HARRY O (1975) **½
by Lee Hays
This paperback edition published by Popular Library, 1975, 173pp
First published in 1975
© Warner Bros., Inc. 1975
ISBN: 978-0-5002-6912-5
Blurb: None.
Comment: In the 1970s, in the days before home video, the only way of reliving favourite TV and movie characters outside of original broadcasts or rare repeats, was by reading a tie-in novel or novelisation. In 1975, Popular Library agreed on a publishing deal with Warner Brothers for a series of paperbacks on their Harry O character written by former journalist and TV producer Lee Hays. Ultimately the book series only ran to two novels and the TV series was cancelled after two seasons. This is the first of those books (I have already reviewed the second, Harry O: The High Cost of Living) and was written before the series’ move from San Diego to LA. The plot involves Harry being hired by Mary Alice Kimberley to protect her from death threats she has purportedly received from her ex-husband, Arthur Kimberley. Harry has been recommended to Mary Alice by his friend and police contact Manny Quinlan, who is now holidaying in Mexico. When the body of another private eye, Millard Festa, turns up in Kimberley’s office and Kimberley is missing, the police look to track down both Kimberley and Mary Alice. Harry, meanwhile, has become embroiled in Kimberley’s dealings with the shady Sydney Jerome, geared around the smuggling of heroin. As the plot thickens, Harry becomes more deeply involved with his client and is drawn further into the case when Festa’s dancer girlfriend is found in his beach house. There is nothing particularly surprising or exceptional about the book or the plot. Whilst the story may have made for an acceptable episode of the series, which would have been lifted by David Janssen’s excellent portrayal, it feels a little too underdeveloped for a novel. The characters are mostly two-dimensional and verge toward caricature, notably in the case of Jerome. Hays does manage to capture some of Harry’s philosophical introspection in his prose, but otherwise, his writing lacks the flair of the great PI writers. The plot is interesting for a while but it soon becomes obvious what is happening with the reader able to figure this out long before Harry does, which feels at odds with the smart detective we see on TV and makes for a generally unsatisfying mystery.
