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Jack Dwyer #4
Murder in the Wings
Jack Dwyer, an ex-cop turned would-be actor, and his slightly dizzy girlfriend, Donna Harris, investigate a theatre company after angry, bullying director Michael Reeves is found stabbed to death
- GenresMystery
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
1 person is currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
Ed Gorman
468 books122 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was a prolific American author and anthologist, widely recognized for his contributions to crime, mystery, western, and horror fiction. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gorman spent much of his life in the Midwest, drawing on that experience to set many of his novels in small towns. After working over two decades in advertising, political speechwriting, and industrial filmmaking, he published his first novel, Rough Cut, in 1984 and soon transitioned to full-time writing. His fiction is often praised for its emotional depth, suspenseful storytelling, and nuanced characters. Gorman wrote under the pseudonyms Daniel Ransom and Robert David Chase, and contributed to publications such as Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and Black Lizard. He co-founded Mystery Scene magazine and served as its editor and publisher until 2002, continuing his “Gormania” column thereafter. His works have been adapted for film and graphic novels, including The Poker Club and Cage of Night. In comics, he wrote for DC and Dark Horse. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002, he continued writing despite his illness until his passing in 2016. Critics lauded him as one of the most original crime writers of his generation and a “poet of dark suspense.”
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was a prolific American author and anthologist, widely recognized for his contributions to crime, mystery, western, and horror fiction. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gorman spent much of his life in the Midwest, drawing on that experience to set many of his novels in small towns. After working over two decades in advertising, political speechwriting, and industrial filmmaking, he published his first novel, Rough Cut, in 1984 and soon transitioned to full-time writing. His fiction is often praised for its emotional depth, suspenseful storytelling, and nuanced characters. Gorman wrote under the pseudonyms Daniel Ransom and Robert David Chase, and contributed to publications such as Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and Black Lizard. He co-founded Mystery Scene magazine and served as its editor and publisher until 2002, continuing his “Gormania” column thereafter. His works have been adapted for film and graphic novels, including The Poker Club and Cage of Night. In comics, he wrote for DC and Dark Horse. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002, he continued writing despite his illness until his passing in 2016. Critics lauded him as one of the most original crime writers of his generation and a “poet of dark suspense.”
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 3, 2015
Were I Police Detective Edelman and I had the faded TV star Stephen Wade in my custody I'd lock him up, close the case and take a long, well-deserved vacation. This is one murder rap not even my buddy Jack Dwyer--former cop, now private eye and sometime actor—is going to upend, believe me.
I mean, look. Let's be realistic here. Wade's fingerprints are all over the knife that's buried in Michael Reeves's back. Okay? Need more? Opportunity: A reliable witness sees Wade enter Reeves's apartment around the time of the murder. Motive? Hours earlier Reeves had shoved, slapped and humiliated Wade in front of the rest of the cast of O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night following Wade's drunken bumbling, stumbling, mumbling performance. Reeves directed the production and is the local theater's resident director.
One might think even Jack Dwyer would let this one go, especially considering the victim was not a likable guy. Somewhat of a loathsome guy, actually. The kind of guy who probably had it coming anyway. But, then, Jack Dwyer's not the kind of guy who gives up easily. Not the kind, either, to rush to judgment, no matter how loathsome it might be to keep an open mind.
One suspects Ed Gorman is a Dwyer kind of guy. He created Jack Dwyer and used this quote by the late British author Gerald Kersh to introduce Murder in the Wings, our currently discussed Dwyer mystery: ". . . there are men whom one hates until a certain moment when one sees, through a chink in their armor, the writhing of something nailed down and in torment."
In Murder in the Wings, Jack Dwyer neither hates the man charged with murder nor has to look for any chinks in his armor. There is no armor. Stephen Wade is himself writhing in torment, destroying his career and his life with drink. He is also Dwyer's friend. Dwyer was one of the cast members in this disastrous performance of O'Neill's classic play. He restrained the actor after a fight broke out between the two enraged men. It was Dwyer whom Wade called, in a drunken stupor, from Reeves's apartment where he said he found his tormentor lying face down in bed with a knife protruding between his shoulder blades.
Nope. No way Jack Dwyer is going to let this one go. Not even after Wade admits he isn't positive he didn't stab the loathsome director to death. Not even after he waves a .45 at Dwyer and flees sobbing into the night. Dwyer couldn't let this one go if he wanted to, if only because his lovably flaky girlfriend, Donna Harris, has decided that “sweet” Stephen Wade did not—could not—murder anyone, not even someone as loathsome as Michael Reeves.
Besides, taking a closer look one sees there are plenty of folks, in the theater group alone, with motive, opportunity and means to have done the dirty deed.
Ed Gorman's at the top of his game with this novel. His writing is crisp and insightful, with moments of pure poetic joy. His characters are so real you feel you know them, or would like to. His plotting is intricate and daring. He keeps you guessing right up to the eminently satisfying denouement.
And the humor. Oh, mercy. It sneaks up and gooses you when you least expect it. There seems always to be a scene or two in every Gorman novel that sets me to laughing so hard I worry I will not be able to stop. Or that the neighbors will call 911. This time, about halfway through Murder in the Wings, I grabbed my cell phone thinking I might need to make the call myself.
Turns out I didn't. But I was ready.
I mean, look. Let's be realistic here. Wade's fingerprints are all over the knife that's buried in Michael Reeves's back. Okay? Need more? Opportunity: A reliable witness sees Wade enter Reeves's apartment around the time of the murder. Motive? Hours earlier Reeves had shoved, slapped and humiliated Wade in front of the rest of the cast of O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night following Wade's drunken bumbling, stumbling, mumbling performance. Reeves directed the production and is the local theater's resident director.
One might think even Jack Dwyer would let this one go, especially considering the victim was not a likable guy. Somewhat of a loathsome guy, actually. The kind of guy who probably had it coming anyway. But, then, Jack Dwyer's not the kind of guy who gives up easily. Not the kind, either, to rush to judgment, no matter how loathsome it might be to keep an open mind.
One suspects Ed Gorman is a Dwyer kind of guy. He created Jack Dwyer and used this quote by the late British author Gerald Kersh to introduce Murder in the Wings, our currently discussed Dwyer mystery: ". . . there are men whom one hates until a certain moment when one sees, through a chink in their armor, the writhing of something nailed down and in torment."
In Murder in the Wings, Jack Dwyer neither hates the man charged with murder nor has to look for any chinks in his armor. There is no armor. Stephen Wade is himself writhing in torment, destroying his career and his life with drink. He is also Dwyer's friend. Dwyer was one of the cast members in this disastrous performance of O'Neill's classic play. He restrained the actor after a fight broke out between the two enraged men. It was Dwyer whom Wade called, in a drunken stupor, from Reeves's apartment where he said he found his tormentor lying face down in bed with a knife protruding between his shoulder blades.
Nope. No way Jack Dwyer is going to let this one go. Not even after Wade admits he isn't positive he didn't stab the loathsome director to death. Not even after he waves a .45 at Dwyer and flees sobbing into the night. Dwyer couldn't let this one go if he wanted to, if only because his lovably flaky girlfriend, Donna Harris, has decided that “sweet” Stephen Wade did not—could not—murder anyone, not even someone as loathsome as Michael Reeves.
Besides, taking a closer look one sees there are plenty of folks, in the theater group alone, with motive, opportunity and means to have done the dirty deed.
Ed Gorman's at the top of his game with this novel. His writing is crisp and insightful, with moments of pure poetic joy. His characters are so real you feel you know them, or would like to. His plotting is intricate and daring. He keeps you guessing right up to the eminently satisfying denouement.
And the humor. Oh, mercy. It sneaks up and gooses you when you least expect it. There seems always to be a scene or two in every Gorman novel that sets me to laughing so hard I worry I will not be able to stop. Or that the neighbors will call 911. This time, about halfway through Murder in the Wings, I grabbed my cell phone thinking I might need to make the call myself.
Turns out I didn't. But I was ready.
October 5, 2009
Vintage Ed Gorman. Nifty plot involving an ex-cop, part-time actor PI-type and a murder mystery. Entertaining.
May 22, 2021
The 3rd Jack Dwyer Mystery.(The numbering is wrong, here on Goodreads. The 1st novel they count is not a Jack Dwyer)
Jack is a former cop who is now a aspiring actor, and is a security guard on the side.(once again his being a Private Investigator is not mentioned)
Jack's in a play, with a faded well known actor. That actor,Stephen Wade shows up on stage drunk, during an actual performance. Wade gets into a fight with the play director, Michael Reeves.
When Reeves winds up dead with a knife in the back, with a drunken Wade there, the cops think it's case closed.
But Dwyer doesn't think so. He and his girlfriend Donna have to find out who did the deed.
A good story. I am getting tired of Donna and Jack, though. They had a odd relationship and it can be a distraction at times. But this is another entertaining mystery.
Writer Ed Gorman passed away awhile back....I treasure each book of his I read.
Jack is a former cop who is now a aspiring actor, and is a security guard on the side.(once again his being a Private Investigator is not mentioned)
Jack's in a play, with a faded well known actor. That actor,Stephen Wade shows up on stage drunk, during an actual performance. Wade gets into a fight with the play director, Michael Reeves.
When Reeves winds up dead with a knife in the back, with a drunken Wade there, the cops think it's case closed.
But Dwyer doesn't think so. He and his girlfriend Donna have to find out who did the deed.
A good story. I am getting tired of Donna and Jack, though. They had a odd relationship and it can be a distraction at times. But this is another entertaining mystery.
Writer Ed Gorman passed away awhile back....I treasure each book of his I read.
Want to read
October 30, 2018Synopsis: Dwyer is a private investigator who takes on the case of TV star Stephen Wade. It really does look like Wade murdered the director.
October 11, 2025
I Just realized that "The Autumn Dead" is a book in Ed Gorman's Jack Dwyer series. I know I read that book years ago and I think it was better than "Murder in the Wings". But both were good enough that I will be reading at least one more in the series. Ed Gorman pursued some dark territory within his short stories and in other genres like westerns and horror. For example, his Guild series novels had a very somber atmosphere, and were all excellent. Here though, with ex cop turned thespian detective, Jack Dwyer, he seems to have created a more lighthearted character; someone with humor and empathy, and who isn't on the verge of suicide. Aside from Dwyer though, there are some very desperate characters in this book. Dwyer and his girlfriend act as a team to solve a murder that takes place among his theater troupe.There's drugs, there's blackmail, and overall, not much sex, as Dwyer and his girlfriend spend most of the novel bickering between themselves. His girlfriend Donna, and Dwyer make several references to her period, including Donna referring to her "tampax" more than once. ( I just found that amusing because who the hell says tampax and not tampon? ) There's a man brought in for the murder that Dwyer and Donna know is innocent, and being a friend of their's, it's up to them to see that he's cleared.Things unfold at a good pace, and in the end, facts are revealed that I definitely did not expect. With this book, Ed Gorman reminded me of a more modern John d. Macdonald; wholesome sentimentality, but with a willingness to use words like motherfucker and talk about periods. Not a bad mystery
December 25, 2010
Classic murder mystery from a classic mystery writer...This is my 1st Jack Dwyer...former detective, now part-time PI and actor...well developed "noir" with a touch of Elmore Leonard, dealing with the murder of the cast's bullying director...Okay read...Ill continue only if nothing else available
March 28, 2008
This is my first in the JackDwyer series. I like the ethical/moral/political stands Ed takes in his other series with the lawyer/PI.
September 19, 2015
How this series wasn't/isn't huge is beyond me.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews