Eight Faces at Three by Craig Rice

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

As the story opens, Holly Inglehart awakens, confused.  She’s had an odd and unsettling dream about being hanged.  Thankfully, a clock had awakened her—but why had a clock gone off in the middle of the night?  Her own clock has stopped at 3 a.m. but it seems later than that, so she checks another—only to find it had also stopped at 3 a.m.  Every clock in the house seems to have stopped at that time. Then she hears the alarm again, coming from her Aunt Alex’s room.  Aunt Alex is there—but she is very cold and very dead.

How’s that for an opening scenario? I was immediately hooked by the oddness of it all and anxious to figure out the mystery.  What I didn’t expect was how delightful the company was going to be along the way.

Craig Rice was an acclaimed mystery writer in her day, making the cover of Time magazine. And yes, that was her real name, though there was a Georgiana in front that she dropped. Her books were mysteries married to screwball romantic comedies, full of clever phrases and witty repartee, and were a lot of fun.

This is a reprint of her first novel and introduced her series character John J. Malone, a rumpled lawyer who can play a jury like a master violinist.  I love Rice’s description of his attire, which included the observations that his suits were appeared to have been slept in, probably in the floor of a taxi cab and that his “ties and collars never really became close friends, often not even acquaintances.”

I have to say, though, that a couple of the supporting characters stole the show as far as I’m concerned. Former journalist Jake is a promoter and manager for Dick Dayton-- a band leader and newly minted husband of Holly—who is a suspected in the murder of Aunt Alex.  At the Inglehart mansion, Jake encounters Helene Brand, an heiress who knows how to make an entrance. One look at her, stepping out of the wintry Chicago night wearing blue pajamas, a fur coat, and galoshes, while barging into the scene of a murder, and Jake is smitten.

Given that the book came out in 1939, there are a few things that will give a modern reader pause, such as certain turns of phrase. There is also a lot of drinking, and I do mean a LOT. Quite a bit of spilling too, especially when Helene decides to learn how to slide beer the length of a bar and into a customer’s hand. 

As for the plot, there were some things I would have questioned if I hadn’t been so entertained.  Some very good twists and turns were introduced.

Mostly, I’m still trying to cast the movie version in my head.  I’m thinking Lauren Bacall for Helene but I could be persuaded to go for Bette Davis.  Maybe Bogart for Malone?

Anyway, I think Craig Rice’s reputation in mystery circles is well deserved and I recommend you give her a try.