# Frederic Brown-The Wench is Dead, spoiler

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederic-brown-the-wench-is-dead-spoiler/704500>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 13, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederic-brown-the-wench-is-dead-spoiler/704500 "2014-11-13T02:59:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederic-brown-the-wench-is-dead-spoiler/704500/1 "2014-11-13T02:59:56Z")

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I had actually figured this one out, that the Chef killed Mame.  
But what is with the last? The girl friend, Honor being dead? Is it a metaphor, that he no longer has honor?

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederic-brown-the-wench-is-dead-spoiler/704500/2 "2014-11-13T03:14:51Z")

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Fredric Brown lamented that his first name was frequently misspelled.  
I was just reflecting tonight in the bookstore that there were no Fredric Brown books available, still. For quite a while you could count on at least one Fredric Brown mystery reprint per year, up until the early 1990s. But I haven’t seen an actual print copy of Brown in ages. IO assume you got it on Kindle. I see Amazon is selling it on Kindle now.  
Brown is underappreciated, but in addition to his excellent SF and Fantasy\* he was a helluva mystery writer

\*He wrote _Arena_, among other things.

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**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederic-brown-the-wench-is-dead-spoiler/704500/3 "2014-11-13T04:12:46Z")

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I recently scored a copy of “His name was Death” at a used bookstore.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederic-brown-the-wench-is-dead-spoiler/704500/4 "2014-11-13T12:54:30Z")

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I’m a big Fredric Brown fan, and have quite a lot of his books, but I’m missing several of the 1950s mystery paperbacks, including the ones listed in this thread.  
If you haven’t read his mysteries, I highly recommend **The Fabulous Clipjoint** (which won him an Edgar) and **The Screamimg Mimi**. It was Martin Gardner’s referring to **The Night of the Jabberwock** that brought Brown’s mysteries to my attention. It was while looking for that book that I found the Zomba books omnibus edition that contains all three of these, along with **Knock 1-2-3**  
If you haven’t read any of his mysteries, the collection **Carnival of Crime** is a good place to start. It’s in some libraries.

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederic-brown-the-wench-is-dead-spoiler/704500/5 "2014-11-13T16:22:11Z")

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I have most of the Uncle Nephew novels, and just acquired the collection, _Miss Darkness._

He is very, very good.