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Dean Street Press has just released five more Anthony Bathhurst mysteries from the prolific Brian Flynn and, quite new to me, four Elvis Mysteries by Daniel Klein. The Sharp Quillet is an unusual title and the murders are very ingenious. I can’t get very enthusiastic about the Bathhurst books though, as I find them snobbish and old-fashioned.
I was intrigued by the idea of Elvis solving mysteries. I was sent the second book in the series, Blue Suede Clues. Elvis is at the stage of his life where he’s out of the army and making the terrible films which he hates but horrible Col. Parker likes because they make money. One day, he spots in the waste paper bin a torn-up photograph, showing a group of GIs in Germany. Parker disposed of it, of course, together with a letter from someone who says he served with Elvis in Germany. This guy is in prison for a murder which he swears he didn’t commit and begs Elvis to help him. He was formerly a stuntman on the very film set where Elvis is working. Elvis is interested and goes to visit him in jail. As a result, he starts nosing round the film set for information and finds himself in danger; in fact, deliberately injured by another stuntman.
This is so suspicious that Elvis hires the alcoholic lawyer who originally defended ‘Squirm’ Littlejon to help him. There’s a lot of travelling about (interesting for an English person to see America this way) and an ‘accidental’ death which is no accident at all. With the help of a laboratory in Mexico, Elvis and his new chum make out a case against A N Other and eventually solve the mystery, although not before Elvis himself is wanted for murder.
It’s interesting to see a writer’s take on what Elvis might have been like when still young. Fame is hard to deal with, as is the publicity about his affair with Ann Margret, which causes Priscilla to talk of running back to Daddy (they’re not yet married). What he wants is to play music like he used to but Parker prevents him. This Elvis is an intelligent, kindly man. Sadly, we see already a hint of his over-eating and his addiction to ‘prescribed medication’. I found the book enjoyable.
I was intrigued by the idea of Elvis solving mysteries. I was sent the second book in the series, Blue Suede Clues. Elvis is at the stage of his life where he’s out of the army and making the terrible films which he hates but horrible Col. Parker likes because they make money. One day, he spots in the waste paper bin a torn-up photograph, showing a group of GIs in Germany. Parker disposed of it, of course, together with a letter from someone who says he served with Elvis in Germany. This guy is in prison for a murder which he swears he didn’t commit and begs Elvis to help him. He was formerly a stuntman on the very film set where Elvis is working. Elvis is interested and goes to visit him in jail. As a result, he starts nosing round the film set for information and finds himself in danger; in fact, deliberately injured by another stuntman.
This is so suspicious that Elvis hires the alcoholic lawyer who originally defended ‘Squirm’ Littlejon to help him. There’s a lot of travelling about (interesting for an English person to see America this way) and an ‘accidental’ death which is no accident at all. With the help of a laboratory in Mexico, Elvis and his new chum make out a case against A N Other and eventually solve the mystery, although not before Elvis himself is wanted for murder.
It’s interesting to see a writer’s take on what Elvis might have been like when still young. Fame is hard to deal with, as is the publicity about his affair with Ann Margret, which causes Priscilla to talk of running back to Daddy (they’re not yet married). What he wants is to play music like he used to but Parker prevents him. This Elvis is an intelligent, kindly man. Sadly, we see already a hint of his over-eating and his addiction to ‘prescribed medication’. I found the book enjoyable.
