- Hardcover: 216 pages
- Publisher: Delphi Books (April 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0966339711
- ISBN-13: 978-0966339710
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.5 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 544 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,581,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In 1946, Time selected mystery writer Craig Rice for its first cover feature on that genre a classic case of poor judgment. Today, almost none of Georgiana Craig Rice's lightweight writing (Home Sweet Homicide, The Thursday Turkey Murders, etc.) is in print (whereas Raymond Chandler, passed over by Time, is a standard). Rice's life story does not accord with her superficial reputation as a lightly comedic author. Abandoned by her parents, Rice used this theme casually in almost all her fiction, but never dug deeper. A long slide into alcoholism and a series of abusive marriages (including one to the fringe Beat writer Larry Lipton, author of The Holy Barbarians, and another to a lunatic she met in a psychiatric hospital) mark the way to her early death at age 49 in 1959. Most striking, she neglected her own children (her 12-year-old daughter had to have Rice pointed out at a funeral because she "hadn't visited her family in so long"). Marks (Canine Crimes, etc.) captures these incidents in a serviceable narrative, though he is at his weakest when offering na‹ve critical perspectives (regarding the rumors that Rice or possibly W.H. Auden ghosted Gypsy Rose Lee's The G-String Murders, he notes, "While very enjoyable, G-String doesn't reach to an Auden... level"). Every writer may deserve such a dedicated biographer, and Rice's life is interesting (especially for hardcore mystery fans), but her saga proves to be less madcap than simply depressing.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Midwest Book Review March 2001, Cindy
Fascinating biography ... very highly recommended
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pleased but disappointed,
By A Customer
This review is from: Who Was That Lady?: Craig Rice: The Queen of Screwball Mystery (Hardcover)
If you're a Craig Rice fan, as I am, you'll be pleased by the publication of this book. Whether it's the first or only biography that will ever be written about an author whose work has been egregiously neglected by reprint publishers--to the detriment of the reading public--it furnishes the curious fan with some vital information about a fascinating but very troubled woman whose life was a far cry from the delightfully wacky works she's best remembered for. So why am I disappointed? Because a lot of Marks's writing is sloppy and thus confusing, which in turn suggests sloppy editing; and because the proofreader, if one existed, didn't do his or her job very well. Typos abound. Even the page numbers given in the index are incorrect! Nevertheless, I applaud Marks for his scholarship and dedication to the project. Perhaps his book will spur future biographers to delve more deeply into Rice's life and works. Above all, perhaps it will spur a publisher into reprinting her novels and story collections to reach new readers.
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Valuable First Step,
By
This review is from: Who Was That Lady?: Craig Rice: The Queen of Screwball Mystery (Hardcover)
It's nice to see the witty, vital work of Craig Rice finally getting some scholarly attention. Jeffrey Marks has done a thorough job of research, and he deserves praise for untangling such apparently Gordian knots as Rice's real name, the history of her marriages, and her confused publication history. However, his biography is more of a necessary first step than a truly engaging work in itself. While he details the sorrows of Rice's life, he never really shows us why her contemporaries referred to her as funny, bright, and lively. His analysis of her place in the history of her genre is cursory at best (surprisingly, given his knowledge of the field), and he tends to summarize rather than discuss her novels. The book is also quite badly proofread. Nonetheless, he has performed a true service for Rice fans and critics, who I hope will use this book in order to do more analytical work.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth a read,
By A Customer
This review is from: Who Was That Lady?: Craig Rice: The Queen of Screwball Mystery (Hardcover)
Jeffrey Marks does a fairly good job writing about a woman who lived such a hard and bizarre life. Finding details for Craig Rice's life story must have been a real challenge. I am Craig's grand-daughter and I learned more about Craig's life from this book than from conversations with those who knew Craig. The book must have required exhaustive research on Mr. Mark's part. He ties the story of her life together and includes a great deal of information about Craig's novels, her movie scripts and her short stories.
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