You Can't Get Away By Running is a 1939 adventure mystery by Whitman Chambers, known for Once Too Often, which was filmed as the classic noir Blonde Ice. While there is tension and impending doom, there are more love triangle elements than mystery, set against the dusty heat of small town Acapulco.
Author Larry Marsh has escaped to Mexico from an affair with Trudie, who will not leave her wealthy but abusive husband Ben. Spending his days drinking the cantina, Larry is surprised to see the couple arrive on a tourist cruise. Trudie wants him back but he is already dating Glenda, a famous poet staying at his beachside hotel with her friend Norma (husky wth lesbian overtones), adventurer Curtis (mercenary for hire), a Hollywood photographer and a washed up actress. With nothing to do but drink Cuba Libre in the sun, it's decided they rent a plane and fly south to wild Chacahua on a hunting expedition. Tensions in the group are high wondering if Ben will exact revenge on adulterers Trudie and Larry, is Curtis there to kill them or kill Ben, and as they make camp in the jungle - vultures circling overhead - they realize they have no way back.
There are plenty of double crosses and everyone is duplicitous with their own agendas and secrets. Is Trudie with Ben, Larry or Curtis? and does Glenda want Larry, or Norma? Acapulco is portrayed as a dusty outpost populated by Mexicans, Indians, Spanish, and occasionally boats of tourists, where crime is open and present - you could get shot in the street or knifed in the back at a taxi dance. There is a terrific mood of oppressive heat and the jungle, but the novel is centred more on the relationships of the world weary characters trapped together, than action or mystery. Murder, danger and passion in a primitive country - a solid read. I'd love to find a copy of Once Too Often.
1939 / Hardcover / 272 pages
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