Harold R. Daniels

Classic pulp but still rather fun. It appears to be out of copyright, so one can find ebook versions on the internet should one do a spot of Googling.

So, we have Alvin Morlock, a second rate professor at a second rate college in central Massachusetts (the fictional Ludlow College). It seems Morlock went off to Providence, RI with a teaching buddy for a spot of "fun" (i.e. drinking and womanizing) over Christmas/New Year's break. Alvin takes up with a young woman named Louise. Realizing that she's no longer a tasty, young thing, Louise is looking for more security than a series of good times on the weekends. So, she contrives to get Alvin to marry her. The marriage doesn't go well, in part because Louise is a profligate spender. Eventually, Louise dies in some manner, and the investigators think Alvin murdered her to get rid of his slatternly spouse.

The book switches between transcripts of court proceedings and narratives of what actually was happening in the lives of the characters. It was a sort of interesting way to tell the story. It's clearly not fancy literature, but merely pulp to while away a few hours. Is serves the whiling away purpose admirably.

… (más)

Daniels is a terrific writer who effortlessly captures the thoughts and feelings of the characters in his
stories. What could be interesting about three small time kidnappers? If you are asking that question, then you certainly are not familiar with Daniels' work. This author delves into each character with such a fine sense of who they are and what motivates them that you feel what they feel. You understand why they feel trapped no matter which way they turn. This is truly good stuff, my friend. Drink up.… (más)

Daniels is a terrific writer who
effortlessly captures the thoughts and feelings of the characters. In
this book, which is told alternately in expository fashion and through a
trial transcript, the reader comes to understand how the accused, a
good decent man could have come to the point of killing his wife. She
was a girl he met on a night out on the town, not knowing that she
was a tramp that ran from bar to bedroom to gambling house. This
was a marriage from hell as only Daniels could tell it. Highly
recommended… (más)

Alvin Morlock is a lonely professor at a fourth rate college. He lets himself be conned into going to Providence to get some girls, and while there happens to meet Louise, a rather desperate schemer; a woman in the fast lane who, realizing she's aging, wants a husband.

Louise, after several evenings of this, was bored with Morlock's company in spite of her fondness for him. On New Year's Eve she sent him away early, letting him guess that she was sick. (He was shyly pleased with the delicate intimacy of the hinted revelation and the close relationship the very revelation itself implied.) He left feeling quite gallant. When he was safely gone, she changed her dress and called a cab. Far enough from Federal Hill she allowed herself to be picked up in a cafe and thereafter surrendered herself to drinking and to her companion with complete abandon. It was the last time, she promised herself. Afterward she would be faithful to Morlock. After they were married. It did not occur to her that he might not ask.

Three months into the marriage Alvin discovers she's running up debts and not paying the bills. Morlock is humiliated and unsure what to do. In his despair he returns to Arby's Rock where he had found comfort as a child with a slightly younger friend whom he had defended at school against some bullies. What happened to her haunts him and the trial resulting in the inevitable outcome.

Daniels alternates between a description of events and testimony in Morlock's trial for first degree murder. It's skillfully done and while hardly literature, the book definitely holds your interest and keeps the pages turning to learn what might actually have happened and what will happen.

Daniels wrote a series of crime novels in the fifties that were well regarded. Except for some anachronisms (fifteen dollars was a lot of money) this one holds up well. We get a nice sense of the characters feelings and the gulf between the trial and reality - if that exists and the demons that haunted them.… (más)