A mother of two teenage sons is having a bathroom added to her house. She's taking her elderly dog for a walk when she spots a man who has been stalking her off and on for years. The police claim there is nothing they can do until he commits a crime. Her house is particularly vulnerable right now since it has a hole where work is proceeding. One night he enters the house and she finds him in her fridge. Luckily her son handles him in a very mature way. This was a scary story. The idea that a stalker can keep returning year after year and the police (Florida) don't help. Her husband isn't much help either. Groff has a new collection coming out next year called BRAWLERS. Looks like she has violence on her mind.
Watching PLURIBUS on APPLE, which is terrific. Finished the latest season of the British competition show on PORTRAIT PAINTING. Midway through ALL HER FAULT (Peacock), which is pretty mediocre.
Reading HOTEL DU LAC, OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN AND THE INVENTION OF THE MUSICAL and PERPLEXING PLOTS, which Tracy recommended.
Heard a lecture on India at my senior center.
Going to the DSO today to hear CARMINA BURANO although it is snowing. EEK.
What about you?
This has been sitting on my bookshelf for years and I didn't realize it was a collection of short stories, nor did I realize they were linked and leading up to Montana 1948. I have read two of the seven stories so far. The first entitled "Julian Hayden" tells the story of a very young man who pulls up stakes and moves with his mother to Montana because land is cheap and he is not thriving in Iowa. He leaves his sister behind because he doesn't feel she is up to frontier life. He makes arrangements with a minister that his sister will tutor his daughters but will not do any manual labor. Guess what? The ending is surprising and somewhat violent. The second story, "Enid Garling" tells the story of Julian's marriage.
I like Watson's writing so much. He is direct and seldom uses an unnecessary word. I don 't know why I am so drawn to stories set in the West but I am. Perhaps this is the style of writing I read most as a kid.
Finished THE DIPLOMAT. She certainly makes time for romance amidst saving the world. SLOW HORSES ended well too. So too MAIGRET.
Going to see ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER again. It really needs the big screen.
What about you?
Author
Frank Kane created P.I. Johnny Littell in a short story for the pulps
in 1944 and went on to write twenty-nine novels featuring him, plus an
unknown number of short stories. According to his granddaughter, he
claimed four hundred, though she believes that an exaggeration. And Bill
Crider said in 2000, if it’s a Frank Kane book, chances are “it’ll be a
competent straightforward P.I. story.” DUE OR DIE certainly was all
that. I quite enjoyed my first Kane book.
P.I. Johnny Liddell got the job offer from a most agreeable source. Beautiful redheaded singer Lee Loomis. Mobster “Fat Mike” Klein, who Johnny knew from the old days, needed help in Las Palmas, a small Nevada city where the gambling joints were controlled by aging mobsters, no longer the hard men they’d once been. The deal was $10,000 to find the killer, half now, half when the job was done.
They didn’t dare let New York know what had happened. The remaining five knew the vultures were already out there and they didn’t dare let anyone know that a hit had gone down without their knowledge.
But Johnny arrived too late. Fat Mike had been murdered as well, shot down in his car on the side of the road. The remaining four showed Johnny the note all had received promising each would be killed unless they ponied up a million dollars. With each death, the share went up for the others.
They wanted Johnny to simply deliver the money. The two deaths had been covered up, the first a heart attack, the body quickly cremated, and Fat Mike had committed suicide, the body to be buried as soon as possible.
Johnny didn’t like that. Fat Mike had not been a particular friend, but he’d accepted the job and he was loathe to quit before he got it done.
Tom Regan, the police chief, was as crooked as the mobsters, in their pocket, and was no help. Despite his bosses agreement, he seemed determined to impede the investigation.
Johnny plugs away, avoiding beatings, dodging frame-ups, and questioning anyone and everyone.
He thinks he has it figured out. Now all he has to do is prove it before being killed.
Enjoyed this one. Johnny Liddell appeared in 29 novels and numerous short stories(Kane claimed four hundred in a letter, though his granddaughter thought that an exaggeration).
