Cops & Artists
Born in NYC in 1931, Robert Daley has had a fine literary run. After graduation from Fordham, he served in the Air Force during the Korean War. He spent six seasons as publicity director of the football Giants, then worked for The New York Times, covering stories in 16 countries in Europe and North Africa. In 1971–72 he served as Deputy Commissioner of the NYPD. Beginning in 1959, his books hit the marketplace. He had five works of non-fiction under his belt before his first novel was published. From then on he moved back and forth between fiction and non, vaulting to the top in 1978 with Prince of the City: The True Story of a Cop Who Knew Too Much, one of five of his books adapted to either the big or small screen. Recently, a 1995 copy of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books Volume Two came my way. Among the four novels in it is Daley’s Wall of Brass, first published in ’94. It’s the story of the murder of NYC’s police commissioner. Its best aspect is the politics of succession, the hope of three ambitious, flawed deputies to ascend to the throne. I found it engrossing and well, if a tad overwritten. Then again, I have no idea what any RD editor may have done with it, so it may be unfair to comment about anything but the final result of this version. At Amazon, the hardcover original is listed as 384 pages. The RD version is less than half that. Still, it is a lively read. Four readers at Jeff Bezos’ behemoth have rated it, forging to a consensus of 3.6 on a scale of five. I’ll rate the RD version three. Its ending is half open, which may disappoint fans of the mystery genre. I thought it was realistic, especially given the political bent of the narrative. I would be remiss in not mentioning the beautiful, colorful illustrations of Stephen Gardner. Unfortunately, I was unable to track down any of it on the web. Here’s the author, now 90, as a young man:
And here’s an example of Gardner’s art, P.J. Clarke’s interior:
And here’s one of his celebrity portraits:
Here’s a headline from foxnews.com that should put a smile on a lot of faces: “Sex after heart attack may boost survival, study claims.”
Given that it is Yom Kippur, I didn’t expect much action today at the floating book shop. My thanks to the young woman who bought three career-oriented books, including Career Match: Connecting Who You Are with What You’ll Love to Do by Shoya Zichy and Ann Bidou; and to the middle age one who purchased Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons and E. L. James’ Fifty Shades of Gray. The highlight of the session was a visit from a friendly woman who started out by asking about business, swung to the stimulus card she received and cut up, and settled on Corona. I gave my stock answer: “I don’t know what to think.” She believes it was sent by God, and claims our loved ones will be waiting in heaven to embrace and kiss us when we arrive. And we will all be 30 again. May it be so.
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