Ivory Pearl by Jean-Patrick Manchette (1996)

A feral child adopted by troops during World War II later becomes an international war photographer who then adopts another feral child exposed to violence.

Mystery Review: Ivory Pearl remained unfinished when Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) died. I rarely read uncompleted novels because they're ultimately unsatisfying, for a variety of reasons. Translator Donald Nicholson-Smith calls this "an unrevised manuscript." There was, however, much to be gleaned from Ivory Pearl. The reader gets to see Manchette constructing his novel, writing the basic structure and leaving spaces to be realized later with phrases such as "and other things." Some chapters are truncated suggesting that they would've been expanded with more description or action. This novel was intended to be the first in a series assessing the political world stage post-WWII, including both notable events such as Castro's revolution in Cuba and lesser known actions such as CIA involvement in opium. Looking back on history was a way for Manchette to present a social critique and explore his socio-political-economic worldview, his thoughts on various economic and political movements. Which view here acts as a parallel to the "thriller" storyline of  a munitions-dealing family and the collateral damage of their actions. Manchette always injected politics into his novels, but left the reader with the feeling that there was much more he would've discussed but for fear of weakening the story. Manchette writes women well, especially women of action with fearsome agency. Here our war photographer (think Robert Capa, namechecked herein) nicknamed "Ivory Pearl" (rhymes with "girl") is intriguing and challenging, and if tragically unable to have been fully developed is as compelling as his female protagonists in The Mad and the Bad and Fatale. The ending is a series of paragraphs apparently taken from the author's notes, but it's unclear just how he would've wrapped up the story and if anyone would've lived happily ever after. Ivory Pearl is interesting in its insights into how authors work, but is worthwhile only for someone determined to read everything the French neo-noir author wrote.  [3★]

The Blackbirder by Dorothy B. Hughes (1943)

A European refugee enters the country illegally and flees across America.

Mystery Review: The Blackbirder is as much a spy-thriller as a mystery, and exhibits much of what Dorothy B. Hughes (1904-93) did so well in her crime stories. Slowly but constantly building suspense, creating tension till the reader wants to put the book in the icebox. A cinematic style that is watched as much as read. Written during and about the Second World War, the war years milieu is essential and inescapable. The Blackbirder gives a vivid sense of what life was like on the home front in America. The fear and abhorrence of the Nazis is visceral (an odd commentary on current events): "There was hatred to feed her mind. Hatred of the evil that had been loosed by a beast in an iniquitous land. Hatred of war." The story is in almost constant motion as our fearful protagonist travels from New York to Santa Fe with flashbacks to Havana and Paris. She's tough as nails though she doesn't know it, she's never sure she can make it through but is never afraid to try (similar to Hughes' slightly less-able heroine in The So Blue Marble). She perseveres. She persists. Somewhat hardboiled, a little noir, plenty of paranoia -- menace is anywhere and everywhere and no one can be trusted. The Blackbirder is not my favorite nor her best, but then again she's set the bar unfairly high in writing several of my favorites. It's good entertainment and a worthy testament to Hughes' talents. Unfortunately, the book is so full of typos (due to format copying?) that occasionally the reader doesn't know if a line contains an adventuresome turn of phrase or it's merely that some letters are missing.  [3½★]

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie (1942)

Poison pen letters disrupt a bucolic English town, that may not be quite so pleasant after all.

Mystery Review: The Moving Finger, the third Miss Marple novel, uses the tantalizing plot device of poison pen letters (later used in varying forms by Muriel Spark and Gabriel García Márquez). Told in the first person by a young man recently moved to the village of Lymstock from London with his sister. Miss Marple doesn't appear until she's rather awkwardly introduced on page 135. The Moving Finger is only my third Marple read, but it seems Agatha Christie chooses not to make (the always charming) Miss Marple the center of her own stories. She has found, however, a way to make the reader feel silly for not having solved the mystery sooner. Teasing with red herrings seems to make her day. As well as inserting gruesome murders in with the quaint and quirky countryside. Although Christie doesn't plumb the depths of her characters, I do enjoy how she sketches their qualities with just a few deft strokes, as a sort of sketch artist, perhaps reminding the reader of someone just like that. Just as Miss Marple is always reminded of someone she knows while working out the riddle. The Moving Finger is a solid Christie mystery, just as it should be: not a masterpiece, but certainly not a disappointment.  [3★]

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (1942)

The body of a pretty, blonde dancer is found in a traditional, English country pile.

Mystery Review: The Body in the Library is the second novel featuring the delightful Miss Marple and is vaguely reminiscent of Dorothy Sayers' Whose Body? (1923), in which an anonymous corpse appears where no body should be. Unlike the first Marple novel, Murder at the Vicarage, written in the first person (of the vicar), The Body in the Library is presented by an omniscient narrator. The story is plot heavy more than character driven, Christie's people being described and expressed in a few words, often an identifiable quirk or trait. For instance one character is described as being "shrewd without being intellectual" by two different people. My only complaint is that Miss Marple appears far too little, as Christie is skilled at leaving us wanting more. One bit of fun is that a character who's an avid fan of mystery novels has read "Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie and Dickson Carr and H.C. Bailey." The Body in the Library is an enjoyable mystery that doesn't make the reader work too hard, without being too much more than that.  [3★]

Three to Kill by Jean-Patrick Manchette (1976)

An average joe becomes a target for the criminal underworld.

Mystery Review: Three to Kill is the story of hapless hunters hunting the hapless hunted. The story starts slow with our middle-management, chess-playing, corporate cog ("someone who doesn't remotely want adventures"), but when it gets going try to hang on as gangsters and hitmen join the fray. Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) knows how to tell a tale. Told by an extremely omniscient narrator in a cinematic style Three to Kill is just good fun meant to be enjoyed. A neo-noir and thriller, there are moments of violence and gore, but they pale compared to the cogent character studies and the reader can almost hear the soundtrack of west coast jazz, with scads of hip musicians cited. The French title seems to be something like "Little West Coast Blues." Cars, guns, alcohol, and films are near and dear to Manchette and always come in for proper names and specifics from the narrator (at one point a Ford Taunus is introduced; if you think that's a misprint for Taurus it's not, there's a German car of that name (after a German mountain range)). As always with Manchette there's a political underlay to everything, but it never gets in the way being more food-for-thought than diatribe. Three to Kill (the English title is also a plot summary) is a short, entertaining, thrill ride for any reader of physical mysteries, but doesn't skimp on the cerebral.  [4★]

The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler (1943)

Marlowe is hired to find a missing wife; he finds much more.

Mystery Review: The Lady in the Lake is the fourth Philip Marlowe outing and although there are no characters that leap off the page to lodge in the reader's memory, they're uniformly vivid and believable. The exception being the memorable, continuing saga of Marlowe himself, as he's beginning to feel the weariness of age. "I brushed my hair and looked at the gray in it. There was getting to be plenty of gray in it. The face under the hair had a sick look. I didn't like the face at all." There's less of the wisecracking and snappy patter, but the cynicism remains. And the crooked Bay City (read Santa Monica) cops are still doing their thing. "Well, I hate to think the police are not honest ... but these things are done, and everybody knows it." The Lady in the Lake is as perfectly paced, plotted, and written as any of the Marlowe books. If you like one of the others you'll enjoy this clever addition to the series. This is one of the key books on which Raymond Chandler's reputation rests. The Lady in the Lake was also filmed in 1946 with Robert Montgomery in the lead role (and directing). While he's not my idea of Marlowe, as the movie uses a "subjective camera" or first person point of view, breaking the fourth wall, you don't see him much anyway. One minor note: my copy was printed in England with British spellings occasionally substituted: petrol, tyres, kerb. Although interesting and entertaining, this read reinforced for me the utter nonsense of such "translations," as when the Harry Potter books were Americanized. I'd much rather have the author's words. This is an excellent novel with just the right hint of tough guy noir. I'm envious that this was the quality of literature stuffed into bus station book racks for 25¢ in the 1940s.  [4★]

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith (1950)

Two men meet on a train and drunkenly discuss murder.

Mystery Review: Strangers on a Train may be better known as an Alfred Hitchcock film (1951 -- haven't seen it), but it was also the first novel by Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995), of Ripley and The Price of Salt fame. There must be some rule that when writing about being bored the writing shouldn't be boring. Or when writing about tedium the prose shouldn't be tedious. The author needs to impart the sensation of boredom or tedium without being boring or tedious. Perhaps in part because the plot of Strangers on a Train is a matter of public knowledge (it's almost a noir archetype), the background seemed to go on for far too long. Which weakens the tension. The intense focus on inner thoughts and vacillations without plot movement became repetitious. Highsmith is her usual brilliant self at psychological suspense: she creates curious but credible and complex characters. Her alcoholic antagonist is addictive; creepy, but addictive. She shows how people can be driven to extremes, how evil can triumph over good (or at least the weak), how decent people can lose in the end. All well done except for the length. As if Strangers on a Train were a short story with a pituitary problem. Perhaps as this was her debut novel Highsmith hadn't quite gotten control over pace and plot. Well worth reading, but she wasn't yet the Patricia Highsmith she was to become.  [3★]