Mystery and Crime Brown, Fredric: The Fabulous Clipjoint v1 22 jul 2009

[mtravellerh]

Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906, Cincinnati – March 11, 1972) was an American science fiction and mystery writer.

The Fabulous Clipjoint, first published in 1947, is the first full-length novel by writer Fredric Brown, who had honed his craft by publishing hundreds of short stories in the pulp magazines of the day. The Fabulous Clipjoint is also the first of seven detective novels featuring the nephew/uncle team of Ed and Am Hunter. The subsequent novels in the series are The Dead Ringer, The Bloody Moonlight, Compliments of a Fiend, Death Has Many Doors, The Late Lamented, and Mrs Murphy's Underpants.

When teenaged Ed Hunter's alcoholic father is murdered, Ed is for all intents and purposes orphaned, as he feels no affection whatsoever for his mean-spirited stepmother and hypersexual stepsister. The police dismiss the case as nothing more than the random murder of a back-alley drunk, and so Ed decides to investigate the crime on his own.

Ed enlists the help of his father's brother, Ambrose Hunter, an itinerant carny, who he has not seen in many years, and the two of them set out to solve the crime. Together they wade through a swamp of unseemly characters of the Chicago underworld to expose the real murderer of their father and brother. Along the way, with Am's guidance, Ed comes to realize that his father was not the hapless, pathetic man he had always believed him to be.

The Fabulous Clipjoint, like most of Brown's works, is notable for its solid craftsmanship, atmosphere, and suspense. In 1948 it received the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, which marks the only occasion Brown won or was nominated for the award.

An LRF version has been uploaded by Dr. Drib! My text is taken from Manybooks and a bit embellished (mdashes and new TOC)

[Krystian Galaj]

Hmm, the description reads The Fabulous Clipjoint, and the books title in the topic Famous.

[NormHart]

Ummm, "In 1948 it received the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, which marks the only occasion Brown won or was nominated for the award." I should hope that Mr. Brown was never nominated for another Best First Novel Award let alone winning another since it is very unlikely that he could have written second first novel.

[JerryGills]

This title was recommended for the Kindle but I never saw the download site-just fopund this blog site. Maybe I missed it; the type is small.

[SensualPoet]

The Fabulous Clipjoint (1948) by Frederic Brown is delightful pulp fiction set in late 40s Chicago. This is not literary fiction, so expect lots of action.

It's also a coming of age story for a young man who loses his father in a mysterious murder (or was it random back alley bad luck?), getting a second chance to discover who his dad was through reuniting with his uncle in order to solve the case. It's told in the first person from the point-of-view of the young man.

And for old typographers, the bits of linotype history scattered throughout is a fond tribute to that bygone era ... written when the era was very much alive.

And all this in a "first novel".

[orange!]

Just finished it--thanks, mtravellerh, for uploading it!

Dialog, sets, scenery and costumes all very evocative of lower-class in Chicago in the 1940s. Or at least, I imagine so, since I wasn't around then.