The Mouse in the Mountain (Rue Morgue Vintage Gumshoe Mystery) (Paperback)

~ Norbert Davis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Doan is a detective and Carstairs his enormous canine companion (don't call him a "pet"), and in this first hard-boiled adventure they travel to Mexico, along with an heiress, a revolutionary, an artist, and more than a few mysteries.

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Chapter 1

WHEN DOAN AND CARSTAIRS CAME down the wide stairway and walked across the pink-tiled floor that was the pride and joy of the Hotel Azteca, the guests in the lobby stopped whatever they were doing to pass the time away and stared open-mouthed. Doan was not such-a-much, but Carstairs usually had this effect on people, and he left a whispering, wondering wake behind him as he stalked across to the glassed side doors and waited with haughty dignity while Doan opened one of the doors. He ambled through it ahead of Doan into the incredibly bright sunlight on the terrace.

Doan halted and drew in a deep breath of air that felt clean and dry and thinly exhilarating. He stared all around him with frank appreciation. He was short and a little on the plump side, and he had a chubby, pink face and a smile as innocent and appealing as a baby's. He looked like a very nice, pleasant sort of person, and on rare occasions he was.

He was wearing a white suit and a wide-brimmed Panama hat and white crepe-soled shoes.

"Breathe some of this air, Carstairs," he ordered. "It's wonderful. This is ideal Mexican weather."

Carstairs yawned in an elaborately bored way. Carstairs was a fawn-colored Great Dane. Standing on four legs, his back came up to Doan's chest. He never did tricks. He considered them beneath him. But had he ever done one that involved standing on his hind feet, his head would have hit a level far above Doan's. Carstairs was so big he could hardly be called a dog. He was a sort of new species.

A girl came very quickly out of the door behind Doan and said Uh! in a startled gasp when she saw Carstairs looming in front of her.

Carstairs didn't move out of her way. He turned lazily to stare at her. So did Doan.

She was a small girl, and she looked slightly underfed. She had very wide, very clear blue eyes. They were nice eyes. Nothing startling, but adequate. Her hair was brown and smooth under a white turban, and she wore a white sports dress and a white jacket and white openwork sandals. She had a clear, smooth skin, and she blushed easily. She was doing it now.

"I'm sorry," she said breathlessly. "He--he frightened me."

"He frightens me, too, sometimes." said Doan.

"What's your name?"

The girl looked at him uncertainly. "My name? It's Janet Martin."

"Mine's Doan," said Doan. "I'm a detective."

"A--a detective?" Janet Martin repeated, fumbling a little over the word. "You don't look like one."

"Of course not," Doan told her. "I'm in disguise. I'm pretending I'm a tourist."

"Oh," said Janet, still uncertain. "But--do you go around telling everybody about it?"

"Certainly," said Doan. "My disguise is so perfect no one would know I was a detective if I didn't tell them, so naturally I do."

"Oh," said Janet. "I see." She looked at Carstairs. "He's beautiful. I mean, not beautiful but--but magnificent. Does he bite?"

"Quite often," Doan admitted.

"May I pet him?"

Doan looked at Carstairs inquiringly. "May she?"

Carstairs studied Janet for a moment and then came one step closer to her and lowered his head regally. Janet patted his broad brow.

"Don't scratch his ears," Doan warned. "He detests that."

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Rue Morgue Press (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0915230410
• ISBN-13: 978-0915230419
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #629,650 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hardboiled hilarity from a forgotten master! Super Dog P.I.!, March 8, 2004

By	Ryan Harvey "Wolf Shadow" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Norbert Davis is an almost forgotten hardboiled mystery writer for the pulp magazines who flourished in the 1940s. Davis had an incredible talent for combining the tough, violent pulp mystery style originally created by Dashiell Hammett with the screwball comedy of a Preston Sturges movie. Tough bruisers and back-stabbing dames mix it up with assoerted nutcases, obnoxious kids, goofy waiters, and English mangling bus-drivers. (Davis's own world apparently wasn't so hilarious: he committed suicide in the summer of 1949.)

Some of Davis's terrific stories were available in a recent volume, "The Adventures of Max Latin," now about of print and expensive to find used. Thankfully, a small mystery press, The Rue Morgue Press, has put out this re-print of Davis's 1943 novel, "The Mouse in the Mountain." It's the first of three books Davis wrote about an unusual detective team: pudgy P.I. Doan and his partner Carstairs -- who happens to be an enormous Great Dane. Carstairs ain't no animal sidekick, and he's no wimpy Scooby-Doo: he's the dominant member of the partnership, cool under pressure, nobody to mess with, and constantly saving Doan from trouble.

This novel takes Doan and Carstairs to the tiny Mexican town of Los Altos, apparently to convince a possible informer to stay put. Along on the trip is a gaggle of typical Davis comic creations: pretty Janet Martin, fascinated with the history of Los Altos and the romantic explorer who chronicled it; toilet salesman Henshaw, his crabby wife, and obnoxious little son Mortimer; Patricia van Odsel, glamorous heir to a flypaper fortune, and her gigolo Greg and maid Maria; and the rude and domineering Captain Emile Perona, looking for a fugitive of his own. Soon, an earthquake strikes (wonderfully, vividly described) cutting off the town from the rest of the world, fugitives with dark secrets and assassination on their minds start crawling out of the rocks, and certain people end up dead. Who's the killer? What are the strange secrets buried in the crumbling buildings of Los Altos? Will Henshaw manage to sell a new toilet to the grouchy hotel owner? Will Carstairs sitting on Henshaw's awful brat Mortimer ever shut the kid up? Learn all these answers and more in this hilarious, fast-paced mystery from a forgotten master!

The book also contains a helpful introduction about Norbert Davis's life and his unique style, a funny and helpful cast of characters, and the original back of the 1943 book jacket, urging readers to buy War Bonds -- a great way to get you in the right frame of mind for a hardboiled mystery set during the war years.

Get a copy today before Rue Morgue Press runs out of them! Also look for the sequel, "Sally's in the Alley."

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Pleasure To Read, December 16, 2002

By	Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Looking for the most dangerous, enigmatic and ruthless sidekick in the mystery genre? Have you decided it's Joe Pike? Or Hawk? Or Bubba Rugowski? Well forget about it. The meanest, most unsympathetic and unpredictable sidekick out there would have to be Carstairs, partner of private detective Doan. He's huge, aloof handsome, successful, ruthless and...a Great Dane. Who could ask for more?

This is the first of three Doan and Carstairs mysteries and is a comical hardboiled mystery set in the Mexican mountains in the tiny village of Los Altos. Doan accompanied, by his multi-talented partner Carstairs, visits the village in the guise of a tourist, but by the time Los Altos is cut off from the rest of the world thanks to an earthquake, it was already clear to him that there was more than the average amount of foul play taking place in such a small village. Plenty of murders, thieves and double crosses keep the action lively, while the banter from Doan continually jollies the mood along no matter how desperate the situation. For all his good-naturedness and happy go lucky exterior, there is a tough side to Doan which he is forced to exhibit on occasion and, like all hardboiled detectives, shows no hesitation in using deadly force when necessary.

This is an extremely fast book to read with plenty happening surrounded by snappy, often whimsical dialogue. A real pleasure to experience.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great WW II period piece, June 8, 2007

By	Bonner '62 (Virginia) - See all my reviews

I am a sucker for mysteries set during WWII. this one was actually written mid-way through the war rather than just being set in the period so it is even more attractive. The story reflects a simplier era, even though the country was fighting for it's life at the time. The Great Dane is the brains of the outfit but he is not a cartoon character. He doesn't talk and the reader doesn't hear his thoughts. In fact he's not a friendly beast at all. As might be expected the plot boils down to German spies under cover in the US. It ends with the unexpected war hero getting the girl. Yea team!