Having Wonderful Crime, Craig Rice
Having Wonderful Crime, Craig Rice
List: $16.95 | Sale: $11.87
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Having Wonderful Crime

Author: Craig Rice

Narrator: Johnny Heller

Unabridged: 7 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/12/2020

Synopsis

A Chicago attorney scours the Big Apple for a missing bride and a wedding-night murderer in a mystery that’s “Miss Rice at her best” (The New Yorker).On a break from the Windy City, aspiring crime novelist Jake Justus and his wife, Helene, are acquainting themselves with Manhattan’s finest cocktail lounges when they befriend Dennis Morrison, a blind-drunk groom. The handsome former male escort thought he’d found his bounty in homely heiress Bertha Lutts, but while their wedding night may have been a bust, the morning after turned out to be the real horror. It seems Bertha has vanished from their bridal suite and in her place is an unidentified beheaded woman. Having taken a shine to Dennis, Jake and Helene call on his best defense: Chicago attorney John J. Malone.Winding his way through both the city’s low lives and its high society, Malone quickly discovers a link between the nameless victim, the missing bride, and a slick gigolo: a bohemian Greenwich Village poetess who is free with her verse, knows more than she realizes, and is becoming more frightened with every New York minute. But when Dennis disappears as well, Malone’s left with the itchy feeling that another dead end is right around the corner.

About Craig Rice

Craig Rice (1908–1957), born Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig, was an American author of mystery novels and short stories, sometimes described as the “Dorothy Parker of detective fiction.” She was the first mystery writer to appear on the cover of Time magazine, on January 28, 1946.

About Johnny Heller

Johnny Heller is an award-winning narrator and one of the most sought-after voiceover coaches in the nation. An ALA Odyssey Award winner, AudioFile Golden Voice, and a Grammy nominee, he has narrated over 1,000 titles in almost every genre. A multiple recipient of Booklist and Publishers Weekly Starred Reviews, Publishers Weekly Listen Up Awards, and AudioFile Magazine Best Voice of the Year recognitions, he is regularly nominated for Earphones and Audies and is a multi-award winner of both.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Whistler's on September 15, 2019

Malone takes a bite out of the Big Apple. And vice versa. When I read the list of characters in this book, I was shocked. Who is Peterson of the Homicide Bureau? What happened to our old friend Captain von Flanagan of the Chicago Police Department? Did he finally manage to retire to that mink ranch/p......more

Goodreads review by Duncan on June 11, 2018

One of those random second hand finds that looked like any old dime a dozen amateur sleuth crime novel. It actually turned out to be a darkly humorous and fun thriller with some great characters and a pretty surreal denouement (not to mention the constant drinking, I would have loved to be pals with......more

Goodreads review by Carol on April 19, 2019

I liked it, because I find the combination of Malone, Jake and Helene very entertaining, but liked this one less than some of the others in the series because this book keeps splitting them up. They're each trying to prove something by finding out about some aspect of the case, so the banter and eas......more

Goodreads review by Katie on December 25, 2017

Hooray, the Jake, Helene, and Malone show goes to New York! And Malone gets lost in my old neighborhood! I love that the intersection of 4th and 11th streets has been both a source of confusion and a punchline for at least 70 years. Grisly crime this time around, with more sympathetic victims, and ou......more

Goodreads review by Sanjay on December 10, 2019

The best and the funniest yet I have been trying to read all her books, started with the midget murder and went back to read her books from the first one. All her books are great but this one is the most outrageously funny of all - best of all this books succeeds as very fine mystery novel as well.......more

Quotes

“Miss Rice at her best.” New Yorker

“Narrator Johnny Heller breathes life into this aging mystery—it’s been almost eight decades since the novel’s debut—and the result is like a fine art restoration…Johnny Heller is the ideal narrator for this audiobook (and for the complete Malone mystery series) because he knows how to express quirkiness and humor while still maintaining the dramatic narrative.” AudioFile

“Rice made the screwball mystery her specialty with wacky characters, outrageous situations, and a sense of pure fun.” TCM.com, praise for the series

“Why can’t all murders be as funny as those concocted by Craig Rice?” New Yorker, praise for the series

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