William Krasner (1917–2003) was an American psychologist and mystery author. His service in the Army Air Corps gave him educational benefits under the G.I. Bill and allowed him to earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Columbia University. He also studied fiction writing. After reading one of his books, it is easy to see how the first influenced the second. He contributed extensively to psychology and medical journals and wrote articles for newspapers and magazines. He wrote five books about homicide detective Sam Birge, the fifth one was only published in German. The first one, Walk the Dark Streets (Harper, 1949), was nominated for an Edgar Award and was adapted as an episode of the television series Studio One in Hollywood.
In 1955 he received an award for literature from the National Institute of Arts and Letters (now the American Academy of Arts and Letters).
In his debut Sam Birge is shown to be a thoughtful and careful investigator. His deputy is more slapdash and is jealous of Birge until he realizes that slow and plodding as Birge appears, he gets results. Birge is called to a rundown residential hotel in an old part of the unnamed city, where he finds the stabbed and bloody body of a would-be star. She never realized her goal and she ended up as hostess and singer in a small shabby club on the fringes of the entertainment sector of a small city. She supplemented her meager income with prostitution and blackmail.
I spent a bit of time on determining the location of Birge’s city. He mentioned the crime scene was on Broadway near the Ohio. While a number of towns and cities are on the Ohio River, only Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, and possibly Evansville were large enough at the time to have their own homicide department. Birge learned that the victim left her husband in Evansville to come to the larger city to seek fame as an actress, so that eliminates Evansville. I didn’t find a Broadway in Cincinnati and Louisville has a street named Broadway that is close to and parallel to the Ohio for some distance. That made me decide that Birge is part of the Louisville police force.
As might be expected for an author with a psychology background, the characters are the focus of the story. Most of them are sad and disappointed with life in some way and are trudging along a path that they didn’t choose.
In the 29 May 1949 edition of the New York Times, Elizabeth Bullock had this to say about Birge’s first adventure:
“While this book by a new writer has both mystery and suspense, it is actually a full-fledged novel based on a crime. A down-at heel, faded blond night club entertainer is found stabbed to death in her tawdry hotel room. A routine police investigation follows and, as a result, a number of people will come into your life to remain in your thoughts for at least a few days after you’ve read the book. To evoke such a response constitutes an achievement for even veteran writers. It is especially noteworthy in a first novel which will be sold on mystery fiction counters….Walk the Dark Streets is not for those who want light mystery fare; it is something special and…quite an experience.”
Raymond Chandler praised Krasner’s mystery fiction in a 1951 letter to Frederic Dannay: “[I]t may also happen that single book, such as … Walk the Dark Streets by William Krasner … will immediately put the writer above and beyond a whole host of writers who have written twenty or thirty books and are extremely well known and successful.”
A book to consider when searching for a read with complex characterization and depth.