The Price of Murder

The Price of Murder by John D. MacDonald is a stand-alone hard-boiled crime story that almost comes off. The book opens at a trial and the readers aren’t told who is on trial for a vicious murder or who the victim was other than that she was a female. The story then goes back in time with each of the characters given a long chapter as they are introduced and we see the events from their point of view.

What made this book seem rather contrived and unbelievable to me was the marriage between the junior college professor and the extremely selfish and rather moronic Lucille. I couldn’t imagine any scenario that would have these two planning a future together. Other than that, the author paints a vivid, brutal story of vicious, greedy show more people who are willing to “sell their souls” for a sizeable amount of cash.

Originally published in 1957 this is a character study of the dark side of human nature and the extent that greed can play in pushing a person beyond what is acceptable. I thought the author played his story out in an interesting manner which makes The Price of Murder stand out from other “pulp fiction” of the day. John D. MacDonald is an author that I am looking forward to exploring further. show less

Told from sequential points of view of the central characters. It starts with that of a nice seeing but unhappy man and then moves into the twisted mind of a parole officer. His backstory as he reflects on it almost left me sympathetic with him, but he was just too twisted.
As the characters March through the story the back story becomes apparent creating the murder mystery that then grabbed me reaching me through the rest of the story.
There is definitely some what I call period perspective. The kindly old professor who advises his protegee that he needs to beat his immature wife to make her grow up. A contemporary reader will find that attitude pretty hard to accept.
That aside the characters come to life off the page, each seeing show more real, even recognizable. After reading the first two sections I was ready to rate it two or perhaps three Stars. Once it got going I enjoyed it.
My journey through John MacDonald's work continues. show less

My first MacDonald novel that doesn't feature Travis McGee, and I really enjoyed it. The plot was good, fast moving but extremely violent. Best part of the novel was the unusual way that the story was told. Typically in a mystery, the story follows one or a few character perspectives, this novel has a different characters perspective for almost every chapter, you saw the characters motivations through their own eyes.

A deranged ex-cop is the protagonist's parole officer. This story could be used as an expose of today's parole and probation system, where the only qualification is a sheepskin and fairly clean record. I said "fairly!"

Lee Brown is an English teacher at a state college. He has a brother, Danny, who is constantly in trouble with the law as he is always looking for the quick easy way to financial success. Lee's wife is a beautiful child woman whose desire for things and travel puts a strain on the marriage.

Danny learns a local developer and his lawyer partner are planning to launder money they have stolen from an old kidnapping case. He blackmails them which leads to much violence which in turn brings police detective, Ben Wixler on to the case. A fast moving complicated plot makes this a fast intriguing read with which to pass the time.

Before he wrote his great 1960 Thrillers and the Travis McGee series, MacDonald wrote Science Fiction and Crime Fiction. Neither of which was as good as his famous Thrillers.

This is one of the Crime Fiction books and it is not up to the standard we expect from this author and not a genre I like.