John Dudley Ball (1)Recensioni

It's hard to compare this book to the eventual film adaptation. But the movie makes clear the problems of the book: it is the promise of a premise.

The idea of an African-American detective solving a mystery in a racist Southern town is cool. But the book leaves too much on the table. Every interaction in the film is brimming with the subtext of discrimination. It also changes the profession of the murder victim--thereby adding a fantastic dash of class consciousness. And lastly, the sexism is more apparent, both in the murder victim's wife and in the abortion subplot. While some of these are evident in the book, it doesn't go as far as it should.

And, as a book it has a few shortcomings. Virgil isn't as strong as he should be, the interracial buddy duo isn't as cool as it could be, and there's one subplot too many. And most of all, the explanation shouldn't end the book. I'd like to see the hero return having changed.

Still, it deserves kudos for the forward thinking of the premise and a general sense of suspense in the mystery. Marginal recommendation.

The ending was totally unexpected (at least by me!). Sadly, many of the issues are still relevant today, 50 years after this was first published, such as poor relations between the police and black people. Tibbs is a great character; while I haven't read "In the Heat of the Night", I love the film with Sidney Poitiers and have seen it several times. I hadn't realized that Ball wrote a whole series around this character until I got this audiobook from the 2018 SYNC offerings - I will have to read more of them!

Dion Graham does a splendid narration in this audiobook edition.

Gave it a 4.5 because while reading the images of Rod Steiger and Sydney Poitier and cast kept running in my mind. Great read. The book was tight with no fluff and no glossing over of the hard attitudes of Southerners on race. The grudging respect at the end of the book read well. Not sure if you could write this today. Found it by chance n the local used book store and I discovered there were more Virgil Tibbs novels.½

Flashback to 1960 and the horrible reality of Jim Crow. The dignity of Mr. Tibbs and the way he handles the slurs and injustice are at the heart of this novel, and Ball makes Tibbs the most intelligent and able character in the book. He goes a little overboard in drawing the distinctions between the Southern characters and Virgil Tibbs, but he has an important point to make and he makes it If you are ever doubting that race relations have made enormous progress in the last 50 years, read this book and feel the knot in your stomach when Mr. Tibbs comes into a diner and is denied a glass of milk. It is difficult to even imagine people actually feeling this way and yet so many did.

It is painful to read this book now but it matters to remember that it was a small book that made a big difference. It exposed us to ourselves, without any place to run and hide. I vaguely remember the furor when Sidney Poitier made Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. People were outraged. It is the outrage that outrages us now. It is easy to carry the image of Mr. Poitier in my head while reading...who else could be Mr. Tibbs?

It has been decades since I saw the movie and reading the book has made me want to see it again. This was an interesting voyage into the past, a place we wax nostalgic for, but in some ways a place we would never want to occupy again.

This is one of the very few fictional books that cover Judo. This one is a story, written at the level of a Junior High School or High School student. John Ball is an accomplished author however, and the book is very readable and interesting story of a teenager who takes up Judo to be able to defend himself. The setting for the story is the San Fernando Judo Club, CA, which is still operating. Although out-of-print, so many libraries owned this that it's relatively easy to locate a copy of it. Worth reading. AUTHOR'S NOTE Judo Boy is an adventure story based on this traditional, exciting, and newly popular sport. While it includes much of the Judo discipline and describes the training methods used, it makes no attempt to instruct the reader in the art. Those looking for how-to-do-it information will find a number of good books in print. Among these the author highly recom- mends Boys' Judo by II. E. Sharp and C. C. Hadly, Jr. (Burton Publishing Co., Los Angeles), both for the authoritative text and the delightful illustrations. Judo boy is the standard international term for any student of the art below the brown belt level. All beginners are called Judo boys. Those who may feel that the Judo dojo (school) described herein is too good to be true might be interested to know that it really exists. So also do many of the people who appear in this story. The author would like to express his great apprecia- tion to the San Fernando Valley Judo Club, to its officers, and to its outstanding faculty of black belt instructors for their un- stinting co-operation and help. Gentlemen, arigato. The author is particularly grateful to the great American judoist and teacher, Master Sego Murakami, for his gracious permission to write him into the story. JOHN BALL, JR. Encino, California contentS Author's Note vii About the Language of Judo xi 1. Encounter in the Park 3 2. Mark Takahashi 7 3. Shiai 17 4. Modern Knighthood 25 5. On the Big Mat 35 6. Evidence 47 7. First Blood 59 8. Portrait of a Sensei 71 9. Victory and Defeat 81 10. Third in the World 91 11. Demonstration 103 12. April 15 115 13. Moment of Truth 131

It's probably not a good idea to try to read or listen to a book when you've seen the iconic movie a number of times. I find it hard to give the book a rating after I listened to what was like a radio play with different characters reading each of the parts. The story is timeless, and Ball's writing is visceral and real and a true indication of the times- 1960's in the Carolina's. Jim Crow is foremost in this area at this time, and what happens when a young, black homicide detective from Pasadena arrives in town when a murder has just been discovered is expected for the times. This is where we meet Virgil Tibbs, and it came back to me again how well Sidney Poitier played this part in the movie. I enjoyed hearing the drama all over again and I'm glad I took the time to listen to this classic.

I think it is quite interesting to read this book published in 1969 about a black police officer in Pasadena. This book is the third book in a mystery series about an officer named Virgil Tibbs. Tibbs solves this mystery by good detective work. The story takes place sometime after the the Watts riots and during the civil unrest of the sixties with riots and peaceful protests. The story features a poor white nine year old recently moved to the area, another school mate, older and bullying that occurs that leads to bigger issues.There is a bit of preaching about gun safety and questions the right to bear arms. There is a great deal of race issues addressed. Some of the language used is definitely not politically correct for the current time. Another item in the book that I thought was unnecessary is the nude picture that is mentioned and when looking up information about the author, discovered that the author John Dudley Ball was a nudist but never the less another element of the book that was not politically correct and really did not need to be a part of the book. I enjoyed the book and felt it was over all a decent read.

Orig. published in The mystery library, University of California-San Diego Extension.

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3323994.html

As is so often the case, almost everything about the book is better than the film. Our setting is in South Carolina rather than Mississippi; Tibbs is from California, not Philadelphia; the murder victim is not a local industrialist, but an Italian conductor brought in to run a music festival to make the crappy little bigoted town a more popular place, with a supporting cast of sympathisers including an attractive daughter. Also, we get more inside the heads of the protagonists, and it's the junior police office Sam Wood who Tibbs develops the relationship with, rather than his boss as in the film. Here is a didactic but well-written exchange between them:

Sam thought carefully for a minute before he asked his next question. “Virgil, I’m going to ask you something you aren’t going to like. But I want to know. How did they [the LAPD] happen to take you? No, that isn’t what I mean. I want to ask you point-blank how come a colored man got all those advantages. Now if you want to get mad, go ahead.”
Tibbs countered with a question of his own. “You’ve always lived in the South, haven’t you?”
“I’ve never been further than Atlanta,” Sam acknowledged.
“Then it may be hard for you to believe, but there are places in this country where a colored man, to use your words for it, is simply a human being like everybody else. Not everybody feels that way, but enough do so that at home I can go weeks at a time without anybody reminding me that I’m a Negro. Here I can’t go fifteen minutes. If you went somewhere where people despised you because of your southern accent, and all you were doing was speaking naturally and the best way that you could, you might have a very slight idea of what it is to be constantly cursed for something that isn’t your fault and shouldn’t make any difference anyhow.”
Sam shook his head. “Some guys down here would kill you for saying a thing like that,” he cautioned.
“You made my point,” Tibbs replied.

It's the first of six novels and four short stories, and I think I will keep an eye out for the rest. You can get it here.

The ending was totally unexpected (at least by me!). Sadly, many of the issues are still relevant today, 50 years after this was first published, such as poor relations between the police and black people. Tibbs is a great character; while I haven't read "In the Heat of the Night", I love the film with Sidney Poitiers and have seen it several times. I hadn't realized that Ball wrote a whole series around this character until I got this audiobook from the 2018 SYNC offerings - I will have to read more of them!

Dion Graham does a splendid narration in this audiobook edition.

Even fans of the classic film version of "In the Heat of the Night" should find the original novel engrossing. It's a bit more of a whodunit than the film, but the racial tension is strong and the point-of-view characters are exposed in a third-person-omniscient approach that captures the attitudes of the South with realistic perspective.

I read Virgil Tibbs short stories when they appeared in "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine" in the '70s and maybe '80s, can't recall. He always struck me in the stories as reflecting Sherlock Holmes-style capabilities of deduction. That's in evidence here also. He catalogs details that others might miss, and all of those serve him well.

If you've seen the film it's interesting to read and see the essence of the story that Sterling Silliphant preserved in the screenplay. Most of the twists and turns are preserved though at times in quite different fashion. It's a music festival and not a factory the murder victim's working to bring to the town of Wells, S.C., not Sparta, Miss., and the wealthy local Endicott family isn't Old South but progressive northern transplants serving some of the same purposes as the victim's wife in the film version.

Police officer Sam Wood's a deeper and richer character in the novel, and some of his growth is actually transferred to the police chief in the film.

It's worth a look as a stand-alone whodunit or as a comparison with the film.

Infuriatingly boring!!!
It's like those $0.25 books you always find molding away at church tag sales. Mediocre author with a boring plot.
The main character is a nine year old boy with less personality than a cat turd.

No. 2 in the Virgil Tibbs detective series. Until I picked up one of the later entries a year or so ago, I had no idea there was a series about the amazing Mr. Tibbs of [In the Heat of the Night] fame. I enjoy him as a character very much, but I quibble a bit with the author's handling. In this outing, Virgil is at home in Pasadena, where he is called upon to investigate the death of an unidentified man whose body turns up in the pool at a nudist park. The man is appropriately naked, but not a member of the club, and not recognized by anyone. Furthermore, he is obviously a "cottontail", i.e. someone whose untanned nether region betrays him as not a nudist. This set-up has a lot of potential, and Ball (who was a nudist himself, I understand) makes the most of it, introducing us to a lovely normal American family who rarely put on clothes. After facing the unmitigated racism of the Deep South in [In the Heat of the Night], Virgil is on his home turf, wrestling to act natural in the presence of naked white women who aren't a bit bothered by his color or his gender---the irony is juicy indeed. Unfortunately most of the detecting goes on off the page, and the reader has no idea what Virgil is thinking, or even what leads he's following much of the time. He explains it all to us after the fact, so there's too much telling; I'd rather be shown. Still a worthwhile read for the social commentary.½

Like most people, I came to this book knowing the film a lot better. The two are actually pretty similar – which makes the differences all the more interesting.

The Virgil of the book is a lot less angry than that played by Sidney Poitier; he's much happier to acquiesce to the indignities of segregation for the sake of a quiet life and the chance to get out of it quicker – because let's face it, that's what most intelligent people do when faced with stupid authority. When delivered here, "They call me Mr Tibbs" is not the movie's angry cry of defiance but a statement of fact, and all the sadder for it.

Maybe that tells you something about way two texts with the same story can be positioned very differently; the book is a crime novel with a social conscious, while the film – in the best tradition of Best Pictures – is a high-profile cry of anger, a markable moment when mainstream pop culture acknowledges a tectonic shift in its assumptions. The book is quieter, its audience necessarily more self-selecting; two hours of your time for a movie is much less of a commitment than the many more it will take most people to get through even a short novel.

But it's easy to miss in all of that that In the Heat of the Night is also a damn good crime novel. It's testament to John Ball's visual imagery that it was relatively rare my mind defaulted to picturing what I had seen in the film. He writes a Chandler-esque evocation of a dirty, stratified city at night – or as Chandler-esque as any novel with an actual plot can be.

And that title is immensely clever, reflecting the literally oppressive atmosphere that pervades the book while also being a significant clue to its resolution. I like you Mr Ball.

Like any 50 year old book there are some problems. It's regrettable that Ball falls into the stereotype of signifying a black person's intelligence by noting their physical resemblance to a white person (at times that's clearly a deliberate attempt to highlight the white characters' prejudice, at other times I'm not so sure), and there's some questionable gender politics later in the story (Tibbs concludes Purdy can't have been raped because she comes to the police station wearing a push-up bra).

However, the pragmatic side of me acknowledges even these problems are a lot less than you'd find in many other books of the same period (hello Ian Fleming) and it would seem churlish to knock a star off a book so obviously ahead of the curve in many important ways for letting 1965 creep through in a couple of more minor instances.

I went into In the Heat of the Night expecting to enjoy it and I was not disappointed. If you like Chandler, American crime and to feel vicariously involved in the civil rights movement, do pick it up.

This is the fifth in the Virgil Tibbs series which begins with [In the Heat of the Night] In the books, as opposed to the movie and TV versions, Tibbs is a detective in Los Angeles. He is well respected, his deductive reasoning powers are Holmesian, and he gets assigned to the trickiest cases. He has a reputation, because his story has been told on the big screen by this time the events of this book take place, and people know his name. (One woman he introduced himself to gave him a "Yeah, right! You're Virgil Tibbs. And I'm Dionne Warwick" sort of response, until he showed her his ID.) His partners, in work and in life, are Japanese Americans, and he has an affinity for Far Eastern things. His knows great music, of many genres, and not just the standards, either. I enjoyed his company and his thought processes as he worked to sort out two cases--the death of a young woman whose decomposing body is found in a remote area of a local park, and the disappearance of one of the "Rose Princesses" who walked out of an official luncheon gathering and has not been seen or heard from for a year. Could they be the same person? My only quibble with Ball's style is that he can't seem to let any character speak without first telling us what's going through the person's mind.

Back during the turbulent days of the Civil Rights movement, John Dudley Ball set out to write a book that was both mystery and social commentary, the latter an attempt to shine a light on the unjust practices of the racism in the American South. Obviously, his book was a success, for it spawned four more Virgil Tibbs books, three movies, three Academy Awards, a soundtrack by Ray Charles, and a long-running television series.

For all that success, though, I was slightly disappointed by the book. Don’t get me wrong. The writing was great, the mystery was pretty good and the racism was pretty despicable. It just seemed to lack a certain something that made the whole theme come alive. I’ve seen the movie several times and will certainly watch it many times more. I feel like the air in between Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger positively crackles with energy when they go at each other. The same scenes in the book are more sterile, somehow lacking in nuance. Forgive the pun, but Ball’s portrayal of racism is almost too black and white. He seemed too willing to buy into the idea that racism existed only south of the Mason Dixon Line. In one scene Tibbs tells a fellow officer that “at home I can go weeks at a time without anybody reminding me that I’m a Negro. Here I can’t go fifteen minutes.” Even now, fifty years later, I suspect I would be hard-pressed to find a black person who really believes that.

Bottom line: I enjoyed this book and particularly enjoyed discussing it with friends in Goodreads’ On the Southern Literary Trail group. I encourage anyone who has seen the movie to read it and draw your own conclusions. Mine is that I don’t think the book would have withstood the test of time had it not been for the movie. This is ultimately one of those rare cases where the movie is better.
★★★½
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
*4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
*3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
*2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
*1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.½

This novel is more than a great mystery/crime story (it won the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery) but an excellent character study, something that doesn't stand out so strongly in the film (although brilliant with two superb actors, Poitier and Steiger).

Running parallel with the mystery plot, is the development of the relationship between out-of-town detective Virgil Tibbs and patrolman Sam Wood. For those who have seen the film, Wood was merely a secondary character serving the plot line, while Chief Gillspie was Tibbs' sparing partner. In the novel, Virgil Tibbs is a much more reserved character than the one portrayed in the movie (not to detract from Poitier's performance). He is level headed and calm in the face of virulent deep south racism. In effect, he makes Wood reflect on the myths and lies that his own bigoted culture is grounded in. Tibbs does this by showing, not telling, through his professionalism as they solve the crime.

If you like mystery/crime novels with an added dimension, you'll enjoy this one.
there is no doubt about the contribution of [a:John Dudley Ball|395992|John Dudley Ball|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-e89fc14c32a41c0eb4298dfafe929b65.png] (along with [a:Walter Mosely|7126519|Walter Mosely|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]and [a:Chester Himes|4392029|Chester Himes|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1311732915p2/4392029.jpg] to the African-American detective series
I highly recommend this book. One of those few novels that you can say - Brilliant!

I was a bit disappointed in this book. Rather insipid, with cardboard characters and dialogue is somewhat stilted. I won't read any more of Ball's Jack Tallon series. He does much better with Virgil Tibbs.

I couldn't help picturing actor Sidney Poitier in my mind while reading John Ball's 1980 novel "Then Came Violence." That's because this is one of the seven novels Ball wrote featuring his black police officer Virgil Tibbs, whom Poitier played in In the "Heat of the Night," one of the best movie mysteries of all time, and two lesser films, "They Call Me Mr. Tibbs" and "The Organization." Sometimes characters as portrayed in movies seem totally different from the same characters described in novels, but not so Virgil Tibbs. Sidney Poitier got the part down perfectly, even if the screenwriters took some liberties, making Tibbs come from Philadelphia, not Pasadena, Calif., in "In the Heat of the Night" and from San Francisco in the sequels and, in one of the later movies, giving him a wife he doesn't have in the novels.

The lack of a wife is important in "Then Came Violence." Tibbs comes home from a vacation to find all his possessions have been moved, without his knowledge, from his apartment to a suburban house. When he gets to the house, he finds he has a beautiful wife and two children he has never met before. His new family turns out to be that of the president of an African country on the run for his life. The president's wife and kids have been placed in Tibbs's care for their protection, which doesn't make a lot of sense because Tibbs works such long hours on his job he is rarely home. Nor does it make sense that the trusted officer wasn't briefed about all this ahead of time.

Tibbs is prevented from spending more time with his temporary family by a series of violent crimes, which lead to other violent crimes when a gang of vigilantes appears to be taking the role of judge, jury and executioner. Tibbs takes his job seriously, but never more so than when it becomes personal and the life of another man's wife, whom he has come to love himself, is endangered.

As in the classic film version of "In the Heat of the Night," this novel proves to be as much about race as it is about crime. Tibbs is black and his partner is of Japanese descent. Good characters and bad ones are divided equally between black and white. Even though the narrator tells us mixed-race, or salt-and-pepper, gangs are rare, the story gives us not one but two such gangs. Ball may be trying too hard to write an equal opportunity novel. Still it is a terrific story that, even after more than 30 years, still seems timely, as well as exciting.

Virgil Tibbs happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, which is how he gets taken into custody on suspicion of murder. Turns out our Mr. Tibbs is not only innocent, he is a homicide investigator from Pasadena, California on his way back home after visiting his mother. Now the small town of Wells, South Carolina could use a good homicide investigator because they are dealing with the murder of a prominent citizen and an inexperienced Chief of Police; there is just one small problem - Virgil Tibbs is African American. The police department and many of the citizens of Wells are racist. Written in 1965, this novel is set in the days of racial segregation when the color of your skin determined what options were available to you. What Ball does so well with this novel is to show how bigotry can blind people to the truth and how true character can defeat prejudice. Tibbs is allowed to stay and investigate the murder because the mayor convinces Chief of Police Bill Gillespie that it's a win/win situation. If he fails, they have a fall guy, and if he succeeds, they can take all the credit for letting him solve the case.

The three main characters are so very interesting here. Bill Gillespie is a racist, but he is also honest with himself and therefore understands that he is out of his league with a murder investigation. Sam Wood, the officer that found the body, likes and respects Virgil Tibbs, but worries about how his own choices and actions will be viewed by others - he is a man of conscience who struggles with his own weaknesses. Virgil Tibbs is a man who understands how the world around him works and who lets his own intelligence and compassion guide him through a world where a lot of the established rules are just plain wrong.

"As a boy Bill Gillespie had been, from the first, considerably bigger than his classmates and the other children with whom he associated. Because of this fact he could dictate the terms of the games that were played and impose his will on others who were not physically his equal. To his credit, Gillespie did not use his size to become a bully and he did not deliberately 'pick on' those who might have wanted to disagree with him. But his automatic leadership deprived him of an early education in one of the most important accomplishments he could have had - diplomacy. He was aware of this and it bothered him occasionally."

The writing in this novel is truly fine for the most part. A few scenes are a bit hokey (mostly the ones where women are involved), and part of the plot is a bit thin. However, these issues can be overlooked because of the wonderful job Ball does of portraying how racism in the deep South infects everything it touches. Ball presents a full spectrum from outright hatred to those who struggle with their own racist views to those who are not racist. An interesting dynamic in a small town where the leading citizens must now depend on an African American to help them solve a murder.

"You're pretty sure of yourself, aren't you, Virgil," Gillespie retorted. "Incidentally, Virgil is a pretty fancy name for a black boy like you. What do they call you around home where you come from?"

"They call me Mr. Tibbs," Virgil answered.

A great mystery. Should have read it years ago.

I just reread this book, having added it to my library about 15 years ago. It's three stories, linked by common characters that reminds me greatly of Nevil Shute in that it deals with good people, and a love of flying. Truly a satisfying read.

The small Carolina town of Wells is rocked when Maestro Enrico Mantoli is found dead in the middle of main street. Mantoli, a famous conductor, was hosting an orchestral music festival that would put Wells on the map. Bill Gillespie has only been Chief of Police in Wells for nine weeks, and has no idea how to conduct a homicide investigation. The case seems to have broken when an officer discovers a “black boy” waiting in the Colored section of the train station. However, this Negro is a homicide investigator from Pasadena with an excellent reputation. Gillespie may need help to catch the murderer, but he doesn’t want help if it comes wrapped in a black skin. But, as the mayor points out, a black man is the perfect scapegoat if the murderer can not be found. His quiet dignity, calm manner, and professional knowledge make Tibbs an unlikely rogue. But in a time and town where racism are the norm, an educated black man is always on the outside, working alone. Ball wrote seven other novels starring Virgil Tibbs. The book series also spawned several films and a television series.

Originally from the University of California San Diego Extension Library, this has a condescending preface by UCSD's Chancellor. The articles themselves are of higher quality and for the most part are not very academic, which is good, but also not very deep, which is not so good. And of course the whole thing is seriously dated. It would have been nice to get the knowledgeable writers take on later authors such as Joe Gores.

Murder at Large by John Ball - Meandering and disorganized; not sure what his point is, but not without interest. Rating: **

The Mystery Story in Cultural Perspective by Aaron Marc Stein - A good explanation, or theory at least, for why the modern story of detection had to wait for Edgar Allan Poe to invent it. Rating: *** 1/2

The Mystery Versus the Novel by Hillary Waugh - Some interesting tidbits, but it all boils down to "It is a mystery if the author's motive is mystery." Which means that The Brothers Karamazov is not a mystery but The Big Sleep is. Or is it? Waugh doesn't really seem to be able to make up his mind. Rating: ** 1/2

The Amateur Detectives by Otto Penzler - Entertaining whirlwind tour and capsule descriptions of the most famous amateur detectives; some of Penzler's descriptions are very acerbic. Rating: ****

The Private Eye by James Sandoe - Somewhat over-opinionated but useful guide to a few of the author's favorite books. He declares private eye fiction basically dead as of 1976 - which certainly seems a bad judgment 33 years later. Rating: ***

Women in Detective Fiction by Michele Slung - Too-short overview of women writers and (very briefly) women detectives. Rating: *** 1/2

The Ethnic Detective by John Ball - Well done introduction to a number of minority detectives. Makes up (somewhat) for Mr. Ball's earlier contribution to the volume. Rating: ****

The Police Procedural by Hillary Waugh - Waugh explains the origin of this sub-genre and introduces us to some of its practitioners. Rating: *** 1/2

Locked Rooms and Puzzles: A Critical Memoir by Donald A. Yates - Well done description of this classic type of story points the reader to a number of classics in the field. The only drawback is that in discussing these classic locked room situations, the author can't give away the solution. Rating: **** 1/2

The Spy in Fact and Fiction by Michael Gilbert - Opinionated but dated survey of spies in literature, but contains some useful insight into the problems, or lack thereof, faced by authors of such novels. Rating: ***

Gothic Mysteries by Phyllis A. Whitney - Useful introduction to the conventions of writing a gothic novel, though it doesn't make me want to rush out and buy one (or start writing one). Rating: *** 1/2

Death Rays Demons and Worms Unknown to Science by Robert E. Briney - The longest piece in the book and an entertaining and enlightening survey of the conjunction between mystery and science fiction. Includes lots of interesting recommendations. Rating: ****

Patterns in Mystery Fiction: The Durable Series Character by Allen J. Hubin - An exercise in classification, consisting mostly of a long list of series characters; more interesting than it should be. Rating: ***

The Great Crooks by Otto Penzler - Excellent and entertaining introduction to some of the great crooks, marred only by needless mention of Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and a couple of other who have no place here. Rating: ****

Name Games: Mystery Writers and Their Pseudonyms by Francis M. Nevins Jr. - Nothing unexpected here, but well written and interesting. Rating: ****

And Why Do We Read This Stuff by E. T. Guymon Jr. - Brief, mostly about first editions. Rating: ***

The Literature of the Subject: An Annotated Bibliography by Robert E. Briney - List of books about mysteries, outdated of course, but will certainly make me pick up a few of them if I come across them. Rating: *** 1/2½

I have read this book several times, to myself and aloud to family & friends. A sweet and very funny novel about an American engineer sent unexpectedly to Japan, who misunderstands the ways of the Japanese and falls in love with the geisha hired to entertain him. A satisfying story of culture clash and forbidden love, though the resolution I was rooting for would have been still more satisfying. Some might say the novel is showing its age, but it captures its time and place well. Highly recommended if you can find a copy!