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There Was A Little Girl

by Ed McBain

Ed McBain is undoubtedly one of the greatest of our fictional crime writers. In his Matthew Hope series, of which this novel is one, he uses familiar rhymes or children's stories as his titles, with excerpts from them as chapter headings. There was a little girl, and she had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead is such a rhyme. Far from being his latest novel, Ed McBain had already written over eighty-seven other books by the time this one was published back in 1994.

Probably most famous for his murder mystery books about the 87th Precinct, Mr. McBain has also written other books in addition to his Matthew Hope series, including his efforts under the name of Evan Hunter. Besides all this, Ed McBain is the author of short stories, children's books, screenplays and teleplays! Good writing and excellent plots seem to ooze out of him like a squeezed tube of toothpaste – except that a toothpaste tube has definite limits, where Ed McBain seems to have none.

There Was A Little Girl may not be one of Ed McBain's contemporary delights, but deserves your attention just the same. It immediately grabs you with the fact of Matthew Hope's being shot twice, and landing in the hospital – but in a coma after successful surgery. From that point on, There Was A Little Girl is concerned with why he got shot. Inquiries by his friends and co-workers are interspersed with the activity and remembrances in Matthew's brain itself. In There Was A Little Girl, Ed McBain uses a form of dialogue something like coitus interruptus – a form for which he is deservedly famous – in that the words of each person's conversation are usually interrupted by another's – with both thoughts expressed eventually being completed.

It's soon evident that Matthew Hope, lawyer and sometime private investigator of Calusa, Florida, was tracking down the reason for the death of Willa Torrence – known under the performance name of Wee Willa Winkie. Mrs. Torrance was a midway star for a small but thriving circus before her suicide. That organization, the Steadman and Roeger Circus, was now attempting to buy the state fair grounds in Calusa for a permanent encampment there in addition to its regular tour through the southern states. The sale has been suspended by litigation, which opened up the whole can of worms surrounding Mrs. Torrance death, and the idea that perhaps it wasn't suicide after all.

Warren Chambers, a black investigator (which alone tended to limit his effectiveness in a southern state like Florida), Detective Morris Bloom, a world-weary cop, Toots Kiley, a sexy, tough female investigator, plus Frank Somerville, Matthew Hope's partner, and Patricia Denning, also a lawyer and Matthew's love interest, all comprise the cadre of interested people trying to uncover the reasons why Matthew Hope was shot – and why. What was Matthew Hope doing in a bar in Newtown at all? Newtown was a primarily black neighborhood in Calusa, seldom infiltrated by white men such as Matthew. The investigations of these friends and cohorts lead them to a number of suspects including a lion tamer, a former trapeze artist, a midget's normal-size daughter, a man who juggled while suspended only by his hair, and a promiscuous young female elephant rider.

Not only circus people are involved, of course. Peripheral people like Willa's former husband, the actual owner of the fairground land in question, and a black businessman worth six hundred million dollars are all questioned. The twisted strands of interwoven relationships are gradually separated by the investigators – leading at last to the discovery of Matthew Hope's notes and a very intimidating tape; which in turn leads to the motive behind the gunshots which put him into a coma. Then it's up to Matthew's friends to discover who actually used that motive in an attempt to kill Matthew – as well as discovering who killed the circus star, Willa. Matthew was
evidently getting too close for comfort to the truth behind Willa's so-called 'suicide.'

There Was A Little Girl discloses more than one meaning of the word 'girl' - and with Ed McBain's usual panache, finally produces evidence of who actually performed the murders. There Was A Little Girl then ends with Matthew Hope's slight improvement, naturally giving Mr. McBain's readers a reason to expect a continuation of the series.

Alan Paul Curtis

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