanity that detracted from the overall reading experience for me. Judged by traditional murder-mystery standards it's a bit lacking, since There was one clue that was so patently obvious it seems very hard to believe that the police missed it—the detective's explanation of why they jumped to the conclusion they did is not very plausible.
February 11, 2010
Lane Fleming had been found shot in his gunroom amid his collection of 2,500 antique pistols. Ruled an accident, his widow didn't believe it and hired Jefferson Davis Rand, PI and gun expert, to evaluate the collection for sale.
Unsaid, but obvious in what she said, was her belief that it was murder.
Jeff moves in temporarily and begins his evaluation, also looking into the death on the side.
Plenty of suspects, two daughters and their husbands, as well as a crooked gun dealer, and plenty of motive. The dead man stood in the way of a merger of the family business with a larger company, a profitable merger, and the crooked gun dealer was about to be sued for two counterfeit pistols by the dead man, which would do hid already shaky reputation no good.
A locked room murder mystery.
Unsaid, but obvious in what she said, was her belief that it was murder.
Jeff moves in temporarily and begins his evaluation, also looking into the death on the side.
Plenty of suspects, two daughters and their husbands, as well as a crooked gun dealer, and plenty of motive. The dead man stood in the way of a merger of the family business with a larger company, a profitable merger, and the crooked gun dealer was about to be sued for two counterfeit pistols by the dead man, which would do hid already shaky reputation no good.
A locked room murder mystery.
February 9, 2014
Entertaining. It's rather obsessed with the minutia of antique guns. By the half-way point, I was really starting to worry it was going to be nothing but the minutia of antique guns, but then the plot started to kick-in. I liked that the detective wasn't overly obsessive about discovering the identity of the guilty person. He narrowed it down to a short list and simply tried to engineer a situation that would force the guilty to reveal him or herself. It was not a matter of stumbling across some last little clue or having some sudden last second revelation. Also, there wasn't a stupid dining room "you're probably wondering why I gathered you all here" kind-of thing. So bonus for skipping that. There was enough info presented that you could work out who was guilty way ahead of time if you felt like trying to work it out.
August 21, 2015
2.5. I have really mixed feelings about this. Rand, the hero, is introduced as an over the top he-man, instantly attractive to women, who men instinctively want to befriend or fear, and who strangled nazis with his bare hands during the war. There is no small amount of post WW2 era wish fulfillment here -- he even talks knowledgeably about science fiction with a writer. Meanwhile, the writer of this story spent a lot of time writing sci-fi. Please, at least try and disguise the self-insertion, Mr. Piper! All the women are caricatures or stereotypes, and the men are not much better. The racism is blatant. It's a product of its times in the worst possible way -- and then towards the end, the author let off showing off how much he knew about guns to deliver an actually interesting ending. I think part of the 2.5 rating is just my relief that it wasn't worse than it already is.
April 25, 2011
This was okay. Not great.
Post-WWII. Lane Fleming is found dead in his gunroom. He had been fiddling around with his newest gun. The police think it is suicide. Mrs. Fleming doesn't think so. One of her sons-in-law has arranged for a sale of Lane's collection. She hires the former Colonel, and now private investigator with his own firm, Jefferson Davis Rand, to analyze the collection and determine the actual work. Jeff believes, although it is unspoken, that she actually also wants him to look into the circumstances concerning Fleming's death.
This is the author's only mystery story. He primarily wrote science fiction. I think his real reason for writing this book was to show off his knowledge of guns. It did seem extensive.
Post-WWII. Lane Fleming is found dead in his gunroom. He had been fiddling around with his newest gun. The police think it is suicide. Mrs. Fleming doesn't think so. One of her sons-in-law has arranged for a sale of Lane's collection. She hires the former Colonel, and now private investigator with his own firm, Jefferson Davis Rand, to analyze the collection and determine the actual work. Jeff believes, although it is unspoken, that she actually also wants him to look into the circumstances concerning Fleming's death.
This is the author's only mystery story. He primarily wrote science fiction. I think his real reason for writing this book was to show off his knowledge of guns. It did seem extensive.
March 29, 2014
Very disappointing read for me. I have been poking around Piper's stories for the last several months and being quite fascinated by his sci-fi tales that seem to be continually flavored by the Piper's real life social world (I'm talking about smoking tobacco everywhere by everyone, drinking of hard liquor at every chance by everyone everywhere, and women being background objects while the men do the real stuff)
Well this story is around 1938, after WW1 and before WW2 and is set in a world of gun collectors. Nothing sci-fi, just guns detailed way too much for my liking. The private detective and murder solving seem almost secondary to the gun collection discussions at times.
It took me ages to get thru this book, not something I would recommend unless you like gun history.
Well this story is around 1938, after WW1 and before WW2 and is set in a world of gun collectors. Nothing sci-fi, just guns detailed way too much for my liking. The private detective and murder solving seem almost secondary to the gun collection discussions at times.
It took me ages to get thru this book, not something I would recommend unless you like gun history.
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