Craig Rice_Malone Mysteries Series #1-#8

Jake Justus and Helene Brand met over the corpse of Aunt Alexandria. So it was probably a good thing that somebody had decided to stab her three times and leave her to freeze into horrible rigidity in front of the wide-open window.



Lawyer John J. Malone and pals Jake and Helene chase a corpse that won't stay put across 1940 Chicago while attempting to put rye whiskey on the endangered species list.



There's the bet Jake made on his wedding day when socialite Mona McClane announced that she could get away with murder. Features socialite Helene Justus. Set in Chicago.



First, there's the corpse in Joe the Angel's Bar. Sequel to The Wrong Murder.



Trial By Fury is the fifth novel in the on-going saga of lawyer John J. Malone, nightclub owner/former bandleader Jake Justus and his wife, the socialite Helene Brand. At the start of the novel, Jake and Helene are off to the sleepy town of Jackson, Wisconsin to do some hunting. Someone else also had guns on their mind: while waiting in line at the county courthouse, someone assassinates ex-Senator Pevely. All the witnesses, however, are too stunned by the first murder in thirty-two years to actually be witnesses. So—Helene and Jake are locked up, and John J. Malone is reluctantly called away from Chicago to get his friends out of trouble. Before that can happen, however, there are several more murders, as well as explosions, gunshots, blackmail, a lynch mob, plenty of “dollar gin,” and a giant bloodhound named Hercules.



“Expertly timed original crime and frenzied follow-up cannily solved by lawyer-sleuth, with lavish accompaniment of good wise-cracking. Verdict: Superior.”—The Saturday Review
“Fast and furious.”—Kirkus

The Big Midget is the hit of the show in Jake Justus's night club, until someone puts an abrupt end to the Midget. Why were eleven unmatched silk stockings used as a noose? Who conked Jake when he got on the killer's trail? John J. Malone finds all the answers with the energetic and hilarious assistance of Jake Justus and the beautiful Helene.



I've just reread Craig Rice's 1944 novel Having Wonderful Crime. Rice was, of course, the grand dame of mystery mixed with screwball comedy. She was on the cover of Time in the late Forties and was considered one of the dominant forces in the mystery fiction of the time. But she had demons that were only exacerbated by her alcoholism and wedded up a number of times, once to a man who allegedly did some of her writing or declared that her writing was actually his. The rumors vary.
Having Wonderful Crime is larky in its plotting and typically smart-ass in its dialogue. Customers got what they paid for but beneath the frivolity (which is quite amusing) there's a darkness that makes the drinking scenes (everybody is at least half drunk in a Rice novel) not so much fun.
Rice opens the book with a long scene involving a man who lacks the strength to get out of bed. He is beseiged by the demons and terrified of what he might have done. This is one of the most powerful morning-after scenes I've ever read. I think most alcoholics would agree with me. Then her character, the always inebriated lawyer-slueth John J. Malone of Chicago, must do his thing.
As an aside the book made a frothy B-movie. From IMDB:" Lawyer Malone's two zany friends embroil him in detective work once too often, and the police are after all three. So Malone must accompany Jake and beautiful Helene on their honeymoon at rustic Lenhart Lodge. There, they plunge into a broad burlesque of murder mystery cliches, with rapid-fire wisecracks, double takes, and every sight gag known to Hollywood."
One thing the movie couldn't get to were Rice's social perceptions. There's a scene in which Rice (using interior monologue) assesses a room full of glamorous people and their worth on the glitz scale. Her observations are worthy of Tom Wolfe at his best and nastiest.

This book makes a good case for what we call today the traditional mystery. It's a pleasure to read as pure entertainment but there's a also a wicked social voice relating the reality of this particular time and this particular strata of society. Despite her reputation, I don't think she's hardboiled. At least not in this book. She's just a very good storyeller reporting back from the eyries of the wealthy and privileged. And laughing up her silk sleeve.



This story is one of the ""Malone collection"" of America famous detective novel author Craig Rice.Anna Mary was dead on the electric chair in the midnight with a smile. And her ghost was looking for the real killer.