The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 - Andrew Bergman

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The Big Kiss-Off of 1944

by
Andrew Bergman

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

Title:	The Big Kiss-Off of 1944
Author:	Andrew Bergman
Genre:	Novel
Written:	1974
Length:	216 pages
Availability:	The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 - US
	The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 - UK
	The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 - Canada
	La grande magouille de 1944 - France
	LeVine - Deutschland
	El escándalo del 44 - España

A Jack LeVine Mystery

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Our Assessment:

B : decent imitation Chandler, using and presenting the period well

See our review for fuller assessment.

Review Summaries
Source	Rating	Date	Reviewer
The NY Times Book Rev.	.	31/3/1974	Newgate Callendar

From the Reviews:

"Bergman, a child of our times, has the kind of social conscience that Hammett & Co. did not bother much about, and in Kiss‐Off there are some sharp details about the military and their crazy ideas. If nothing else, there is one original plot idea at the end of Kiss‐Off that redeems most of the conventionalities in the book." - Newgate Callendar, The New York Times Book Review

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 is narrated by: "Jack LeVine, born Jacob Levine on Orchard Street in 1906, and I'm a private investigator operating out of New York City". It's 1944, and the Second World War is going well for the Allies -- though it features in LeVine's life pretty much only in the headlines he follows and watching the gimpy baseball players that fill the baseball rosters at the time, those unfit for military duty.
As LeVine puts it:

I was a basic model 1944 prole. Given plenty of beer and cigarettes, a sympathetic woman, the Yankees on a winning streak and poker at the end of my week, LeVine could be made happy. A simple man.

       The novel begins with a young chorus girl introducing herself as Kerry Lane walking into his office and hiring him. She made some films in California a while back -- "I was desperate for money, so anything they asked me to do in front of the camera, Mr. LeVine, I did" -- and now she is being blackmailed; she can't have Warren Butler, the straight-laced producer of the show she is in, find out.
       LeVine takes the case -- and immediately stumbles on a dead body. Conveniently then (rather too ... apparently there aren't that many PIs one could call on at the time ?), Butler calls in LeVine and wants to hire him as well: he knows one of the girls in his show is being blackmailed -- though he apparently doesn't know which one -- and now he's being blackmailed too; word getting out that one of his actresses was in a blue movie would apparently be bad press and bad for the show, and so: "I want this man bought off or whatever one ordinarily does to chase away blackmailers".
       It soon becomes clear that the two blackmailers -- it's a pair of them, working together -- got in over their heads -- way over their heads -- and there are various powerful interested parties who are willing to go to great lengths to get the outcome they want. LeVine, however, keeps digging, out to resolve the situation as best possible for his original client. Though it proves difficult, given those who want him to butt out. He's even called in by some big-wigs who bluntly tell him: "Who the hell are you to talk back to us ? Get off the case and stop asking questions".
       LeVine doesn't back off -- going to great lengths to set things in order. Among the amusing scenes is how he inveigles himself into the proximity of Kerry Lane's father -- though him getting shot at while he does may be a bit excessive (but is meant to hammer home just how determined those who don't want him sniffing around are).
       LeVine is a sympathetic enough narrator, and while the Chandler-imitation can feel a bit forced at times, Bergman's is better than most. The case, too, is rather far-fetched, but LeVine determinedly sticking to it is fun -- even (or especially) as:

"You're walking on eggs, huh, LeVine ?"
"On eggs on a tightrope."

       The big, race-against-time (and other things) finale is also completely over the top, but entertaining enough and, yes, reasonably exciting.
       The 1944 color is also pretty good, from LeVine living out in Queens to his baseball-enthusiasm (and his making fun of the 4F players) and the upcoming US presidential election, which plays an important role here; there's even a Carl Van Doren sighting. Only the hyperbole can get annoying at times -- "The carpeting was deep enough to hide in", or "You could have run the Kentucky Derby in Warren Butler's office", etc.
       It ain't Raymond Chandler, but it's very solid imitation-noir, with a nice little comic edge.

- M.A.Orthofer, 14 August 2026

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Links:

The Big Kiss-Off of 1944:

Mysterious Press publicity page
Gallimard publicity page

Reviews:

Other books by Andrew Bergman under review:

Hollywood and LeVine

Other books of interest under review:

See Index of Mysteries and Thrillers
See Index of Contemporary American fiction
See Index of Series and Sequels under review

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About the Author:

American author and screenwriter Andrew Bergman was born in 1945.

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