For the last several years, Kate at Cross Examining Crime has been rounding up the vintage mystery bloggers and having us perpetuate her brilliant brainstorm (one of many that she has had). In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we keep coming back for more.
This week's choice for the 2024 ROY Awards Ceremony is McKee of Centre Street (1933) by Helen Reilly. It stands as one of the earliest police procedurals written by a woman and this provides a strong reason for its award nomination. It gives us an up close look at the NYPD of the 1930s--from the radio room, the morgue, the mysterious depths of the fingerprint department--all the varied activities of one of the biggest police departments in the world. She introduces us to Inspector McKee, described in my edition's blurb as a "tight-lipped, cold-eyed, a hunter of men and the most absorbing sleuth since Lieutenant Valcour." And we're with him from the first telephone call summoning him to a high-tone speakeasy.
The story revolves around the murder of dancer Rita Rodriguez, the beautiful main attraction. The murderer takes advantage of the dim lighting, the audience's attention to the silver-clad beauty dancing on the stage, and the spotlight which oh-so-conveniently brings his target into sharp outline. Although the police are called in immediately by the ultra-alert spotlight handler, there are still fish which escape the net and it is McKee's job not only to sift through the statements of everyone still within the establishment, but also to try and discover who is missing.
When he is finished he's left with a small group of suspects. There is the missing waiter; the rich playboy, his wife, and step-son; the wife's very attentive friend, the colonel; the young woman found hiding in the phone booth; and the couple who can't quite decide where they were when the dancer fell to the floor. As he follows up their stories (and amended stories), he soon discovers that there are connections between the characters that lead back to the past....with blackmail and stolen emeralds lurking in the shadows.
What follows is a detailed account of how the police department of the 1930s operated. The reader follows closely on McKee's heels and is given what is described as "real inside information, high-pressure thrills, suspense." Reilly manages to deliver without boring the reader with those details. I had read other (later) mysteries by Reilly and was a bit disconcerted by the description of McKee as a tight-lipped, cold-eyed hunter of men. This didn't really connect with the McKee I had met in these later novels. Granted, this earlier version of McKee is a bit more steely and there is far more procedural detail given, but in the end he is the same detective I recall...showing a good deal of compassion and humanity in the closing scenes. Not quite the cold hunter of men that the blurb served up.
Reilly has constructed a mystery that kept me guessing. I didn't guess the solution, even though there was fair play with the clues. I should have known who the culprit was. But Reilly did a fine job distracting me with several details. Anyone who enjoys a good police procedural and wants to take a look at an early specimen should give Reilly's book a try.
First line: The weather prediction for May twenty-first was "clear and cooler."
Last line: At the moment he had other, pleasanter things to do.
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