Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-01-09

mufOeT ydi rs
by covering them with jackets
from highbrow books
One of these is Alvin Hamcr.
Primarily a dealer in rare books,
Hamer has separate store for
current books including, of
course, the whodunitS.
His wife, Edna. watches his
reading, though. and when she
figures that he's read enough
detective stories for one month,
she needles him about H.
Last week, he had 10 sneak
copy of Erie Stanley Gardeners
Case of the Smoking Chimney"
home by concealing IL in the
Jacket OF The Destiny Of
Western Man" He says II was
swell-the murder story. that Is.
He has, by the way, a customer
who II one OF the best corpOra-
ton lawyers in Detroit. He often
$3.50 first edition under one
arm. and a whodunIt under the
other. In fact, Hamer gauges
his buying by the attorneys re-
action to various muir der
thrillers.
Besides that, there's the wife
Of very wealthy man who
sends her chauffeur TO all the
book stores To buy all the Eng
lish murder stories. She refuses
70 read anything but those in
an English setting. They're more
subtle, she finds.
There's a difference between
mystery story and A "dCtec-
tive story" says Mrs. Mary
Laycock, the whodunit specialist
al J. l. HudSon'S book depart
nent. A mystery can have.
maybe only one murder, or even
none az all.
But when customer asks for
a detective story. that means
one with lots and lots Of mUr-
ders. a good many even specify,
Il want a good CORY one
Mrs. Laycock has customers
uho, month In and month out,
buys two whOdunitS week
that's hundred a year. Mrs.
z. Mondlak II one of these, Tut
Mrs. Laycock says that she
like many others, keeps up with
all the better books" at the
Same time.
You can read the murder
stories just for pleasure. or 10
try TO outguess the author. Just
a. YOU work a crossword puzzle,
or a. relaxation from nerve
strain. DR.. =. 4. Butler Of the
Pontiac State Hospital staff is
ono example ~ the busy people
who read them for relaxation.
Elizabeth Donnelly. over At
Doubleday-Doran adds that for
some reason some men refuse
10 read murder stories written
by women that's why some
women auth ors write under
mems names. And, Of course,
there are Leslie Ford and Ngaio
Marsh-they're women. but YOU
can't tell IL from their names.
With the demand for who
dunitS. IL takes n lot of authors
10 supply them, and Detroit
alone has half dozen authors.
At lesSt-Ioe PUrtell and Royce
Howes, both newspaper men:
Anna Mary Wells (Mrs. FED
Smits) who Il wife OF one;
Mebla Marlette cher maiden
name; her married name il
6rimeS) who II a teacher: Col.
"fRed" Owens, and Jay McCOr-
mick. whose Avery Hopwood
Prize novel u soon 10 be pub
liShed.
The competition. the authors
say. is getting SITTER and sti,ftr.
because 50 many authors have
learned tho art of making you
guess whodunit
Incidentally any h d Y Who
thinks its easy had better think
twice. The authors say it's a
headache 10 write these books,
because the fans are the most
perSnickety Of readers. and &C.
huge them with complaints if
they make the slightest error
or commit the objectionable sin
OF misleading the reader by un-
fair means
Some 81 the topnotch au-
thorS, even Dumas, turned tatir
pens To detective stories. &. =.
Forester, Somerset Vaughan,
Thomas Burke, Edgar Allen
Poe and, of course, Conan DOYLE,
'arc afew. So don't turn up your
nose at detective stories.
There's one significant thing
that the book dealers have TO-
ticed, and il probably indicates
that the whodunit finally has
reached pecca Bile social
standing.
The only people who act
apologize about buying them
are the people who don't know
anything about literature. The