Speaking of Cheyney . . .
Peter Cheyney: They Never Say When (1944)
An English private-eye named Slim Callaghan and his Canadian
sidekick Windemere Nikolls are hired by a beautiful woman who
isn't quite telling the truth about anything. The basic story
is that a precious object has been stolen from a rich guy and
now it needs to be returned. Along the way, several people
are murdered. Who done it and why is very hard to figure out.
Every time Slim interviews someone, he spins another version
of the crimes. It gets so you don't even want to read them.
The real solution makes sense, but it takes a long time to
get there. The detectives are heavy drinkers, cool, pretty
tough, and I would say colloquial, although it's hard to
judge 1923 English. The Canadian's slang is particularly
funny
(and sounds totally American).
"Nuts," said Nikolls amiably. "You're takin' yourself for a
ride. You don't like this Irana baby; you don't like her
because she's got plenty of what it takes an' because the
boss is goin' for her plenty. You don't like her because she
was around here last night maybe havin' fun an' games with
Callaghan Investigations himself. You're goddam jealous,
Effie, that's your trouble."
The dialogue is virtually all written in play form, preceded
by "Callaghan said:". It made me think that author was
anticipating a movie deal, but that's not too likely.
Karin
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