The Wrong Case (Milo Milodragovitch Series #1)

by James Crumley

Overview

An extraordinary detective story from one of the great American crime fiction authors. 

Milo once had a thriving divorce-case business in the small town of in the Pacific Northwest, but because of liberal new divorce laws he has taken to drinking and staring out the window. He's up to his third drink of the morning when an attractive young woman walks into his office and asks him to find her brother. He takes on what seems a routine missing-person case in hopes of getting to know her better, but finds himself involved in what is most definitely the wrong case. Everyone is a victim, one way or another, of a crime that took place long before the novel begins.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780394735580
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/12/1985
Series:	Milo Milodragovitch , #1
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	513,791
Product dimensions:	5.19(w) x 7.96(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

James Crumley was born in Three Rivers, Texas, and spent most of his childhood in South Texas. After serving three years in the U.S. Army and completing college degrees in history (BA, Texas College of Arts and Industries) and creative writing (MFA, University of Iowa), he joined the English faculty at the University of Montana at Missoula. He was also a visiting professor at a number of other institutions around the country, including the University of Texas at El Paso, Colorado State University, Reed College, and Carnegie-Mellon. His works include a novel of Vietnam, One to Count Cadence, and seven detective novels: The Wrong Case, The Last Good Kiss, Dancing Bear, The Mexican Tree Duck, Bordersnakes, The Final Country, and The Right Madness. He died in Missoula in 2008.

What People are Saying About This

Stanley Elkin

"The Wrong Case is in the tradition of Dashiell Hammett of The Glass Key and does full honor to Hammett. The story is powerful, the writing is high caliber."

Editorial Reviews

"Crumley is a vivid writer. He makes Milo much more vulnerable, more involved in this sordid case than Hammett or Chandler would have done. It is this kind of style that imprints itself on the reader's memory. . . . An exceptionally good example of the private-eye novel. Crumely writes about damaged people seen through a haze of jaded romanticism." —Newsweek

"An excellent example of new variations within an old genre. Crumley's story is a strong one, and the revelations continue until the last page." —Texas Monthly

"The Wrong Case is in the tradition of the Dashiell Hammett of The Glass Key and does full honor to Hammett. The story is powerful, the writing is high calibre." —Stanley Elkin

"A very good study in fatalism and self-destruction." —Hartford Courant

"If you like your detective fiction tough and tenacious, you will love James Crumley. . . . No one does it better." —Houston Chronicle

From the Publisher