Sammy & Ethel Abbott

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Created by James R. Langham
(1912-99)

Yet another detecting couple, apparently married to it, SAMMY and ETHEL ABBOTT appeared in two clever, lightly humorous, noir-tinged novels, Sing a Song of Homicide (1940) and A Pocketful of Clues (1941).

Sammy was a special investigator for the Santa Monica DA — a quasi-legal private eye who carries a badge, while Ethel (now there’s a name you rarely hear these days) was the good little wifey who invariably got involved in hubby’s cases. Although in that first one, Sing a Song of Homicide, she has more than peripheral curiosity — she’s the victim of the blackmailer Sammy is suspected of murdering.

Sammy’s tough enough; a former fighter, a crack shot, and quick on the draw, but he’s seems awfully intimidated by the rather ditzy but charming Ethel. Which may be why he’s such an unreliable narrator. He’ll gleefully lie to just about anyone: makes a habit of lying to everyone constantly: not just Ethel but  the DA, his partner, the cops — possibly even himself. And certainly the reader — it’s never clear until the very end whether he did it or not.

Naturally, comparisons were made to Nick and Nora Charles from Hammett’s The Thin Man (more to the movies than the novel) and Mr. and Mrs. North (among others) and naturally Hollywood came calling, with Jonathan Latimer very loosely adapting Sing a Song of Homicide for the 1942 feature film Night in New Orleans. It got decidedly mixed reviews at the time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James R. Langham had already worked as a professional singer, a civil engineer, a carpenter, a salesman, a gunsmith, and a census taker, before trying his hand at writing detective fiction. He wrote two well-received but now almost forgotten novels, Sing a Song of Homicide (1940) and A Pocketful of Clues (1941), both bashed out when Langham was still in his twenties. That was apparently enough for him —he never wrote another book. 

UNDER OATH

  • “Fireworks, fast foot and think work to entertain mystery fans… Merry-go-round all done by mirrors.
    — Kirkus Reviews (October 1940)
  • “(The) first of two novels featuring a detective named Samuel A. Abbot… notable for its dark humor. Noir novels that particularly appeal to me are laced with acid humor.”
    — Ken Bruen on Sing a Song of Homicide (Ten Best Noir Novels; June 2015, Publishers Weekly)
  • “Coincidences abound, and some of the loose ends are not tied up quite tight enough, but the book has pace, charm and a few laugh-out-loud moments… First-rate medium-boiled story from an occasional author who deserves to be better known.”
    — Jon on Sing a Song of Homicide (2008, gadetection)
  • “This is a whodunit melodrama that follows familiar lines of Its type for standard display of political and gambling Intrigue bitted against a couple of honest police officers. Although it bounces around in a few spots, the picture still retains pace and interest to make a satisfactory dual supporting attraction in the general runs.”
    — Variey on Night in New Orleans (May 1942)
  • “After changing its name three times, Night in New Orleans descended upon the Rialto yesterday. An appropriate title it is, too, because the picture is about as lucid as a blackout. As a story of murder and municipal skulduggery in Huey Long’s one-time parish, it is a thriller so haphazardly contrived, so studded with loose clues and endless coincidence, that even the author seems to have been confused by his meandering fable. Around Preston Foster and Patricia Morison, as a police lieutenant and harebrained spouse who bear a wee resemblance to Mr. and Mrs. North, the producers have rigged an unsteady story of sweet-faced old crooks, blond honky-tonk floozies, thick-headed and toughspoken cops, and the inevitable colored servant who makes sounds of appropriate comic alarm when the lights go out or a body suddenly splashes off a fogbound wharf.”
    — T.S.  (May 1942, The New York Times)

NOVELS

FILMS

  • NIGHT IN NEW ORLEANS
    (1942, Paramount)
    75 minutes
    Premiere: July 1, 1942)
    Based on the novel Sing a Song of Homicide by James R. Langham
    Screenplay by Jonathan Latimer
    Directed by William Clemens
    Produced by Sol C. Siegel
    Music by Paul Sawtell
    Starring Preston Foster as STEVE ABBOTT
    and Patricia Morison as ETHEL ABBOTT
    Also starring Albert Dekker, Charles Butterworth, Dooley Wilson, Paul Hurst, Jean Phillips, Cecil Kellaway, William Wright, Noble Johnson, Joe Pope, Yola d’Avril, Emory Parnell
    Very loosely based. Santa Monica is now New Orleans, Sammy is now Steve, a Big Easy police lieutenant..

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

Published

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