Reporting at Wit's End

November 30, 2009
A rogue's gallery of shady, quirky, beguiling figures populates this scintillating collection of essays by one of the New Yorker
's seldom-sung masters. Writing for the magazine from the 1930s through the 1960s, McKelway specialized in light true crime stories about arsonists, embezzlers, counterfeiters, suspected Communists, and innocent men and the fire investigators, forensic accountants, Secret Service men, clueless FBI agents, and biased cops who pursued them. He's fascinated by procedural, cat-and-mouse games and the sheer artistry of crime for crime's sake; his portrait of serial impostor Stanley Weyman is a gem of motiveless miscreancy, culminating in Weyman's impersonation of the (nonexistent) State Department Naval Liaison Officer in order to introduce one Princess Fatima of Afghanistan to President Harding. In addition to police blotter material, the author pens a cutting profile of the egomaniacal gossip columnist Walter Winchell and recollections of his war-time stint as an air force PR flack (with a rather blithe account of the firebombing of Tokyo). McKelway's deceptively straightforward prose accretes facts, testimony, and court documents into subtle character studies and unobtrusive ruminations on the crooked timber of humanity. His limpid style and wry humor make these pieces as fresh and engaging as the day they appeared.

March 15, 2010
This volume brings together nearly four decades of memorable reporting and storytelling from one of the New Yorkers most prolific but long overlooked writers. Readers can trace changes in the local and national sensibilities as McKelway chronicles the strange and ordinary of city life, favoring the characters who were the lifeblood of New York. Among his subjects: Father Divine, the Harlem charlatan minister, amassing wealth from hundreds of low-wage workers; Mister 880, finally caught by the Secret Service at the age of 73 after 10 years of passing counterfeit dollar bills to supplement his modest income; a summons server who raises a greater indignation than his unhappy targets; gossip columnist Walter Winchell, a favorite of powerful politicians, entertainers, and mobsters alike; and a wealthy, reclusive old woman, who is rediscovered by a well-heeled law firm when her sister dies and then is suddenly and confusedly thrust to their attention. McKelways writing is deliciously detailed, subtle and wry, full of keen observations and connections. Readers who are fans of the New Yorker or great storytelling in general will appreciate this book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)