Fourth Deadly Sin

I hate to break up the bashing-session for Lawrence Sanders' FOURTH DEADLY SIN, but...well, no, I don't, actually. This prolific and unfortunately half-forgotten author deserves better than to be called a hack, and the book in question is much better than it is being given credit for here. In fact, it was this novel which turned me onto Lawrence Sanders, one of the best pure prose-writers of his or any other generation. Like any successful writer, especially of easy-read bestsellers, Sanders was under a lot of pressure from his publishers to churn out copy, and was therefore capable of firing up a cigar, doing a shot of Bushmills, and pounding his typewriter until it coughed up the required 250 pages - quality be damned. Throttling your muse in this fashion seldom coughs up anything of lasting value: I remember reading THE TIMOTHY FILES and, with the exception of some of the descriptive writing, thinking it was the literary equivalent of eating popcorn and cotton candy for dinner. It may taste good going down, but where the F is the substance? My answer to that, however, is "So what?" Sanders (who died in 1998) was writing in a genre with clearly-defined rules, rules which often all but preclude plot originality, character depth, or thoughtful prose, except in the most skillful and economical of novelists. Yet he managed to produce all three on a regular basis, and THE FOURTH DEADLY SIN is actually a pretty good example of all of those traits. The DEADLY SIN series, four books in length, revolved around a retired (for the last three books) New York Chief of Detectives named Edward X. Delaney. Delaney, whose greatest passion is a well-made sandwich, is precisely the sort of old-school, thick-skinned, cigar-chewing detective you'd hate to share a cab with in real life, but as a reader, you can't get enough of. The crusty cop exterior is misleading, however; he's intelligent, well-read, has surprisingly expensive tastes, and is actually quite sensitive when he isn't reaming out uncooperative witnesses with expletive-ridden tirades. Bored by his early retirement, Delaney isn't unhappy about occasionally being tapped by his old friend and mentor, Deputy Superintendant Thorsen, to tackle the occasional unsolved homicide "under the radar." The fact that he's paid in Scotch is just a bonus. The plot of T4DS, in a nutshell, is this: A wealthy, well-connected shrink named Ellerbee is murdered with a hammer in his Manhattan office, and the suspect list is as long as his Rolodex. Thorsen's protégé in the NYPD, Deputy Chief Suarez, is up for a big promotion but unable to crack the high-profile case, and that is making the ambitious Thorsen look like a sucker who backed the wrong horse. In hopes of rescuing his golden boy's reputation, and strengthening his own position in the Department, Thorsen puts the now-civilian Delaney on the job. The old Irishman must sift through crazy suspects to find a killer who might be even crazier - or just as sane as he is.

Sanders became a bit tiring with this last entry in the Delaney series. In fact, he probably should have stopped writing altogether. It is also too bad he didn't see fit to write about sins 5, 6 and 7. If Sanders had reinvented himself and kept his style fresh, this novel would have really shown. But as it is it is only lackluster. But still, it is worth reading. Just be prepared to be accused of being a cult fan.

I read The Fourth Deadly Sin before I knew of Sins 1-3. I won't let 1-3 go unread. Lawrence Sanders' style of crime prose captivated me first with Anderson Tapes' crime reporter-type story telling. The Passion Of Molly T. made me a complete fan. The Fourth Sin is unlike any crime drama that I've ever read. The vivid descriptions and Sanders' use of intelligent language (I admit, I needed a thesaurus several times) allow you to view Delaney, his wife Monica, Abner Boone and other characters as if you were beside them at all times. Not a single character in this book is cardboard. All are shown with flesh and soul. And with all this detail, the plot still moves you like a locomotive. Magestically gaining speed, rolling though the hills and valleys and screaming it's whistle at top speed towards the end. Sanders is good. Really good!

I wish that Lawrence Sanders would concentrate on the Edward "Iron Balls" Delaney deadly sins series and drop the Archie McNally series which is becoming boring

The TOUCH was faded away in this fourth sin. The 1st and the 2nd were the ones that I became so loyal to Sanders until the McNally's BLABBLABBLAB ruined my twenty years focus