Murder Me!

Rating:
Summary: Murder Me Rides Again
Review: Thanks to The Fausts and St Martin's Press for reviving this book after nearly 60 years. Murder Me has aged well. It is readable and entertaining. Although peppered with some purplish prose such as "his face was unschooled in the production of pleasant expressions" the writing is straightforward overall and the variety of narration is a treat.

The characters resemble Raymond Chandler types perhaps because in 1937, when Murder Me was written, book and movie fans craved stories about the bittersweet lives of the very rich and well bred. Despite not having a cynical Philip Marlowe resourceful Max Brand invents a pair of likable and argumentative rival detective sergeants who enliven the story and comment on the differences between the haves and have nots.

It is a puzzling mystery from beginning to end. The book begins with a rich man asking a former employee to murder him because he has tried and failed to commit suicide. When he does wind up a corpse it certainly looks like suicide, but is then set up to appear like murder masquerading as suicide. Not only do the sergeants end up with 5 suspects or none, but the reader is also kept in suspense.

This would have made an excellent B movie. I enjoyed it so much I will look up some of Max Brand's 219 other books, especially his mysteries and Destry Rides Again. Overall it compares well with Craig Rice and Stuart Palmer, but lacks the range of Raymond Chandler.