Road Show: Having Wonderful Crime (1943), by Craig Rice

Having Wonderful Crime (1943), the seventh installment of Craig Rice's John J. Malone and Jake and Helene Justus mystery series, ended an impressive streak for Rice.  While seven Malone/Justus novels appeared between 1939 and 1943, none appeared in 1944, then one in 1945 and one in 1948.

After that there was a long drought before the publication of two additional Malone/Justus novels, My Kingdom for a Hearse (1956) and Knocked for a Loop (1957), the latter published the year of Rice's untimely death at the age of 49.

I reviewed Rice's The Fourth Postman (1948) here last year.  I enjoyed that mystery, though I detected some signs the Rice's liquor-n-laughs formula was getting thin (as was the author's hold on anything approaching sobriety). What did I think of Crime, published five years earlier (and which, oddly, alludes to the later postman murders as an earlier case)?

Check in this weekend and see. At least I hope!  I am winding up indexing for Mysteries Unlocked and am running a bit behind on the blog.  I also am planning to get a review posted, finally, of one of my very favorite Rex Stouts, And Be a Villain (now running a week behind on that one!).  At least I feel the essays in Mysteries Unlocked are looking pretty darn good!  More on that next week.