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Rating: 
Summary: mrarchiegoodwin
Review: Another fast-paced and screwball story from Craig Rice, written in 1943. Characters, dialogue, and sets would fit right into a Thin Man movie perhaps even better than the Thin Man books themselves. The writing is effective, almost businesslike, and served up with lots of humor. Descriptions are succinct and evocative--the work of a highly competent, and probably fast, writer.Hard-drinking attorney J.J.Malone teams with old pal Jake Justus and his socialite wife Helene to solve the gruesome murder of a bride in her honeymoon suite. The main characters are so likable and humorous that the ever-twisting plot is secondary. Although 1940s Chicago is not described the streets, buildings, hotels, houses, bars and rooms through which this story races provide enough glimpses of the big, tough American city to give it a strong and rather real presence. That's good writing! Not as complex as Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler, but great escapist fun. If the best is 5 this deserves a .5 more than 4.
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