Murder for the Bride by John D. MacDonald starts off like many of his mysteries with the main character getting embroiled in a crime and having to become the investigator. In this case, Dil Bryant comes home to New Orleans from a business trip to Mexico to find that his new bride has been murdered.

Dil couldn’t believe that Laura was dead and even worse that she was being slagged off by the police as a worthless tramp who had seen him as an easy ride. It’s not until he’s taken aside by two black suited government men that he learns the truth. Laura came to America on a false passport, in reality she was a German girl, mistress to a prominent Nazi during the war. She slipped away to Russia after the war and was involved with a Russian Colonel who was in a very high position. It is believed that she stole important Communist secrets and then came to America by way of South America. Although it is believed that she was murdered by Russians, her old lover, the Nazi had been seen in her company just before her death. Dil goes on the hunt for answers and vengeance.

I found Murder For the Bride a solidly entertaining story, and very much a product of it’s time with both Nazis and Communists lurking about. Dil is the every-man American hero who gets pulled into a Communist conspiracy and fights for decency and truth. Although originally published in 1951, there were enough twists and turns to keep this far-fetched story readable and although not his best work, I thought the book distinctly showed the promise of this author’s exciting work to come. ( )

Dillon Bryant is searching for oil in a Mexican swamp when he receives a letter that he should return home because his wife is in trouble. When he gets home he finds that she has been murdered and that she had a very dangerous and mysterious past. Aided by a newspaper reporter, Jill Townsend, Dil tries to unravel his wife's past and find who murdered her. Turns out there are Nazis and communists in her background.

This is a tight fast moving mystery with copious amounts of violence. ( )

We forget or discount the fear of Russia and communism in the US of 1951. The story is an interrupted first person narrative. It certainly requires a willing suspension of disbelief. The characters are all well developed. The new Orleans being evoked seems quite a different place than the New Orleans of today, simpler and less closed to strangers. ( )

In this book, you'll learn:

- How to outwit 2 thugs who have you in a speeding car on the way to a certain death
- The usefulness of a trash can lid in an alley fight
- How to choose your friends
- How to quickly get over the death of a wife

With John D. MacDonald as your teacher, you can be sure the lessons will be memorable, though they will probably leave a bad taste in your mouth, and that the character he uses as an example isn't somebody you'd like to hang around with very much.

This book starts off very intriguingly, then strays a bit into sort of a kitchen sink approach to bad guys, friends, bosses, and of course women. The setting is a bit different for MacDonald, however, as this book takes place in New Orleans, which is rendered in an appropriately seedy and murky manner. The parts of the story are better than the whole, reminding you of just what a good writer MacDonald can be, but making you a bit sad when you compare it with some of his other early novels (this one was 1951) such as Dead Low Tide, the Damned, or the End of the Night. Perhaps if he had slowed down his production a bit, he might have produced a few more minor masterpieces like those.

As I have said before, however; if you are a MacDonald fan, you'll want to read this one. ( )

Very much a product of its time, Murder for the Bride is a good example of how the tough school of writers could borrow Red Scare themes and treat them in a hard-boiled style. Bride is the story of a man who unknowingly marries a communist agent, and of the many complications which follow. One of the Spillane-esque developments is the hero’s sniffing out the den of Red spies and the inevitable confrontation with the bad guys. Bride is MacDonald’s second novel and dates from his pre-Travis Magee period.

This version is a rare British paperback edition; I don’t recall seeing any other GM books which originated in the UK, and I’m not that familiar with the company’s publishing history to know how this one fits in the mix. Everything seems to be the same as the cover of the U.S. printing except that it happened to originate from the UK. A curious bit of trivia is that my copy didn’t have a GM number. It’s interesting to compare the earlier version with the reprint from the mid-sixties (Fawcett Gold Medal k1637). The cover for the latter is uncredited but at least one source lists the artist as Milton Charles. Both covers feature an attractive blonde, but I like the earlier version better, a stunner by the prolific Barye Phillips. Phillips usually emphasized glamour in his portrayals of women and this one has the glamour but a sharp edge as well, with the ominous gigantic red hand and shadows in the backgound seeming to suggest the Red Menace. -- BCS