annieb123's Review of Eight Faces at Three (John J. Malone Mysteries, #1)

by Craig Rice

John J. Malone, defender of the guilty, is notorious for getting his culpable clients off. It's the innocent ones who are problems. Like Holly Inglehart, accused of piercing the black heart of her well-heeled and tyrannical aunt Alexandria with a lovely Florentine paper cutter. No one who knew the old battle-ax liked her, but Holly's prints were found on the murder weapon. Plus, she had a motive: She was about to be disinherited for marrying a common bandleader. With each new lurid headline, Holly's friends and supporters start to rally. There's North Shore debutante Helene Brand; Holly's groom's press agent, Jake Justus; the madam of a local brothel, and Alexandria's hand-wringing servants. But not one of them can explain the queerest bent to the crime: At the time of the murder, every clock in the Inglehart mansion stopped dead. And that's only the first twist in a baffling case of "aunty-cide"-because Alexandria won't be the last to die. Making his debut in this fun and funny novel, Craig Rice's one-of-a-kind Chicago attorney is "an inspired creation . . . an unapologetic champion of the defense bar . . . a defender of the guilty whose contempt for society outstrips his contempt for criminals" (Jon L. Breen, Edgar Award-winning author). Eight Faces at Three is the 1st book in the John J. Malone Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Eight Faces at Three is a reformat and re-release of the first book featuring John J. Malone written by Craig Rice. Originally published in 1939, this edition was released 3rd August 2021 as part of the American Mystery Classics series. It's 288 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats in this edition. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a relentlessly lighthearted banter filled alcohol and cigarette-soaked mystery and the first book to feature Rice's lawyer sleuth John Malone. It's definitely a product of its time period and hearkens back to the days of witty repartee drawing room comedies of the stage. I honestly found much of the dialogue forced and found myself (after a while) reading the lines as if they were read by actors in a play which lent a frenetic quality to the banter, but did nothing for the narrative as a whole.

The mysteries, resolution, and denouement are pretty well constructed and satisfying. It's the dialogue and relentlessly, almost frenetically, witty writing which are somewhat wearying.

I would recommend the series as a whole to fans of period mysteries and republishing in new matching formats certainly saves readers (like me) from having to hope that they serendipitously find an old dogeared paperback copy circa 1940 which escaped being recycled in the WW2 paper drives, but this book in particular won't be for all readers.

Three and a half stars. It's good to see these lesser known gems from the American mystery golden age being dusted off and reprinted for new generations of readers.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Eight Faces at Three (John J. Malone Mysteries, #1)

by Craig Rice

Reviewed by annieb123 on Dec 15, 2021

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