Autorenbild.

Elliot Paul (1891–1958)

Autor von Die kleine Gasse

31+ Werke 585 Mitglieder 16 Rezensionen

Über den Autor

Bildnachweis: Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library)

Reihen

Werke von Elliot Paul

Die kleine Gasse (1942) 196 Exemplare
Mickey Finn (1939) 56 Exemplare
Hugger-Mugger in the Louvre (1940) 55 Exemplare
Springtime in Paris (1950) 20 Exemplare
Murder on the Left Bank (1951) 14 Exemplare
Linden on the Saugus Branch (1947) 11 Exemplare
A Ghost Town on the Yellowstone (1949) 10 Exemplare
Desperate Scenery (1954) 6 Exemplare
Understanding the French (1954) 6 Exemplare
That Crazy American Music (1970) 6 Exemplare
Concert pitch 5 Exemplare

Zugehörige Werke

The Girls from Esquire (1952) — Mitwirkender — 18 Exemplare

Getagged

Wissenswertes

Mitglieder

Rezensionen

Amateur sleuth, Homer Evans, & his Montana cowgirl/sidekick/girlfriend, Miriam Leonard, are enjoying their time in France. Before long, however, they find themselves in the middle of a gang war. The intrepid duo is surrounded on all sides by vicious criminals as they attempt to solve the mystery of a stolen violin, kidnappings, & multiple murders.

This book is one in a series, & I think I would have benefited from having read the previous installments first. Most of the characters are carryovers from preceding books, & there are almost continuous references to things that happened in earlier stories. Without the benefit of being familiar with any of the prior works, I was often lost as to who the characters really were & what was being talked about.

Either way, this book is not very good. The action often cuts quickly from one scene to another without the benefit of clean segues; that made for a very disjointed & choppy reading experience. Absolutely none of the characters are in the least bit likeable or sympathetic; I kept wishing they would all be killed & just go away—the criminals, the victims, the detectives, & the innocent bystanders. And the mysterious method of poisoning that takes up a good part of the storyline is nothing short of asinine.

The story is full of extreme violence. Aside from the obligatory murders (this is a kind of murder mystery, after all), there are brutal fight scenes, torture, rape, &—worst of all—violence against animals & animal cruelty. I love the puzzle of a good murder mystery; I’m not so keen on gruesome, gratuitous brutality--& there is a lot of that within the pages of Mayhem in B Flat.

There is also a lot of unnecessary vulgarity. The book is full of prostitutes, drunkards, naked dancers, sleazy extramarital affairs, & so on & so forth. There was so much of it, in fact, the entire book just ended up feeling sordid. I found the storyline of the middle-aged heiress who is obsessed with the talented violinist extremely disturbing & distasteful. She stalks him throughout the book, is convinced her wealth entitles her to possess him, & then rapes him while he is passed out drunk in the hold of a ship. He then becomes certain this is the most magical moment of his life & his mysterious assailant is the love of his life. That has to be one of the ickiest things I have ever read in my life.

I won’t be recommending this book to anyone, & I definitively won’t be reading any of the other titles in the series.

I tacked on an additional half star for the author’s use of the word ‘yclept’.
… (mehr)
½
 
Gekennzeichnet
missterrienation | 2 weitere Rezensionen | Dec 20, 2022 |
Every time I read an Elliot Paul Homer Evans murder mystery I am reminded of the movie Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. This series is funny, full of adventure and film-worthy although I don't know if any have actually been made into movies.
½
 
Gekennzeichnet
bsnbabe68 | 2 weitere Rezensionen | Oct 26, 2018 |
Loved this history of one street in Paris in the 1920s-30s. Starts off with the sheer enjoyment of getting to know these bonkers, picaresque-type characters - but the tone darkens as France heads towards war - quite tragic. GREAT writing.
 
Gekennzeichnet
SharonBT | 3 weitere Rezensionen | Apr 21, 2016 |
This is in the "zany" category of which I am not particularly fond, but nevertheless managed to get through. It has some brief moments of humor that redeem it - especially appreciated is the droll nature of the narrative. Reminds me a bit of the Pink Panther series though the detective in this book is actually pretty smart.
 
Gekennzeichnet
dbsovereign | 1 weitere Rezension | Feb 29, 2016 |

Listen

Auszeichnungen

Dir gefällt vielleicht auch

Nahestehende Autoren

Statistikseite

Werke
31
Auch von
2
Mitglieder
585
Beliebtheit
#42,856
Bewertung
½ 3.6
Rezensionen
16
ISBNs
39
Sprachen
3

Diagramme & Grafiken