James R. Benn, Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery

James R. Benn, Billy Boyle:  A World War II Mystery
Soho Crime, 2006

ISBN-10: 1616953551

Billy Boyle, who has just been promoted to detective in the Boston PD, finds  himself in the Army.  Family connections get him into OCS and an appointment on the staff of his Uncle Ike (whose wife is a relation of the Boyles).  His role is to serve as a special investigator as needed.  And he is almost immediately needed, as a member of the Norwegian government in exile dies at a conference to finalize plans for an invasion of Norway (a joint operation of the US, the UK, and the Norwegians).  Also, there's apparently a German spy around.  Billy is uncertain of his ability to investigate the matter But  with the assistance of a Polish Captain (and Baron) Piort Augustus Kazimierz--Kaz--and an English WREN (Daphne Seaton), he begins to make progress.  The settings all seem realistic, and the evocation of the atmosphere in England in 1942 is extraordinarily well done.  Billy's progress toward a solution is also well-handled, and plausible.  And the ending is just flat out brilliant.  As a debut novel in a series (of, to date, 10 books), this sets the bar very high for the succeeding books.

Erle Stanley Gardner, TCOT Deadly Toy

Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Deadly Toy (1959)
Available as an ebook

I ran across a mention of this book earlier today, and realized that there was a Perry Mason book I had not read.  So I acquired it.  Fortunately, most of the Mason books are relatively short, and quick reads; this one took me maybe 2.5 hours.

A young woman shows up on a Saturday, hoping to find Mason in his office.  She has flown down from San Francisco to see the ex-wife of her ex-fiancé, but has decided she needs legal help.  (Her ex-fiancé is, she believes, behind a series of threatening notes, printed on a child's printing press (which, as it turns out, weighs 85 pounds, so it's not your normal child's toy) that have been mailed from LA.  Furthermore, her ex-fiancé has assaulted the man she started seeing.

And here's a surprise (or two)--her ex-fiancé turns up in LA, found dead in a country club parking lot.  And her new beau shows up in LA (he disappears from the book right after he appears, which I thought was odd.)

Meanwhile, her ex​'s ex-wife is trying to hold onto custody of her son.  The son, who is 7, has developed a habit of playing with his step-father's .22 Cold Woodsman piston (although, we hope, only when it is unloaded).

Mason's client is, of course, arrested, and Mason, of course, reveals the real culprit. 

Reading the brief bio of Gardner at the end of the book, I discovered that his life (1889-1970) and his Perry Mason series (1933-1973--2 of these were posthumous) coincided fairly closely with the life (1886-1975) and Nero Wolfe series (1934-1974) of Rex Stout.  In my opinion, there's no question who was the better author (that'd be Stout) and who was the more interesting character (Archie Goodwin, actually, but also Wolfe).  But the parallel time line just struck me as interesting.

November 13, 2015. Paris.

Bob Dylan wrote a song, probably in late 1962, probably partly in response to the Cuban missile crisis. That song is “Masters of War,” and here are the lyrics:

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes...
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned
But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
’Til I’m sure that you’re dead
http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs#ixzz3rQW5uHX2

The rage there has a history, and it has not gone away or ended. But the end of that rage is simply death. That is the frightening thing about the events today in France, about this song, about the world in which we live. The end of rage is not peace, not justice. It is simply death. Look at the final verse. There’s no hope there. There is only rage and death.

And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
’Til I’m sure that you’re dead

There are times when I wish I had a belief in a god of peace and justice. But all the gods seem to be gods of war and hatred and death. And so I do not believe. I hope, but hope comes increasingly more difficult. And I do not hope for more deaths, but I’m afraid a lot of people out there will agree with Dylan:

And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
’Til I’m sure that you’re dead

Homage to the Great Nero