Carnal Hours: A Nathan Heller Novel

Carnal Hours: A Nathan Heller Novel

Nate Heller returns in a mystery set in the 1940s at a Caribbean resort where a wealthy recluse has been murdered and everyone from British royalty to the mob has an interest in the case. 20,000 first printing. Tour. Forties private eye Nathan Heller has a knack for involving himself with famous people and notorious murder cases. This time out, Canadian millionaire Sir Harry Oakes summons Heller to the Bahamas to "tail" his allegedly philandering son-in-law. When police arrest the son-in-law for the subsequent murder of Oakes, his daughter hires Heller to prove her husband innocent. True crime readers will love this version of police corruption and stupidity, name-dropping (Erle Stanley Gardner lends a hand), and doctoring of evidence. Hard-boiled but debonair. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. After making his fortune in gold, Canadian Sir Harry Oakes moved to the tax-free Bahamas during World War II. Oakes hires Chicago private eye Nate Heller to get the adulterous goods on one Freddie de Marigny, Oakes' ne'er-do-well son-in-law. Shortly after Heller's arrival in the Bahamas, Oakes is murdered and his body incinerated to cover the evidence. The local police determine de Marigny is the killer. Nate's ready to take his retainer and head back to Chicago when Harry's daughter, Nancy, hires Nate to clear husband Freddie of the charge. Nate agrees, but he soon wonders if he's bitten off more than he can chew. Nate's a Chicago guy, and Windy City rules don't apply in the Caribbean. As in the previous Heller novels, author Collins populates his period pieces with historical figures. Here we meet Sally Rand, Meyer Lansky, Ian Fleming, the duke of Windsor, and a very likable Erle Stanley Gardner. This is an excellent mystery with a byzantine plot, rich atmosphere, and snappy, tough-guy narration--all qualities we've come to expect from Max Allan Collins. Wes Lukowsky Nassau, 1943. Hours after self-made billionaire Sir Harry Oakes hires Chicago shamus Nate Heller (Stolen Away, 1991, etc.) to dig up dirt on his daughter Nancy's fortune-hunting husband Count Freddie de Marigny, Sir Harry is dead--killed by a bizarre combination of head wounds, fire, and insecticide--and soon Nancy has Nate turned around, looking for evidence that will exonerate Freddie. A lesser detective would be daunted by the forces arrayed against him: the Attorney General is obviously railroading Freddie; the Duke of Windsor has imported a pair of Miami cops to preserve crime-scene fingerprints identified as Freddie's and destroy inconveniently non-Freddie prints; and Meyer Lansky makes it clear to Nate that, like the Duke, he has a vested interest in seeing the case go quietly to the jury. Luckily Nate will have the help of Hearst reporter Erle Stanley Gardner (who tells Nate, ``You're the genuine article! I'm the goddamn pretender'') and Naval Intelligencer Ian Fleming (``This aloof son of a bitch was a good storyteller,'' grudging Nate admits) in figuring out why everybody's determined to put Freddie on the spot, and who really did the dirty. Hardboiled true-crime fictionalizer Collins handles the political intrigue more expertly than the mystery; promising complications vanish in a haze of red herrings, but Nate still has a fine time making monkeys of an international alliance of lawmen. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Used Book in Good Condition