Just Finished Reading: Blackmailer by George Axelrod (FP: 1952)

Publisher Dick Sherman can hardly believe his luck. Completely out of the blue a beautiful young woman offers his small-time publishing house the chance of a lifetime – to publish the last work of a Nobel Prize winning author whose life was tragically cut short in an accidental shooting. For a publisher previously well known for puzzle and crossword books it seems life an offer too good to be true and that’s why Sherman has his suspicions. The example of the manuscript looks real but the owner wants money, a lot of money, to produce the rest of the book – and quickly too. Just when things are beginning to fall into place the impossible happens – again. Sherman is offered the unpublished manuscript of the same author on the understanding that everything is kept secret until publication day. Now with his suspicions fully aroused Sherman begins to dig to find the truth – if it exists – behind both offers. But to get there he needs to jump into the shady world of Hollywood movie production, young starlets, organised crime and find out what really happened to the world famous author the night he apparently killed himself with a hunting rifle whilst blind drunk.

What a mess this novel was. The plot, if I dignify it with that word, was all over the place. The manuscript was essentially what Hitchcock called a ‘McGuffin’ – a plot device to drive the story forward no matter if it existed or not. The characters were, by and large, completely unbelievable. The twists and turns of the story didn’t really lead anywhere and only existed, as far as I could tell, to keep the reader guessing and reading long enough without any real payoff in the end. Finally, if all of the previous wasn’t enough, the story hinged on the ability of at least two of the characters to mimic other characters voices. Oh, and I almost forgot – the rather annoying repetitive non-consummated sex scenes sprinkled throughout to keep its (presumably) young male readership hoping for more. All rather sad really. One of the worst of the latest batch of the Hard Case series. Not recommended.