Craig Rice - The Big Midget Murders

Craig Rice (1908 - 1957) was an unusual character in history of crime fiction. She perfectly blended hard-boiled crime fiction and surreal, screwball comedy. Her protagonists are Jake Justus, press agent, Helene Brand, party animal and Joseph Malone, an alcoholic lawyer. There is funny policeman Von Flanagan who barely has no involvement in his case, and is constantly whining about his wish to be somebody else than a policeman. In this particular novel, midget was killed after the show, strangled with a stockings. Trio of detectives decide to remove his body from the casino, and there starts funny incidents, which all lead to hilarious situations. Book critic wrote of her as 'Dorothy Parker of detective fiction, she wrote the binge and lived the hangover'. Unfortunately, she was an alcoholic and made two suicide attempts, before overdosing on barbiturates and alcohol in 1957.