The Wrong Case

Was this a mystery? Nominally. Was this an extended bender through the days of Milo's feeble attempts to distract himself from the drunken ennui of his life? Most definitely.

"Age and sorrow, those were my only assets, my largest liabilities.
But like most men who drink too much, I had spent most of my life considering my dismal future, and it had stopped amusing me. So I had another drink and walked over to the north window to look down on the happy, employed folk of Meriwether."

Helen Duffy is the classic beautiful dame walking into the solitary PI's office, looking for help finding her missing brother. It takes us through a tour of Milo's seedy life, his estranged co-worker, Jamison; his sort-of-fence and sort-of-son, Muffin; his best show more bar-friend, Simon, and then through choices places of the town.

"Most of Meriwether's freaks, dopers, hippies and assorted young folk lived on the north side of town in an old blue-collar neighborhood, which the earlier residents had deserted in favor of take developments on the south side of town, but the neighborhood was still pleasant in a small-town way--inexpensive but fairly well-built houses that aged nicely, like a handsome woman, the yards shaded by old trees and overgrown with evergreen shrubbery and flowering bushes."

Milo is an alcoholic first, and a half-hearted investigator second, and the story feels like its more about his alcoholic aspirations towards a decent woman (who would be wife #3) than a gumshoe mystery.

Crumley can write, there's no doubt. But this is 1975, in a slummy northwest town with growing pains: tourists versus locals, hippies and freaks versus the old guard, heroin and coke versus alcohol and pot. There's a commune, more or less; the tiniest awareness of gay issues; free love; but mostly lots of alcohol and passed out drunks. This is very time period, very barfly and very non-sensitive. Even more disheartening, though Milo is aware of his shortcomings, he'll continue to choose the booze every time. It is a time and character portrait, but is as depressing as only a dead-end bar can be.

Given a choice between watching an dysfunctional alcoholic careen through bars and slums in a feeble effort to find a missing brother, all in the hopes of getting laid by a beautiful woman, or following a functional alcoholic as he attempts to help a beautiful hooker leave her john (Scudder, Eight Million Ways to Die), I know which one I'd choose.

Two-and-a-half brews show less

If Charles Bukowski were a private detective trying to earn a living in a
small hippie-filled city in the Pacific Northwest, he would be Milo, the
hero of the story. This is a hardboiled detective story, containing many
of the usual elements, including the down-on-his-luck detective, the
sexy siren of a would-be client, her missing brother who was too good
to be true. But, Crumley does not stop at giving us a run-of-the-mill
private eye story, he sets in in the seventies where there are stoned-
out hippies everywhere, even working for the chamber of commerce,
and offering up free love like its going out of style. There are also bars
seemingly on every corner and barflies everywhere.
Milo solves everything by going on bender after bender show more and is so
unorthodox that he even asks if his client will give him her nights in
exchange for his days working. But Milo is ferocious and transvestites,
street thugs, nasty officers, and hippie pig farm communes won't stop
him from getting to the bottom of the situation.
The plotting is not what this book is necessarily about. Its the wild,
almost-legendary drinking and atmosphere that makes this story. show less

Milton Chester “Milo” Milodragovitch was once a very successful private investigator, he made his living as the kind of sleazy keyhole peeper who kicked in doors to snap photos for use as evidence in divorce cases, then they invented the no-fault divorce and the bottom dropped out. On the plus side he has a sizable inheritance from his wealthy father’s estate coming on his 53rd birthday… on the downside that’s more than a decade away and, between his hard partying ways and questionable life choices, it’s anybody’s guess as to whether he’ll live that long. His mentor is a long disbarred attorney named Simon who has given up on society to become a first rate drunk... Milo is starting to think Simon might have the right show more idea!

The Wrong Case has Milo agreeing to take on a missing person case for the simple reason that he is attracted to the missing man’s sister… the money isn’t bad either, but it’s mostly for the girl. The resulting investigation turns into a disaster when bodies begin piling up, an inexplicable junkie crime spree hits town, and Milo can’t seem to get a handle on exactly what’s going on or why. But, with a stubborn streak of tenacity that might get him killed, Milo is determined to solve the case and get the girl.

Milo is a redneck in the classic style, a hard drinking, hell-raising good ol’ boy with more guts than brains. He's reckless and self indulgent with no tolerance of rules or regulations of any kind and, like most classic hard-boiled types, he drinks WAY too much. It being the Seventies he’s also known to indulge in illegal drugs like speed and marijuana from time to time. He’s a hard-case (as well as something of a head-case at times) but he’s also a bit of a soft touch. Sure, he’ll knock you on your butt, but then he’ll probably help you up, apologize, and buy you a drink.

This novel won't be everyone's cup of Irish coffee, it's brooding, the mystery itself isn't all that great, the plot is a little hard to believe at times and none of the characters possess much in the way of redeeming qualities. I loved it!

The style invites comparisons to Raymond Chandler mostly due to the genre and the fact that Crumley has a certain way of presenting a sentence that is almost lyrical or poetic at times while still never letting the reader lose the sense that what is being read contains some greater secret about the harsh truth of the meaning of life.

The book contains adult language, sex, violence and racial slurs. show less

I've been hearing people sing praises for James Crumley's writing for years. Now I finally know what all the fuss has been about.

I chose THE WRONG CASE as my first Crumley book, because I had the impression it was one of his grittiest works. And I wasn't disappointed in that department.

The protagonist, Milo Milodragovitch, is a man whose livelihood has been legalized out of existence. He's an ex-county deputy who'd been earning his keep gathering evidence for divorce cases back when you had to prove adultery, by doing surveillance and getting photos of cheating spouses, as they say, in flagrante delicto. But the divorce laws were changed to make breaking up easier to do and, when the story begins, he's at his desk, staring out the show more window at the mountains in an unnamed Western state and listening to the sound of his phone not ringing.

It tells you loads about Milo that his first line of dialogue, spoken when his client-to-be knocks on the door, is "Go away." Apparently, he's too busy hitting the office bottle (yes, there's an office bottle) and eating yogurt (okay, that I wasn't expecting) to be bothered with drumming up business.

The client-to-be is Helen Duffy, a lovely young redhead. (More standard hardboiled fare here, but at least she's not blonde.) Helen wants Milo to find her younger brother. Although he's never done that kind of work before, Milo goes through the motions of getting some information, then basically says he'll work for Helen if she'll sleep with him. Helen doesn't go for this arrangement. At least, not right away.

Needless to say, Milo does end up on the case. Except he ends up getting involved after the brother's been found (and not looking at all well). Per the title, he finds out the hard way that it was the wrong case to take.

Read the entire review at http://thebookgrrl.blogspot.com/2009/02/wrong-case-is-right-book-for-hardboiled.... show less

Milo is certainly an anti-hero; he drinks in response to almost any situation and has very few redeeming characteristics. He had been a PI supporting divorce cases, but with no-fault divorces he is out of work. He agrees to look into the death of the brother of a "hot chick" who approaches him for help. Between drinks and beatings, he slowly makes strides toward recognizing what's happening.

Crumley's writing is surprisingly lyrical. Milo's observations of nature and scenery, as well as other people, are full of similes and metaphors. The fact that he is the point-of-view character, though, doesn't make him any more likeable. I found it hard to get too invested in his attempts to figure things out. Overall, a well written story that show more features pretty unattractive characters. show less

Mixing 1970s sensibilities with noir tropes and delving into heavy drinks and alcoholics culture this promised to be one interesting ride but sadly I just couldn't get on board.

Ok I confess I am a diehard Raymond Chandler fan and to my eyes the introduction of drugs, free love and more explicit violence just didn't fit. I guess, for me, it didn't date and so my expectations were affronted. Although it felt forced too: right at the beginning there is a dramatic and yet casual fatal hit & run of a purse snatcher. It's treated with ennui and fatalism but it felt out of place and too forced i.e. "lets grab the readers attention". Probably unfair of me but it put me in the wrong mood for the rest of the book.

So it was a pleasant surprise to show more find in the end it didn't turn out too bad. Ok the plot was average, but then the mystery is not really the point, and the characters don't stray into stereotypes too often, although for all his idiosyncrasies, I felt the main character was a bit bland. No where it does stand out is in the depiction of the culture of alcoholism, refreshingly painting a fond & accepting eye over their proceedings whilst acknowledging the tragedy, stupidity and horror of it. It made interesting eddies into the story and created some great locations and characters.

So whilst getting a look into the mindset of a heavy drinker saved this for me but I am not sure I would recommend it. I guess crime lovers will probably know if it sounds like their thing or not. show less

Set against the backdrop of Montana, The Wrong Case has all the great attributes of a modern noir novel. This book has it all a stung out anti-hero,an empathetic femme fatal and an ending that has been described as physically painful. My first and favorite Crumley.