The Screaming Mimi [Paperback]

Fredric Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1988

Bill Sweeney is a down-and-out lush. He is also a top-notch reporter. Aroused by the naked beauty of the Ripper's fourth victim--or near-victim--Sweeney pulls himself together and goes after the killer. As he puts questions and answers together, he finds himself face to face with madness and death.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The book was adapted for the screen in 1958, in a B-movie classic that's remembered for the prototype shower-scene later re-used in Pyscho. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub (December 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881844497
• ISBN-13: 978-0881844498
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,564,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF MY FAVORITES!, February 10, 2001

By 

DrSpecter (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Screaming Mimi (Paperback)

One of the masterpieces of Hardboiled Mystery, and one of the most neglected and under-rated. John Sweeny finds a hideous statue of a screaming woman in a Chicago boutique and realises it was a psychological trigger for a serial killer. At once funny and terrifying, this book needs to be put along side Hammett and James M Cain and Jim Thompson. This is much MUCH more than a who-done-it; it was a best seller when it came out, and is now out of print. WHAT'S GOING ON??!!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book for all tunes, October 20, 2005

By 

E. Nolan - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Screaming Mimi (Paperback)

Blackmask is to be commended for republishing a lot of pulp era fiction which has gone public domain. The downside is that apparently they seek out a copy of the original, scan it and then OCR the images. This causes a lot of typos; in this book, for instance, the word "time" is almost always rendered as "tune", and sometimes you have to figure out that "bun" means "him". Of course these are all real words, so they are not caught by spellcheck..

That aside, this is an engaging little mystery, and perhaps the Chicagoest book I have read. Brown gives you enough clues to figure out more or less what's going on, but the real draw is the engaging character of Sweeny.

One reviewer below called the book homophobic. I think that's an overstatement. A book from 1949 is not going to have a modern view of homosexuality, but the atitude is very "live and let live", and Sweeny does come to respect the shop-keeper a bit.

Is it hard-boiled or an action thriller? Not really. Sweeney is a man of culture as much as deeds, and is only really in danger once, but Brown makes shoe-leather as interesting as shoot-outs.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fredric Brown is a master of pulp fiction, March 27, 2000

By 

Christi Miller - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Screaming Mimi (Paperback)

I really wish the publisher would reprint Fredric Brown's mysteries. This is an excellent example of his work, suspenseful, surprising and funny.