Last Laugh continues the structure of the Charlie Chan/Mr Moto novels, where an American male finds himself in a tough situation, and somewhere in the vicinity is Mr Moto.
James Koga reminds me that the Mr Moto stories (until the last, written after WWII) were not detective novels. Mr Moto was a Japanese agent of whatever passed for the CIA in Japan before the war. He killed people when they got in the way. He was not a mean man, but--as this novel repeatedly tells us--was a professional. He had one goal--his mission--and anything that interfered must be dealt with in any way necessary.
After much description of our down-and-out American, we go off on a search for a secret weapon that has been built into an airplane that was intended for France but was then diverted when the Germans took over France (in 1940). Several folks are after this device, and the only non-professional among this is our unsuspecting hero.
There's always a babe, and she doesn't disappoint. She even has a wonderful 1941 line: "I should be home taking care of a man."
There's decent action, but the meat of the novel is in its description, both of our hero's thoughts and of the situation he finds himself in.
It's a pleasant read, if you can place yourself back in time some 60 years ago.
--Michael Broschat, Sep 2008