Friday's "Forgotten" Books - Murder is for Keeps

British author Dennis John Andrew Phillips (1924-2006) penned close to 60 novels between 1961 and 1992 under his own name and the pseudonyms Peter Chester, Simon Challis, Philip Daniels and Peter Chambers. It was under the last name he had his greatest successes, with 36 books in a series featuring Mark Preston, a private eye in the fictional town of Monkton, California, with its fill of sleazy night clubs, gangsters and racketeers.

Murder is for Keeps from 1961 is the first book in the Preston series. As the story unfolds, Preston is hired to chase a brilliant and amorous jazz musician away from teenage heiress Ellen Chase by her beautiful stepmother, Moira Chase, the young widow of a wealthy California politician. But soon after he's hired, Preston is beaten up and becomes the chief suspect in a murder case.

In trying to clear his name, he finds himself involved with the wealthy and sleazy casino owner Vic Toreno, dark figures and ghosts from the past, a serial sex-killer, drugs, extortion, and more murder. As if that wasn't enough, his main lead comes from a showgirl named Cuddles—who was supposedly found drowned in New York's East River several years ago.

Chambers' writing style is fast-paced and streamlined, with moments of atmospheric and minimalist word-painting:

Vic Toreno had known what he was doing when he installed the brassy music in the bar. The insistent four-four quick tempo was calculated to produce an effect of acceleration in the conversation. And the drinking. I could almost feel the excitement building up. Your gambler with a session in view begins, consciously or otherwise, to anticipate the pleasure to come. Perhaps pleasure is not the word I'm looking for. Stimulation might be better. I could feel it in the Braodway Bar. People were talking too loud, too fast, too much. Soon they would be at the tables, where the hard-eyed dealers waited.

Peter Chambers is also the name of a fictional detective created by the
better-known author Henry Kane, which is likely why the Mark Preston
series has been largely overlooked. Or, perhaps it was due to the fact
Chambers was a British author writing hard-boiled American detective
fiction that made his work seem less realistic. Then, too, by today's
standards, his writing may be considered a bit workmanlike, although
Preston is a likeable enough protagonist, and Chambers gives him with a
high moral code and a wry sense of humor.