Murder Among Friends

Henry Garnish #1

by Frank McConnell

Bridget O'Toole, a grandmotherly former nun turned private detective, and her disgruntled assistant, Harry Garnish, investigate the bizarre murder of one of Harry's friends in Chicago

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

155 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Francis DeMay McConnell, known as Frank McConnell, (1942-1999) lived at Santa Barbara, California and was a professor of English at the University of California. He had been awarded his undergraduate degree at the University of Notre Dame and earned his doctorate at Yale. He had then taught at Cormell University and at Northwestern University. He was twice married, and had two children and a stepson.
He published many books on film and literary criticism, as well as the four detective novels described below, and numerous magazine articles. For years he was media correspondent for the lay Catholic journal, Commonweal. He served several times on the Pulitzer Prize fiction jury. He was known for his robustious wit, and was a highly ribald, entertaining and popular teacher.

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harry is a pretty lovable character and I'd like to spend time with this guy again. The setting is great -- Chicago, and the time period makes for interesting cultural references -- the '80s. Just one annoyance, why is "grammar" misspelled twice in this book as "grammer"? A fun book for a rainy afternoon.

[Nancy]

The book summary says that this is old fashioned fun murder mystery; I would disagree. There is not much fun in this, just lots of annoying not nice characters. I read 2/3 of the book and couldn't force myself to finish it as I just didn't care who did what.

[Scott Drake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ruined by the ex-nun running the mess but has the essential balls of a wisecracking hard detective.

[Nathan Dasilva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this was a fantastic book that I have read over the summer for my summer reading book. Although it was written and published in 1983, the author gives a great sense of twisted humor throughout the storyline. This book gives a realistic idea of the crime history in Chicago, making the story take place in a gritty, darkened Skokie Chicago neighborhood. What I found great about this book is that it's a true thriller. Even at the start on page 1, the book talks about a murder victim's last hour on this earth and how he spends it, until he gets cut apart...literally. From then on, there are several twists, unanswered questions, and several details that make people wonder who could possibly be the actual killer, and why they decided to kill in the first place. The main character is Harry Garnish. He is the one who has to solve this murder case. While doing so, he is repeatedly shot at, betrayed, lied to, and kidnapped.

I would absolutely recommend this book for someone to read. For someone who is a fan of mystery, thriller-type novels, or someone who just wants to get a little historical background on crime in Chicago, this is definitely the book for you.

My favorite part of this book was when Harry had to attend this top-secret meeting with someone anonymous. What happens is, is that someone comes into his office, gives him a slip of paper, and tells him to go to this one place out of the Skokie town and to meet someone there. The person he is meeting is not named, but he has "business" to handle with Harry. What I like about this part is that it gives you the chills, since you never know what will happen until the time comes up. It makes you want to keep reading the book until you find out for yourself what will happen. Will Harry get kidnapped once again? Will he get beaten up by a thug? You won't know until you read the book!

Aside from that, my least favorite part of the book was when Harry and his boss Bridget O'Toole decide to go to the Bambi Bar just to talk to the person who owns the place. What I don't like about this scene is that the person, who goes by the name "The Judge", cannot finish one sentence he speaks. This part of the story was very confusing, since I did not get a clue out of what The Judge was trying to tell them. He had a sense of the crime and gave his thoughts about it, but his slurred, choppy speech made it very difficult to understand his opinion.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things haven’t been going well for Harry Garnish…instead of becoming head of the O’Toole Investigative Agency, Harry finds himself with a tough new boss –the surprisingly worldly ex-nun Bridget O’Toole. His ex-partner is murdered and Harry’s investigation uncovers dangerous information about the relationships among a powerful local millionaire, a saloon keeper, and some pretty heavy players in Chicago’s underground. Worst of all, as Harry dodges bullets and survives several kidnappings, the ever-capable Bridget remains calmly in control and one step ahead of him all the way.………the dialogue is gritty, the pace fast, and yet I found rueful/wry Harry appealing ---I enjoyed how it was sort of more like reading his own personal journal, chapters were short and just easy to follow and yet I still hadn’t figured out what was going on until the last chapter and then when I closed the book, …..I wondered did I really know? …was ‘sum pin missing?

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this detective I would call hard-boiled, and so he refers to himself, twice in this book. Instead of being the clever one who figures things out, he tries the patience of his ex-nun boss and the cop who usually interrogates him. He seems expert at explaining subtleties and subtext, but not the main plot. Enough humor that I enjoyed the book.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was bored and confused while reading this book. I kept hoping it would get more interesting but I was disappointed. In some parts, I felt like he was trying too hard to write the skeezy part of a private dick. I'm going to drop this book back at the little free library and hope the next reader enjoys it more.

[Amanda Rehm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was given to me by a coworker. Not my usual read but I enjoyed it. The plot kept me guessing and it was a good length to keep me interested.