I, Witness: Personal Encounters with
Crime by Members of the Mystery Writers of America edited by Brian
Garfield: A Review by Warren
Bull
Published in 1978 to celebrate the
opening of the Second International Congress of Crime Writers, I, Witness is a collection of anecdotes, personal experiences writers
had with crime and how that event effected them. The original idea by Dorothy
Salisbury Davis was for crime fiction writers to compose articles about real
criminal cases such as Jack The Ripper and Lizzie Borden. However, each writer
reported a vivid experience with some aspect of the criminal justice system
that was much more influential in their lives and careers than any
already-well-documented historical case. The result is more revealing about the
authors and wonderfully diverse in subject matter. For me, it also elicited an incredible
range of emotions.
Donald E. Westlake begins the book
with a tale of how he became a receiver of stolen goods. He begins by telling
about an actual crime that a group of French criminals successfully pulled off
using a crime novel as a guide. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your
point of view the novel did not cover what to do after the crime is completed.
By throwing money around and boasting, they quickly revealed themselves to the
police. The idea of crime by the book led to a producer to request a story
treatment from Westlake for a comic film. Note that the producer stole the
idea. The author just received the stolen idea. Since Westlake is telling the
story, as you might expect the combinations and permutations after that request
are enough to make your head spin. I’ll leave further description to the
venerable Westlake. Suffice it to say I’ll bet you enjoy the wild ride.
The permeable boundary between fact
and fiction is illustrated by Peter Godfrey who tells of his experience as a
magazine writer when he and Ben Bennett wrote a crime feature together. Bennett
wrote a column titled, “Fact Crime.” Next to it Bennett wrote a column titled,
”Fiction Solution” about the facts as described in the other column. In one
case Bennett was able to channel the perpetrator to such an extent that he
predicted the perpetrator’s response to the column. He was correct How did he
know he was right? The man wrote him and commented on his work. My description
is a bare bones outline. The actual anecdote is much more detailed and
interesting.
Hillary Waugh wrote a “just the
facts” account of what happens when a mystery writer gets a solid dose of reality
from working police detectives. After reading his piece, I now understand why
real detectives rarely read crime fiction.
Madelaine Duke told about efforts
to retrieve art stolen by Nazis and retained by the government of Austria. In her heartbreaking account even
winning a court case did not mean the art would be returned.
Some offerings were gruesome. Others
were tragic. Sometimes the police detectives were relentless and brilliant. On
other cases, police authorities abused their privileges or settled for shoddy
investigations.
I could go on but I will limit
myself to the recommendation that you take the time to search out the book and
read it. It will be a rewarding experience.
Fascinating stuff, Warren. Didn't know about this book. Thanks for turning us onto it.
ReplyDeletePaul
Interesting book, Warren. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
ReplyDelete~ Jim
Sounds like a fun book, Warren. I'll have to look into getting a copy.
ReplyDeleteI love Don Westlake!
Interesting review, Warren. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting review, Warren. You are certainly getting a lot of
ReplyDeletereading done since you moved to Portland.
I've obviously lived too sheltered a life! Thanks for the recommendation.
ReplyDeleteThat's a novel idea for a book (pun inadvertent, but I like it). Thanks for telling us about it!
ReplyDelete