Vince Edwards, Murder By Contract, Irving Lerner, 1958
But whatever happens, wherever the scene is laid, somebody, somewhere, will quietly set out—somebody has already set out, somebody still rather far away is buying a ticket, is boarding a bus, a ship, a plane, has landed, is walking toward a million photographers, and presently he will ring at my door—a bigger, more respectable, more competent Gradus.
—Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, 1962
Burt Lancaster, The Killers, Robert Siodmak, 1946
Oopsie — it’s Vince Edwards.
A killer who can’t kill and a mark who won’t run. Plus some choice words about deep resignation from the greatest literary murder mystery of all time. Nicely played.