Synopsis/blurb……
Rediscovered—a Chip
Harrison short story!
In addition to the
four novels (No Score, Chip Harrison Scores Again, Make Out With Murder, and
The Topless Tulip Caper), Lawrence Block wrote two short stories about young
Chip Harrison. “As Dark as Christmas Gets” first saw life as a special printing
for friends of the Mysterious Bookshop, and has been widely anthologized and,
for a couple of years now, eVailable as well. This story, “Death of the Mallory
Queen,” preceded it by 13 years, and appeared initially in LB’s collection,
Like a Lamb to Slaughter, and later in Enough Rope.
As you may know, the
first two Chip Harrison books are sexy coming-of-age novels, with Chip as a
sort of Lecher in the Wry. In Make Out With Murder he goes to work for private
detective Leo Haig, and this story features Haig and Harrison, and is very much
planted in the inner circles of mystery fiction. It also shows us Leo Haig,
that road company Nero Wolfe, caught up in a New Age self-improvement project.
Huff!
Another Amazon freebie during February from Lawrence Block and truth be told a
slightly disappointing first outing for me with series character Chip Harrison. Our piece was dominated by
Leo Haig his employer. Too much Haig and not enough Chip, in my opinion.
I’ll hope for better things when I crack open The Affairs of Chip Harrison at some
point.
Our short tale concerns murder. Mavis Mallory hires Haig to
investigate her own murder, something which has yet to occur - obviously.
Convinced of the strength of her death-wish and unable to convince her to take
precautions Haig allows events to unfold.
The 25th Anniversary celebration of Mallory’s
Mystery Magazine gives ample opportunity for Mavis’s enemies within the
publishing industry to grant her the wish. The celebratory event occurs and
Mavis dies.
Haig assembles the cast later and explains what happens and
who was doing what to whom.
3 from 5
Ok but I’ve come to expect a bit more from the author.
Harrison so far trails Keller, Scudder and Bernie in the
enjoyment stakes. Tanner and Ehrengraf as yet untried.
Source copy – Amazon Freebie
I know what you mean, Col, about liking a certain character more than others, and wanting that character to be featured. I'm the same way about some of my top characters. Still, glad you enjoyed this and the other Block stories you've read.
ReplyDeleteThanks Margot. I don't think Harrison will be one of my Block favourites, but you never know!
DeleteI'm definitely up for more Block but will probably stick to Scudder for the moment.
ReplyDeleteI'm not rushing towards Chip Harrison myself at the minute, though John's comment below has me more interested than before.
DeleteCol, I'm about to start on my first Lawrence Block novel, though I can't decide which one.
ReplyDeleteYou probably can't go wrong whatever you decide, Prashant. I'll look forward to your review.
DeleteThe CH novels are a bit, ahem, blue -- at least, to judge by the one I own.
ReplyDeleteHaha - you've just sold them to me! He was a bit of a dirty writer, back in his early days!
DeleteI almost went and bought this (I don't consider a short story breaking the embargo) but it is $2.99 here. I think I would like Leo Haig dominating it. But then I saw that it was in Enough Rope... duh. So I don't need to go buy it. I have three of the four Chip Harrison books but haven't read any of them yet.
ReplyDeleteI probably have this myself in one of his mystery collections, but it was on Amazon as a freebie, so I was happy to download and read. Some of them can be pricey when they aren't on offer.
DeleteI'll be interested in how you find Chip Harrison, Tracy.