Aaron
Marc Stein was an American journalist with a degree in
archaeology from Princeton University, New Jersey, who became "a
full-time fiction writer" with the publication of the first
Inspector Schmidt mystery, Murder at the Piano (1935), which
was followed by over a hundred detective novels – receiving the
Grand Master Edgar in 1979 for his contributions "to the craft
of mystery writing." These contributions consist of four,
long-running series published under three different (pen) names. And
the one with the most name recognition is probably "George
Bagby."
I've been aware of Stein for years as
one of those reliable, mid-list writers who once were "the
backbone of publishing and public libraries." A writer who
appeared to have been a cross between Anthony
Abbot and Erle
Stanley Gardner, but never came across one of his novels until
recently. Honestly, Stein was much better than most mystery writers
who have been branded second-stringers on this blog!
The
Corpse Who Had Too Many Friends
(1953), published as by "Hampton Stone," is the sixth, of
eighteen, titles about the New York Assistant District Attorneys,
Jeremiah X. Gibbon and Malcolm T. Macauley – usually their names
are shortened to Gibby and Mac. Mac is the S.S.
van Dine-style
narrator of the series and is often assigned to Gibby to hold him
"somewhere
within the limits of legality and prudence"
or "a
cautious approach"
is warranted in regard to some of "the
town's more gilt-edged reputations."
The murder of one of the vice-presidents of Fiveborough National Bank
requires Mac's "special
talent"
in spades!
Fiveborough
National Bank is a big, solid and respectable New York institution,
firmly rooted in "the
financial tradition of Alexander Hamilton,"
with branch banks all over New York City that all look like "a
little neighborhood Sub-treasury."
Every
year, the Bank Club throws an exclusive dinner party at the
Butterfield Hotel. Only this time, the "three-star
binge"
spilled all over the fifth floor where the body of Homer G. Coleman
is found in one of the rooms. Coleman had "died
horribly"
with a black canvas strap pulled tightly around his throat, but Gibby
and Mac immediately smack headfirst into an enormous contradiction.
The victim was universally loved. Everyone liked and respected the
guy, which actually made for a nice change. Stein put it to good use
in the last chapter.
There
are, however, many more complications surrounding the murders
including two burglaries with stolen keys, two (attempted) murders,
three assaults with a candlestick and traces of blood of third,
unknown victim. But the bulk of the story concerns the plot-threads
centering on two of the suspects, Art Fuller and Miss Ross Salvaggi.
Art
Fuller has served time in Sing Sing and is now out on parole, but
tried to split when the police recognized him at the hotel and the
story he gave them is shakey, to say the least, which is why they "fix
him up with a tail"
– who'll keep a close eye on him over the next twenty-four hours.
Surprisingly, this plot-thread turned into a minor locked room
mystery when Fuller left and returned to his home without being
observed by his unshakable tail. The
Corpse Who Had Too Many Friends
is not listed in either Robert Adey's Locked
Room Murders
(1991) or Brian Skupin's
Locked Room Murders: Supplement
(2019) and had no idea the plot contained a small locked room puzzle.
I honestly tried to take a break from the impossible crime tale, but
they won't leave me alone! Miss Salvaggi, on the other hands, acts as
a human roadblock and evidently knows more than she's willing to
tell, but she eventually finds her match in the stubborn, outspoken
Gibby. She didn't went down in the first couple of rounds and Gibby
had to take a dirty, roundabout way to get his hands on the full
story.
So
these (side) problems cover a large swath of the story and this comes
at the expense of, what should have been, the central plot-thread
that was already scantily clued. That's a pity because the identity
of the murderer, along with the motive, were interesting and made the
murder of Coleman a genuine tragedy. More importantly, it gave the
story an ending you don't often see in these classic detective
stories as everyone turned on the murderer the moment this person was
revealed. Gibby has to tell the victim's friends they have to save
the murderer for a jury followed by some banter ("Where
do you go to find the peers of a thing like that? What are you going
to use for a jury, bedbugs?").
The
Corpse Who Had Too Many Friends
is an engagingly written, busily plotted detective story with a fun
detective who's not above a little housebreaking or playing dirty,
but Stein lacked the coincidence in the main plot-thread, covered it
up with extraneous story-lines and went light on clueing – dragging
down an otherwise excellent detective novel to the second ranks.
Still a good, entertaining read with some good ideas and I'll
definitely return to Stein in the future. I want to try one of his
detective novels about his archaeologist sleuths, Tim Mulligan and
Elsie Mae Hunt.
A
note for the curious: Mercury Publications edition had a $1000 cash
prize for "the
best new title submitted for this novel by September 28, 1954,"
but The
Corpse Who Had Too Many Friends
has never appeared under any other title. So, whoever won the
contest, the winning title was not used.
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