Robert L. Fish (1912–1981)

I picked this up because it's a while since I've read any US detective fiction. It's a long time since I saw the Steve McQueen movie and all I really remember is the car chase. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the novel had originally been published under a completely different title - and it's not only that which changed in transition from page to screen. New York became San Francisco and the Irish cop hero Lieutenant Clancy became the far more Hollywood Frank Bullitt, a name so show more hard it spits nails in your eyes even before you picture Steve McQueen in the role. Actually, the hero of the novel is a little more cerebral. He's not really a tough guy and the only real battles he fights are against the politicians and bureaucrats who seek to make his job far more difficult than it ought to be. (More power to him!) He's a thinker who puzzles his way through a complex cover up despite some tricky red herrings and genuinely surprising plot twists.

Mute Witness delivers exactly what you want from a crime novel and at under 200 pages doesn't outstay its welcome either. It's faster than most car chases... show less

Lieutenant Clancy reminds be a bit of Dashiell Hammet’s Continental Op, in the way he distributes resources and gives orders. And I mean that in a good way! Also, he's kind of Sherlock Holmes-ish at the end, when telling his tale!

I liked this story quite a bit! Better than the movie! Funny, in the book, the story goes from CA to NY, and in the movie, it's the other way! And, no big car chase in the book. But, the plot is so much clearer and understandable in the book! SO much! And I liked show more the little bit of humor with the clothes line outside Clancy's office. Nice little dash to a dark toned tale. I think I'd like to read the next Clancy book now! show less

Gang’s all here! Clancy, Stanton, Kaproski, Porky, Captain Wise, Doc Freeman, and good ol’ Mary Kelly. Clancy wants to know why Caper Connelly stepped in front of a NY subway train. Another case involves an old man who lies dead in a "horder" type apartment. And then there is the safety of a UN meeting to contend with. Life as usual in the 52nd!

I like how each chapter begins with a quick, short story of a crime in the city. I like how Clancy goes about his work and I like his team. Very show more quick read, but very enjoyable. I'm just sad that it's the last one. Three just isn't enough.

"And the wash of crime across the police blotter flows and ebbs, its clear effluent seeping quietly away in the silent sands of the past; the dregs are retained, recorded, studied, compared, and then buried with the other detritus of our current civilization. Cells are filled and emptied; pages of painfully penned names and addresses drift like idle seed-pods into numberless filing cabinets and disappear forever in shadowed archives."

God speed Lieutenant Clancy! And thank you Robert L. Pike! show less

The sequel to the book that inspired the movie "Bullitt", and a good one at that!
Lieutenant Clancy is back, and this time he has to deal with a prison break! Four men are on the lamb, one of whom threatened to kill the lieutenant and a few other folks. So, Clancy and his men have to find that fella, and stop him.

A good read, with good characters, action, and dialogue. Most of the gang from the first book are back, which I really like! And I enjoyed everyone giving Clancy a hard time about show more “that nice Mary Kelly...”. A funny running gag throughout the book! That, and telephones!

Can't wait to read the next one! show less