new year's day...1 jan 15, thursday afternoon 4:39 p.m. e.s.t.#21 from macdonald for me...just finished The Deceivers, a great story, check it out. (1961) where is janice gantry?, john d macdonaldthis one begins:sometimes the hot night wind brings bad dreams. it came streaming and steaming out of the west, piling the gulf into a continual rumble of freight trains along the beach of horseshoe key, whipping the water of the wide bay inside the key, and galloping along to rip and clatter the fronds of the cabbage palms beside my mainland cottage, to excite a squeaking and groaning of bamboo, to hiss and sigh through the tall australian pines.i slept deep in a heartbreak dream of the girl that was lost and gone, of my wife judy, no longer mine, no longer wife.okey dokey then, as the good doctor said (a bicycle, a rock, a plum, 1987) onward and upward time place scene settings*florida, horseshoe key, the gulf side of florida*florence city, florida...and also florence county...and i am almost positive there is no actual florence county. i could be wrong...but i don't believe so...so this is a fictional place even though the logistics argue for a real place...if you can pinpoint it on a map and you might could*time: nothing definitive yet...46 pages into the telling...although it opens monday, 15 august*automotive appraisal associates: sam's deck in the realtor offices of sam earle...janice "sis" gantry was instrumental in finding space for sam here.*the gantry house on jackson street*ack's place maybe a quarter mile from the weber house*the weber home...very secluded private*cy's lunch & sundries*sam travels to a number of places to complete insurance claim appraisals...sarasota...boca grande...osprey...punta gorda*west plaza: shopping center on the key*orange road...a kind of main street, main road on the narrow key*best beach bar*law offices of offices of wessel and mcallen*colony beach club: sam & peggy go here several times*mel fiffer's agency: charley worked here as a salesman...car salesman*office of county clerk: sam visits to track ownership of the webber house, boat*jimson's marina: the webber's boat is repaired here*maria's bar in bayside...the pink elephant, a small hotel in boca grande. commercial fisherman gather at maria's.*cabbage key*20' lapstreak skiff with an 8' beam...sam's boat*several drugstore counters*54' matthews...called the sea queen characters major minor peripheral real-famous*samuel collins brice: our hero, twenty-nine-year-old, 1st-person eye-narrator...a big man...or big to middlin big...played defensive tackle big, three years professional football. he works as a kind of auto insurance claims adjuster...he looks at insurance claims, gives them a second opinion, tries to keep everyone honest. his parents drowned in a boating accident two days after he turned fifteen. he was married to judy caldwell for 3 years, 3 months. *charlie haywood: charlie shows at sam's place middle of the night...had been on a state road camp crew, ran him through raiford prison there before they sent him south on the camp crew...and he's out and about. looking to clear his name, he said guilty 'cause of a woman and now he's had time to think it out.*janice "sis" gantry: 29-year-old, she has eight brothers, four older, four younger, and she married pritch, a no-good who shot her in the neck before he ate a bullet. she's one for lost causes...and at various times, sam was a lost cause...and now, charlie, he's a lost cause. *sheriff pat milhaus: a few years older than samuel collins...was a kind of assistant coach, high school, when sammy played ball and they went out one night and knocked each other around. the hate is still there. *deputy leroy luxey: heh! think deliverance...that kid laid back on the trunk of that biggest pontiac detroit makes? leroy "was about the size of a fourteen-year-old who had been sick and underfed." leroy...he kept his chin high.*jennie benjamin: works in the earle offices*alice jessup: works in the earle offices...and she does secretarial work for sam, as well*tom earle: realtor...sam has a desk in his offices...and earle is on vacation in canada*vince avery: works in the earle offices*d. ackely bush..."ack": came to florida 30 years ago...to write a book...lives on money from a buccaneer ancestor, associate of sam's, involves himself in local politics, and has made it his mission to learn more about the webers, who are very private and fly under the radar. has an interest in flaying public officials, fast buck operators, is concerned about bays being filled. see for instance:Flash of Green*maurice weber: mid-50s, lives in a big house built special for him and his wife...seldom seen...seldom leaves the house...does go out on the water in the webers' 54' matthews boat. has servants to pay bills, do this, do that. from michigan, it is believed...money comes from chicago bank. believed to have been an investment banker. charlie haywood was caught by the webers trying to remove a wall safe.*charity weber: mid-30s, wife of maurice, a real looker...suspicion is that charlie and her did the fandango*gus herka: owner, proprietor, bartender at best beach bar*cal mcallen: loves wants to marry janice gantry...had a 1st wife, died...2 college age kids in a private school in the north...lawyer, offices of wessel and mcallen*kishi: oriental servant...cook, butler...to ackley*judy caldwell: was the wife of sam brice*mrs. timothy barriss falter: judy, married to an architect and living in hawaii*gretchen falter: their year-and-a-half-old daugther*tim falter: architect*pritch: no-good married to janice gantry for four years...shot her in the throat...killed self. she lived. *hunk wessel...or judge wessel...partner of cal mcallen*joe & lois gantry: parents of nine children, one daughter, janice gantry. six of the boys are married, gone...billy and sid are still around. joe works for the phone company, has for years*girl at the front desk...the law offices*liz taylor, julie newmar, churchill, caloosa indians, spanish, the joneses, carl sandburg*herman & anna mahler: couple, servants to the webers, they arrived when the house was built or almost there, set the house up*damon caldwell: judy's father...in wilmington, delaware...rich*a nevada lawyer...when judy fled home, a nevada lawyer was the next communication from her, her family*peggy varden: sister, half-sister of charity weber, 25-year-old from richmond, virginia, sam meets her on the beach in front of the weber mansion...she looks much like his ex-wife, judy. she was married...to pete...he died, that was five years ago. dayton, ohio, is actually "home"...or where she was raised*bunny biscoe: he is a reporter for the florence city ledger*mrs lot: an albino raccoon who lived on the key before the weber place was built*mary may frear: described as trashy...and she is a replacement help while/because janice is missing*wilbur prail: commercial fisherman who tagged mrs lot, had a taxidermist mount the raccoon, sam's father took a dim view of it and almost killed the man*john pennwalter: pete varden's uncle for whom peggy is working in richmond*stan chase: the captain of the webber's 54' boat*maurice bergamann...weber's real name*t.c. barley: state's attorney*larry stultz: lives, works on cabbage key*jan stultz: his wife*rick, jimmy brown, allan the horse...possibly real-famous (at the time) football players?*benjamin kelly: strong man for weber*rafael martino: same...associate of weber*luke johnson: gnarled old man who was fishing with his sons, saw the webber's 54' sea queen underway, no lights*coast guard...barney...bus...launch captain*old jimson...who has the marina*j.b.: guy who works on boats...onlly custom-built jobbers, not factory-made*jaimie france: sam talks to him at maria's bar in bayside, looking for information*ed howe and his people (law enforcement)*charlie davies: piano at the colony beach club*mr bert bell: man associated with sam's professional football time*browns (football)...two stooges (who offered sam money to throw a game)...f.b.i. agents...lawyersa note on the narrationyeah. so. 1st person eye-narrator. i like these kind of yarns. more personal. here's some more from macdonald...recent reads, all 1st person: Soft Touch...On the Make...Murder for the Bride...You Live Once two of these stories have been published under more than one title...but you can figure that out with some digging. a quote or two from the story...if you are too unusual, you may turn into a collector's item.--page 80there is one demon loose upon the world who spends all his infinite time and energy on the devising of all the vicious little coincidences which confound mankind. his specialty is to confront the unwary with coincidences so eerie, so obviously planned by a malevolent intelligence, that time itself comes to a full stop and his victim stands transfixed by a conviction of unreality, while in infra-space, the demon hugs his hairy belly, kicks his hooves in the air, rolling and gasping with silent laughter. --page 75update, 2 jan 15, friday afternoon, 3:21 p.m. e.s.t.finished. good story. this is one of them where the ending picks up speed and cannonballs followed by the ripples of what happened to the various parties. nothing wrong with that, i guess, but that's the way it is. there's enough here to satisfy the mystery buffs, enough action to satisfy the action thrillers. ummmm...i guess if we're being honest, the past of the bad guy though it is explained after a fashion it is given short order but it's not difficult for the willing suspension to go along with it. not everyone wins...but the evil is put down...for a time and some can live better once the fat lady sings. all-in-all, a good story. good read.
