With clockwork precision, Lawrence Sanders outlines the inspiration, planning and execution of an ambitious robbery of an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side in The Anderson Tapes, the best-selling thriller that established him as one of the most popular suspense writers of his generation. The premise is clever -- the entire story is told in surveillance tape transcripts and reports from law enforcement agencies, each of which seems to be observing some aspect of the situation in which the robbery takes place. John "Duke" Anderson was recently paroled from Sing Sing, after serving time on a charge of breaking and entering. A rich woman picks him up one evening and takes him back to her apartment, in a small but elegant building on the Upper East Side. Anderson is intrigued by the situation in the building, seeing it as a possible target for a large-scale robbery. He needs backing, though, and he gets it through his contacts with the underworld. What Anderson does not know is that much of what he is already doing is being captured as evidence through electronic surveillance. The catch is that the different entities doing the surveillance are not communicating with each other. The evidence is assembled and the puzzle solved, after the robbery takes place and ends violently, by NYPD Capt. Edward X. Delaney. The Anderson Tapes marks the first appearance in a Sanders novel of Delaney, a character who will be central to the author's Deadly Sin series of thrillers. Sanders brilliantly unfolds the story in short, fact-filled chapters constructed as police reports and tape transcripts, some of which are tantalizingly garbled. The Anderson Tapes won for Sanders the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar as the Best First Mystery Novel of 1970. The New York Times writes of The Anderson Tapes, "From the opening pages -- when brainy ex-con John Anderson visits a lingerie executive in her East Seventies apartment to give her a hell of a sexual whipping -- you're hooked. The novel races forward, accelerating in action and suspense."

The building at 535 East Seventy-third Street, New York City, was erected in 1912 as a city residence for Erwin K. Barthold, a Manhattan merchant who owned Barthold, Inc., a firm that dealt in rope, tar, ships' supplies, and marine gear of all types. On the death of Mr. Barthold in 1931, his widow, Edwina, and his son, Erwin, Jr., lived in the house until 1943. Erwin Barthold, Jr., was killed on 14 July, 1943, while engaged on a bombing mission over Bremen, Germany. This was, incidentally, the city in which his father had been born. Mrs. Barthold died six months after the death of her son, from cancer of the uterus. The house on Seventy-third Street then passed to a brother of the original owner and builder. He was Emil Barthold, a resident of Palm Beach, Florida and shortly after the will was probated, Emil Barthold sold the house (16 February, 1946) to Baxter & Bailey, 7456 Park Avenue, New York City. This investment company then converted the town house into eight separate apartments and two professional suites on the ground floor. A self-service elevator and central air conditioning were installed. The apartments and suites were sold as cooperatives, at prices ranging from $26,768 to $72,359. The building itself is a handsome structure of gray stone, the architecture generally in the French chateau style. The building has been certified and listed by the New York City Landmark Society. Outside decoration is minimal and chaste; the roof is tarnished copper. The lobby is lined with veined gray marble slabs interspersed with antiqued mirrors. In addition to the main entrance, there is a service entrance reached by a narrow alleyway which stretches from the street to a back door that leads to a wide flight of concrete stairs. The two apartments on the top floor have small terraces. There is a small apartment in the basement occupied by the superintendent. The building is managed by Shovey & White, 1324 Madison Avenue, New York. Prior to 1 September, 1967, for a period of several years. Apartment 3B at 535 East Seventy-third Street had been occupied by a married couple (childless), Agnes and David Everleigh. On or about that date, they separated, and Mrs. Agnes Everleigh remained in possession of Apartment 3B, while David Everleigh took up residence at the Simeon Club, Twenty-third Street and Madison Avenue. On approximately 1 March, 1968 (this is an assumption), David Everleigh engaged the services of Peace of Mind, Inc., a private investigation agency located at 983 West Forty-second Street, New York. With David Everleigh's assistance-this is presumed, since he still possessed a key to Apartment 3B and was its legal owner-an electronic device was installed in the base of the telephone in Apartment 3B. It was a microphone transmitter-an Intel Model MT-146B-capable of picking up and transmitting telephone calls as well as conversations taking place in the apartment. A sum of $25 per month was paid to the superintendent of 534 East Seventy-third Street-the building across the street-to allow Peace of Mind, Inc., to emplace a voice-actuated tape recorder in a broom closet on the third floor of that building. Thus, it was not necessary for an investigator to be present. The voice-actuated tape recorder recorded all telephone calls and interior conversations taking place in Apartment 3B, 535 East Seventy-third Street. The tape was retrieved each morning by an operative from Peace of Mind, Inc., and a fresh tape installed.

 

The plotting and execution of a crime has, unknowingly, been recorded in its entirely on surveillance devices invading every aspect of the crooks' lives. Sanders' first novel won the Mystery Writers Edgar Award. It was memorably filmed by Sidney Lumet with Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon and Martin Balsam.

The prolific Lawrence Sanders (1920-98) enjoyed an enduring success as a best-selling writer of crime fiction, beginning with the publication in 1970 of The Anderson Tapes, the novel that introduced the character of New York detective Edward X. Delaney. Not only a bestseller, The Anderson Tapes won Sanders the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar award as the year's best first mystery novel.

Sanders' apprenticeship as a writer began in the 1940s, with writing jobs for such magazines as Mechanics Illustrated and Science and Mechanics. The experience in technical writing would later become an invaluable element in his precisely crafted thrillers. In 1968 and 1969, he published a number of short stories in the men's magazine Swank, all involving the character of Wolf Lannihan, a tough insurance investigator. With the blockbuster success of The Anderson Tapes and its 1971 film version, Sanders established himself as one of the most commercially successful novelists of his day. More than 30 novels followed, and the name Lawrence Sanders became a significant commodity in the business of publishing.

The popularity of the Edward X. Delaney character in The Anderson Tapes inspired a further installment, the even more successful The First Deadly Sin (1973), filmed in 1980 with Frank Sinatra as Delaney, the last significant screen role the singer/actor undertook. In all, there would be four best-selling police procedurals in the Deadly Sin series, the last appearing in 1985. In addition to Delaney, Sanders' novels feature a gallery of memorable sleuths such as Dora Conti, Samuel Todd, Joshua Bigg and Archibald "Archie" McNally. So distinctive and successful was Sanders' style -- spiked with his fascination with technology, the power of sex and the decadent lives of the wealthy -- that his characters lived on after the writer's death in 1998. McNally's Dilemma (1999) bears Sanders' name on the cover, though the actual writing is credited to Vincent Lardo.

 

 

The Anderson Tapes by Lawrence Sanders
Continue Browsing		View Wish List