Milford chronicle., 1951-10-19
WhOdunitS Now
Whydunits
Br CYNTHIA LOWRY

SUMMER E6duluSs nave AOuAus .
isn't what it's cracked up to be.
This year 1 started of on vaca-
ton with a large stack of new
books, shiny and bright in their
fresh dust-covers. and a merry de-
termination to revel in a couple of
weeks of what the publishers re-
fer to as hammock reading" l am
a detective story fan, and most of
my stock of books were adorned
with guns. daggers, nOOses and
other weapons of lethal nature.
l have returned from vacation
with my pile of books, sampled but
mostly unread. The exteriors of the
volumes are a mess, however, for
although / failed to get in the an
ticipated number of hours in the
hammock, l found that a book is
one of the handiest pieces of Vaca-
tion equipment in the world. No
vacatiOnist should venture abroad
without one.
/ A book frequently serves as a
tray. 1t can be used to carry glass
4 es, bottles or sun-tan Oil, cigarettes
and lighters. On uneven ground it
/ serves as a small table. 1t can be
pressed into service as a fairly
comfortable pillow while sunbath-
ing. Its pages serve as a handy file
for pieces of paper bearing names,
/ addresses and telephone numbers
of new acquaintances you promise
to look up-and rarely dO-upOr
return to the city. 1t serves, in all
but extreme cases, to discourage
conversation or to terminate a par
ticularly boring one. Most people
for some reason or another, are
lOathe to disturb a person ap
parently absorbed in a book.
On the other hand. my recent ex
, periences have indicated that tht
Joys of hammock reading are vast
; ly Overrated. l found hammock
, and swings to be exceedingly un
comfortable spots for relaxation
: Their gentle motion had the effec
= of making me seasick. l also fount
, that there was a sinister plO
! which caused the sun TO find a wa
; to send a brilliant shaft of light o.
my page no matter how CAREFUL
rugged my resting place.
Finally, I wish to register
strong complaint about the wa
= neople are writing detective storie
=, these davs. I'm Old-fashiOned ahou
whodunits. / like a story wher
. there is One-Or a dOZen-hOmicide
and l like to work with the smal
detective as he finds out the mast
= culprit. NOWADAYS l keep runnin
5 into novels Of suspense" whel
a they tell YOU right out in the fir
,, chapter who knocked off whom, ar
II the rest of the hook is devoted
, watching the authorities catch i
Is with the insane killer. Detecti1
story reading is sort of like playir
'e game. and you don't want to e
Il. all mixed up emOtionally with Il
II Drotagonists. Nowadays they a
le not only writing the things so we
II that the characters are real peOpl
p but they've taken to knocking r
pleasant, well-intentiOued souls. \
e rules say that the only people wi
~ NllCulu Bf~L hllAt u ulF lAlN AtlA AADA
le bres or the nasty DANES.
ut I was so disappointed in n
II mysteries that l contemplated mo
ing into the honest-tO-gOodne
IN novel reading. There wasn't a plea
H. ant. inoffensive bit of light readi
ay in the batch. Our modern write
Mt seem very concerned with Impol
It's ant Things. In a couple of t
er books. man was fighting the sea.
n others. man was fighting war.
ng the one romance in the lot.
* hero was in love with his fsthp
eel wife. Everyone was concerned W
hit his soul and his existence, and m'
an Of the characters either needed
ne had-tha service of a Compel;
v. psychiatrist.