Friday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Books: MAIGRET AND THE WINE MERCHANT by Georges Simenon

Friday is half over and I'm just now sitting down to write my Friday Forgotten Book post. The day has gone on without me, or so it seems. Patti Abbott usually hosts our weekly meme, but this week Todd Mason has the links on his blog, Sweet Freedom. Don't forget to drop by.

Last week I talked about a Maigret re-read that I enjoyed and this week I'm doing the same. Apparently I'm having a good time. So all the modern stuff will have to wait.

This week it's MAIGRET AND THE WINE MERCHANT (1970) in which the patient, thoughtful, intuitive and savvy Superintendent Maigret solves the murder of a very nasty man who delighted in taking advantage of those around him.

Monsieur Oscar Chabut, a rich, self-made man - the wine merchant in the title - is found shot to death on the sidewalk in front of a house of ill repute. When Maigret begins his investigation he immediately takes note of the fact that there is little grief displayed by the man's wife or for that matter, by anyone else who knew Chabut. The wine merchant was apparently a belligerent, take-no-prisoners business man who, because of his own insecurities, enjoyed debasing those around him, most especially all the women in his sphere who were subjected to aggressive sexual advances. Not a nice man.

Still, murderers can't be allowed to run amok even if the victim deserved his fate.

So, Superintendent Maigret once again, despite a bad cold, uses his wits, intuition and understanding of human nature to capture a killer, moving in a world where money apparently trumps morals.

'Maigret was never altogether at ease with the aura of opulence that goes with certain reaches of the bourgeoisie. It made him feel awkward and out of place. For instance, all the people on the list that Jeanne Chabut [the murdered man's wife] had provided belonged more or less to the same set, with its own rules, customs, taboos, and private language. They forgathered in restaurants, theaters, and night clubs, spent their weekends together in country houses, and in the summer went off in droves to Cannes or Saint-Tropez.

Oscar Chabut, with his plebian good looks, had elbowed his way ruthlessly into this tight little world, and to prove to himself that he really had arrived he had found it necessary to go to bed with most of the women in it.'

I'm also currently reading a book of Maigret short stories, MAIGRET'S CHRISTMAS, in which all the stories take place in a wintry Paris whose streets are filled with holiday merry-makers. Crime acknowledges no holiday.

To see a complete list of all of Georges Simenon's books, please use this link.

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Friday's Forgotten Books: The Joshua Croft books by Walter Satterthwait

I'm not quite sure if this is the last Croft book or not. It may be just a Brit. title change.

Today is Forgotten Books day, a weekly meme hosted by Patti Abbot at her blog, PATTINASE. Every Friday we gather round and dish forgotten or overlooked books we've known and loved. Don't forget to check in over there and see today's listing. LINK.

My choice for today is not just one book, but a whole series. Author Walter Satterthwait is a prolific writer of historical mysteries as well as more contemporary fare. His keenly researched and witty historicals include characters such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, Oscar Wilde and Lizzie Borden - not all in the same book. To get a complete listing of Satterthwait's work please use this link.

My favorite books of his though, are those in the fast-paced, contemporary Joshua Croft series set in modern day Santa Fe, which he wrote in the 1990's. I read them all then and assumed he'd write some more but he never has. Too bad.

Even stranger, the Croft books seem to be out of print most of the time.

Going over the list for today's post I realized that I couldn't remember much except the setting, the two main characters and the fact that I loved the books first time around. So I suppose that's reason enough reason for a complete re-read this summer.

Joshua Croft is a Santa Fe private eye who runs a detective agency with his partner, Rita Mondragon. She is a wheelchair bound widow and the object of the rugged Croft's unrequited love. 


They are an unusual combo in a colorful setting though Croft, very often, must travel around the U.S. or into Mexico when on the hunt for bad guys. He drives a Subaru but is a no-nonsense kind of guy with attitude.

Do what I'm going to do: find these books and read 'em again or for the first time.

Good News: I'm informed by Bill Crider (author and international bon-vivant) that the Joshua Croft books have been released in e-book form by Otto Penzler's Mysterious imprint. Thanks for the tip, Bill.

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Friday's Forgotten Book: REED'S PROMISE by John Clarkson

I've written about REED'S PROMISE before and I'll probably write about it again. It's a book that makes other thrillers seem tame by comparison, a fabulous feat of writing by a novelist who I'm still not all that familiar with. (Primarily because he doesn't have a lot of books on the shelves at the library.) He has a spotty publishing history and doesn't turn out books on a regular schedule far as I can tell. There hasn't been a new book from him in several years.

Friday's Forgotten Books is the weekly meme hosted by the oh-so-talented Patti Abbott at her blog, PATTINASE. There are tons of forgotten (or overlooked) books mentioned today so don't forget to go take a looksee. It's John MacDonald day over there as well. Though I never read any MacDonald - of the John variety that is, I've read plenty of Ross MacDonald.

If you have any affinity for thriller writing at all, make note of John Clarkson's REED'S PROMISE and promise yourself you'll read it. This book continues to be one of the best of its kind, though I suspect there aren't really many of 'its kind' around. It surpassed my expectations going in as it was one of those serendipitous reading events.

The book begins at breakneck (almost literally)speed - we're suddenly thrown into the middle of a motorcycle accident in which the rider, Bill Reed will lose a leg and become an embittered amputee lying in a hospital bed feeling sorry for himself. He is a private eye and ex-FBI agent with a talent for forensic accounting - tracking illegal money back to its original source.

In the middle of bemoaning fate, Reed receives a note from his cousin Johnny Boy Reed. Johnny Boy has been institutionalized at the Ullmann Institute since he was a kid. He is severely retarded but able to function enough to put together a note to his private eye cousin asking for help.The note is cryptic enough (a series of numbers and bits of paper glued together), but Bill deduces from it that something is wrong and maybe he should go take a look. If for no other reason then that Johnny Boy is family. Guilt is a great motivator.

With a prosthetic leg in place, and a cane, Bill heads up to the Ullman Istitute.

REED'S PROMISE resonates with a crushing sense of dread from the beginning of Reed's quest to ferret out the truth and perhaps redeem himself in his own eyes.

First of all, Reed is a man minus a leg - can he stand up to physical attack? Can he fight if he has to? Just how strong is he? Can he be undermined by his handicap? All these thoughts ran through my mind as I continued to read.

Also, I didn't want his cousin Johnny Boy - whom we come to know and like - physically harmed in any way. So from the very beginning I was worried and that worry only grew.

When Reed arrives at the upstate New York, Ullman Institute, and realizes almost right away that something bad is going on, you do wonder how he'll be able to 'fix' things?

Matthew Ullmann and his wife Madeleine run the institute like some sort of fiefdom (and have made themselves rich in the process) and they are, no question about it, a fiendish lot. We know they are the enemy Reed will have to vanquish if he wants to save Johnny Boy - it doesn't hurt the suspense angle one bit.

While reading REED'S PROMISE I remember having to stop and take breathing breaks, tension breaks, while I acclimated my emotions and took deep breaths to calm myself. That's how overwhelmed I was by the increasing fear of what would happen to the two main characters. Up until that moment (a few years ago) I'd never read a book in which the 'hero' was an amputee taking on evil all by himself - using his wits, his smarts and yes, his physical abilities to thwart some very nasty characters.

I don't know how else to say this except that this is a brilliant book in its own way. Clarkson, who is also a screenwriter, has a very visual way of scene creation which only strengthens the suspense. If your library doesn't have it, booksellers online do. Get a copy, read it and see if I'm exaggerating.

Unfortunately, the book has two major strikes against it: One: no one ever heard of it. (The publishers were obviously asleep at the switch.) Two: It has a horrible cover. I say: IGNORE the cover! Read the book.

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Friday's Forgotten Book: DARKNESS AT PEMBERLEY (1932) by T.H. White

Friday's Forgotten Books is a weekly meme hosted by Patti Abbott at her blog, Pattinase. Don't forget to check over there and see what other forgotten books other bloggers will be talking about today. Link.


DARKNESS AT PEMBERLEY also qualifies as an entry in Bev's Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge. Link.


I sound nice and calm so far, don't I?


This is what happened to me with this book, I was thrilled, THRILLED I tell you, to find out that it is now, officially, one of my all time favorite books EVER! Okay, I promised myself I'd stay calm and not hyperventilate, but it's proving difficult. I am still capable of utter and complete delight when I find a book that 'wows' me, wins me over completely - my pulse begins to race, I smile and shake my head in wonderment. "It's happened again!"

But first things first, I must thank Sergio over at TIPPING MY FEDORA for his wonderful review which introduced me to T.H.White's one and only mystery. Link.

Needless to say, I had never heard of this book. I knew White as the author of THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING and other Arthurian books and such, but never even suspected he'd written a good old rip-roaring mystery - one that I'd love and hate to see end. (I even slowed down my reading to make the story last longer.) Yeah, I was hooked good and proper.

White's book caught me off guard. It begins like many mysteries of that period with the discovery of a body - a Cambridge professor found in a locked room (yes, one of those) - but then that's followed very quickly by the twin discovery of  two other bodies - that of a student and a bit later, a school laborer named Rudd. Are the three murders connected? You bet.

Okay so we're off and running. But here's the switch: early on we know who the killer is. Inspector Buller of Scotland Yard is on the case from the beginning and he soon figures out who's responsible for three murders. But here's the quandary: there's no evidence. (This is 1932, forensics aren't what they are today.) The case has no future, Buller's superiors surmise that the professor killed the student (who knows why?) and then killed himself. Case closed.


But who slit Rudd's throat?


Frustrated by his inability to bring the crimes home to the actual killer and feeling guilty because he didn't save the third victim, Buller quits the force. He even goes so far as to contemplate murder himself in order to stop a madman whom Buller is convinced will kill again. Is there ever any justification for taking the law into your own hands? Especially for an ex-policeman? Questions Buller ponders and his conclusion may not be yours but it sure as heck was mine.

This all occurs after he's confronted the killer and told him what he suspects and the killer has admitted that yes indeed, he committed the heinous crimes and isn't it too bad that there's nothing Buller can do about it.

Next, a dispirited and despondent Buller goes to stay at an estate owned by friends of his. A brother and sister who are basically recluses in the neighborhood despite their wealth. The brother has served time in prison for a crime he didn't commit but for which everyone (except Buller and a few others) believes him guilty.


But wait a minute, you're thinking, where does this Pemberley business come in? 

Well, the estate is THE Pemberley of Austen's book, the brother is named Charles Darcy and his sister is Elizabeth - a family name handed down. That's the only link with anything Austen-wise and in fact there is no mention of it at all except that we're made to understand that the current Darcy brother and sister are descendants.

The brother rarely leaves Pemberley because of the ill-will directed at him by townspeople and residents of the area and he is chafing at the bit to do something, anything to take his mind off his troubles. When Buller shows up with his story of a killer whom no one can touch and who has already killed at least three people - Darcy goes off half-cocked (without telling Buller) to Cambridge to kill the killer. Actually what he does is have a confrontation with him but when he leaves the murderer is very much alive.

Though this is 1932, this episode in the story has a not unpleasant Victorian feel to it, but what the heck. The important thing is that Darcy needs to bring himself to the killer's attention so that the rest of the story can take place. It's as good a way as any.

Back at Pemberley, a dismayed Buller tells Charles that his life is now in danger. But Darcy, brother and sister, scoff at this. The fact that the killer has already done away with three people doesn't seem to impress them very much. They believe Buller is letting his imagination run away with him.

Even Elizabeth (whom Buller is secretly in love with) thinks Buller is exaggerating the danger. That is until the first and second attempts on Charles' life. It soon becomes obvious that the murderous villain is hiding somewhere on the estate, mysteriously managing to elude the Darcy's, Buller and the servants all loyal to Charles and his sister.

Just for the wicked fun of it, the killer begins toying with his prey. There's lots of bump in the night, strange noises and shadows and other spooky mischief. Pembereley and its inhabitants are under siege. They can't turn to the police for help because they would not be believed - I wonder that Buller didn't have a friend on the force whom he could turn to, but apparently he didn't. They do however have a doctor friend who arrives to join in the hide and seek which takes up about three quarters of the book. The action is mostly centered at Pemberley itself as the killer has obviously found a way to maneuver in the dark, moving about the house like a spectre in the night.

White's writing of all this very much of the Wilkie Collins school with a dose of Christie and a touch of Dickson Carr (in the locked room part - the mystery of which is solved early on) but written at a much quicker pace. We know who the killer is but where the heck is he? How is he managing to elude his pursuers while never, apparently, leaving the house? The mystery deepens when another brutal murder occurs.

Those of you who think of Pemberely as hallowed ground will, no doubt, be shocked by all this. But all I can say is: get over it.

DARKNESS AT PEMBERLEY is eerie, mysterious, fast-paced fun. I actually had to stop reading and take tension breaks during the heart of the action - it's THAT thrilling I loved it! Oh and of course near the end, Buller has to take on the killer single-handedly while Charles and Elizabeth's lives hang in the balance. It is to be expected, but it still works when done this well.

My only minor quibble is that the end when it comes seems a bit too hasty, but other than that, the book is pretty near perfect.

If you haven't read this, drop whatever you're doing and get your hands on a copy of DARKNESS AT PEMBERLEY.  Make sure nothing urgent is going on in your life at the moment though, because once you sit down to read this, you will be mesmerized. I was. And I don't mesmerize easily.

I'm going to have to finagle my 100 Favorite Mysteries List which I am working on as we speak, because T.H. White's book has definitely made the cut.

If this was going to be White's one and only mystery, it's just as well it was a doozy.

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Friday's Forgotten Book: SHE SHALL HAVE MURDER (1949) by Delano Ames

Kind of a beat-up old cover, but best I could find online of the cover I actually have.

Today it's a combo: SHE SHALL HAVE MURDER is my Friday Forgotten post as well as my entry in Bev's VINTAGE MYSTERY READING CHALLENGE.

Don't forget to check in at Patti Abbot's website, PATTINASE, to see what other forgotten books other bloggers are talking about today.

I was not familiar with this author, though his name rings some sort of bell - maybe it's just that the Delano part reminds me of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Anyway, I read a review of this book on one of the blogs (can't remember which one) and decided to take a look. I mean, how could I resist reading a book in which the hero's first name is Dagobert? And what's more, no one in the cast of characters seems to think this is a odd name. So maybe it wasn't - way back when.

I wonder how it's pronounced? I'm assuming - Dago-Bear. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Dagobert Brown is a guy who avoids work as best he can (one wonders how he pays his rent) and is currently determined to have his girlfriend Jane write a mystery set in her office, featuring characters similar to her work-mates. He would write the book himself but he's too busy (doing what - who knows?) and besides, someone has to think up the plot.

Jane Hamish is a very tolerant working girl - a law clerk in an office run by an elderly type named Playfair, an attorney who thinks nothing of postponing work in favor of crossword puzzles. In fact, he prefers to treat his employees as members of one happy family. He's kind of engaging, really. I have to say that of all the characters, Mr. Playfair won me over immediately.

Jane narrates the story and turns an almost blind eye to Dagobert's wilder inclinations and mental leaps of fancy.

Anyway, the law-office has its fair share of typicals with typical problems, including a Lothario named (for reasons I can't figure) Major Jimmy Stewart (no one appears to notice that the name is the same as a famous movie star, but perhaps it's  old news ) who's dated every woman on staff. Besides Jane there's Sarah, the young typist and Rosemary, the older chief clerk who has delusions of romance. There's also a six foot tall weisenheimer office boy who's not above chicanery and a spot of blackmail.

When Mr. Playfair's elderly client, Mrs. Robjohn - a muddle-headed eccentric - dies suddenly of natural causes after first having declared over and over that she was being stalked by killers, Dagobert Brown suspects murder. Though only the day before he'd stated that Mrs. Robjohn was hardly the type to get murdered, it would just be too obvious.

No one else suspects the old lady was done in, but Dagobert will have his way.

Working independently of the cops and with the not-so-willing Jane as his sleuthing partner, Dagobert begins the search for clues - anything that will involve anyone and everyone at the office. He also advises Jane to write every thing down as it happens - for their manuscript's sake.

That's the gist of the plot and the fun, I think, of this mystery is in the personalities of the various characters, as well as the often snappy dialogue. There's also the fun, I think, that Ames obviously had in writing this story.

I'm going to try and locate a couple more Delano Ames books just to see what's what with Dagobert and Jane.

To get a list of all Delano Ames titles, please use this link.

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