Walk Softly, Witch

by Carter Brown

"Vous connaissez Hamlet, de Shakespeare ? Personnellement, je préférerais qu'on mette ça en bandes dessinées. Enfin ! Toujours est-il que moi, Danny Boyd, le détective au profil irrésistible, j'étais chargé par une charmante créature de flanquer son époux dans une cellule capitonnée. C'était un grand acteur shakespearien en passe de yoyoter dangereusement : hors de la scène, il se prenait pour Hamlet et il croyait que sa femme était sa mère et qu'elle voulait l'empoisonner. Compliqué, non ?"

Genres: Pulp, Crime

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Carter Brown was the pseudonym of Alan Geoffrey Yates (1923-1985), who was born in London and educated in Essex.

He married Denise Mackellar and worked as a sound engineer for Gaumont-British films before moving to Australia and taking up work in public relations.

In 1953 he became a full-time writer and produced nearly 200 novels between then and his retirement in 1981.

He also wrote as Tex Conrad and Caroline Farr.

His series heroes were Larry Baker, Danny Boyd, Paul Donavan, Rick Holman, Andy Kane, Randy Roberts, Mavis Siedlitz and Al Wheeler.

Reviews

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Danny Boyd, the annoyingly smug and misogynistic private eye, accepts his first case assisting a gorgeous broad to get her sane stage actor husband out of the way by getting him institutionalized. This sets off a chain reaction that spills the blood of various folks attached to the production and Boyd discovers that he’s the sucker. Pretty typical Carter Brown fare with a convoluted plot that I’m not quite sure that I fully understand, and plenty of dialog whose purpose is to set up Boyd for one of his outrageous wisecracks. Despite some faults the short novel is immensely readable and enjoyable. It can be read in a sitting or two and is good for some laughs and an entertaining, albeit somewhat silly, story. The Carter Brown books are not known for their consistency. I thought that this was a good one and give it four stars.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read, Boyd is a private detective but don't let that fool you he is as crooked as any criminal. He will do anything for money so when a woman wants him to come up with a plan to commit her husband to a mental asylum he just asks how much is his fee. Though that's just the start of the case.

Highly recommended, its a quick read and Boyd is a fun smart aleck character.