|
The banners waved; the crowd cheered; the reporters rushed towards the candidate as he made his way to the speaker's platform. And than a shot rang out, the candidate clutched at his chest, screamed and fell dead. It was a pretty kettle of fish for Tim Corrigan, the crime solver with the eye-patch and the stainless steel nervous system. The suspect included the candidate's voluptuous widow, his handsome bodyguard, and a breathtaking young thing with every reason to want the candidate dead. And pretty soon Corrigan himself was a candidate - for murder. |
|
   |
|
| Record Searchlight, Redding, California -
"What's new in mysteries?" by Art Gatts, June 26.1971 Ellery Queen tells another tale about one-eyed private detective, Tim Corrigan. It involves a political campaign, a dead candidate, his voluptuous widow and a handsome bodyguard. I don't care as much for Corrigan as I do for super sleuth Queen, but he's still readable. |
|
|
Ghost-written by Richard Deming. The third consecutive title in the series that deals with death in a large New York hotel. Corrigan and his beefy buddy Baer happen to be in the building during a political rally when the liberal candidate for state senator is assassinated right after a confrontation with a fascist hate group. Investigation soon unearths other suspects including the conservative candidate for the same seat, his sex-bomb wife and her muscle-bound lover. Nevins describes the situation is intriguing and the police work in the hotel sounds authentic but the story soon deteriorates into a standard pattern with a predictable least likely suspect at trail’s end. “You can’t quite say the book is bad,” wrote Anthony Boucher (April 9, 1967); “but it wholly lacks distinction in its flat writing, its simple plotting and its unsubtle politics.” Nevins adds this was the last EQ paperback Boucher ever mentioned in print, and he may never have known that the fifth and sixth titles in the Corrigan series were dramatic improvements on those he had reviewed. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
*
Interested readers should know
that the icons/covers
of books, used throughout the
website have extra
descriptions/information not
included in the text on the same
page. Pointing your cursor at
the icon/cover used to reveal
this extra information. To achieve the same effect Firefox users can install an add-on called 'Popup ALT Attribute'. When installed pointing your cursor at an icon/cover results in showing you the details or additional information. |
 Copyright © MCMXCIX-MMXXIV Ellery Queen, a website on deduction. All rights reserved. |
