From time to time, I find myself reading a deeply-serious mystery book and wishing that I could find something a little lighter in tone, something which uses humor to tell a serious story and to relieve some of the tension we find in a great mystery classic. That's when I'm likely to go back to my bookshelves and grab a book by Craig Rice. And to those who say "murder can never be funny!" I would recommend just about any of Rice's books to prove that they are mistaken. For example, take The Corpse Steps Out, first published in 1940. I recorded an audio review of The Corpse Steps Out for the Classic Mysteries podcast several years ago, and this edited transcript may help explain my fascination with Craig Rice's novels and her sense of humor:
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Nelle Brown has a problem. Living in Chicago, she’s the successful star of a weekly radio broadcast (which, in the late 1930s, meant she was being heard in living rooms all across the country – and getting paid a lot of money for it, too). She’s married to an older man, called “Tootz,” who is insane but whom she loves, and she is also having a quiet affair with a younger man, called “Baby,” whom she really doesn’t love. She’s also being blackmailed by another former lover. But that’s not her real problem. No, the real problem confronting Nelle Brown is that she goes to visit the blackmailer to try to get back some incriminating love letters – and finds him shot to death. And then the corpse disappears. And that’s just the beginning of the high-spirited 1940 mystery-comedy, The Corpse Steps Out, by Craig Rice.
Nelle Brown’s predicament in The Corpse Steps Out is quite serious. In that era, any hint of scandal would be enough to end her career instantly – not to mention that the police would be certain to consider her their prime suspect. Fortunately for Nelle, she has a number of willing helpers eager to get her out of this mess. There’s her press agent and manager, Jake Justus, who is the guy who discovers that the victim’s body has disappeared. There’s socialite Helene Brand, whose primary interests are drinking, driving and trying to get married to Jake, a project of which he wholeheartedly approves. And there’s Jake and Helene’s good friend, John J. Malone, a short, balding, usually-inebriated and rather shady Chicago lawyer who specializes in winning acquittals for a variety of mostly-guilty clients. Jake, Helene and Malone volunteer to do what they can to protect Nelle Brown, even if it means that Jake and Helene have to postpone their wedding a bit. And the three of them are not above moving a body or two themselves – and in fact they will have several opportunities to do so in the course of this adventure, as the number of dead bodies continues to increase.
That all probably sounds very complicated. Okay, it IS very complicated, but it’s also hilariously funny and a very good, sufficiently-clued traditional mystery as well.
This is a dangerous book to read in, say, a crowded waiting room or on a busy commuter bus, as you will find yourself snorting and laughing out loud at some of the events and the dialogue. Craig Rice once wrote, “Murder is not mirthful and there is nothing comic about a corpse,” but fortunately she rarely followed her own advice.
A couple of examples: At one point, when another body is discovered, Nelle Brown insists that it must be a mistake or that the person who shot the victim isn’t in the radio business, because “no one in radio would shoot a prospective sponsor.” At another point, Helene, who is searching Chicago trying to remember where she parked her car while she was very drunk, suddenly remembers where she left it.
“I left it by the NO PARKING sign in front of the Chicago Avenue Police Station,” she said happily. “I remember thinking at the time, it would be such a good safe place for it.”
Craig Rice wrote about a dozen books starring Jake, Helene and Malone, and they all contain this kind of offbeat and sometimes darkly colored humor blended into a good and solid, well-plotted mystery. The dialogue sparkles; the situations are mostly incredible but very funny (once you can accept the idea of a murder being funny). If you enjoy quirky humor and tight (if offbeat) plotting, you’ll enjoy The Corpse Steps Out.
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You can listen to the original recording from the Classic Mysteries podcast by clicking here.
Next: Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes.
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