A few weeks ago I posted about Jonathan Latimer’s The Fifth Grave (you can read my review here). In his comment on my review, Art Scott mentioned that his favorite Jonathan Latimer mystery was Lady in the Morgue (1936; filmed 1938 (aka The Case of the Missing Blonde in the UK); Preston Foster as Crane). I decided to reread Lady in the Morgue and then reread my favorite Jonathan Latimer mystery, Headed for a Hearse (1935; filmed 1937 as The Westland Case; Preston Foster as Crane).
One reason I’m fond of Headed for a Hearse is the relentless pressure Latimer puts on the plot and the characters. At the center of the story is a locked room mystery involving Chicago stockbroker Robert Westland, who has been convicted of the murder of his estranged wife. Sentenced to the electric chair and with only six days left to establish his innocence. Westland hires criminal lawyer Charles Finklestein, who in turn hires two agency detectives from New York: William Crane and ‘Doc’ Williams. Latimer keeps the countdown to the execution in the forefront of the action.
The evidence against Westland is that his wife’s body was found shot in a locked apartment to which only Westland and his wife had keys. Westland had been decoyed there on the night of the murder by a phone call that seemed at first to have come from his fiancée, Emily Lou Martin. Additional evidence was that neighbors beneath the Westland apartment, heard a shot at the time of the killing. The weapon used was a wartime Webley pistol of a type owned by Westland, which has now disappeared from his desk. The evidence seems damning but William Crane, Latimer’s brilliant investigator finds some clues that lead to a final confrontation just minutes before the scheduled execution (with a little manipulation by Crane). I just love the suspense in this mystery! GRADE: A
Lady in the Morgue is nearly as good. The corpse of a young woman disappears from the morgue and William Crane, while initially baffled by the incident, slowly reveals what happened to the missing corpse and the hijinks behind the wickedly clever plot. If you’re in the mood for some classic mysteries that will test your detection skills, give Headed for a Hearse and Lady in the Morgue and try and learn why Jonathan Latimer is one of the great underrated genre writers! GRADE: A-
I’m persuaded. I will see if I can find them.
Patti, you might be more familiar with Jonathan Latimer than you think. Check out Latimer’s screenplays:
The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939) (based on a novel by Louis Joseph Vance)
Topper Returns (1941) (original screenplay)
The Glass Key (1942) (based on the Dashiell Hammett novel)
Night in New Orleans (1942) (based on a novel by James R. Langham)
Nocturne (1946)
They Won’t Believe Me (1947) (based on a story by Gordon McDonell)
The Big Clock (1948) (based on the Kenneth Fearing novel)
Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) (based on the Cornell Woolrich novel)
Submarine Command (1951), screenplay from his own story, starring William Holden
Plunder of the Sun (1953) (based on the David F. Dodge novel)
The Unholy Wife (1957) (co-authored with William Durkee)
The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays (1957) (with Frank Capra)
The Unchained Goddess (1958) (with Frank Capra)
32 episodes of the Perry Mason television series[14]
The Greenhouse Jungle (from the second season of the Columbo television series, 1972)[15]
HEARSE was filmed rather well in 1937 as THE WESTLAND CASE.
I found an excellent review — borderline brilliant, actually — here:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=12380
Dan, thanks for the link! The excellent review is brilliant!
Great choice. I remember LADY IN THE MORGUE well, but can’t 100% remember reading HEADED FOR A HEARSE< though I think I did. I remember a lot of drinking.
Jeff, yes, there’s plenty of boozing in HEADED FOR THE HEARSE. I have more Latimer on my shelves so I may be doing more rereading for FFB in the months ahead.
He also wrote a bunch of Perry Mason shows! In one he named a witness Miss Carmody, a tribute to Chandler!
Bob, I had forgotten Miss Carmody! Thanks for jogging my memory!
My problem with Headed for a Hearse is that I absolutely HATE Race Against Time, Beat The Executioner’s Clock mysteries. Admiring Latimer, I made it to the finish, but usually when I find a mystery is going to gin up the “suspense” with that tired old trope, I bail.
Art, I’m a fan of Cornell Woolrich who constantly resorted to the RACE AGAINST TIME to gin up the suspense so I’m immune to Latimer’s The Executioner’s Clock trope. But I do like THE LADY IN THE MORGUE a lot!