The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-01-07
Key Books
BY A. de r. GINGRAS

(MIAMI. MURDER-u )-ROUND
by Marston La France. detective
novel, World Publishing Company,
.56 pagesD
The style of Ills book is IS re-
cey as the day after tomorrow S
magazine advertisement.
One CORPSE has been man wor-
Il his weight in Haig and Haig,
and on tie morning wien tie book
begins t detective hero wears
shaky hands and a five times tive
O'Clock shadow. Another corpse is
found near a king sized flock OF
r.enander bushes and his surviving
family have large economy sized
skeletons rafting around in their
ancestral closets.
All the old cliches have new
twist. The police commissioner
froths at his chops, a woman scrG-
pes the corners of her mind and
organizes the bits and scraps into
something coherent. The hero goes
for something like greyhounds for
tin rabbit, a thug is naughty
naughty who makes his pile as
chief muscle to big gangster
wheel, and somebody's abundant
rear hangs down over each side Of
too small bar stool. One over
sentimental detective turns old Wo-
man. and another feels like sat
yr with a hot tip on fresh wood
nymph.
Even the hero'S nightmares
would give Freud and Dali a jolt.
He stumbles beyond his hangover
on scorched and burning feet
through a glowing forest OF brittle
cocktail sticks and slim, nylon-clad
legs.
And the events of the story are
as racey as the style. AT garden
party in Miami a dead millionaire
is found stabbed with a hand car
we'd ice pick. And the young de-
tective who is sent on the case is
also discovered murdered. Rick
Larken, private eye with a
smart left hook and given to leap
ing in and out of beds with ash
blonde ladies, is sent to Miami on
the case. He manages 10 tangle
with all the figures that and re-
tired Sing Sing alumni. as well as
men and women who move in the
Miami world OF coupon clipping,
yacht clubbing and beer for the
cat If he wants il. a"
The hero is tailed by thugs as
his taxi races through the quiet
suburbs OF the great playground
of the nation, past svelte homes
and gardens. He fences with death
in hush apartments and on the back
stairs going out of gambling joints.
And women as beautiful as tropic
nights move in and out of the
story as murder runs loose in Mi
ami.
GIN TELLING YOU KIDS FOR
THE LAST TIME. humorous book
by Parke Cummings, illustrations
by Robert Osborn. published by
Henry Schuman, NY City. l72
pages
This volumes first chapter is en-
titled. THE Stomach, and the
young of the human race are
shown mostly as vacuums for re-
ceiVing food.
Tie author believes child $
sightseeing guidebook would label
certain points of national interest
something like this. The Washing.
ton monument is a high tower
where you can get candy and stuff
before you climb up and after you
climb down. The Grand Canyon is
q very impressive hole in the
ground. but parts of it are too far
from refreshment places. Niagara
Falls is place where an awful LOT
OF water falls down. and there are
excellent milk shakes and assert
ments OF ice cream at various
druesioreS in the vicinity.
And in the chapters which follow
MIR. Cummings has a lot OF bones
to pick with the whole modern
set up in which the child moves.
Boy scouts. for example!
He contends the young scout sci.
dom has TO tangie with the forest
nrtmeval IN our citifiied living. He
recommends more urban accomp-
hshments.
To become an acceptable eagle
scout. boy should know how TO
treat chilblains or frostbite brought
on by leaving the hands too long
in the deep freeze. He should be
able TO name three dependable