tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post4354953376589686714..comments2024-03-18T11:01:42.459-05:00Comments on Pretty Sinister Books: The Ghost Knows His Greengages - R. B. SaxeJ F Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-4083614081106034542017-06-26T21:55:14.930-05:002017-06-26T21:55:14.930-05:00I happen to have a black hard cover copy of the Gh...I happen to have a black hard cover copy of the Ghost does a Richard the Third, and regardless of the criticism I've read here, I can say that I enjoyed it immensely, and re read it 3-4 times. It's lo ked a way on storage now, and I haven't seen it or my other books, about 7000 of them for many years. It was my ambition to become a rare vook seller but nevr found the right partner as I was a tyro. Never mind. Geraldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15263415982259143122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-68931402367280658652014-02-07T02:35:13.478-06:002014-02-07T02:35:13.478-06:00Not an author I know and I suspect it's goign ...Not an author I know and I suspect it's goign to stay that way - much more fun to read your post about it - but then, that is a whole brank of literature i.e. more fun to discuss than to actually read! Thanks chum. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-25526692898200455782014-02-05T08:01:03.505-06:002014-02-05T08:01:03.505-06:00It is indeed the same Ghost. Same author, too. The...It is indeed the same Ghost. Same author, too. The title as written above is correct. Someone at the British Library made a data entry error. You don't think they make a mistake every now and then? Believe me, they're far from infallible.<br /><br />You're right about the Cockney rhyming slang. "Knows his Greengages" is rhyming slang for "knows his wages" Dickson wrote a few songs incorporating rhyming slang so he was up on that type of idiom as much as he was expert at American gangster talk.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-30117463900769862312014-02-05T04:20:55.660-06:002014-02-05T04:20:55.660-06:00According to the British Library it's A Ghost ...According to the British Library it's <b>A</b> Ghost Does a Richard III, so it may not be the same ghost...<br />I also wonder what a Richard III is. I've only come across it as vulgar rhyming slang...Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-29122927673317656242014-02-04T21:20:18.901-06:002014-02-04T21:20:18.901-06:00John, this was absolutely worth reading if only fo...John, this was absolutely worth reading if only for your parody of a parody at the beginning and the wonderfully horrible metaphors. Oh my. I'm still giggling. Bev Hankinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01127476456755776574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-12683487455460916052014-02-04T16:42:57.758-06:002014-02-04T16:42:57.758-06:00Shoot! How did I miss that? Thanks for the correct...Shoot! How did I miss that? Thanks for the correction/addition. My post has been duly corrected to number four books and I added the title and date of publication.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-89069547460933114032014-02-04T15:59:41.810-06:002014-02-04T15:59:41.810-06:00There's also A Ghost Does a Richard III.
What ...There's also A Ghost Does a Richard III.<br />What that involves, I don't know.<br /><br />Runyon impersonation seems to have been a hobby among British writers. Parts of Adrian Alington's The Great Test Match Crime are narrated by an American gunman...Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-75620908598072877692014-02-04T13:36:18.453-06:002014-02-04T13:36:18.453-06:00I wish I could claim I invented the exclamation th...I wish I could claim I invented the exclamation that heads this post, but I lifted that straight from the pages of this book. Sammy also says "by all signs and portents" an awful lot so I threw that phrase into the Mixmaster, too. This was a lot of fun despite the Archie Bunker crap -- sadly a lot of that in the middle section. But he got me to laugh which is more than Dora "Richard" Shattuck managed a couple of weeks ago. You have to credit Mr. Dickson for his skill with gangster idiom. I think he deserves a writer's award for the sheer inventiveness of his loopy metaphors.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-15500697027421925322014-02-04T12:53:20.053-06:002014-02-04T12:53:20.053-06:00What I can tell you is, Book-Knowin' John -- w...What I can tell you is, Book-Knowin' John -- we gave him that moniker on account of all the other Johns -- knows how to write a parody of a parody of a Runyon parody so youse can get the idea of about what he's talking. No, I can't keep it up either, but well done sir!<br /><br />I've never encountered this author -- I'm tempted to say "Thank goodness," since this sort of material is outside my comfort zone, as it were. But I note that the ugly edition at the top of the post is from the interesting UK Pocket line. There might be a hundred titles in this line, and they're not considered scarce or valuable, at least according to a rather dated price guide; I just think they're interesting because they attempted fairly consistently to bring strongly American fiction to the UK market, and this certainly qualifies. (You're absolutely right, Canadians don't talk like that unless they are being represented by American writers.)<br /><br />I think there's another good reason I've discovered to play the "Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge" game; I feel compelled to keep up with you, and you're a faster writer than I am!<br />Noah Stewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07764374151069962506noreply@blogger.com