Craig Rice, the author of fourteen novels, countless short stories, and a number of true crime pieces, once rivaled Agatha Christie in sales. She was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1946. However, the past fifty years have seen her fall into relative obscurity. Rice made for an interesting subject for a biography because nearly every identification point about the author was in dispute: her birth, her real name, her number of marriages, number of children, her canon of fiction, and the cause of her early death. Marks had to wade through years of research to come up with the answers to those questions. Following a trail that went from Venice, Italy to Venice Beach, CA, he talked to a number of her contemporaries, her family, and friends to come up with an engaging book that reminds readers why Rice remains the undisputed queen of the comedic mystery.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In 1946, Time selected mystery writer Craig Rice for its first cover feature on that genre a classic case of poor judgment. Today, almost none of Georgiana Craig Rice's lightweight writing (Home Sweet Homicide, The Thursday Turkey Murders, etc.) is in print (whereas Raymond Chandler, passed over by Time, is a standard). Rice's life story does not accord with her superficial reputation as a lightly comedic author. Abandoned by her parents, Rice used this theme casually in almost all her fiction, but never dug deeper. A long slide into alcoholism and a series of abusive marriages (including one to the fringe Beat writer Larry Lipton, author of The Holy Barbarians, and another to a lunatic she met in a psychiatric hospital) mark the way to her early death at age 49 in 1959. Most striking, she neglected her own children (her 12-year-old daughter had to have Rice pointed out at a funeral because she "hadn't visited her family in so long"). Marks (Canine Crimes, etc.) captures these incidents in a serviceable narrative, though he is at his weakest when offering na‹ve critical perspectives (regarding the rumors that Rice or possibly W.H. Auden ghosted Gypsy Rose Lee's The G-String Murders, he notes, "While very enjoyable, G-String doesn't reach to an Auden... level"). Every writer may deserve such a dedicated biographer, and Rice's life is interesting (especially for hardcore mystery fans), but her saga proves to be less madcap than simply depressing.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Review
"a must for her fans and an invaluable contribution to the literary genre" -- The Bookwatch, April 2001
Fascinating biography ... very highly recommended -- Midwest Book Review March 2001, Cindy
Marks's Who Was That Lady? provides much of the information necessary to solve these mysteries [of Rice's life]. -- Jon L. Breen, The Weekly Standard, May 27, 2002
the book provides a wealth of new information about this remarkable woman, -- Denver Post, June 3, 2001
Fascinating biography ... very highly recommended -- Midwest Book Review March 2001, Cindy
Marks's Who Was That Lady? provides much of the information necessary to solve these mysteries [of Rice's life]. -- Jon L. Breen, The Weekly Standard, May 27, 2002
the book provides a wealth of new information about this remarkable woman, -- Denver Post, June 3, 2001
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pleased but disappointed,
By A Customer
This review is from: Who Was That Lady? Craig Rice: The Queen of Screwball Mystery (Hardcover)
If you're a Craig Rice fan, as I am, you'll be pleased by the publication of this book. Whether it's the first or only biography that will ever be written about an author whose work has been egregiously neglected by reprint publishers--to the detriment of the reading public--it furnishes the curious fan with some vital information about a fascinating but very troubled woman whose life was a far cry from the delightfully wacky works she's best remembered for. So why am I disappointed? Because a lot of Marks's writing is sloppy and thus confusing, which in turn suggests sloppy editing; and because the proofreader, if one existed, didn't do his or her job very well. Typos abound. Even the page numbers given in the index are incorrect! Nevertheless, I applaud Marks for his scholarship and dedication to the project. Perhaps his book will spur future biographers to delve more deeply into Rice's life and works. Above all, perhaps it will spur a publisher into reprinting her novels and story collections to reach new readers.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth a read,
By A Customer
This review is from: Who Was That Lady? Craig Rice: The Queen of Screwball Mystery (Hardcover)
Jeffrey Marks does a fairly good job writing about a woman who lived such a hard and bizarre life. Finding details for Craig Rice's life story must have been a real challenge. I am Craig's grand-daughter and I learned more about Craig's life from this book than from conversations with those who knew Craig. The book must have required exhaustive research on Mr. Mark's part. He ties the story of her life together and includes a great deal of information about Craig's novels, her movie scripts and her short stories.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A long needed memorial to an outstanding author,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Who Was That Lady? Craig Rice: The Queen of Screwball Mystery (Hardcover)
Craig Rice authored fourteen novels, countless short stories, some true crime pieces, and once rivaled Agatha Christie in popularity with the mystery loving fans. She lead a life as secretive as her work was public. In Who Was That Lady?: Craig Rice - The Queen Of Screwball Mystery, Jeffrey Marks unravels her fascinating biography based on original research and interviews with her contemporaries, family, and friends. A long needed memorial to an outstanding and time-forgotten author, this remarkable and engaging account of her life and work is enhanced with eight pages of photographs, footnotes, and index. Who Was That Lady? is a "must" for her fans and an invaluable contribution to the history of the literary genre in which she made her mark.
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