Crime, Punishment, and Resurrection [Hardcover]

Michael Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 1992

A collection of short stories starring private eye Dan Fortune features the novella, Resurrection, set in the author's native California, and a selection of classic and previously unpublished tales of crime.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

In ``Resurrection,'' the novella centerpiece of this Dan Fortune collection (The Irishman's Horse, 1991, etc.), the one- armed p.i. is trying to find journalist George Rogers, reported killed in Africa. Rogers was there to write about a Messianic leader called The Preacher--who'd led his followers to Africa, eventually had trouble with the authorities and was supposedly massacred along with his disciples. An ambitious story that tries to combine mysticism, soul-searching, adventure and violence with the uncovering of a mega-drug-running operation, ``Resurrection'' is a mess--unwieldy, confusing, florid, dull, and long. In sharp contrast is ``The Woman Who Ruined John Ireland,'' a poignantly funny tale about file clerk Isabelle Kucera, who sees herself as Gloria Graham in a script full of bygone movie idols and who wants Dan to find out who's trying to kill her. Almost as good are ``No One Likes to be Played For a Sucker,'' with its locked-room puzzle and Little Italy setting, and ``Who?,'' in which straight-ahead sleuthing produces the killer of 18-year-old Boyd Connors. A mixed bag in which, truly, less is more. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; First edition (July 21, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556112955
• ISBN-13: 978-1556112959
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,490,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dan Fortune is Still One of the Best, February 1, 2004

By 

Vesta Irene (the Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crime, Punishment, and Resurrection (Hardcover)

This fast-paced book is a collection of eight short stories and the excellent novella, "Resurrection," featuring Dan Fortune, the wise-cracking, one-armed private eye.

The short stories are just what one would expect from Michael Collins, short, sweet, to the point. The are Fortune at his best. Fortune always gets his man, or rather could if he wanted, but sometimes, as in the opening story, "Crime and Punishment," he has a choice, bring in the killer, or ignore him, let him go. A hard choice.

But imagine the circumstances, a wealthy slum lord is murdered. Fortune is hired to find the killer. One of the slum lord's buildings burned down because the building's heat have been off for five years and one of the tenants fired up an illegal heater which fired up the building. A heroic young woman saved several, but lost her life in the fire. There is nobody to prosecute the killer except maybe the woman's lover. Should Fortune bring him in?

Then there is the case of the deadly cologne in the story, "Who." A young healthy man dies of a heart attack. His mother believes it was murder and hires Fortune. Fortune finds an empty cologne bottle in the victim's room and traces it to a pharmacy. It was lost during a delivery, the dead boy apparently found it. Fortune traces the bottle to a chemical company that makes a drug for the government that simulates a heart attack when it kills. So who was the intended victim.

There are six more Fortune stories that I just loved and after you've devoured them, there's the Fortune novella, "Resurrection" that showcases the one-armed man at his best. As usual, Michael Collins has delivered a terrific read.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene