I was anxious to read this book for a lot of reasons. I just finished the biography of Craig Rice and knew that she was on the cover of Time Magazine for writing this book. From what I could tell, this was supposed to be her best work.
I thought that there were some great things about Rice. Her writing was top notch in this book. I liked the chemistry between the three characters that this book revolved around; Malone, the little lawyer, Helene Justus and Jake Justus. In this series, the viewpoint changes between the three of them as they go off on their own to solve a murder.
As far as the premise of the murder, I didn’t buy it. As Rice would make reference to the midget so many times in the book, Malone, Helene and Jake discover the midget in a room where someone had hanged him with silk stockings. Once they took him down, Jake said that he didn’t want to report the murder because if they did, they would have to close the Casino down for a few days. Seeing that there was a bull fiddle in the room, they put him in the bull fiddle to hide him there and then put him into a locker.
After after a few hours, the three of them had second thoughts by the end of the night and decided that they were wrong so they went back to the room to put the body on the floor and then call the police. Unfortunately, when they arrived in the room, the bull fiddle was gone. The body would turn up again in his room later on and the murder mystery began.
I was really annoyed at the constant references to Rice using the word midget. He had a name and it was Jay Otto. I hate to sound like I’m being politically correct and maybe this was meant to be funny but I was annoyed. It seemed like it was on every page and it was done over and over again. I didn’t see the point of it and it brought the book down for me.
It’s a shame because Craig Rice is a great writer and this is a screwball comedy, especially the way in which she portrays her characters. John Malone solves the murder and then tells the accused not to say another word because I’m going to represent you in court. Von Flanagan, chief of police, comes off as a buffoon for doing magic tricks but I couldn’t help but laugh at that. And I loved the banter between the three main characters, especially when Helene says all lawyers ever do is make simple matters more complicated.
With that said, I would give this book a five high star rating if it wasn’t for all the midget references and the awkward premise. So I give this book three stars.
Rick Holman
I thought that there were some great things about Rice. Her writing was top notch in this book. I liked the chemistry between the three characters that this book revolved around; Malone, the little lawyer, Helene Justus and Jake Justus. In this series, the viewpoint changes between the three of them as they go off on their own to solve a murder.
As far as the premise of the murder, I didn’t buy it. As Rice would make reference to the midget so many times in the book, Malone, Helene and Jake discover the midget in a room where someone had hanged him with silk stockings. Once they took him down, Jake said that he didn’t want to report the murder because if they did, they would have to close the Casino down for a few days. Seeing that there was a bull fiddle in the room, they put him in the bull fiddle to hide him there and then put him into a locker.
After after a few hours, the three of them had second thoughts by the end of the night and decided that they were wrong so they went back to the room to put the body on the floor and then call the police. Unfortunately, when they arrived in the room, the bull fiddle was gone. The body would turn up again in his room later on and the murder mystery began.
I was really annoyed at the constant references to Rice using the word midget. He had a name and it was Jay Otto. I hate to sound like I’m being politically correct and maybe this was meant to be funny but I was annoyed. It seemed like it was on every page and it was done over and over again. I didn’t see the point of it and it brought the book down for me.
It’s a shame because Craig Rice is a great writer and this is a screwball comedy, especially the way in which she portrays her characters. John Malone solves the murder and then tells the accused not to say another word because I’m going to represent you in court. Von Flanagan, chief of police, comes off as a buffoon for doing magic tricks but I couldn’t help but laugh at that. And I loved the banter between the three main characters, especially when Helene says all lawyers ever do is make simple matters more complicated.
With that said, I would give this book a five high star rating if it wasn’t for all the midget references and the awkward premise. So I give this book three stars.
Rick Holman