Herbert Brean (1907–1973)

Collar for the Killer - Herbert Brean ****

This was one of those books where I saw the cover and thought it looked interesting, put it in my bookshelf, forgot about it for a couple of years, picked it up and wished I had read it earlier. The author wasn’t someone I had ever heard of, and trying to buy any of the eight novels he wrote is a fairly difficult task, it just seems I was lucky to come across this in a second hand book store. Published in 1956 (under the name ‘A Matter of Fact’ in the US) it was written when the world was still enjoying the Noir type thriller so brilliantly made popular by James M Cain, so it is no surprise that Brean has followed in the same footsteps. Collar for a killer may not be as sparse in its language or as hard boiled but you can definitely see where the author’s inspiration lay.

The plot is fairly straight forward; Jablonski is nearing retirement and with a fairly undistinguished career is placed with a rooky partner called Ryan when a murder is committed on their patch. Sighting a well-known petty criminal called Derby in the area they both come to the conclusion that he is responsible and put a plan in place to nab him. The arrest is made and both officers receive great acclaim in both the force and the press, but then something happens that makes the rooky question both the morality of their actions and the guilt of the prisoner, so he decides to investigate further under his own steam. Jablonski has other plans and is happy for Derby to face the chair regardless and wants to retire on a high and is furious at having a seemingly resolved case looked into again. This is made this more than apparent to Ryan and he continually trys to undermine him with his replies becoming more and more threatening. Will Ryan risk his career before it has even barely began? Will he risk tarnishing his partner’s lengthy service? And even more importantly, will he allow a man that may be innocent get fried in the chair?

This book really has it all, gritty action scenes, beautiful women and a fairly intricate plot. Brean really creates the atmosphere of the time and you can imagine yourself sat in those smoky bars amongst the night time drinkers in the city’s murky underbelly. The plot moves quickly enough, but not so quickly that you glance over the clues Brean scatters throughout the novel, although more than once I thought I had the ending sown up only to find how wrong I was.

I will definitely be looking out for his other novels, and surprisingly he also wrote a few self-help books on quitting drinking and smoking, but they do seem to be a scarcity these days. Hopefully someday a publisher will reissue his entire catalogue because they really do deserve to be read again with a new audience.… (mehr)

"Other people die of mumps
Or general decay;
Of fevers, chills, or other ills,
But Wilders walk away."

That's the ditty they recite in the town of Wilder's Lane, Vermont to explain the fate of the unfortunate Wilder family. Since Revolutionary times, various family members have "walked away" - vanished without a trace in mysterious circumstances.

Reynold Frame, a freelance photographer on assignment from Life magazine, becomes curious about the mystery when he helps the most recent Wilder walk-away get her suitcase to the bus stop. Ellen Wilder boards the bus, gets off in a few miles at a crossroads, and vanishes.

There are some elements of the plot of the Hound of the Baskervilles, even a bit of Jane Eyre, and a good dash of Hardy Boys' adventures. I enjoyed reading Wilders Walk Away, the first of four books by Herbert Brean featuring photographer Reynold Frame.… (mehr)

Jacket blurb: A WALK ON THE WILDERS SIDE -- Other people die of mumps, Or general decay. Of fevers, chills or other ills; But Wilders walk away.

That's the little ditty they all sing in the quaintly picturesque New England village of Wilder's Lane. That's part of the mystery too, of course. You see, from pre-Revolutionary War times on, members of the Wilder family never die; they walk away -- disappear into thin air -- forever. Footprints on a deserted beach may simply stop. A man who enters an office building is never seen again.

Teen-aged Ellen Wilder is waiting for a bus when she walks away. Well, not quite. Reynold Frame, a photojouranlist on assignment from Life, finds a fresh grave with the murdered girl in it.

Frame begins an investigation. And then he too disappears!

One thing is certain. Wilders may wander off as they please, but readers will be riveted by this marvelous tour-de-force.… (mehr)