A Plot for Murder eBook Fredric Brown
Download As PDF : A Plot for Murder eBook Fredric Brown 
An ex-newspaperman finds crime going on, based on radio scripts he wrote.
A Plot for Murder eBook Fredric Brown
I know Fredric Brown mostly from his work as a science fiction writer and editor, and realized he was more well-known as a mystery writer only when working on a “SF Writers Who Were Also Mystery Writers” paperback cover gallery. It was a happy piece of serendipity: An untouched trove of Brown stories to be read and savored. “A Plot for Murder” (originally “Murder Can Be Fun”) was the first I bought. (In the Kindle edition. Another happy circumstance: Midlist authors’ works are now available in some medium other than crumbling paperbacks pulled from the bins of used book stores.)“Plot” starts out well, with an interesting premise: A radio soap opera writer finds his plot outlines for a prospective murder mystery series are being used to commit real murders. The Forties New York City setting is well-handled if a bit generic. (Except for the bars.) I enjoyed the background glimpses of the commercial radio business, pre-television. The characters are agreeable if not particularly strongly-drawn.
Things went well until about two-thirds of the way through the novel. At that point, our protagonist begins acting as if he’s suffered a disastrous drop in his IQ (plausible, since he seems to be a borderline alcoholic) and goes completely limp so far as his curiosity as to who is using his intellectual property to kill people. He recovers some of his initiative at the four-fifths mark but never gets any brighter. Just before being rescued by the timely intervention of the NYPD, he unveils the killer.
-- and I don’t believe it. Seriously. All the clues in the story up to the unveiling point to a completely different character as the killer, someone who would have been an interesting and unorthodox villain. Instead, the “real killer” turns out to be a featureless nobody who has been absent from the action for most of book. I almost feel as if Brown worked out his plot along the lines I saw, but was forced to change it to something less -- controversial? -- at the last minute. (His protagonist rails against exactly such editorial interference at one point, in fact. Interesting.)
A disappointment in the end, hence the three-star rating. I’ll try another Brown mystery, but “A Plot for Murder” was not an encouraging first foray into Brown Country.
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A Plot for Murder eBook Fredric Brown Reviews
This book has also been released under the title "Murder Can Be Fun". Typical great stuff from Fredric Brown.
Great typical Fred Brown mystery. Light humor and clever plot.
Another great convoluted plot from Fredric Brown.
Say you're a writer for a TV suspense series - and you have a pile of pilot scripts you want to show to some hot shot producer - but before you can,
someone uses your scripts to commit one crazy murder after another - I mean, killing someone in a Santa suit?
Grab this book - it's been hard to get for years and now we have another terrific mystery from a writer who knew how to weave suspense and a tricky plot into a great mystery.
Fredric Brown was a "pulp" writer who is revered by lovers of classic Sci-Fi. I never heard of his off-beat mysteries until they started appearing as editions and I stumbled onto them. They're unique, to say the least.
Unfortunately, there's little information on Brown and his work and I can't give a date for this book. It's set in New York City in pre-television times. Our hero (using the term very loosely) is Bill Tracy, a former hard-drinking newspaperman who's now a hard-drinking writer for a popular radio soap opera named "Millie's Millions." It's in the tradition of the silent-screen series "The Perils of Pauline" and every episode sees Millie facing new dangers and troubles and (to the huge relief of her fans) surviving by the skin of her teeth. It pays well, but cranking out five inane episodes a week is boring, soul-destroying work.
And so Tracy conceives of another radio show - more literate and intelligent - in which the listener is given the clues to a murder and invited to solve the crime. He's written several episodes and is hoping to sell it to a radio station and be rid of Millie for good. But before he can tell anyone about it, his plots start showing up in real murders. AND they're real murders of people he knows.
In most pulp stories, Tracy would be arrested and beaten up by eager-beaver, not-too-bright cops determined to get a conviction at all costs. Brown rose above the stereotypes and that's what makes his mysteries so intriguing. Inspector Bates is a quiet, shrewd man who suspects that the sea of evidence pointing at Tracy is too good to be true. He's tough, but he wants to arrest the right guy and Tracy remains free to do a bit of investigating on his own. Bumbling, heavy-handed Sergeant Corey lives up to the "dumb cop" stereotype, but he's so thrilled to meet the writer of his favorite radio show that he doesn't give a damn if the guy IS a murderer. After all, New York City sees multiple murders every day. What's one more?
Brown was no slouch at plotting, either, and this one winds around and around. Humor and realistic characters set it apart from the herd. In particular, the two women in Tracy's life provide endless complications and interest. It's the age-old dilemma of a man trying to choose between a kind-hearted, straight-forward gal-pal and a voluptuous, clinging femme-fatale. You know what he'll decide, but it's still great fun to watch. If you love classic mysteries, you shouldn't miss Brown's stuff. If you love good writing, that's reason enough.
I know Fredric Brown mostly from his work as a science fiction writer and editor, and realized he was more well-known as a mystery writer only when working on a “SF Writers Who Were Also Mystery Writers” paperback cover gallery. It was a happy piece of serendipity An untouched trove of Brown stories to be read and savored. “A Plot for Murder” (originally “Murder Can Be Fun”) was the first I bought. (In the edition. Another happy circumstance Midlist authors’ works are now available in some medium other than crumbling paperbacks pulled from the bins of used book stores.)
“Plot” starts out well, with an interesting premise A radio soap opera writer finds his plot outlines for a prospective murder mystery series are being used to commit real murders. The Forties New York City setting is well-handled if a bit generic. (Except for the bars.) I enjoyed the background glimpses of the commercial radio business, pre-television. The characters are agreeable if not particularly strongly-drawn.
Things went well until about two-thirds of the way through the novel. At that point, our protagonist begins acting as if he’s suffered a disastrous drop in his IQ (plausible, since he seems to be a borderline alcoholic) and goes completely limp so far as his curiosity as to who is using his intellectual property to kill people. He recovers some of his initiative at the four-fifths mark but never gets any brighter. Just before being rescued by the timely intervention of the NYPD, he unveils the killer.
-- and I don’t believe it. Seriously. All the clues in the story up to the unveiling point to a completely different character as the killer, someone who would have been an interesting and unorthodox villain. Instead, the “real killer” turns out to be a featureless nobody who has been absent from the action for most of book. I almost feel as if Brown worked out his plot along the lines I saw, but was forced to change it to something less -- controversial? -- at the last minute. (His protagonist rails against exactly such editorial interference at one point, in fact. Interesting.)
A disappointment in the end, hence the three-star rating. I’ll try another Brown mystery, but “A Plot for Murder” was not an encouraging first foray into Brown Country.
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