Root of All Evil

Lieutenant Luis Mendoza #9

by Dell Shannon

Lieutenant Luis Mendoza, Los Angeles Police Department, likes nothing better than to wrap up his homicide cases neatly. The latest Jane Doe is identified as Valerie Ellis, a spoiled rich kid who was left penniless when her parents died four years ago. But there are many layers to this complex case. . . .

Genres: Mystery, Procedural

Paperback

First published May 1, 1966

About the author

Pseudonym of Elizabeth Linington.

Barbara "Elizabeth" Linington (March 11, 1921 – April 5, 1988) was an American novelist. She was awarded runner-up scrolls for best first mystery novel from the Mystery Writers of America for her 1960 novel, Case Pending, which introduced her most popular series character, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza. Her 1961 book, Nightmare, and her 1962 novel, Knave of Hearts, another entry in the Mendoza series, were both nominated for Edgars in the Best Novel category. Regarded as the "Queen of the Procedurals," she was one of the first women to write police procedurals — a male-dominated genre of police-story writing.

Besides crime, Linington also took interest in archaeology, the occult, gemstones, antique weapons and languages. Linington was also a conservative political activist who was an active member of the John Birch Society

Reviews

[Bobby Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

“This had been, in all probability, a deliberately planned murder; and contrary to all the fiction, a big-city homicide bureau didn’t run into that sort of thing very often.” — Luis Mendoza’s thoughts


Coming just before Mark of Murder, Root of All Evil is Elizabeth Linington (Dell Shannon/Lesley Egan/Anne Blaisdell) at her crime-writing, police procedural best; which is to say better than just about anyone before or since.

Root of All Evil is very complex, as a couple of cases take on lives of their own, expanding and eventually intertwining. John Palliser has a larger role in this one, his smart hunches and lateral thinking paying off big dividends for Mendoza and Hackett. Commies, a burglar/rapist, a young murdered girl, and a six year old murder will eventually come to a head in Arizona, across the border, as Mendoza tries to figure out how prostitution, blackmail, and a Commie spy named Thronwald brought about the death of young, blonde and pretty Valerie Ellis, whose body was dumped on a parochial school playground. Even how her drugged body got there is a mystery for much of this book.

Meanwhile, Hackett and Palliser are desperately searching for a rapist/burglar the papers are calling Lover Boy. All they know is he’s a big black man with a pockmarked face. Because there was much racial tension at the time — this one is from 1964 — Hackett is trying not to stir up more trouble in Los Angeles’s black community than the Muslim factions within same community are already stirring. But he has a job to do, and he intends to do it. The Commie angle comes to light fairly early in the Valerie Ellis case Mendoza is working, as does her hooking. When Valerie’s notebook comes to light, and the Feds become involved, Mendoza is more surprised that the cool and seemingly uninterested-in-sex rich girl Valerie Ellis was hooking, than he is at her falling in with Commies. Mendoza’s unspoken thoughts:

“Because, look at it from that angle — Valerie, spoiled, used to having money, and only nineteen — a lot of mixed-up kids that age got caught up by the ideals of Communism. The impossible ideals. Communism, Socialism — two sides of the same coin. Sounding just fine, a wonderful idea — only the catch was, neither remotely workable until human nature got entirely changed around.”

There is blackmail, false leads, a bottle of drugged wine, two lovers of foreign folk music, a phone conversation that has a bearing on both cases, and a murder at first attributed to the rapist/burglar. Intricate and complex, Linington uses both Mendoza and Hackett to comment on society and its relationship to the law, and policemen, who carry out the arduous and difficult task that often goes thankless by those they are protecting. When interviewing a girl Luis is certain knew about a badger game Valerie was running with a pimp, he ruminates, not for the first time in the series, on why he hasn’t quit the force, since he and Alison are secure financially. His thoughts go on for three or four paragraphs, in a sharp and damning indictment of the honest citizenry, who are not only unappreciative of the muck and mire cops have to probe in so that honest citizens can sleep safely at night, but ready with glee when one of them falls victim to it. Just like Mendoza’s insightful musings on Communism and Socialism, and its appeal to the inexperienced and naive youth, his thoughts are as apropos for current times as they were in 1964. Perhaps even more so. Mendoza's thoughts on cops and the honest citizenry they protect become much too lengthy and insightful to quote, but here’s how it concludes in Mendoza’s head:

“For some five seconds Mendoza succumbed to a prevalent disease among police officers and hated the honest citizenry with a beautiful savagery.”

As Mendoza learns more and more about Valerie Ellis in life, through interviews and evidence, both Mendoza and the reader form a picture of her —

“I’ll tell you no lie, gentlemen, that one was bad medicine. There was a streak in her kind of scared me, you want to know. A wild streak — real wild. Especially when she was lit up a little.” — Eddy Warren, Valerie’s pimp

Mendoza wonders if it was her wildness or her greed that got her killed. Or was it the Commie angle? How wild was the cool young blonde?

“Anything went with Valerie, so long as it brought in the cold cash. — I remember once she was telling me how a guy passed out on her, and she laughed and said all of a sudden she wondered how it’d feel to stick the bread knife in him. That kind of wild…” — Eddy Warren

Nothing here is a spoiler. I could quote pages from this one and you still wouldn’t figure it out, because the cases have so many tendrils, and unexpected connections. One case ends in a way which will offend the delicate sensibilities of some, but it rings true for the time period, and is actually quite sad. Luis’s case turns out to have at its core a story-line which could have been ripped from today’s headlines, yet still comes as a surprise to the reader because of Linington’s deft slight of hand. But there is still that tip, the phone call. How does a six-year old murder play into it all, and what murder? If this fabulous Luis Mendoza mystery had ever been published with an alternate title, it might well have been Blackmail City.

Linington always weaved the domestic life of her cops into the narrative, and there is just as much happening on that front as with the various cases! Alison’s had the twins, and they’re keeping Luis and Alison up at night. Luis wants Alison to get a nanny, but that proves to be no easy chore. One nanny even dares to kick Bast, one of the Mendoza’s four cats. Sheba and Nefertiti don’t see a lot of action in this one, but the half Siamese, half Abyssinian cat El Señor’s encounter with a big stray tom in the neighborhood will finally lead Alison straight to her nanny. And it will be that encounter which gives Luis the final piece of the puzzle he needs to wrap everything up tidily, just as he likes. Except this time, Luis both likes and sympathizes with the person he’s caught, even has respect for what they were doing, and the reasons why.

Just a terrific mystery police procedural read, with tons going on. As always Linington blends the domestic life of Luis and Alison brilliantly with the police procedural elements. Linington didn’t just find her own water level, as musician Herb Alpert always talks about, she seemed to be the only one in the water, because no one else was doing it quite like her.

You’ll start off thinking this one is slightly dated because of the Iron Curtain angle, but before it’s all over, you’ll find many aspects in Root of All Evil could easily have been ripped from any newspaper in any big city only yesterday. Just terrific stuff from a great crime/mystery writer. Whether she was writing as Dell Shannon, Lesley Egan, or Anne Blaisdell, Elizabeth Linington was in a class all her own.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun novel in this series. Shannon does a great job in having interesting cases but also to have Mendoza and the other detectives so personable that you care about their home life. She even manages to get that home life to combine with the solving of the cases at times, like she does in this one. There is a murderer and rapist running around that they are searching for, also a young female body is found in a Catholic school yard with no clue on how she died or who put her there. There are a ton of coincidences which in a detective novel usually is annoying. However Shannon is so good that you don't care and just enjoy the ride.

Highly recommended, the whole series is well done so far. She even has me not caring that she writes about Mendoza's cats, now it would seem weird if they are not mentioned every time he comes home.

[Diane K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

For as long as I can remember, I have had the greatest respect for police. This holds true even now, with scandalous behavior seeming to break out every time you turn around. I'm not one for defunding the police. Mind you, I think they need to be RE-funded, with emphasis placed on screening techniques and better training, including how to cope with stress and anger.

I believe I can trace my attitude back to when I began reading this series.

I've always loved this series because it seems so realistic. (I have reason to believe that Shannon based some of her cases on actual police files.) It's not only Mendoza with his amazing crystal ball, it's the hard, slogging, mind-numbing routine that more frequently brings them solutions. I saw one reviewer refer to this series as "hagiography" essentially presenting a perfect police department. It's not. The characters have their foibles. Sometimes they make mistakes. There is Holmes, Chief of Detectives, who is jealous of Mendoza because his style of deduction often gets him into the headlines (all the more maddening because Mendoza couldn't care less.) And there is Sgt Lake, who will come up with an idea for weight loss that is the last word in stupidity. They come in all sorts.

Shannon also, frequently (and notably in this particular book) shows the police dealing with the attitudes of the citizenry. A lot of the population like the police, when they bother to think about them at all. Some consider them second-class citizens, and are squeamish about interacting with them. Any time the police run into a difficult case, they face headlines and editorials about the stupid, inept, maybe corrupt cops. Why can't they get these evil criminals off the streets? Well, there's the little matter about rules of evidence. The laws so carefully crafted to protect the rights of We the People. Unfortunately, We the People also include the criminal element. We can't say, "This is a bad guy, so we will ignore the rules." They complain about trigger-happy cops, not realizing that every time a gun is fired away from the target range, there are reports that must be filled out, hearings that must be attended, to determine if the shooting was justified. Corrupt cops? Yes, alas, you do find them, as you will find corruption in any population. The vast majority are honest, hard-working men and women of integrity, but the moment one single cop puts a toe out of line, the whole department, in fact all the departments in all the states in the country, will be tarred with the same brush. Small wonder that Mendoza (and myriad others) occasionally takes a sneaking moment to thoroughly hate the citizens he is called upon to protect. I was interested to learn that it was the Los Angeles Police who first developed the department known as Internal Affairs--police keeping an eye on police, because they do seriously want to remain a good, honest force.

I thought I'd take a little time to consider the men of Mendoza's department. Shannon, as she gets more practice, is slowly expanding the characters. In CASE PENDING, the only police we really see are Mendoza and Hackett. All others are simply names mentioned in passing. Higgins gets a brief moment during a (fortunately minor) shootout, in which he gets winged (and Alison ruins a pair of stockings). A wife is mentioned very briefly. Said wife will not be heard from again, but it will take several books before we learn that Higgins is a bachelor. Sgt Lake, the officer who stays inside and mans the phones, is also mentioned, but the others--Clock, Brice, the Spanish-speaking Smith, will not be heard from again. In ACE OF SPADES, Higgins is mentioned again, and also Piggot, who for a man who is a pillar of the Free Methodist church can look remarkably like a small-time thug. Galeano, I believe, is also mentioned, but again, they are just names mentioned in passing. Landers, Glasser, Scarne are mentioned here and there. Sgt Bert Dwyer is the only other officer whom we see and hear, but there is still not much focus on him. In DEATH OF A BUSYBODY, we're introduced to newly promoted Sgt (third grade) John Palliser, who starts off rather awestruck at being in the company of the great Lt. Mendoza, but will gradually gain more confidence. In two books, there are references to Curacchio and Rolf, but again, they are not seen, and they will fade away. In this book, Palliser is back in charge of his own case, and Landers actually gets some dialogue. We still don't "see" Landers, but we will soon learn that he has the kind of face that will keep him being carded in bars until he's a grandfather. Henceforth, we will see more and more focus on the individual officers. Outside of the department, we meet huge, red-headed Lt. Callaghan of Narcotics, and the perpetually sneezing Lt. Saul Goldberg. (I loved the scene in DEATH OF A BUSYBODY where Goldberg agreed not to publicize the arrest of a felon who broke parole (to attend his daughter's wedding). The man was tearfully grateful for his "Christian charity" and Mendoza enjoyed the rare spectacle of Saul Israel Goldberg looking disconcerted.)

This book is excellent, because there is a great deal of emphasis on the characters, police, suspects, and bystanders. There is a case that is distinctly separate from the main case; it will not unexpectedly develop a connection. This case involves a black man who is attacking (and often raping) wealthy white women, then grabbing a few valuables before escaping. This is one that shows the tiresome slog of police work. It's only after several attacks (with the headlines getting bigger and angrier) that they find proof that the man is driving a blue pickup truck. Try to find one blue pickup truck, model unknown, out of the thousands in the state of California.

The second, main case, is a real bear to work. The victim, a formerly wealthy young student who had the rug yanked out from under her when her parents died and left her virtually destitute, takes very little time to decide that she's gonna get money by any means necessary, and her rackets spread out in all directions. Prostitution, drugs, the badger game, and a very lucrative little scheme that she stumbled on by accident, and then realized its potential. Just which of these different rackets led to her death? Or was it something else entirely? The police get a call stating that her death was because "that woman was murdered six years ago". What woman? Who called? Was it a lunatic? And why didn't she stay on the line and give more details?

Palliser is handed another rape/robbery case; it must be Loverboy again. Or is it? There are some strange discrepancies. This victim was not a wealthy woman, and, rather than the killer grabbing a few valuables that are readily to hand, the entire house is ransacked for anything of the slightest value (and it's all very slight value). An interesting point is that all the discrepancies concern things that were not published in the newspapers. Palliser has a hunch, and he is learning, via Mendoza, to pay attention to his hunches....

Sorting out all the suspects takes a great deal of time, and they're not helped by the F.B.I. throwing a wild card into the hand. Not to mention a bottle of Malmsey. Luck gets thrown into the mix, when a bank employee way off near the Arizona border, back from sick leave, recognizes the face of the victim as a woman who has been regularly visiting her safe deposit box in their vault. Mendoza flits over in his Ferrari, and picks up enough information to send him haring off in yet another direction, gathers a few more pieces together, and works out just what this newest racket is all about. But did it lead to her death?

The side story in this book deals with the Mendozas and their new twin monsters, who regularly wake up and howl every morning at 2:30. Mendoza points out, quite reasonably, that they can afford to hire a nanny, and he needs his sleep. Nannies are not easily found, however, and it's up to Alison to locate one. The first, Miss Freeman, reminds me of a description I've seen in British mysteries--"an acidulated spinster". She is a neat freak, would probably prefer that Mendoza don a Hazmat suit before cuddling his son and daughter, ignores the babies if their crying is "unauthorized", and loathes cats. Needless to say, she doesn't last very long. The next prospect, picked out of the classified ads, doesn't work out either, for a much different reason. Alison starts to think that she's never going to find anyone, when she hears the terrifying sound of a real catfight. El Senor, who lords it over his harem inside the house, is not much of a real fighter. (Like Silver Boy, most of his aggression has been surgically removed.) The altercation with a menacing stray tom leads to a visit to the vet, where, by chance, she meets Mairi MacTaggart, who will quickly become a fixture in the Mendoza household. She also holds a simple piece of knowledge that will allow the case to fall together in Mendoza's mind in one fell swoop, and bring this fascinating story to a satisfying conclusion.

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another solid Lt. Mendoza mystery. We meet the new housekeeper/nanny and find out how she is hired. A satisfying mystery or two is solved. I found it an enjoyable read.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading the series in order, and this is one of the best so far. There is a realism to the police work in Shannon's series because there are always multiple cases at hand. In this book there are three or four, depending on how you count. They interconnect to some extent, though generally in small ways. Luis Mendoza again has effective hunches, but John Palliser (now promoted to sergeant) is beginning to show a similar skill.

The procedural aspect is carefully presented, as fourteen or fifteen people with contact information in a notebook are checked out. That's a lot to keep track of, and there are at least fifteen policemen to keep track of as well (though many are mentioned but do not actually appear in the story). Somehow this all was not that hard to follow, and the book reads quickly. Threaded throughout the book, as with previous episodes, is the Mendoza household saga. The twins are not a bit over five months old, and caring for them is a challenge for Allison.

For the first time, the turmoil and racial issues of the 1960's appear in the series, though the police remain entirely Caucasian and Latino, and most of the characters this time are once again either middle class or people on the edge of society. It's nostalgic to encounter a Fuller brush man and read about classified ads in a newspaper. Parking meters cost a nickle, and dry cleaning an overcoat cost fifty cents.

As with the rest of the series, I can't quite call these brilliant, but am having fun reading them.

[Janet Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a bit OCD when it comes to reading books in a series...they must be read in order. And since these Dell Shannon police procedurals featuring LAPD's Lieutenant Luis Mendoza are mostly only available on e-book, I had trouble discovering the order in which to read them.
This appears to be book # 7 because the Mendoza family now has 5-month-old twins. Why does this matter? It does to me because I started reading Mark of Murder which was listed as the 7th. This cannot be. The aforementioned twins are 11 months old in Mark of Murder. So I reversed direction and read this book before finishing Mark.
I am glad I did because it entails much about the Mendoza family at home.
It makes an amusing aside from the two murder cases that Luis struggles to solve at work.
Poor Luis begins his days too tired to think after being beliguered with two howling babies every night. How CAN a homicide detective solve crimes when he cannot get any sleep!
Thus wife Alison begins her own search...for help in the nursery. The first lady she hires is a woman who hates cats. (Yes, the Mendozas have four cats, who are much beloved family members.)
And so as the search continues, the second hire is much to the dismay of Luis. But three times is a charm, they say: Alison is ultimately vindicated when the perfect nursery maid appears. Why is Alison vindicated?
Mairi (nursery maid extroardinare) gives Luis just the clue that helps him solve one of his cases.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The body of a young woman is found on the grounds of a Catholic school and once again Mendoza and his homicide boys are thrust into the world of Communists, prostitution, folk music, Maidera, and black mail.

Who drugged Valerie Ellis and dumped her body in the school yard? Why was a bottle of Maidera and a box of reefers found in her apartment and do they have anything to do with her death?

Also taking up their time is the burglar/rapist known as Lover Boy. Are the two connected and is the death of a former nurse one of his jobs or a look alike?

On the home front, Alison struggles with finding the perfect nurse to help with the five month old twins, which may or may not factor into one or more cases.

An excellent procedural.

(Despite what the reading list says this book comes before Mark of Murder)

[Krissie]

Actually book 7 in the series

[Loretta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book 7 in the series, not book 9.

Another fun read. Lots of coincidences, but somehow it does not matter.

Enjoy reading about the detectives home lives too.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't tend to like mysteries where the solution is down to coincidence. So a mystery where everything revolves around coincidences was never likely to be my thing but I'll grant that the books makes some clever points about it.

It's well-written, if a little broad in the characterisation (including the most Oirish Scottish character I have ever come across).

Worth a read.

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Dell Shannon's LAPD books, although they are definitely hagiography - the police are always honorable and never prejudiced. But they're really a good read. This one wasn't as exciting as some of the others, but I liked it.