The Murderers by Fredric Brown

 

Fredric Brown's 1961 noir crime novel The Murderers made me realize just how much more sensitive to sexual slurs and crimes even my boomer generation has become since the whole "Me Too" movement broke a few years ago. And that's a good thing, of course. Surprisingly enough, I had to keep reminding myself that even in 1961 Brown was using those terms and attitude descriptions only to describe what turns out to be a pretty despicable lead character - not to show that they are the norm of the day. 

That character, Willy Griff, is a struggling actor who barely manages to cover his day-to-day living expenses in a cheap Los Angeles boardinghouse. That's largely due to Willy's habit of spending any spare cash he accumulates on cheap booze, drugs, and young women as much on the make as he is. Willy's been getting some extra cash from his current lover who just happens to be the wife of the Southern California "seat cover king," but after their affair is exposed, the pair figure out that they can still have each other and all that seat cover money if they can only figure out a foolproof way to eliminate the king.

That's when things get complicated.

Another struggling actor, who lives in the same boardinghouse, has been blackballed by a vindictive producer, effectively ending the man's acting career even before it starts. Struggling actor #2 will certainly shed no tears if something were to happen to Mr. Producer. So maybe a you-kill-mine-and-I'll-kill-yours deal can be struck between the two? Be careful what you wish for, boys.

If this plot reminds you a little (or a lot) of Patricia Highsmith's 1950 novel Strangers on a Train, you are not alone. And like Highsmith's hugely successful novel, The Murderers is largely a psychological novel in which considerable time is spent developing the lead novel's  character and motivations. The Murderers even has one of those ironic Alfred Hitchcock kind of endings we all enjoyed so much in the sixties and seventies. Despite the sometimes formulaic structure of this one, I enjoyed it enough to give it three stars out of five.