Murder With Love is another example of publishing misdirection - catching our eye with swimsuited lovers in a salacious waterfront embrace that actually masks a noteworthy Chandler/Hammett private-eye style mystery with classic bones. Written in 1959, this first mystery starring Johnny Church (the second being Murder On Her Mind, published the same year) takes place in the heat of Las Vegas, surrounded by miles of deserted sand with nary a boat, a beach, or waterfront in sight.
Working for the Worldwide Detective Agency (San Francisco office), Johnny Church leisurely drives his convertible down the Las Vegas Strip to the exclusive neighbourhood of Mrs. Joy Taliaferro.
His client's young fiancé Mira has gone missing (perhaps taking the Jag he bought her) and he wants his emerald-and-diamond engagement ring back - the strongest lead a string of recent phone calls.
Neither Mrs. Taliaferro, nor her playful, sun-kissed twin daughters know anything, but then again... they've heard rumour she has done this before in Cannes, St. Tropez, and Acapulco - word does get around the resorts. Next stop: a shady divorce lawyer who also suffers from vague memory, yet knows enough to have him followed. Another man comes forward; he has also been taken after also planning to marry Mira. Headlining casino singer Mitch Barry calls Johnny in to uncover his blackmailer, and Church finds the cases are connected. It seems every man who meets Mira is magnetically enraptured by her, and without her even being found, Church himself is falling for her.
At only 125 pages, things quickly turn south as the liars fight to outsmart each other, with Mrs. Joy Taliaferro outshining them all to reveal herself one of the nastiest, two-faced characters I've had the pleasure to read in a long time. Church cannot outrun the ensuing whirlpool of explosive violence that leaves him broken and gasping with the explicit warning: "get out of town".
Although Mira is the focus of the central case, as well as every man's desire, at times she seems so elusive as to not even exist. Church finds himself caught in the fantasy of her allure enough that I wondered if this would have the same twist as the classic Vera Caspary novel Laura - but the actual resolution was something quite surprising. Johnnie's laidback style belies a focused detective who rolls with the punches, even if he doesn't always see them coming, and Howard creates a great sense of the Las Vegas neighbourhoods that surround the famous strip.
Recommended for fans of hard-boiled private eyes.
Vechel Howard is a pseudonym used by novelist Howard Rigsby, usually for his western titles. As Rigsby, he had many successes including "Murder for the Holidays" and "Lucinda", ranked one of the best detective novels of 1954.
1959 / Paperback / 125 pages
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