Death Goes Native - Max Long

THE STORY:  Hastings Hoyt is eager to escape his "murder jinx" after his adventures recorded in the first two books by Max Long. In Death Goes Native (1941), the final mystery in Long's trilogy, Hoyt sets sail to the remote, nearly inaccessible Valley of Waimaka, a little visited Eden away from Big Island. When he arrives he is surprised to find a colony of 12 mainlanders who have set up a private village and have "gone native" dressing in Hawaiian clothes, taking up Hawaiian art of weaving, and eating almost exclusively native foods. When one of the colony is found murdered on Hoyt's boat with a weapon that has Hoyt's initials on it he covers up evidence before reporting the death. then when he brings the self-proclaimed leader of the village to the boat they discover a thoroughly cleaned up crime scene and no sign of the body.

THE CHARACTERS:  Hastings Hoyt usually acts as the Watson to Long's series detective plantation cop Komako Koa.  While he does narrate, like a true Watson, he is usually much in the background. In Death Goes Native, however, he takes center stage as it appears someone is exploiting his presence on Waimaka. He is seen as an intruder and scapegoat rather than a humble visitor.  Several crimes occur, not just the murder of the playwright who was killed on his boat and then mysteriously disposed of.  Each time Hoyt is implicated in some way - initials on weapons, being the last person to see someone alive.  He has no luck and is seemingly at the mercy of someone who clearly want shim blamed and arrested for all the deaths and crimes.  Almost miraculously Komako shows up just in time to take over before policemen from Big Island can arrive to begin an official murder investigation. The suspects are numerous and all of them seem to be have some kind of secret they are harboring.

Bronson Delmar  - first victim of murder. A playwright who has bragged about his current manuscript recently completed while living on the island. The plot deals with crime and his inspiration for some of the characters comes from recent headlines

Bessie Delmar - The playwright's wife and co-writer of the play. When her husband dies she show little grief and is more worried about the location of the manuscript and getting proper credit for the plot. A notebook with newspaper clippings that serve as inspiration for the play's story turns up among Bessie's belongings and gives Komako a major clue as to the motivation of the killer

Elaine - being cared for by the local physician. She is suffering from amnesia and does not even know her name. Her caretakers gave her the name of Elaine. On two nights she is seen sleepwalking and talking about someone named Peter.  

Dr. Latham - While caring for Elaine Dr Latham has fallen in love with her. He fears if she recovers her memory and she learns about her life --possibly she is married -- that he will lose her. And who is Peter?  It's not him. His first name is .

Mrs. Latham - The doctor's imperious mother who seems almost a peripheral character. Until she has a private conversation with Komako and Hoyt about her suspicons of their so-called village leader...

Mr. Budd - the village chief, so to speak. He organized the colony and seems to be in charge of everything. Why did he want to set up this private idyll far away form the mainland? Is he hiding from his past? 

Turva Massic - Hoyt is struck by Turva's exotic appearance despite the long scar that runs down the side of her face. Of all the people she seems to be transforming into a true native. Her fascination with weaving keeps her occupied. But she is wary of Hoyt who she thinks has a dangerous side. 

Mary & Henry - two Hawaiians who act as servants for the villagers.  They are in love and also become key witnesses 

Mokino - another Hawaiian and Mary's father. He is the kahuna of the area, a shaman of sorts, who spends much of his time taking care of a shark that visits the lagoon near a local swimming spot. Komako tells Hoyt that the shark is a reincarnation of a dead boy and thus Mokino treats the shark as if it is his own child, feeding it and making sure no one molests the creature.

The Wests - Josephine and Thornton, married couple having some domestic difficulty. Thornton, am musician and composer, spends too much time working on a symphony. Josephine feels ignored and so she has been flirting with some of the men -- one of them being Delmar.

Herb - the manager/handyman of the village. Though most of his duties are confined to repair work Herb has taken it upon himself to micromanage the activities of the villagers. For instance, he rings a bell to remind everyone that its time for exercise and swimming. Needless to say many of the villagers find this laughable and many ignore his schedules and regulations.

Inscription with Max Long's signature
"with Aloha Nui Oe"is his greeting

INNOVATIONS:  More than the other two mystery novels Long wrote with Komako Koa and Hasting Hoyt Death Goes Native is the most accomplished and satisfying as a detective novel. He does well with trying to plant clues. More importantly he improves in building suspense in this final novel by focusing the story on the "wrong man" motif so familiar to crime novel devotees. With Hoyt discovering the crime and then foolishly covering up the crime the reader is eager to see how he will get out of the mess Hoyt creates for himself. When the body vanishes he and Komako must then re-examine the crime scene to figure out what was done with the corpse. Hoyt fears that is was fed to the roaming shark, but Komako tells him that is unlikely. This is when we learn the truth of the shark and why it is revered and cared for by Mokino. 

Long seems to have modeled this mystery novel on those of his contemporaries making use of other familiar conventions such as crimes in the past and impersonation. The play the Delmars wrote is the Macguffin of the piece - everyone wants to find it, especially Koa and Hoyt. They believe it will reveal the motive for all the murders. But has it been destroyed? If so, how will they expose the killer who they are sure is one of the villagers pretending to be someone else? Impostors will turn up over the course of the novel and more than one character will have a secret exposed. Long also dares to flaunt some of the assumed rules of detective fiction by having multiple villains having a hand in the various crimes other than murder. The plot is filled with incident as well as some intriguing insight into Hawaiian culture and superstition. These aspects are blended well into the story rather than being didactic intrusions as in the case of the volcano lectures in The Lava Flow Murders (1940), the second of the Komako Koa books.

THE AUTHOR:  Max Freedom Long (1890 - 1971) was born in Colorado and then moved to California where he was raised, schooled and eventually graduated from Los Angeles State Normal School with an associates degree.  In 1917 he moved to Hawaii and taught school there for several years.  While living and working in Hawaii Long became fascinated with local culture, folklore and what he called Hawaiian magic. These would lead to his developing a philosophy he called Huna. In the 1930s he left Hawaii and set up home again in California. By August 1941 he was living in Laguna Beach based on an inscription I have in my copy of Death Goes Native.

He wrote three detective novels with Komako Koa. I am surmising that the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941, four months after the publication of his third novel, put an end to his writing anymore mystery novels set in Hawaii. Long is better known for his books on Huna, his personal philosophy that incorporates Hawaiian "magic" and culture into a kind of New Age worldview. Three of these Huna books are apparently still in print while his detective novels have been basically forgotten.

FOR SALE!  I've listed all three copies of Komako Koa mystery novels and they are currently available for purchase. Click here. This morning I checked and already The Lava Flow Murders is sold, but the other two are still eager for someone to purchase them.  Happy hunting! 

Komako Koa Trilogy
Murder Between Dark and Dark (1939)
The Lava Flow Murders (1940)
Death Goes Native (1941)

Thin Air - Howard Browne

THE STORY: Ad exec, Ames Coryell, returns from a vacation in Maine with his wife Leona and 3 year-old daughter Phoebe.  While Ames unloads the luggage from the car Leona quickly exits the car and enters the house.  When Ames goes in with his daughter and the suitcases he can't find his wife. Her handbag is on the table in the dining room but no sign of his wife.  He panics.  Runs through the neighborhood and cannot find her.  When he calls his neighbor Sally Fremont to ask if maybe Leona made a quick visit at their home Sally is perplexed. It's 2 AM in the morning! Why would Leona stop by? "Where is Mark?" Ames asks inquiring about Sally's husband. She tells him Mark is still awake in his office working on his latest architect's project. "Will you check? Maybe Leona is there."  Sally does so and is shocked when she discovers that Mark too is gone. Did the two run off together? If not, have they vanished into Thin Air (1954)?

THE CHARACTERS:  This is primarily Ames' story and he acts as first person narrator. Once his wife disappears he reveals himself to be a willful and temperamental man. He makes an immediate enemy of Lt. John Box assigned to look into the claim that Leona Coryell has disappeared. Box makes no pretense that he suspects Ames has something to do with her disappearance which of course infuriates Ames. The two do not get off to a good start and it only worsens as the book progresses. Fed up with a detective who won't listen and has already accused him of murder Ames is determined to solve the mystery of his missing wife on his own.

Then Mark is found unconscious not far from his home and taken to a hospital where he lapses into a coma. He has been struck on the back of the head with the ubiquitous blunt object. Now Box thinks that Ames is acting out some revenge plot having picked up on hints that Ames imagined that Mark has perhaps had a secret affair with Leona and that they were running off together. Box is sure that Ames found Mark and attacked him. He warns Ames that if the coma worsens and Mark eventually dies he will be after Ames Coryell for a definite murder.

French paperback edition
(Editions Ditis, 1957)

Coryell then dismisses the police altogether and comes up with an ingenious plan. He enlists his entire advertising firm to turn his wife's disappearance into a regional campaign. Everyone from the art department head to every agent writing copy will work on the project. Ames even involves the agency's market research team who work at a completely different company to help in their elaborate campaign.  They will create a public interest in Ames' missing wife. TV ads, magazine ads, radio spots--the whole shebang.  Leona's face will be everywhere and she will be on everyone's mind just like the many products that the advertising firm sells. Create the need and the public will respond with purchase power.  Or in this case with possible eyewitness accounts and other information. The ultimate aim is to turn the public into a collective of amateur detectives. Soon the police and the ad agency are deluged with phone calls offering  tips and witness stories.

Some of the tips pay off and Ames soon finds himself paying a visit to a blond woman staying in a fleabag hotel. And that's when the story begins to get complicated and a bit fantastical. Best leave it there. Unexpected twists and unbelievable coincidences compound leading to a shocking murder and the somewhat outlandish reason for Leona's disappearance.

INNOVATIONS:  The idea of using an ad agency to solve a crime is wholly original. Many of the sequences where the men from Palmer & Verrick, Market Researchers offer their expertise to Ames show a truly clever way to introduce detection into the story. Market researchers, as head agent Uhlman, tells Ames are little more than compilers of statistics. They have at their hands multiple references and databases (mostly in book form in this decade) to help locate anyone and any company. As an example: when Ames shows Uhlman and his men a photograph of Marty Dry wearing tee shirt, jeans and house slippers standing in front of  car parked near an apartment building and another building with the letters ERY visible at the edge of the photo Ames is sure than the photo was taken in front of his home. Who would be dressed like that anywhere else? Remember it's 1954 and slippers were only worn in the home not in public like they are now in this age of "slovenly chic" fashion choices. They also notice the numbers 773 on the building with the letters ERY.  Uhlman offers up a variety of businesses those letters might be: grocery, stationery, bakery, millinery, etc.  After looking up addresses in Manhattan where those numbers occur in the street address he then brilliantly eliminates all neighborhoods where those businesses could not be next to an apartment building using his vast knowledge of sociodemographics.  Then Uhlman and a crew of eight other men use phone directories, split up the alphabet, and within only a few minutes they have pegged a few possible addresses where Marty Dry lives and when Ames drives to the first and most likely address he is astonished that the photo matches the location exactly. Very impressive detective work, I'd say. Completely believable, too, given how market research firms work.  

Some more innovative detective work is performed by Ame's daughter who is only 3 years old. When she asked her mother "Do you like me, Mommy?" while they were driving home from a brief stop in Connecticut Phoebe tells her father that her mother said the wrong thing. It's a game that she plays with her parents. She asks the question and they always says No. And then Phoebe asks "Why not?" and they reply "Because I love you." When the woman said yes to the question "Do you like me?" Phoebe knew it wasn’t her mother sitting next to her. This surprising news leads Ames to the most startling discovery in the book and the beginning of his action-filled search for the whereabouts of his wife.

THE AUTHOR:  Howard Browne (1907-1999) worked at several advertising agencies as well as being the editor of two notable genre fiction magazines according to the DJ blurb on the back of my copy of Thin Air.  Further research revealed to me that those magazines were Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures. Not only was he editor of those magazines Browne contributed his own fantasy, adventure and science fiction stories under both his own name and a variety of pseudonyms.  He is probably best known for the crime novels he wrote under his pseudonym John Evans. As Evans he created the private eye Paul Pine who appeared in a series of four novels set in Oak Park, Illinois and Chicago.  In 1001 Midnights Bill Pronzini called Paul Pine "one of the best of the plethora of tough guy heroes" from the post-WW2 era. He goes on:  "Although the Pine novels are solidly in the tradition of Raymond Chandler, they have a complexity and character all their own and are too well crafted to be mere imitations."  Browne also wrote for television and the movies. Thin Air was adapted several times for television. The first of several TV versions was the sixth episode in the second season of Climax! with Robert Sterling as Ames and Pat O'Brien as the policeman. Later adaptations of the missing person motif would appear in numerous crime dramas including episodes of The Rockford Files and Simon & Simon.  In addition to numerous TV scripts from series in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly westerns and crime dramas, Browne wrote the screenplays for three gangster movies: Portrait of a Mobster (1961), The St. Valentine's Massacre (1966) and Capone (1975) with Ben Gazzara in the title role.

QUOTES:  If I don't get [my wife] you're going to be up to your tie clasp in police. 

He looked slightly less dangerous than the Bobbsey Twins. 

When a girl's that close to a guy it would only seem reasonable that she'd have his phone number or his address... Maybe in a little black book. Girls who live alone in cheap hotels along shoddy back streets have books like that. ...At best this was a lonely world. 

I was making enough racket to alert half the county. This was what came from preferring football and girls to a membership in the Boy Scouts.

Looking into his eye was like looking at the falling blade of a guillotine

I was up to my hatband in doubt.

There was no warning, no advance whisper of sound. Only the world blowing up in a sudden sea of white flare laced with agony, and I was falling through it in slow motion toward the edge of blackness.

It was time for the organ music and please omit flowers.

EASY TO FIND? Multiple editions are offered for sale on line, a mix of paperback reprints and the original Simon & Schuster hardcover. The first paperback (Dell 894, 1955) is the most common edition for sale. A later 1984 reprint from Carrol & Graf also turns up often from online dealers.  The first edition will of course cost you more with prices ranging from $75 (dampstained book with a VG- DJ) to $450 for a fine copy in DJ that is also signed by Howard Browne. Happy hunting!