This weekend I finished off Fredric Brown's first two Ed and
Am Hunter mystery novels, THE FABULOUS CLIPJOINT and THE DEAD
RINGER. In CLIPJOINT, published in 1947, Ed Hunter is 18
years old and living in Chicago, working a menial job and
hoping he doesn't end up like his father, a linotype operator
and a drunk. Then his father is murdered, hit over the head
in an alley, and Ed's whole perspective changes, especially
after he looks up his uncle Ambrose, a carney and former
detective. Together they set out to solve the murder. Ambrose
knows his way around and teaches Ed a lot about the way the
world works, and Ed manages to find out quite a bit on his
own.
In THE DEAD RINGER Ed is working with his uncle when a series
of strange murders strikes the carnival they're with. To
begin with, a midget is found naked with a knife sticking out
of his back. But he's not with the carnival, and no one knows
who he is. A series of strange episodes follows, with Ed and
Am eventually figuring it all out.
I've been a fan of Brown's short fiction for a long time, and
these two books are really good. They're not as
laugh-out-loud funny some of his shorter works. The mood is
generally serious, although there are some light moments.
Both are narrated in the first person by Ed, and Brown gives
him a full life, of which these mysteries are only a part.
Both books manage to be dark without falling into the
stylized toughness of some hardboiled fiction.
Even better, I read them in a collection called HUNTER AND
HUNTED, which collects the first 4 Ed and Am books, so I
still have THE BLOODY MOONLIGHT and COMPLIMENTS OF A FIEND to
go.
Graham Powell http://www.BleekerBooks.com
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