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I was so preoccupied with talking about From Here to Eternity I plumb forgot to mention I finished another story out of my Ten Great Mysteries collection. This one was "The Case of the Crying Swallow," and it was the 40-est of 1940's detective stories (the protagonist is technically a lawyer, but he's totally the one doing all the detecting) that I have read in while, to the point where I kept picturing the events happening in black and white XD
It was actually pretty good, though more than a little contrived. The basic gist is that wife #2 murdered guy #2, who was trying to pay off wife #2 in gems that he had extorted from wife #1, who was now married to guy #1. Guy #1 found guy #2 dead, and presumed it was wife #1 who murdered him, so he tried to cover up the murder. Unfortunately, wife #1 saw guy #1 fooling with the body and though he'd shot guy #2, wife #1 ran off, and when she was found tried to claim amnesia while simultaneously suggesting she, wife #1, had shot guy #2 instead of guy #1, her husband.
The story gets its start because guy #1 had no idea what his wife saw or why she ran off, so he hired a lawyer, the protagonist, to investigate - without telling him any of these incredibly pertinent details, of course.
Oh, and there's a servant trying to commit a spot of blackmail mixed in with all this as well, can't forget that.
Okay, maybe it's a lot contrived, but it was a fun read, I swear.
My family and I celebrate Christmas early - we do it on the 12st - and I'm a little excited. We always have eggs benedict for Christmas, and spend all day hanging out together, which I'm looking forward to.
It was actually pretty good, though more than a little contrived. The basic gist is that wife #2 murdered guy #2, who was trying to pay off wife #2 in gems that he had extorted from wife #1, who was now married to guy #1. Guy #1 found guy #2 dead, and presumed it was wife #1 who murdered him, so he tried to cover up the murder. Unfortunately, wife #1 saw guy #1 fooling with the body and though he'd shot guy #2, wife #1 ran off, and when she was found tried to claim amnesia while simultaneously suggesting she, wife #1, had shot guy #2 instead of guy #1, her husband.
The story gets its start because guy #1 had no idea what his wife saw or why she ran off, so he hired a lawyer, the protagonist, to investigate - without telling him any of these incredibly pertinent details, of course.
Oh, and there's a servant trying to commit a spot of blackmail mixed in with all this as well, can't forget that.
Okay, maybe it's a lot contrived, but it was a fun read, I swear.
My family and I celebrate Christmas early - we do it on the 12st - and I'm a little excited. We always have eggs benedict for Christmas, and spend all day hanging out together, which I'm looking forward to.
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