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The Hidden Assassinsby: Robert Wilson |
Mildred Piercedby Stuart KaminskyMildred Pierced is about events that happened before Joan Crawford actually starred in the movie, Mildred Pierce. In the book, Toby Peters, Private Investigator, is renting a closet-sized space from his friend, Sheldon (Shelly) Minck – a dentist. Mildred Pierced opens with Shelly in the Los Angeles jail, accused of murdering his wife, Mildred, with a crossbow. Joan Crawford, giving her name to the police as Billie Cassin, was the only witness. She hires Toby to keep her name out of the papers and away from all negative publicity, since she fears it may harm her chances of getting the star role she's after (Joan Crawford at that time hadn't made a movie for two years). Mr. Minck was in a park, practicing, and aiming at another, actual target, when his wife Mildred appeared, and was pierced through the heart by a bolt very like the one Shelly was using in his crossbow. Shelly has also hired Toby to find out who actually killed his wife, even though he's unsure whether or not he did it himself, being admittedly less than accurate with his chosen weapon. Shelly Minck still loved his wife – even though she'd thrown him out, cleaned out their joint bank account, filed for divorce, taken a stunt man as a lover, and had always put him down in front of anybody who would listen - all that in addition to not being exactly attractive physically. Such actions on her part naturally gave Shelly the perfect motive for killing his wife in the minds of the police. But the actual motive for Mildred's murder becomes slightly less obscure when it's discovered that one of Shelly's hairbrained inventions has been snatched up by a large firm for an incredible sum – and if Shelly were dead, Mildred would inherit. If Mildred were dead, however, Shelly would become a very rich man. Toby suggests Shelly hire a very good – and very expensive - attorney to help him, which Shelly does, to the consternation of an exceptionally nasty, red-headed cop named Cawelti who is intent on proving Shelly Minck guilty. Suspicion points to a weird organization called Survivors of the Fittest, to which Shelly belonged, and where he selected the crossbow as his weapon of choice. Members of that organization count a very accurate knife thrower and a blowgun specialist among their number, as well as a former marine with one good eye and a couple of other muscle men. Shelly Minck has made out a will leaving all his personal effects to them. He innocently believes in the ridiculous garbage they espouse as their creed. Though Joan Crawford insists she saw Shelly shoot his wife, circumstances become a bit blurred when a schoolboy on a bicycle is also recalled as being at the scene of the murder, actually going through Mildred's purse. Ruth, the wife of Toby's brother Phil, succumbs to one of her many illnesses in a subplot. Phil is also a cop, and mutual hatred between Cawelti and himself, plus his wife's death, lead to Phil's retirement from the force, as well as his eventual partnership with Toby. Toby is verbally warned off the case by Survivors of the Fittest, which follows up with actions far more threatening than mere verbal warnings. Shelly escapes from custody, Joan Crawford is kidnapped, Toby discovers what the schoolboy was doing with Mildred Minck's purse, and a professor who teaches a strange musical instrument turns out not to be as innocent as he seemed. It becomes a fact that Survivors of the Fittest wanted Shelly Minck out of jail. They wanted him out of jail so they could kill him. Mildred Pierced is an excellent book for anyone familiar with the screen heroines inhabiting movies of the 1940's - and a good read even if you're not! Alan Paul Curtis |
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