McCauley Connor

I love discovering new art and new artists. This summer's discovery is Mac (McCauley) Conner who was an illustrator back in the Mad Men days. I'd never heard of him until a reader directed me his way and I learned that there was going to be a retrospective of his work at the City of New York Museum.  

His work is all clean and energetic, a bit like a pared-down Rockwell, but what I really love is his crime related illustrations. There's such a great vibe to works like this one:

Honey, whatever he is about to tell you, don't believe it. RUN.

There's a book available -- which is now on my Christmas list -- Mac Conner: A New York Life.

Death in a Bowl by Raoul Whitfield

I've been reading Whitfield's Death in a Bowl (1931) for the last couple of nights. Lest you think this is some artsy music-lover cozy-type mystery:

Frey shrugged his broad shoulders, gestured helplessly with spread hands, palms upturned. His face was white and drawn; his eyes, streaked with red, held a weary expression. He said flatly:
     "She wouldn't scream like that. She's been shot in the stomach--she wouldn't scream like that."

I'm still undecided on this one, but then I'm not quite a quarter of the way in. Out of curiosity, I was poking around the web, and found this site which focuses on fiction set in California, which I thought was great! There's a nice little mini-review there.


I'll report back when I've finished, but my general impression is Whitfield was maybe trying too hard for the tough guy thing. Possibly feeling that setting a story at the Hollywood Bowl would require extra doses of vitamin lead to beef it up?