Mystery Monday: 1940s Detectives: Sam Spade

Mystery Monday: 1940s Detectives: Sam Spade 

Despite being a character in only five books (one novel and four short stories), Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade is one of the most well-known detectives from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Diametrically opposed to Hammett’s nameless The Continental Op, Spade is a mixture of previously written detectives. 

 

According to Hammett: “Spade has no origin. He is a dream man in the sense that he is what most of the private detectives I worked with would like to have been and in their cockier moments thought they approached. For you private detective does not—or did not ten years ago when he was my colleague—want to be an erudite solver of riddles in the Sherlock Holmes manner; he wants to be a hard and shifty fellow, able to take care of himself in any situation, able to get the best of anybody he comes in contact with, whether criminal, innocent by-stander, or client.” 

 

Spade made his debut the serialized The Maltese Falcon that appeared in Black Mask in 1929. A year later, the segments were collected and formed into a novel that became an instant bestseller. As a result of the book’s success, Hammett hammered out three subsequent short stores. Most scholars consider the stories weak in comparison to the Falcon, but even Hammett’s poorest writings are worth reading. 

 

Three films were made between 1931 and 1941, with Humphrey Bogart’s 1941 version the most well-known and most popular. Interestingly, Bogart’s slight frame, dark features, and serious depictioncontrasted with the novel’s version of a blond, well-built, and mischievous character, but his portrayal is considered the best. 

 

Edward G. Robinson played Spade in a 1943 Lux Radio Theatre production and by Bogart in a 1943 Screen Guild Theater production and a 1946 Academy Award Theater production. From 1946-1951 The Adventures of Sam Spade featured Howard Duff, then later Steve Dunne. Hammett’s name was removed from the series in the late 1940s because of being investigated for involvement with the Communist Party. 

 

Spade even made it into the comics when The Maltese Falcon was presented in comic book form in 1946. Rodlow Williard did the adaptation which is considered to be well-done and faithful to both the book and the film. 

 

Do you prefer the novel or the film version of The Maltese Falcon? 

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About Under Cover:

In the year since arriving in London, journalist Ruth Brown has put a face on the war for her readers at home in the U.S. Thus far, juggling her career and her relationship with Detective Inspector Trevor Gelson hasn't proven too challenging. The war gets personal for Ruth when her friend Amelia is murdered, and Trevor is assigned to the case. 

 

Life gets even more unsettling when clues indicate her best friend, Varis, is passing secrets to the enemy. Convinced Varis is innocent, Ruth must find the real traitor as the clock ticks down toward Operation Husky-the Allied invasion of Sicily. Circumstantial evidence leads Trevor to suspect her of having a part in Amelia's death, and Ruth must choose between her heart and her duty.

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/2Lr1HbF

Mystery Monday: 1940s Mysteries - Bulldog Drummond

Mystery Monday: Bulldog Drummond 

In a continuation of looking at 1940s mystery films, today’s post is about Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond, a fictional character who reached his heyday between 1935 and 1939 when twelve movies were produced. (Read the first post about Charlie Chan) 

 

Drummond was created by H.C. McNeile, a British soldier who served in the trenches during World War I. Because serving officers of the military were not allowed to publish under their own names, he used the pseudonym Sapper, based on a nickname of his corps, the Royal Engineers. 

 

The character first appeared as a policeman in The Strand Magazine, but the story did not meet with much success, so McNeile reworked him into a “gentleman adventurer.” A Great War veteran who is fed up with his sedate lifestyle, he puts out an advertisement indicating he’s “looking for excitement.” 

His experiences during the war give him abilities that later show up during his escapades such as

stealth (“he could move over ground without a single blade of grass rustling”) and the ability to incapacitate others (“he could kill a man with his bare hands in a second”). Additionally, he is well trained in jujutsu, boxing, and marksmanship. He is physically fit and described as having a high degree of common sense, often allowing him to best his opponents, even though of higher intelligence. His hobbies include poker and cricket. Quite wealthy, Drummond is a member of the fictional Junior Sports Club (a gentleman’s club) and owns a Rolls-Royce and a Bentley. He is often joined during his adventures by his former Army mates. 

 

Drummond was so popular that he became the model for later literary heroes such as W.E. Johns’ Biggles and Sydney Horler’s Tiger Standish. In an interview, Ian Fleming claimed that James Bond was “Sapper from the waist up and Mickey Spillane below,” indicating his belief that Drummond was autobiographical at some level. 

 

The plotlines are either directly about the war or include people whose lives have been impacted by it. At the end of the first book, Drummond marries his client Phyllis Benton, and she becomes an integral part of several subsequent books. She is often kidnapped by her husband’s enemies. 

 

McNiele achieved great success with the ten Drummond stories he wrote before his death in 1937, selling nearly 400,000 copies. (Seven more stories were completed later by McNiele’s friend Gerard Fairlie). 

 

In 1921, McNiele and Gerald du Maurier (father of author Daphne du Maurier) adapted the first novel, Bulldog Drummond to the stage where it ran for 428 performances. Between 1922 and 1969, Drummond would appear in twenty-four films portrayed by more than a dozen actors, including Ronald Colman, Ray Milland, and Walter Pigeon. “The Bulldog Drummond Radio Series”: ran from 1941 to 1949, and a thirty-minute episode of “Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Presents” featured Drummond in a 1956 television episode. More than eighty years after he came into existence, Drummond appeared in two graphic novels by William Messner-Loebs. 

 

Have you heard of Bulldog?

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About Under Ground

 

It’s been six months since Ruth Brown followed clues to England and discovered the identity of her sister’s killer. War continues to rage as Ruth reports on food shortages, the black market, evacuation of London’s children, and the bravery of the British people. 

 

When a bombing raid destroys her home and unearths a twenty-year-old skeleton in the cellar, her reporter’s senses tingle in anticipation of solving another mystery. Unfortunately, the by-the-book detective inspector assigned to the case is not interested in her theories. As Ruth investigates the case on her own, she butts heads with the handsome policeman. 

 

Will she get to the bottom of the story before the killer strikes again?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/2L132pc

Mystery Monday: Charlie Chan Movies

Mystery Monday: Charlie Chan Movies 

 

During the 1930s and 1940s, hundreds of mystery, thriller, and noir crime dramas were produced to the delight of the movie-going public. More than a few of the films were either based on or screen adaptations of novels from well-known authors such as S.S. Van Dine, Dashiell Hammett, Graham Greene, Hugh Cleveland, Brett Halliday, and others. 

 

Only six novels featuring Honolulu-based detective Charlie Chan 

were written by Earl Derr Biggers between 1925 and 1932, but almost fifty movies were produced between 1926 and 1949, featuring over a dozen actors playing the title character. In an interview conducted years later, Biggers said he’d been inspired to add a Chinese-American police officer to his book after reading about two Hawaiian detectives in the newspaper. Saying he disliked the stereotypes he found in California, he specifically conceived the character as an alternative: “Sinister and wicked Chinese are old stuff, but an amiable Chinese on the side of law and order has never been used.” 

 

Despite the use of Asian actors for supporting roles such as his family members, Chan was always played by a Caucasian actor. The films met with widespread success with Spanish-language and Chinese-language versions being shown overseas. Between 1932 and 1948, Charlie Chan episodes could be heard on the radio several times a week. Chan also made his way into comic books from 1938 to 1942, being dropped after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. A board game, The Great Charlie Chan Detective Mystery Game (1937) and The Charlie Chan Card Game (1939) were also produced for a short time. 

 

Unsurprisingly, the character of Charlie Chan has been the subject of controversy. Some scholars claim the character is a positive role model, while others feel he is an offensive stereotype. One critic, John Soister, states that Chan is both, going on to say that when Biggers created the character, “he offered a unique alternative to stereotypical evil Chinamen, a man who was at the same time sufficiently accommodating in personality, unthreatening in demeanor, and removed from his Asian homeland to quell any underlying xenophobia.” 

 

Biggers published a handful of other novels and short stories, but none met with the success of his Charlie Chan series. 

 

Have you ever seen a Charlie Chan flick? 

 

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About Vanessa's Replacement Valentine:

She’s running toward the future. He can’t let go of the past. Will these two hurting souls experience love in the present? 

 

Engaged to be married as part of a plan to regain the wealth her family lost during the War Between the States, Vanessa Randolph finds her fiancé in the arms of another woman weeks before the wedding. Money holds no allure for her, so rather than allow her parents to set her up with another rich bachelor she decides to become a mail-order bride. Life in Green Bay, Wisconsin seems to hold all the pieces of a fresh start until she discovers her prospective groom was a Union spy and targeted her parents during one of his investigations. Is her heart safe with any man? 

 

Eight years have elapsed since the Civil War ended, and Miles Andersen has almost managed to put the memories of those difficult years behind him. He’s finally ready to settle down, but the women in town are only interested in his money. A mail-order bride seems to be the answer until the woman who arrives brings the past crashing into the present. 

Can two wounded hearts find healing in the face of doubt, disappointment, and distrust?

Pre-order Link: https://amzn.to/3650JJh

Mystery Monday: Who was Bernice Carey?

Mystery Monday: Who was Bernice Carey?

Popular with book critics during the 1940s and 1950s, Bernice Carey wrote eight crime novels, and then disappeared from view.

Born in 1910 as Bernice Carey Martin to Swedish immigrant parents on a farm in North Wisconsin, she and her family moved to California where they moved several times between San Francsico and Los Angeles. Almost immediately out of high school, she married Walter Fitch. They moved to Ventura where Walter worked on the oil rigs. Later they moved so that he could take a job as a factory foreman. Moving again, the couple ended up outside of Salinas where they were very active in politics and labor unions (a topic which turns up in her novels).

Bernice published essays and poetry in a variety of magazines. It wasn’t until 1949 that her first book was published. (Perhaps she was waiting until she finished raising her two sons.) Her debut novel, The Reluctant Murderer, is similar to the Pat McGerr novels in that the victim’s identity is withheld until well into the story.

The plot revolves around Vivian Haines, a 40-year old San Francisco career woman who wonders if murder is the only answer that will solve her problem. However, she really doesn’t want to do it. Written in first-person point of view, the story follows Vivian’s thought process to come to her decision.

“I never cared for detective stories, and for a moment I regretted it. If I had read more of them I might be familiar with different means of doing away with people. I am not one to leave things to the last minute, nor be vague about my plans; but somehow I had put off really getting down to business on working this thing out. After all, one has a natural reluctance about taking a human life…”

As the novel progresses, suspense is ratcheted up as Vivian begins to believe that someone is out to kill her.

Carey’s books are all set in California, and the last was published in 1955. She died of a heart attack in 1989.

Mystery Monday: Murder, My Sweet

Mystery Monday: Murder, My Sweet

Murder mystery movies were quite popular during WWII; an interesting fact considering the violence associated with war. Perhaps because the audience knew the films were fiction or they wanted a "puzzle" to solve is what made them well-liked. For whatever reason, the books of Graham Greene, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and many other mystery writers were made into movies almost as quickly as they could write them.

One of the movies, which is my favorite, is "Murder, My Sweet," based on Chandler's novel "Farewell, My Lovely." The film features Dick Powell as PI Philip Marlowe, Claire Trevor, and Anne Shirley (who retired at age 26 shortly after making this movie). It's an interesting film because Marlowe is not only part of investigation, but he is also part of the story because of almost becoming a victim of the murderer, not once but twice! Then during the "take down" he is temporarily blinded by the flash from a gun. Not the best way to tie up your case.

Breaking all the rules of writing, the book and the movie start with flashback, but the scene prompts so much intrigue, the reader and viewer can't help but want to continue.

Dick Powell primarily played in light comedies and musicals during the 1930s and early 1940s, so Hollywood was surprised at his casting as Marlowe. He took to the role, and the film was a rousing success. Many critics feel that it is the "purest version of Chandler on film," successfully capturing the noir flavor of the book as well as the first person narrative.

The film went on to win the Edgar Award from Mystery Writers of America in 1946.

View the trailer.

Mystery Monday with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard

Mystery Monday with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard

As most of you know, I love movies from the 1930s and 1940s. Fortunately, many of them are available so I can watch to my heart's content. I did a significant amount of research about the USO for my upcoming release, Murder of Convenience and found quite a bit of information about Bob Hope and his association with this wonderful organization. As a result, I decided to binge-watch some of Bob's earlier/lesser-known films.

Teaming Bob with actress Paulette Goddard, The Ghost Breakers was released in 1940. The movie is an adaptation of a 1909 play called The Ghost Breaker. The film was remade in 1953 as Scared Stiff starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Hope made a cameo appearance. Despite being billed as a horror-comedy and featuring voodoo, zombies, and lots of fog, the 1940 movie comes off as a cozy mystery sprinkled with one-liners.

The plot is simple: Mary Carter (Goddard) inherits a castle in Cuba, but is warned to get rid of it because "the ghost will kill her" if she visits. Lawrence Lawrence (Hope), whose name is an opportunity for more than one jibe ("My folks had no imagination"), ends up linked to Mary through a series of mishaps including the murder of Ramon Maderos. Lawrence wonders "if a man can go to jail for accidentally killing a stranger." As anticipated, Mary travels to Havana and Lawrence tags along to keep from being arrested. Twists and turns abound as the pair try to determine if the ghost is real and who is trying to keep Mary from staying and claiming the castle.

As it turns out, The Ghost Breakers has more than one villain, and the ending arrives with a bang. I had a great time trying to solve the mystery and only got it half right.

Sound intriguing? Watch it here.

Unsung Female Sleuths of the 1940s

Unsung Female Sleuths of the 1940s

When asked to list famous fictional sleuths from the 1940s, you probably think of Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, and Philo Vance. Maybe you also come up with Nick and Nora Charles, and of course, there are always Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot.

But with the 1930s and 1940s being the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction,” there are dozens of others, unfortunately many of whom have faded into obscurity. Here are just a few of the female sleuths, you’ll want to investigate:

Author Joan Coggin

Lady Lupin: A vicar’s wife, Lady Lupin was featured in only four novels written by Joan Coggin, the daughter of a vicar herself. Born in 1898 in Lemsford, Coggin and her family moved to Eastbourne, a small seaside village in England, after the death of her mother. She worked as a nurse during WWI, and after the war worked with the blind, writing novels on the side. Her character Lady Lupin is a 21 year old earl’s daughter who marries a vicar twice her age. They settle in Glanville (a town much like Eastbourne). She doesn’t do a lot of detecting, but her off-hand remarks and keen observations set the police on the right track to finding their culprit.

Lily Wu: Author Juanita Sheridan’s detective Lily Wu solves crimes in New York and Hawaii, and is most probably the first Asian female detective to be a principle character in fiction. Sheridan lived for many years in Hawaii and integrated herself into the diverse community, so wrote with authority as she created minority characters. Like Lady Lupin, Lily on shows up in four novels. Her “Watsonesque” sidekick is Janice Cameron who narrates the stories and gives the reader insight into Lily’s multi-faceted personality.

Maggie Bryne: Australian author June Wright created Maggie Bryne in the late 1940s, and only used  her in two novels. Born in Melbourne where June set most of her stories, she wrote her first, Murder in the Telephone Exchange, from experience, as she had been working in one for four years. June only published six books having to take a “regular job” when her husband became unable to work. In the first book, her protagonist, Maggie, is a single, career girl, and in the second, she is a married, stay-at-home mom. In both books, she is intelligent, sensitive, and sarcastic making her a realistic, complex character readers can fully enjoy.

Jeanie Halliday: Jeanie is only featured in one mystery written by Ianthe Jerrold (pen name Geraldine Bridgman). Ianthe was born into a family of writers. Her father, Walter, was a well-known author and journalist, and her grandfather was Victorian playwright, Douglas Jerrold. Published in 1940, Let Him Lie, is a traditional mystery set in a country home (a popular setting with many authors at this time.), and Jeanie is a fledgling amateur sleuth, learning as the story progresses. She is highly conversational, and uses that trait to interview witnesses, suspects, and anyone else who might help her solve the murder. Ianthe went on to write romantic fiction and psychological thrillers and left Miss Halliday behind.

Erle Stanley Gardner

Bertha Cool: Created by Erle Stanley Gardner while writing under the pen name A.A. Fair, Bertha is an overweight, penny-pinching widow who is a professional private investigator. As with all of Gardner’s characters, Bertha is not your everyday gumshoe. Alternately greedy, corrupt, dishonest, and offensive, she partners with attorney Donald Lam, and the two of them always get their man (or woman). The books are fast, fun reads filled with colorful characters, interesting plot twists, and in-depth plots. There are twenty-nine books in the series, with captivating titles such as Spill the Jackpot, Turn on the Heat, and Gold Comes in Bricks.

Have you ever heard of any of these unsung ladies?