3 books in one, Malniveau Prison, The Falling Star & Police at the Funeral; this concept works well, like the Prison the best, Star was the easiest to read, was all in for this book ( )

review of
Ariel S. Winter's The Twenty-Year Death
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - September 1, 2019

"It is tempting to focus on the virtuosity and ingenuity of what Ariel S. Winter does in this book—wrting a novel about a writer in the form of three separate crime novels, each written in the voice of one of the greatest crime writers of the last century. It is an act of loving literary recreation that will bring a huge smile to the face of any reader of our genre—like discovering new books by three of your favorite authors.

"But what is even more impressive is just how powerful and moving each of the individual novels is, and how the combination of the three produces something greater still." - p 1

"This is an uncorrected proof and not a final edition. - p 3

The publisher, "HARD CASE CRIME", provides a list of their other publications. These include The Dead Man's Brother by Roger Zelazny, a writer that I've previously known exclusively for his SF; House Dick by E. Howard Hunt, the alleged orchestrator of the massacre of 100,000 or so of Guatamalan peasants & one of the Watergate scandal burglars — basically putting him in the same genocidal maniac category as Henry Kissinger; & Blood on the Mink by Robert Silverberg, another writer whose SF work I've read. Maybe Hard Case Crime should consider publishing a double novel along the lines of Ace Doubles w/ something by Howard Hunt on one side & Joseph Goebbels's Michael on the other side! Think of how much money cd be made off the burgeoning neo-nazi market! OK, now that I've got that JAB AT THE PUBLISHERS off my chest, I'll move on.

Each section begins w/ something such as this:

"in memoriam G.S. with apologies" - p 13

Since I was interested in who the influencing crime fiction writers were I tried to deduce whose initials these were & decided on Georges Simenon. I've never read Simenon so I didn't recognize the style. Regardless of Winter's writing's relationship to previous writers, I found this very engaging & Winter pulled off the crime drama nicely. The 1st bk's murder is diabolical:

""There were no holes in his clothes," the officer said. "Someone stabbed hin to death, and then changed his outfit."" - p 26

& it potentially gets even more disturbing as missing children factor in:

""Oh," Servières had put it together. "Georges and Albert went missing on Tuesday night—" Servières took out his notebook and held it close to his face to take notes.

""That's the same night Meprise was found," Martin said, excited now that he caught on too.

""So we were looking for the children," Servières said as he wrote. "Because if they had seen something, like who dumped Meprise's body . . ."" - p 93

Even an anarchist makes it into the mix, something I'm always alert for:

"There was another old file, as full as the others. It was for a prisoner named Renault La Clé. He had been sent to Malniveau in 1894 on a conspiracy charge, an anarchist believed responsible for a series of bombings in which several people were injured although no one was killed.

"Martin, excited over his discovery, talked faster than Pelleter could read. "La Clé was killed two months ago, at least a month before any of the men found in the field.["]" - p 179

The anarchist has been framed:

"["]When La Clé came around the next day, he learned that he'd already taken the fall for the murder. We let him know that we would look out for him, and make sure that nobody bothered him"" - p 189

The next bk begins w/:

"in memoriam R.C. with apologies" - p 247

Of the 3 influencing writers, R.C., Raymond Chandler, is the only one I've read. I love his writing as writing not just for the plotting.

A recurring character reappears in an updated form:

""Her husband's Shem Rosenkrantz," he said. "He had a few books they liked in New York ten, fifteen years ago, but the last few years he's been hanging around here doing treatments that never get made. They never get made because he's too busy fooling around with the stralets and he doesn't keep it a secret from his wife.["]" - p 258

The reader gets a hint of things to come in the next bk but one that's subtle enuf to not be a dead give-away:

""You're living off my wife too, aren't you?" That made him Shem Rosenkrantz. "We're all living off of Clothilde on this damn set. I'm just asking for a little favor, that you watch him for a few hours. I've got to work."" - p 262

Ah, poor Shem, how far he's fallen.

"I'd been wasting time, like the man said. Gilplaine was a publisher and Rosenkrantz a writer. It made sense that they would be working together, even though the critics would have been surprised to find out that Rosenkrantz, the great golden boy, not only had sunk to writing for the pictures but even a step lower, writing for the under-the-counter trade." - p 298

Horse racing interests me not b/c of the racing itself but b/c of the destructiveness of organized gambling. I had a friend who ruined his life w/ this obsession & I got to watch him go down. He was dead by 47. Of course, there were other factors at play but the races were a big part of it.

"People had been opposed to the legalization of horse racing in the state, afraid that it would bring with it organized crime, more alcoholics, and debt-ridden gamblers. They were right; it had brought all those things. But the main investors in the track had not been gangsters. They were the Hollywood brass." - p 431

Given the accuracy of everything else there I assume that the statement about the Hollywood brass is also accurate. Interesting.

The last bk begins w/:

"in memoriam J.T. with apologies" - p 461

Jim Thompson. I tried to read one of his bks & didn't like the style or the brutality. I'll try him again eventually. In the meantime, I've seen 1 or 2 or 3 of the movies based on them.

The continuity resumes:

"Why the hell was I back in Maryland, I asked myself, back in Calvert City?

"But I knew why. It was time to pay Clothilde's private hospital again. And I owed money to Hank Auger. I owed money to Max Pearson. I owed money to Hub Gilplaine." - p 463

I reckon you've deduced wch character this is. & the noose tightens:

""I don't understand," I said again, but then I flashed on it. Vee had used the murder/arson combination before. How could she be so stupid! I proceeded cautiously, "So what are you saying? Vee killed her husband and set the house on fire?"" - p 605

Having this epic descent into hopelessly destructive stupidity parcelled out into 3 interrelated novels was definitely a way of keeping this reader thoroughly engrossed. I'll enthusiastically be reading more by Winter if I'm ever lucky enuf to find something else by him used. ( )

Loved it! Three semi-connected novels, all written in the style of the era. First one set in 1931, written like a Continental Op Dashiell Hammett story. The second in 1941, written as a Raymond Chandler story, full of wise cracks and dames. And the third is set in 1951 and written in the style of Double Indemnity. Great great great all around. ( )

I loved this book. It's very unique. Three novels that share characters that span 30 years ... each story technically can stand alone but they are much more revealing when read together.

My full review is here at DNM Magazine ( )

In the first segment of The Twenty Year Death by Ariel S. Winter, called “Malniveau Prison” starts off with the discovery of a corpse that’s found in a gutter in France in 1931. The Chief Inspector, Pelleter is led to Clotilde-ma-Fleur Rosencrantz – the dead man’s daughter - and her hot-tempered American husband, who is a successful writer. The second segment of the novel, ”Falling Star” plays off in Los Angeles, 1941. Los Angeles private investigator, Dennis Foster is hired to keep an eye on the paranoid starlet called Chloe Rose. Chloe Rose, who is actually Clotilde-ma-Fleur Rosencrantz, moved to Los Angeles to become a star and so that her husband can write screenplays, but the death of her father still haunts her and it seems that someone’s out to get her… The final part of the trilogy novel is called “Police at the Funeral“, which is narrated by Shem Rosencrantz - Clotilde-ma-Fleur Rosencrantz’s husband. He travels to Calvert, Maryland in 1951 for the reading of his first wife’s will. By now, Clotilde is in a mental facility, Shem has squandered everything in support of his drinking habits. But when a fight leads to death, Shem hits rock bottom and the mysteries that surround Clotilde and Shem, are slowly revealed.

Three books in one, The Twenty Year Death stretches over three decades, three narrators and three styles, which in turn all blends into one riveting novel that is reminiscent of 1940′s and 1950′s crime noir novels. This Hard Case Crime book is exceptional in so many ways as debut author, Ariel S. Winter keeps true to the genre and marks his territory with exceptional characters, a great plot and a mystery that is sure to give the reader a lot of pleasure with his magnificent writing. Already making name for himself amongst some of the great authors of our time (Stephen King, David Morell and James Frey) with The Twenty Year Death, it’s safe to say that this is not merely another one-hit-wonder’s book…

What will keep the readers truly in suspense is how these mysteries unfold, whilst keeping the reader wondering “Why?” long after you’ve finished the book. Not all mysteries are resolved though, which keeps true to the genre in many ways, but as far as crime noir goes, The Twenty Year Death is definitely worthy of the title – Our Generation’s The Great Gatsby - which is a title I don’t hand out lightly. Mandatory for collectors of Hard Case Crime books, crime lovers and noir fanatics should definitely get their hands on it, but that’s not the only people who would find delight in The Twenty Year Death though. Those dames who always enjoy watching old-school Hollywood films would find Clotilde (Chloe Rose) a compelling character as well and will definitely want to read about her tale.

With the characters so endearing and the writing so very good (word use, editing, formatting… they’re all of the best quality), it’s a good purchase and definitely something that you’d want to read again and again. What’s more is that this reviewer is hoping they make a movie out of the book too, it’s about time that a new pulp film comes out in a grindhouse form and The Twenty Year Death would make a brilliant subject.

(originally posted at http://www.killeraphrodite.com/2012/08/book-review-twenty-year-death-ariel-s-win... )