’Way back when I was in high school, I read one of the later books in the Chester Drum series by Stephen Marlowe, and I also read DOUBLE IN TROUBLE, the famous crossover novel that features both Chester Drum and Shell Scott, co-authored by Marlowe and Richard S. Prather. I thought both of them were okay, but I never felt compelled to read any more of the Chester Drum novels.
It’s a well-regarded series, though, so I finally decided after all this time to try another one. I started with the first novel in the series, THE SECOND LONGEST NIGHT, published by Gold Medal in 1955.
Chester Drum is a private eye, or confidential investigator, as he calls himself, in Washington D.C. In this novel, he’s hired by a senator (who happens to be his former father-in-law) to find out if the senator’s daughter (Drum’s ex-wife) actually committed suicide, as the official verdict has it, or if something more sinister happened. This leads him into a case involving murder, family drama, and international intrigue, and takes him to Venezuala for part of the book. (From what I understand, most of the novels take Drum to foreign countries.)
THE SECOND LONGEST NIGHT is very well-written, with vivid settings and some gritty action scenes. The characters are interesting, although Drum is a rather dour protagonist. He makes with a wisecrack every now and then, but mostly he’s as wooden as a stick. The fatal flaw in this novel is that the plot is so easy to figure out. The murderer might as well be wearing a blinking neon sign.
Because of that, I can give this book only a qualified recommendation. I liked enough about it that I’ll probably read another one in the series (I own most of them), but I won’t be in any hurry to do so.
