The Weird World of Wes Beattie, by Norman Harris

 

The Book

When Sidney "Gargoyle" Grant attends a medico-legal conference in Toronto(?), the story the lecturer gives for why a defendant in an upcoming murder trail is crazy makes no sense to him. He challenges the lecturer by saying he will find the key woman witness the doctor thinks is a delusion. 

Poor Wes Beattie is accused of killing his uncle and thereby revoking his inheritance, both from his uncle and from his grandfather. When the police arrested Wes, they put forth the motive of being disinherited. In response, Wes spins a fantastic tale about being set up by a femme fatal.

As he progresses on the quest, he discovers the defendant, Wes Beattie, might have told the truth. He can't find the femme fatal, but he can find, a guy who produces pornos, runs prostitutes over the border from Buffalo, hires women to blackmail men, and runs illegal gambling games. But if there is a vast conspiracy out to frame Wes, where did all of the witness go? And how and why would one mobster be out to get the inept Wes? 

Gargoyle is hot on the trail, but he needs access to Wes and access to the family. When Wes' pert sister Jane finds out what Gargoyle is doing, she joins the quest. But with Gargoyle being a baby lawyer, the hard part might not be the lies Wes told, the evil behind framing Wes, but just getting someone to take Gargoyle seriously. 

My Thoughts

Ah, the books of old. When every writer thought some clear prose and a ridiculous premise an Agatha Christie made them. John Norman Harris is certainly compared with Christie and Wodehouse. I admit, his work is absurd in the best way and his crime is criming in this book. His world is deliciously dark, but not overtly hard boiled or graphic. 

It's Canadian hard boiled??? I guess??? I mean Canadians have a reputation for being nice. And this is a nice book, cleanly put, with the plot advancing nicely at a good pace. The descriptions are full without being graphic or gory. And though the parts of the plot are stretched absurdly thin, the string doesn't break. In fact, I've seen worse in Agatha Chrisite's. 

But it's also not as tightly woven as a Christie. Harris, might have made a great crime writer. This book was published in 1963 and he died in 1964. He made the mistake of not trusting his audience enough. He could have left just a smidgen more clues to make the book truly fair play. Otherwise, it's an engrossing read that was hard to put down. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

RIP Gwen Tolios' favorite bookstore, where she used my $20 to buy me so many great books. This is yet another in the book. It's a lovely gem of a book. I likely would not have picked it up had she not purchased it for me. This one, I will be keeping in my library. I believe I would like to read it again. We are counting the costs of each of these books at $3. So that's what I'll go with. 

Library Books

This Book                                                            $0.00

Library Items Reviewed This Year                 $443.32

Private Books

This Book                                                          $3.00

Total of Private Books                                     $58.75

Total of All Items Reviewed This Year          $526.07

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