The premise for the novel is the murder of a young mailman named Ken. Bain must determine if someone murdered a mailman, who just happened to be Ken that day, or if they were intentionally killing Ken, who just happened to be the mailman that day. You see the mystery here? However, when more murders begin to pile up the mystery expands into some pretty posh places.
Like the first Bain book, this novel introduces a small backstory on events that happened to a high school kid named Sam, Ken's best friend. Vance introduces a proposed marriage between two prominent families, a who-can-outdo-who class clash, and some scandalous neighborhood affairs. It all washes out in the end but the real joy is just sorting through the suspects in a befuddled Bain sort of way.
Vance included a campaign election to entertain readers between bodies hitting the floor in Bain's debut. This novel also offers an enjoyable time-waster as well. Bain and his mother are flirting with the idea of running a country hotel complete with a dive bar and alcohol. The town questions the Sheriff dealing with the town's riffraff on a personal level but also the fact that he learned about the hotel sale through his professional endeavors. Should a Sheriff be able to gain insider information for his own gain? It is a good debate between the town. In some ways it reminds me of those outlandish scenarios presented on the old 90s television show Picket Fences.
I really enjoy the Joe Bain character and hated to learn that this is really it. Two published books. However, there is an unfinished and unedited loose outline of a third Bain book out there too. I've never read it because I just don't consider it to be a finished product suitable for public consumption. It is a shame that Vance never wrote anything else about this crazy little community. Buy a copy of the book HERE.
My favorite John Holbrook Vance book (okay, it's the only one I ever read, but I remain certain it'd still be my favorite if I read all his others) is Bad Ronald. Luckily someone got that back into print a few years ago, so it's affordable now. That's a really creepy book. The made for TV movie version is watered down a lot (the book's pretty nasty) but it's creepy, too. Definitely worth seeking out.
ReplyDeleteTechnically, a third Joe Bain “novel” exists, The Genesee Slough Murders, collected in The Joe Bain Mysteries. It's a bare-bones, but complete, plot outline of what should have been the third novel in the series and not a bad plot either.
ReplyDeleteSorry, posted this comment on the other Jack Vance review of The Fox Valley Murders.
Thanks for reading the review. Correct, as I stated in the last paragraph of the above review, the third book was outlined and had a title. I also talked about this on the podcast episode #104.
DeleteA scriptwriter named Lane Slate may have also read these novels and liked them. He was behind a string of comedy mysteries in the 1970s, most of were TV Movies. The first 1972's 'They Only Kill Their Masters' had a cinematic release and saw James Garner star as Police Chief Able Marsh, it's claim to fame is it's the last film shot on the MGM backlot before they tore it down. The second, 'Isn't It Shocking?' which appeared in 1973, the only one of these films to be set in New England (It was filmed in Oregon.) as opposed to California. It featured Alan Alda as Police Chief Dan Barnes. The next film didn't appear until 1975, when Andy Griffith starred as Sherrif Sam McNeil in 'Winter Kills'. This led to a short lived 1975 TV series . 'Adams of Eagle Lake', which featured Andy Griffith as Sherrif Sam Adams. The last two films appeared in 1977, 'The Girl In The Empty Grave' and 'Deadly Game' both of which featured Andy Griffith as Sherrif Able Marsh.
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