Posts Tagged ‘ mystery ’

Honor in a Dark World: John Huston’s ‘The Maltese Falcon’

August 25, 2011
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Honor in a Dark World: John Huston’s ‘The Maltese Falcon’

John Huston’s 1941 film version of Dashiell Hammet’s novel The Maltese Falcon is, in my opinion , the superior work of art (though the novel is no mean accomplishment itself). The plot centers on the search for an extremely valuable statuette of a falcon, made centuries ago on the island of Malta , with people killing others in order to obtain it. The villains are mostly colorful, sophisticated, and  at least superficially upper-class. Indeed, one of the two ways the film, in my opinion, is superior to the novel is that Mary Astor’s portrayal of Brigid O’Shaughnessy  is three-dimensional, whereas in the book she is nothing more than a beautiful temptress. The hero, private eye Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart, in his breakthrough role) , is capable, tough, and edgy. I have used the word hero, but he is at best a tarnished one. Though he seems tired, and even sickened, of it by the time the film begins, Spade has been cuckolding his partner, Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan). Regarding Archer’s murder, Spade says, “When a man’s partner is killed, he’s supposed to do something about it.… When one of your organization gets killed, it’s … it’s bad for business to

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“Celebrity” by W. S. Moore, III

December 1, 2010
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“Celebrity” by W. S. Moore, III

The Culture Alliance and the American Culture once again present original fiction by W. S. Moore, III. If you think you know what happens next, you’re probably wrong. CELEBRITY The white Cavalier blended indistinguishably into the traffic flow headed north on I-471 into Cincinnati’s downtown. The driver drummed his fingers on the steering wheel during the stop-and-go approach to the bridge across the Ohio. Fifty carlengths behind the white Chevy, an automated message center arched across the highway and told other drivers to expect sudden stops, and the helicopter pilot on the radio described it as the typical backup. He didn’t mention the driver of the white Cavalier. For that matter, no one ever mentioned the white Cavalier’s driver, whose right hand now idly traced the stiffness of a coffee stain on the passenger seat’s gray cloth upholstery. Well, that wasn’t entirely true — occasionally he’d be sitting in the cubicle when the receptionist would ask for someone from accounts receivable to pick up line two, and if she did it twice, he’d take the call. But that was about all. Even the girl behind the counter at the Sunoco where he bought his daily coffee would talk to the

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TAC Fiction Review

November 21, 2010
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TAC Fiction Review

Thanksgiving is around the corner. I’d love to get your thoughts or suggestions for stories or poems concerning the upcoming “day of Thanksgiving and Praise,” as Abraham Lincoln referred to it. Before the holiday arrives, enjoy the offerings below. This week’s short story selections includes “Local Talent,” a bit of original fiction from W.S. Moore, III. Moore’s short story is an intriguing noirish exploration of a hustler practicing his “craft.” Also linked below is “The Gentleman Thief,” a short story from “the winner of the Bita Prize in Persian Letters.” It is an amazing “story of a girl faced with the violence of the state.” Other short fiction offerings come from The Christendom Review, “a literary journal dedicated to the Diaspora of Christendom, that remnant of people who either deliberately or intuitively subscribe to the Judeo-Christian and ancient Greek traditions of the West and to a particular vision of humanity, a vision explored by many of our finest writers.” This week’s essays include, “Comic Romance,” an article from the journal, Philosophy and Literature, about two genres, comedy and heroic romance, and “the kinds of wish and fear they evoke in us.” Wright’s Writing Corner continues and includes a very

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Local Talent, by W.S. Moore, III

November 19, 2010
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Local Talent, by W.S. Moore, III

The Culture Alliance and the American Culture present original fiction by W. S. Moore, III, who “write stories about people who do unpleasant things. Some of these people use the sort of language you might use if you drop something heavy on your foot. You’ve been warned.” LOCAL TALENT When I picked her up at the club, I knew it was going to be fun. She was from out of town, she said. I asked her what her name was. She said it was Susan. I told her mine was Mike. She told me hers was Marie. I told her mine was Carl. She told me hers was Lisa, I told her to call me Ishmael, and we laughed and talked about books for a minute or two and I told her I worked at a bookstore. She said she was a graphic designer in town for a convention. I saw the wedding ring scar on her left hand, but I knew that if she was at Cat’s, it didn’t matter. Nobody went to Cat’s to be married – just to pretend for a little while. Well, that’s not entirely true. I had gone there for another reason. I had

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‘Girl Who Played with Fire’ Is Impelled by Moral Obsession

April 5, 2010
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‘Girl Who Played with Fire’ Is Impelled by Moral Obsession

I found The Girl Who Played With Fire absolutely compelling, from beginning to end. Most riveting was the character of Lisbeth who (as more than one character notes) is an intense, even compulsive, moralist.

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Debate: New ‘Sherlock Holmes’

January 4, 2010
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Debate: New ‘Sherlock Holmes’

The new film Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie, has done very well indeed at the U.S. and global box offices since its December 25 release, and it has evoked much dispute between Holmes purists and Holmes evangelists. Here are opinions from two very different mystery fiction aficionados.

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Murder and Miscreants for Christmas

December 24, 2009
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Murder and Miscreants for Christmas

On a hot August day in a big U.S. city after World War II, a man in a Santa Claus suit murders a radio executive in the latter’s office and escapes unidentified. Murder Can Be Fun (aka A Plot for Murder) is a fast-moving, entertaining 1948 mystery novel by the master of combining hardboiled elements with strong puzzle plots, Fredric Brown. It deals with murders in the interesting milieu of old-time radio, in the days before television, when radio was king, and it includes a fascinating forecast of the sexualization of the American workplace. As always, Brown presents an atmosphere that’s gritty and convincingly menacing while also dispensing a good deal of humor, astute social observations about the times, an interesting and appealing protagonist with a realistic complement of normal human strengths and weaknesses, a varied and insightfully portrayed group of supporting characters, and a strong, compelling plot with plausible motivations. A historically significant element of the story is the fact that it’s the first novel of which I’m aware in which a female golddigger type pursues her trade through the ruthlessly ambitious pursuit of employment advantages obtained  through the dispensing of sexual favors, as opposed to the classic type

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‘The Red Right Hand’ Praised

March 30, 2009
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‘The Red Right Hand’ Praised

              A classic mystery novel has just received some well-deserved new appreciation, S. T. Karnick writes.  

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Monk and God

February 20, 2008
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Monk and God

In the absence of God, humans seek ultimate control over the world—and never find it. TAC correspondent Dean Abbott examines the religious implications of the USA Network show Monk.

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Ed Hoch, RIP

January 17, 2008
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Ed Hoch, RIP

One of the very best mystery writers of our time is gone. Ed Hoch, author of nearly a thousand mystery short stories, died suddenly this morning, according to Janet Hutchings, editor of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Hoch wrote traditional puzzle mysteries in a wide variety of settings and featuring a diverse roster of detective characters. Hoch’s stories had strong plotlines, were intellectually stimulating, and played fair with the reader (openly presenting all the clues to the solution while still managing to fool the reader). Since the early 1960s he wrote at least one story per month for Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, along with numerous other publications, and appears to have been the only author to make a living strictly by selling short stories during the past half-century. His work was not overtly ambitious, but Hoch gave little insights into human life in everything he wrote, and the accumulation of his observations over time is a laudable intellectual accomplsihment.  According to all who knew him, Hoch was a likeable, kindly man, just as one would deduce from reading his stories. Hoch was a giant of the mystery form, an entertaining and artful writer, and a great blessing to the American culture.

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‘Monk,’ ‘Psych’ Mid-Season Premieres Strong

January 12, 2008
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‘Monk,’ ‘Psych’ Mid-Season Premieres Strong

Last night’s mid-season premiere episodes of Monk and Psych, both on the USA Network, were very entertaining and inspire optimism that both series are going to have a good year. The Monk episode had a strong story, a relatively uninspired but workable mystery, some very funny scenes, a good subject area (a religious cult), and several superb character points. Monk’s assistant, Natalie (Traylor Howard), was not used very promenently, as Monk spends much of the episode separated from her, and Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) does not get to do much, either, but Jason Gray-Stanford has a couple of very funny moments as Lt. Randall Disher, and the guest actors, particularly Howie Mandel as the cult leader, were very good. And Tony Shaloub was in top form as Adrian Monk.

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TV Mystery Series with a Twist—NBC’s Journeyman

October 9, 2007
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TV Mystery Series with a Twist—NBC’s Journeyman

The new NBC program Journeyman, Mondays at 10 p.m. EDT, is an attempt at a mystery series with a difference: the protagonist is involuntarily thrown back through time at unpredictable intervals. It’s an interesting concept, basically a simpler, more direct variation on the idea behind the 1989-1993 series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. In Journeyman, Dan Vasser (Kevin McKidd) suddenly and quite unexpectedly finds himself twenty years in the past. Neither he nor the audience understands precisely why or how he has been thrust back into time. Just as unpredictably and mysteriously, he returns to his normal time a few hours later—with a good deal of explaining to do, to his wife and others, and which he does quite inadequately because he has no idea what is really happening to him and why.

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