----- Original Message ----- From: "Robison Michael R CNIN"
<
Robison_M@crane.navy.mil>
> By the way, who is John Franklin Bardin?
1916-1981. Published ten novels, three of which, (THE DEADLY
PERCHERON, THE LAST OF PHILIP BANTER, DEVIL TAKE THE
BLUE-TAIL FLY) written between 1946 and 1948 are considered
remarkable. I've only read the first of those. Although the
ending is a little disappointing, I can concur that getting
there is indeed remarkable. Quite a trip, in fact.
This is what I wrote about it some time ago for something or
other.
DEADLY PERCHERON
Dr George Matthews, a psychiatrist, encounters a patient who
claims he is paid by a leprechaun to wear a flower in his
hair. Another, he claims, pays him to whistle at Carnegie
Hall during performances. A third pays him to give quarters
away. Jacob Blunt wants Dr Matthews to confirm that he's mad.
Dr Matthews is curious, so he accompanies his patient to a
rendezvous with one of the leprechauns. His name is Eustace
and he isn't at all pleased to see the doctor.
So begins the Deadly Percheron. After that it gets strange.
First published in 1946 this unique murder mystery transcends
the boundaries of the genre. It's noir, it's nightmarish,
it's compulsive. John Franklin Bardin drags the reader into a
world where the nature of identity is constantly questioned.
Is our hero who he says he is? Can he be trusted? Is he, in
fact, sane? Reality, as seen through his eyes, is a shifting
kaleidoscope of memories.
As the murders mount up the fragments of his shattered psyche
are slotted together. Slowly reality stabilises. At the end
of the novel, but only then, it all makes sense. Who killed
Frances Raye? Well, now, let's start at the
beginning..."Jacob Blunt was my last patient. He came into my
office wearing a scarlet hibiscus in his curly blond hair. He
sat down in the easy chair across from my desk, and said,
"Doctor, I think I'm losing my mind.""
Al
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