PARTY OF THE FIRST PART

Versus the party of the second, third, and every other part.

Though Ruth Fenisong’s Death of the Party is part of a series starring franchise NYC police detective Gridley Nelson, the book opens with budget student Matt Berthold being framed for murder, including plenty of detail about his life and relationship with Rennie Marshall, a poor shopgirl. She’s pregnant, and has other revelations for Berthold too. Jail keeps him on ice for those. Meanwhile, Nelson and Co. come increasingly to the fore, disbelieving Berthold’s tale of a set-up, then beginning to wonder whether inconsistencies actually hint that he’s being truthful. The criminals are slowly unveiled, and you get a tale that evolves in an interesting way in which the cops consider Berthold innocent by the halfway mark but still need to find the real killer or killers, as Berthold’s relationship issues grow ever more complex, shading into prospective in-law drama as the book heads toward its ending. It’s unusual, but all well done by Fenisong. The only flaw for us was that Berthold is a twerp. He’s deliberately written that way, but still. In any case, this Fenisong, our first, will surely lead to another. It’s from 1959 from Zenith Books with art by uncredited.

New York City, Zenith Books, Ruth Fenisong, cover art, literature

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

May 13

1960—Gary Cooper Dies

American film actor Gary Cooper, who harnessed an understated, often stoic style in numerous adventure films and westerns, including Sergeant York, For Whom the Bell Tolls, High Noon, and Alias Jesse James, dies of prostate, intestinal, lung and bone cancer. For his contributions to American cinema Cooper received a plaque on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is considered one of top movie stars of all time.

May 12

1957—Von Stroheim Dies

German film director and actor Erich von Stroheim, who as an actor was noted for his arrogant Teutonic character parts which led him to become a renowned cinematic villain with the nickname “The Man You Love to Hate”, dies in Maurepas, France at the age of 71.

May 11

1960—Adolf Eichmann Is Captured

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, four Israeli Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who had been living under the assumed name and working for Mercedes-Benz. Eichman is taken to Israel to face trial on 15 criminal charges, including crimes against humanity and war crimes. He is found guilty and executed by hanging in 1962, and is the only person to have been executed in Israel on conviction by a civilian court.

May 11

2010—Last Ziegfeld Follies Girl Dies

Doris Eaton Travis, who was the last surviving Ziegfeld Follies chorus girl, dies at age 106. The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. Inspired by the Folies Bergères of Paris, they enjoyed a successful run on Broadway, became a radio program in 1932 and 1936, and were adapted into a musical motion picture in 1946 starring Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Lucille Ball, and Lena Horne.

May 10

1924—Hoover Becomes FBI Director

In the U.S., J. Edgar Hoover is appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a position he retains until his death in 1972. Hoover is credited with building the FBI into a large and efficient crime-fighting agency, and with instituting a number of modern innovations to police technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories. But he also used the agency to grind a number of personal axes and far exceeded its legal mandate to amass secret files on political and civil rights leaders. Because of his abuses, FBI directors are now limited to 10-year terms.

May 10

1977—Joan Crawford Dies

American actress Joan Crawford, who began her show business career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies, but soon became one of Hollywood’s most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, dies of a heart attack at her New York City apartment while ill with pancreatic cancer.