Jo Gar's Casebook (Tales from the Black Mask Morgue Series) [Paperback]

Raoul Whitfield (Author), Keith Alan Deutsch (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 2002

Ellery Queen wrote: "Whitfield is a much too neglected member of the Hammett-Chandler hardboiled school." Dashiell Hammett himself praised the Whitfield stories for their "naked action pounded into tough compactness by staccato, hammerlike writing." Previously announced but long delayed (as we searched for more stories) Jo Gar's Casebook is the first collection of Whitfield's extraordinary tales.

In the February 1930 issue of Black Mask, a new character was introduced to the American detective story. Jo Gar was both a classic "thinking" sleuth and a tough man of action who inhabited an exotic noir world on the Philippines, facing a rogue's gallery of colorful villains from mixed-race Chinese to upper-crust American exiles. "The Little Island Detective" lived in a vivid world of pre-war Asia where typhoons threatened the harbor, criminals escaped from the local prison, and the waterfront was home to cut-throats from all countries.

Throughout the 1930's, Raoul Whitfield was a star contributor to Black Mask – only Erle Stanley Gardner appeared more often. The cover and design are by neo-pulp artist Tom Roberts.

Crippen & Landru is pleased to work with Black Mask Press on this new series, Tales From the Black Mask Morgue, to bring to a new generation the best uncollected stories from the greatest of all hardboiled magazine. Future publications will include books by Norbert Davis, Paul Cain, Frederic Nebel, and others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Black Mask fans will be especially intrigued to find just how quiet stories can be without losing their hardboiled edge. -- Kirkus, December 1, 2002

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Black Mask Press / Crippen & Landru Publishers (December 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885941773
• ISBN-13: 978-1885941770
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,883,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exotic & Entertaining Stories by a Neglected Author, January 8, 2005

By 

James Clar (upstate NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jo Gar's Casebook (Tales from the Black Mask Morgue Series) (Paperback)

JOE GAR'S CASEBOOK is a "must have" volume for all serious fans and collectors of pulp detective fiction. Even more casual readers, however, will find much to enjoy in the pages of this lavishly produced book. (Whitfield truly deserves a much wider reading than he has hitherto received). The "mean streets" pounded by Gar are the humid, typhoon buffeted "calles" of pre-WWII Manila ... that's right, Manila ... you know, the Philippines! A more exotic and dangerous setting has perhaps never been devised for a hardboiled series. Gar himself is part Spanish and part Filipino. As such he fits right into the multi-ethnic mix of this teeming Pacific metropolis. The ambience in these stories is classic noir - from the seedy bars along the inky waters of the Pasig River to the smoke-filled multi-lingual babble of the ubiquitous cockfight arenas. And everywhere he goes Senor Gar, who has a reputation among the criminal element for always getting "his man" ("West of Guam"), must be ever on the lookout for a knife-blade or bullet aimed in his general direction.

De rigueur also in a series of this type is conflict with the local police, and one finds that here in abundance as well. A former officer in the Manila Police, Jo Gar has little patience for the blundering and pompous posturing of, first, his former partner Juan Arragon and later, of the supercilious and arrogant Lieutenant Sadi Ratan. At the end of "The Amber Fan," and after being outwitted yet again by the wily Gar, Ratan admits under some duress that the private detective is "very clever." The policeman then suggests (uncharacteristically) that the two men should work even more closely together. "I might even consider," Ratan remarks off-handedly, "resigning in order to enter and strengthen your private agency." Ever polite, Gar nonetheless rebuffs his adversary with grace and style. "I fear," the detective replies, "that the loss to the Force would be too great, Lieutenant."

At a time when Asians were being portrayed in the West as soulless villains (Fu Manchu) or as stereotyped ethnic caricatures (Charlie Chan), Whitfield broke new ground with his sensitive and nuanced characterization of Jo Gar. Also noteworthy in these stories is the fact that, although they stand smack dab in the middle of the hardboiled tradition and are played out against a noir background, each of Gar's cases presents the reader with a puzzle-plot to be solved. In that regard, at least, Whitfield was not afraid to borrow from the "cozy" tradition of the classic Victorian consulting detective. What results is an interesting and engaging amalgam that is a unique and hugely entertaining contribution to the genre. Pick up a copy of JOE GAR'S CASEBOOK and savor a singular reading experience. Can't you just hear the palm trees being tossed by the wind and rain as a blood-curdling scream rends the muggy tropical night? (James Clar, MYSTERY NEWS - March/April, 2003).