Red Gardenias

Bill Crane #5

by Jonathan Latimer

Detective William Crane and his gang of sleuths are sent to a Chicago suburb to investigate a murder and death threats made to the family of an industrial magnate.

Genres: Mystery

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

Jonathan Latimer was born in Chicago on 23rd October 1906. His main series character was the private investigator Bill Crane. An important character in the development of the hard boiled genre. A notable title is Solomon's Vineyard, the controversy over the content saw the US publication delayed by nine years. The author later concentrated on screen plays and also worked for five years on the Perry Mason television series.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This, the last of Latimer's Bill Crane novels, is one of the best. It lacks the breakneck pace, the convoluted bravura plot, and the non-stop wisecracking of some of the others, but there is still plenty of wisecracking to be found . . . and plenty of drinking too.

What is new in Red Gardenias is that Crane has a real love interest--Ann, the beautiful blonde who is the boss's daughter, assigned to play the role of his wife in an undercover investigation. They are often at odds, but she disapproves of his heavy drinking, and this makes us suspect she loves him.

The plot is clever, with a lot of exciting cinematic scenes, and a satisfying and entertaining resolution. Latimer is not exactly one of the old masters (Hammett, Chandler, Ross MacDonald), but as far as I'm concerned he's in fifth place. Right after Rex Stout.

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

From 1939, another comedic mystery outing of the drunken detective Bill Crane. Fairly satisfying.

[Chris Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

The original shit faced detective!!! Ever notice these old school hard-boiled guys never get drunk, well this dude does and if he isn't drunk, he has a hangover. A very humorous novel full of great dialog and characters. A true original of its time creating a genre to followed by greats as Westlake, Willeford, Leonard and many more that like a little sarcasm and laughter with their murder.

[Tim Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Crane is back in his final adventure along with Doc Williams and a love interest/partner in the form of the boss' daughter, Ann. Crane is undercover with Ann playing his wife in an effort to find out who is killing members of an industrial magnate's family. Along the way we have the usual drunken escapades of Crane, though he tries to reign himself in to appeal to Ann. There's also the usual casual racism and sexism that you can pretty much plan on finding in a genre book of this vintage.

Overall, Crane's adventures have been fun and interesting. Not up with the masters (Hammett, Chandler, Macdonald), but well above average for the time-period. And the more light-hearted Crane is a great change of pace. This particular book is interesting because of the addition of the love interest and its effect on Crane and how he does, and tries to do, business. The mystery itself isn't terribly difficult to figure out. I had figured out the culprit and the reason around the half-way mark. But it's a reasonably interesting reason and the modus operandi is different.

A worthy last entry. While none of the Crane novels are a patch on Latimer's masterpiece, "Solomon's Vineyard," they're well worth the time and a nice palate cleanser when your detectives get a bit too hard-boiled.

[Reality Shatters, · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pressure built up nicely but every time a misogynistic comment was made I wanted to tear the pages. Unfortunately, there were a lot of those moments (I mean the last line was full on). The story was fairly good.
I only put 3/5 because well, disrespect is just a huge 'no' for me.

[Rachel Kowal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.42 stars
The usual sexism for a crime novel that's nearly 100 years old, but there's some fun to be had here. The last in a series—whoops!

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Detective William Crane is sent to a Chicago suburb to investigate a murder and threats made to the family of an industrial magnate.