The Wrong Case [Hardcover]

James CRUMLEY (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Granada (1978)
• ASIN: B001MBK4IE
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic downer, December 25, 2000

By 

Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wrong Case (Paperback)

Take it from the title, "The Wrong Case," is not a happy story. In fact, private detective fiction seldom gets more hardboiled or as down and dirty as this one. Crumley's "hero," the recently unemployed private snoop Milo, is a man shattered by a terrible upbringing and by alcohol. But despite his cynical and distrustful nature, he takes a case he knows will be a loser in a last ditch effort to both redeem himself and to find love. The results are about what you would expect.

Milo is a completely different character than Crumley's other private detective hero C.W. Sughrue, the party animal star of "The Last God Kiss" among others. Milo has been scarred far deeper by life and fully expects to lose himself to his addictions at some point. His best friends are homeless winos with one foot firmly planted in their graves. Brooding, violent and with a perfectly shocking ending, "The Wrong Case" is one of THE great hardboiled detective novels.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When the Snakes Come Marchin' In, August 8, 2002

By 

sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wrong Case (Paperback)

The Grateful Dead must have written "Hell in a Bucket" for Milodragovitch, the well-born boy/man who never met expectations. So bright, so charming--what a shame! He's on the skids with booze and drugs, but going down gracefully. Milo is a private eye who just got legislated out of business. The divorce laws have been eased. It used to be adultery and insanity were the only grounds for divorce in his state (Washington? Montana?), which gave him a steady supply of clients trying to nail an errant spouse. Now all it takes is "irreconcilable differences" to win a decree, and who needs a private eye for that?

The standard gorgeous lady comes to his office with a tearful request as he is consuming his lunch of raspberry yogurt and "office whiskey." Her brother OD'd on drugs and has been declared a suicide. She vehemently insists he was murdered. Her description of her sensitive, academic gentle brother does not jibe with Milo's recollection of the cold-eyed loser he had seen about town, but he has fallen in love--instantly. He assembles his troop of bums, eccentrics and low livers to assist him in investigating the crime. He discovers layer after layer of corruption and rampant drug dealing in his supposedly peaceful town of Meriwether that his great grandfather founded. He is neither surprised nor dismayed.

This is a novel beyond noir; it is a novel of despair. Like Hunter Thompson's hero in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," Milo is destroying himself with clarity and precision. The book is witty, humorous and lyrically written. The action is intense and explosive. But the undercurrents are always there, gray and dark.

Brilliantly written and highly readable, put this book on your "must read" list. You won't regret it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detective novel that goes beyond the genre., November 22, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Wrong Case (Paperback)

The Wrong Case is a detecitive story set within a small city in the Pacific Northwest. It is also a story
of greater size and theme than the conventional crime entertainment.
It introduces Milo, a run-down alcholic private detective who will go on a personal
and professional journey as only a hero can do.

Crumley is a skilled and schooled writer. His characters are richly rendered, the plot is original and the suspense
is convincing. Unlike most detective works, Crumley manages to capture his city's growing pains with a Dickensian eye
as well as examine his past with a touch of Greek tragedy.

Don't miss any of Crumley's works. He captures the new American landscape
as nobody else can. I liken him to Graham Greene in the way he can deliver
original entertainment, excellent language, and themes much larger than a paperback