History in Vogue discussion

Retired detective Nick Charles finds himself, along with his wife Nora, drawn unwillingly into the disappearance of inventor and former client, Clyde Wynant. Wynant's young daughter, Dorothy, begs Nick's assistance under the guise of reconnecting with her father, and after finding his secretary and mistress murdered, his former wife, Mimi, claims she's concerned for her children's inheritance.

So I"m discovering that my ability to read multiple books at the same time is challenged by reading several detective novels/stories at the same time. All of the facts start merging.....

Anyway, I've been working with one author from Mexico and one from Chile who have atypical female characters. As this is my first Nick and Nora book, I was interested to see if this couple is treated as an equal partnership, in exactly how the woman is portrayed. So far, in the first 7, I see that there's still the patronizing dialogue of the times ("don't worry your pretty little head about it"). Yet, at the same time, she's the instigator, she's the one who wants them involved in the case, and I don't think she'll turn out to be the quintessential dumb bunny.

I'm coming into this read having seen and loved the movies and as far as Nora is concerned, she's much better in the movies. The movies are more screwball comedy with lots more witty dialogue. I do like the dialogue exchanges between Nick and Nora here, although they are not as numerous or as lively as in the movie.

I also noticed Asta here is a female Schnauzer and not a male Wire Fox Terrier.

I can't stand Dorothy. She's so whiny and annoying. She's latched on to Nick but he has his work cut out for him to get to the bottom of the mystery with all her crazy stories. Mimi sounds like a horrible mother.

QNPoohBear wrote: "I'm coming into this read having seen and loved the movies and as far as Nora is concerned, she's much better in the movies. The movies are more screwball comedy with lots more witty dialogue. I do..."

She seems to be "quite the dame" here, as the cop who was gazzing over her would say.

I'm listening to eAudio curtesy of the library.

Unlike some of you, I haven't seen the movie(s?), though I do recall my grandmother's approbation of the film or tv show.

Story takes place around 1934?, shortly after prohibition ended (1920-1933).

Wow are these characters making up for lost time with the drinking! I've read things where people go on about the alcohol intake in this book and I thought the commentary was made by prude teetotalers/killjoys! They weren't exaggerating.

"We find that alcohol consumption fell sharply at the beginning of Prohibition, to approximately 30 percent of its pre-Prohibition level. During the next several years, however, alcohol consumptionincreased sharply, to about 60-70 percent of its pre-prohibition level."

Source: http://www.nber.org/papers/w367

I guess alcohol consumption levels were still high after prohibition was repealed/lifted? Or was DH trying to be amusing?

I agree with QNPoohbear that Dorothy is annoying. I don't see why Nora is interested in her at all and encourages Nick to get involved.

As of these first 7 chapters, I can't see any compelling reason why Nick should stop drinking and enjoying his wife's money to get involved with this.

I'll have to continue with the story to see if DH comes up with a believably strong motive, for Nick to want to bother with these people or care about their "problems."

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "I'm listening to eAudio curtesy of the library.

Unlike some of you, I haven't seen the movie(s?), though I do recall my grandmother's approbation of the film or tv show.

Story takes place around ..."

Eventually, he'd have had to (you'll see).
Re: Dorry and Nora. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer.
Re: The drinking. I know, lol. "I told her I'd need a drink before breakfast." Seriously!? At 11am, no shame, just a statement of fact.
I'm wondering this is after Prohibition, or at the tail end of it. There's more than one reference to a "speak" or "Speakeasy", as well as the quality of the liquor available in them.

Hard drinking is a sign of the hard-boiled detective. I can't remember if it comes on Raymond Chandler's prescription list for the hard-boiled detective, but they all do. It's another one the things that make the Mexican detective I was telling Marie about so interesting-he orders and pays for the rum and coke, but pours the rum onto the sawdust floor, then adds the Pepsi to the ice in the otherwise empty glass.

I dunno, I remember when I was 29 or 30 dating a guy who was 26 (we lived in a college town). We were out one night and he said, "You're not keeping up with me". And I said, "I didn't know it was a race." I realized that he still hadn't passed the phase where he got drunk just because he couldn't believe he was legal and could. Meh, I was over it by then.

The story takes place around Christmas 1932-before Prohibition was repealed. Nora drinks as much as Nick and she can keep up with him. The DVD case says she matches him "highball for highball." I thought the drinking in the movie was excessive but the book has a LOT more.

Oh, 1932!

I was a year off! And, yes Nora drinks a lot too, it's just that listening to the audio, Nick seems to talk about it more.

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Oh, 1932!

I was a year off! And, yes Nora drinks a lot too, it's just that listening to the audio, Nick seems to talk about it more."

hahaha, we can't make mistakes with dates in this group, Andrea! They'll keep us on our toes!
Yes, Nick talks about it more, because he's telling the wifey to fix him one. She just quietly gets on with it and fixes her drinks her damned self.