Case of the Cop's Wife

by Milton K. Ozaki

book

Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Aka Robert O. Saber.

Milton K. Ozaki, born in Racine, Wisconsin from a Japanese father (Jingaro Ozaki, who later changed his name to Frank) and an American mother, Augusta Rathbun, was a journalist, a reporter and a beauty parlor operator (the Monsieur Meltoine beauty salon, in the Gold Coast section of Chicago). He is the author of approximately two dozen popular mid-20th Century detective novels under both his given name and the pseudonym Robert O. Saber, and is considered one of the first American mystery writers of Japanese descent. He died in Sparks, Nevada.

Reviews

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cop’s wife is inadvertently abducted during the getaway of a heist, and to further complicate things she’s getting ready to give birth at any minute. Her husband, the cop, is a hard-nosed robbery detective which lends itself to the police procedural feel of the book rather than a typical heist story narrative. The entire books takes place in a few hours and the compressed time keeps things moving at a breakneck pace. The criminal characters were very well drawn and the dialog between them was strong point as the novel shifts viewpoints from the police investigation to the criminal’s flight and hide-out. Yet another excellent Gold Medal crime book.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of devious criminals plan on robbing a prosperous Chicago Loop department store, making off with not only the store's payroll but the large cache of cash on-hand for the store's large pre-Christmas sale. Their heist doesn't go according to plan, thanks to the intervention of two cops trying to play hero. Lacking their getaway car, the robbers instead jump in the first car they find. It happens to be driven by Mary Ellen Fury, pregnant wife of police lieutenant Robert Fury, who becomes their hostage.

I'm a sucker for novels that take place with a constrained sense of time, and this one is no exception---the novel ramps up tension as things spiral out of control. Time ticks down as the police try their best to track down the cop-killing burglars; the whole novel takes place in just over a day and a half. The characters---such as the crooks and their conflicting motives---make things interesting. A straightforward potboiler, fast-paced and entertaining; I can see reading more of Ozaki after this.

(Full review found here.)

[John Woolley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ozaki's usual competent prose, and an interesting story. Nothing special, but still pretty good.