Ed here: I'm getting addicted to the site Pretty Sinister Books. Though I'm not interested in
some of the books reviewed generally the range of
material covered (and covered intelligently)
is amazing. Here's one of my all-time favorite crime
novels covered in Pretty Sinister.
I have a thing about the Edgar Awards. I happen to think a
lot of the award winners didn't deserve that little statue of Poe. Only
occasionally do I come across a truly worthy Edgar winning mystery novel. Room
to Swing (1958) won the Edgar for Best Novel. It's most definitely one
of the deserving winners. Not only that - it's a little known, little
discussed, hardly reviewed at all, landmark novel in the history of crime
fiction by a writer who deserves a lot more attention.
Toussaint Marcus Moore is a private detective hired by Kay
Robbens, a TV executive, to shadow the subject of a soon to be aired reality TV
show that sounds exactly like a 1950s version of "America's Most
Wanted." The man, Robert Thomas, is wanted by Ohio police for a rape and
assault of a teenage girl and Kay know he is currently living under an assumed
name in Manhattan. Moore is to keep an eye on Thomas and make sure he doesn't
leave New York until the show is aired. Then Kay hopes some TV viewer will spot
Thomas, notify police, and he'll be arrested thus validating the purpose
of the TV show and insuring it has a long run. But Thomas ends up dead, Moore
is framed for the murder, and he flees the city. Moore is determined to clear
his name, but in order to do that he needs to uncover who killed Thomas and
why. He figures it's all linked to the rape case.
for the rest go here:
http://prettysinister.blogspot.com/search?q=room+to+swing
1 comment:
Thanks, Ed! Am I now an enabler? Very much appreciate the link to my lonely corner in cyberspace.
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