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Downtown
If Neil Simon had made The Out-of-Towners a mystery, it would be called Downtown
Florida orange grower Michael Barnes finds himself with several hours to kill before his flight to Boston from New York’s Kennedy Airport. It’s Christmas Eve so he decides to drop into a bar in downtown Manhattan for a drink before dinner. There he strikes up a conversation with attractive Helen Parrish, who claims to be a lawyer. Barnes is smittened especially since his very attractive wife; months earlier had run off with a bank manager in Florida leaving him a disheartened and divorced orange grower.
But, in New York, everyone in Michael Barnes’ life seems to be playing an angle. As soon as he seems to be getting acquainted with Helen Parrish, she accuses him of stealing her ring, which she has surreptitiously put into his coat pocket. Unable to return what he believes he does not possess, he disavows any knowledge of the ring. She calls for help and a plain-clothes policeman, Detective James Cahill, suddenly confronts Barnes and demands he come outside the bar to settle the matter.
Once outside Cahill forces Barnes up against the wall and frisks him whereupon he finds the planted ring and returns it to Parrish. She refuses to press charges and Barnes is allowed to return to the bar while Parrish and Cahill leave.
Once back in the bar, another patron introduces himself to Barnes and offers his sympathies for the trouble Barnes suffered. The two exchange cards and Barnes sees that the man is Arthur Crandell and he is a director for Crandall Films, Ltd. After some small talk with Crandall, Barnes gets up to leave and pulls out his wallet to pay the bill only to find all of his money, credit cards, and driver’s license have been stolen by the fake James Cahill during his search for Helen Parrish’s ring.
Now incensed by the double duping he has so far received from Manhattan, Barnes is bent on revenge. He wants to report the bogus Cahill and scheming Parrish to the police. Crandall tells him he has to go to the 1st Precinct to file a report. Unable to pay his bar tab, Crandall covers the bill and then offers to drive Barnes to the police station since Barnes has no license.
Barnes agrees but as you might have guess, Crandall drives off with Barnes’s rental car and all of his clothes in the trunk. Completely stranded Barnes trudges on foot to the 1st Precinct and files a report on the two crimes. But wait, Michael Barnes’ New York adventures gets even worse. After filing the report on the two crimes he leaves the precinct to make his way to a subway station for the ride out to JFK airport. He still has his airline ticket to Boston and a criminal being processed when Barnes enters the precinct gives him subway fare to JFK. But before Barnes makes it he is almost mugged only to be saved by an undercover New York Policewoman who thinks Barnes is the suspect not the victim.
Now running from the police in New York, Barnes seeks refuge in a Chinese fortune-cookie factory. There he attempts to gamble his subway fare into the price of a cab ride to JFK only to loose his initial winnings and to learn that the police now suspect him of murder. The man claiming to be Crandall who had stolen Barnes’s car was found dead and Barnes was the prime suspect.
McBain’s tale continues on in this fast paced action style, peppered full of detailed descriptions of the world of lower Manhattan. It is chocked full of funny dialog from characters who can only be described a New Yorkers. Barnes does find an ally in Connie Kee, a limousine driver for the China Doll Executive Limousine Service. The two make their way through the maze of lower Manhattan looking for the mastermind that has stolen Barnes’ identity and framed him for murder.
This book reads very fast and keeps the reader enthralled throughout its 340 pages. And like a roller coaster ride, the plot twists and turns keeping the reader every so slightly disoriented. The solution to the riddle will leave the reader both surprised and amused.
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