When the police receive a call in the early hours of the morning from a women claiming to have a corpse cooped up in her apartment, Al Wheeler, the perennial lone wolf detective is assigned the case. None too happy about being woken from his slumber, the detective's mood quickly improves when we lays eyes on the knock-out dame who answers the door, his suspicion among other things aroused when she pleads clueless as to the alleged corpse in her apartment, swearing black and blue of having not called it in.
Despite being the 38th book in the series, the Creative Murders, much like all the Al Wheeler novels is accessible to both long time and new readers alike.
The plot centers around a spate of murders and has the customary twists and turns which coincide with the fluid list of suspects. The linear plot and pulp styling results in character backstories being non-existent.
The dialogue boarders on juvenile at times and is peppered with school-yard-like banter between Wheeler, the Medical Examiner, and his boss; a common theme throughout most books featuring Wheeler (a character who would work better as a PI without the shackles of law enforcement), but it's part of the cheesy allure of the penny dreadful; junk food for the mind.
My rating: 3/5 stars. I really enjoyed the concept; corporate espionage headhunting with murderous ramifications. Not the best of the Carter Brown books but certainty not the worst either.
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