Oct 2011 Reads

Choke Hold by Christa Faust

We are not only seeing the return of Hard Case Crime, but of Chirsta Faust and Angel Dare. The former Porn Star turned on the run WITSEC participant…. It appears that she didn’t have Marshal Marshall and Mary protecting her, this time she ends up in the middle of nowhere when an old flame wanders back into her life. Things go from bad to worse and Angel finds that she can’t escape the curse that seems to be following her. Faust knows noir and how to keep things rolling along. It’s a tough rolling adventure, and I of course look forward to the next tour of the darkness that Faust illuminates.

Gangway by Donald Westlake and Brian Garfield

A 70s effort from the authors of The Hunter and Deathwish. Set in San Francisco of the 1890, this heist tale was fun, but not anything amazing. I enjoyed it enough to finish, but was never really engaged by it. If you have made your way though the Westlake cannon and need a fix of something you haven’t read before, check this out, other wise I wouldn’t made any big effort to seek it out.

Lawrence Block book of the Month: Getting Off

The first of the new Hard Case Crime releases, Blocks Getting Off is also their first Hard Cover…. And it’s a about a killer on the road and her adventures as she tries to some to terms with her past. I thought it was pretty good, if a little long,

Bad Cop by  Paul Bacon

The true adventures of the author as he became a NYPD officer in the wake of 911. As a liberal he’s an outsider easy to read style and a nice insight to the works of the lower levels of policing. It was a very nice quick read that was engaging and I highly recommend it.

Stark House Press novel of the Month:

Body and Passion by Harry Whittington

A sharp tale of two men who get caught in a fire and only one survives… only he has no idea which man he is. One is a criminal and the other the DA, and you can guess who things play out from there --- maybe. Clocking in at a brisk 107 pages it’s a lean tale that nicely fills out the three stories in the book.

No New Hard Case Crime Month #2: Baby Shark

Feb 2010: No New Hard Case Crime Month #2: Baby Shark by Robert Fate.

Texas, yes, Texas, the early 50s-- a teen girl is riding shotgun with her dad, a pool hall warrior. Moving from town to town, game to game in the wild, wide open days of the post WWII boom. She's getting an education for sure, only things go wrong, people are killed and this girl, wounded in body and spirit is left to pick up the pieces of her life and take care of business.

Here is the copy from Mr. Fate's website

October 1952, Henry Chin's Poolroom

A father murdered. A daughter sexually assaulted, beaten, and left for dead. A pool hall set ablaze.And so begins Baby Shark, a story of recovery and revenge.

As a rule, in the 1950s, a good girl didn't admit to being raped-and she'd never seek revenge for her father's murder.

But Kristin didn't play by the rules.

Baby Shark has everything a good Hard Case has, sparse language, hard boiled action, a wrong in need of being set right and creatures of darkness in need o exposure. It's got the narrative drive and the zing of classic crime pulp. The setting and people ring true-- and Fate has assembled a crew that is worth revisiting and in danger of becoming like Joe R Lansdales Hap and Lenarod Books, you read them to visit with the charcters. Only Fate's plot and set up works and has it's own magic. I also like the fact that he has taken what is essentially a late 70s Rape Revenge set up and instead of up date it to the late 2000s had taken it back to the 50s.

It's good stuff, and if it makes it to the big screen in the next couple of years Adrianne Palicki from Friday Night Lights has to play the lead.

Hard Case Crime Alternative: Queenpin

Hard Case Crime Alternative: Queenpin

January 2010 is a month where Hard Case Crime won't have a new book out. For those of you that have read all of them and are looking for something to fill the void I suggest

Queenpin by Megan Abbott

here is my take on the book back in July of 2008
I almost didn’t pick up Megan Abbott's Queenpin. I’d heard an interview
with her a couple of years ago and been inspired to pick up a copy of
her first book… The Song is You, and wasn’t all that impressed….
However after running across a clip of her reading from Queenpin on
Youtube I was inspired to check it out of my library. I am so glad I
did, it radiates that pure Noir rhythm, and feel. I could almost hear
the Jazz, and taste the cocktails as I devoured the book. It’s the
story of a small time gal, who is plucked from the trenches of low
level casino grind and becomes the right hand of the local organization
runner. Soon she is also involved with a louse of a man, one that has
her number and gets her hips twitching…. And it’s all afoot from
there. I really like the sound and the tone, I love the feel of the
book, and I can’t wait to check out what ever Abbott has for us next…
hell I might even go back and check out The Song is You again, or her
second book Die a Little.

Since then:

I've had the chance to meet Megan and talk with her a couple of times. She confirmed that her goal with the book was to write a plot driven crime novel that would fit nicely next to the Hard Case Line. Her follow up book Bury Me Deep came out in 2009 and was a great look into the world of Phoenix in the 1930s, and another story about a man leading a woman astray. I know that she is working on a contemporary mystery currently, and I for one am looking forward to what ever she publishes next.

Thoughts, comments, HCC off Month recommendations?

Hard Case Crime: Bi Monthly/Westlake

No, no, we are not going to get 2 new Westlake books a month. However, as many of you know Hard Case Crime had been the most visible purveyor of old school hard boiled plot driven crime paperbacks for the last five and a half years. They have consistently issued a new title each month during that time, both new books in the style of classic crime and reissues of out of print titles.

In the latest News e-mail Editor Charles Ardai announced that they would be taking a break between the two books they plan to publish in December, and their next title, a unpublished Donald Westlake (bow your heads, moment of silence, open your copy of Lemons Never Lie to page 138 and read aloud) novel which is slated to hit shelved in April 2010 (which is most likely going to be the last week in March). Starting with Memory HCC will publish every other month.

(love that cover, it's the red in the chair, the pants and the blanket)

Ardai, didn't go into all of the reasons for the bimonthly*, but the slow down in consumer spending would be my guess. Ardai did say that a lot of people have reported having a back log of HCC books in their TBR piles (and you can count me in that number) which is a valid reason to slow down publishing new titles. Because I am a can do, give it your best shot type of guy, I feel like there is more that can be done to move the masses to pick up and support HCC more. To that end I have a couple of suggestions that I am just going to throw out there into the interweb winds:

1- on the HCC website, how about a printer friendly one sheet PDF list of the books published so far so that new readers can print it off and take it with them to the book store, Amazon, or the library.
2- A PDA/ Black Berry/iPhone/iPod touch version of the same thing so that people can have the electronic shopping list with them.
3- book sets. why not have a special that collects all the Max Allen Collins Quarry books in one set, or all of the Westlake in one set.
4- more merch- posters, postcards, magnets, and bottle openers.
5- Facebook- It would be nice to see a official HCC face book page, with news, updates, art work, and just a general place for fans to mingle and what not.

There you have it--- now I know that the people at HCC work hard and are doing the best that they can, I in no way want to come off like a know it all, or a back seat driver, I simply want them to be able to keep on doing what they have been for a lot of years to come.

oh and they could republish the A. I. Bezzerides novel The Long Haul (*Hint*Hint*)

*(From http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/bimonthly) Does bimonthly mean 'twice a month' or 'every two months'? I'm afraid it means both! But in the publishing industry, it is used fairly consistently to mean 'every two months'. The same ambiguity affects biweekly and biyearly. If you want to be absolutely clear, use a phrase such as 'twice a week' or 'every two years'.

Say It With Bullets by Richard Powell

Hard Case Crime to me, right now, is like Estrus Records in the early 90s, a dealer fast, furious genre entertainment. In the case of Estrus it was Garage Punk Rock'n'Roll, Hard Case on the other had has been reprinting lost Crime/Noir plot driven novels and publishing new books in the same vein. Like Punk Rock what these books have in common is their energy, their drive and a feeling that it could all end at any moment. I started reading Hard Case books a year ago and reviewed many of them here last summer. I had intended to review each book as I finished it, but got out of the habit somewhere along the way . I figure that now is a good a time as any to start again.


I just finished Hard Case entry HCC-018 Say it Will Bullets by Richard Powell

Story: Bill Wayne is a vet who flew the hump over the Himalayas during the war. Staying in China after the war ended he and a couple of buddies tried to make a go of it hauling freight, only things fell apart as the commies took China and Bill ended up with a slug in his back. Now four years later he is back in the States, and after someone took another shot at him, he is on a mission to track down his former buddies and figure out who shot him in China and who took a shot at him just now. Using a Western Bus tour as cover he travels the West dropping in on his former partners and looking for revenge. With a lady from his past in tow he finds himself in the middle of a set up he was ready for, and fighting for his life and his freedom while trying to figure out who put the pill in him.

That I liked: The fast and fun pace, the story never lingering too long on anything that distracts from that pace. I like the idea of the tour though the West, Wyoming to Utah, Nevada and then California. That is a part of the country that I have been thinking about a lot as of late, having just seen the films Bonneville and the Go Getter both of which feature road trips through those areas. I also liked the build of the reveal, with pieces falling into place step by step with out rushing, but with out dragging things out either. There is also a number of great quips, descriptions and quotes that jumped out at me Including:

"The Town of Winnemucca was about six gas stations long by Four tap rooms wide"

"Wait a minute, Wayne. Walk, do not run, to the nearest insane asylum"

"He nudged the accelerator and heard the kittens under the hood grow up into cats."

What I didn't like: I really don't have any major complaints, there are a few places where the book is a little slow, and I had a hard time at the start getting into the set up. I am more and more a believer in start with the action, let the back story unfold-- honestly this book is pretty good about getting going , but I did feel like it took a bit to get up and moving.

Do I recommend the book? Yes, I enjoyed it, and it has made me curious about the rest of Powell's output. Say it will bullets is another winner for Hard Case Crime.

End Notes:
Each Month I try to read at least one:
Book from Hard Case Crime
Book Written by Donald E Westlake (Richard Start or Tucker Coe also count)
Book from my list of books that I need to read in 2009
Book that isn't a crime/ mystery novel

I am going to try and write a review of each of the Hard Case books that I read from now on, the format for the review is going to be the same one that Mrs Olsen taught me back in the fourth grade, A synopsis of the book, tell what I liked, tell what I didn't like and say if I would recommend the book or not.

Comments and Feedback are always welcome.

Pulp Noir/ Hard Core Crime Todays Purchases

I was out shopping today, and picked up these two pulps. The AA Fair (who was really Earl Stanley Gardner) and Prather books were chosen for two very different reasons. The Prather book was because writer Christa Faust had mentioned that this was the book that brought her back to crime stories and because one of my all time favorite bands The Forbidden Dimension has a great tune called Dig That Cra-a-azy  Grave!  so I figured that I would have to check it out. The AA Fair book was because of the cover, and the fact that it's a entry in the Cool and Lam PI series. I read Top of the Heap which is a Cool and Lam book (reissued by Hard Case Crime) and enjoyed it very much.

alas, I won't get to read either of these until I am done with my current book.... The Hunter by Richard Stark.... who was of course the recently passed Donald E. Westlake....

Recent Reads

Here are two books that I have finished recently and enjoyed... both are recommended as fun, fast and hard boiled crime novels. 

How much would you bet on the flip of a card?

Lucky at Cards

Lawrence Block

 A Hard Case Crime Novel

             Lucky at Cards is the 3rd Hard Case Crime Book by Block that I have read so far, and like the others (A Diet Of Treacle and Grifter's Game) this book was a fast paced read that follows the adventures of people on the margin of what I like to call the G.I. life, which is to say a ‘normal’ life. In this case the main man on the margin is Bill Maynard, a former magician and current card mechanic. He has just been caught cheating in Chicago and finds himself in a new and unmanned town, where he is invited to a card game and falls in with a couple of guys from the upper middle/ lower upper class set. They take a liking to Bill and help him set up with a straight job, a girl, and the promise of that G.I. life….. only they don’t know about his grifter past, and his lack of comfort with the straight world.

             I enjoyed the book, and am looking forward to the other Lawrence Block Hard Case entry, The Girl With The Long Green Heart (currently sitting on my nightstand)… and I wonder, like the other three will it have the same theme. Over and over though Lucky at cards I was reminded of Block’s other books, and the thread that flows though all of them seems to be exploring the lives of people who are on the margins of the society, who all seem to know that they are on those margins, and all seem to know that they don’t really fit in either world…. And it’s freedom that seems to drive the protagonists of his books, and finding that freedom in many places, drugs, on the road, having lots and lots of money… and then there is the question of the price of that freedom… the rootlessness, the acts committed to get that money.. and of course the toll that drugs take.

             Highly recommended. 

A DIET OF TREACLE

I read this, I enjoyed it, liked the beatnik speak and the take on drugs and what drugs do to a person. Sorry way to tired to write a proper review right now, but I recommend people check this out... It's a little light on the crime, but the set up is pretty interesting. I would also say that the take on the drug culture is of note when you look back at what the drug culture has done to the USA in the last 40 years.

Games, Games, Games

Grifter’s Game by Lawrence Block

A Hard Case Crime 

            It’s all a con, at least that’s what David Mamet seems to always be on about… and that’s the story of this fast paced page turner from the golden age of pulp… or maybe the end of the golden age of pulp. It’s your basic story about boy is playing the wrong side of the track and meets a girl, who appears to be everything that he wants out of life… and he seems to be everything she wants… only she’d married and her husband has to go bye-bye so they can make off with his money. That’s the basic set up, and it’s a well worn Noir path… but what really set’s this book apart is the end, it’s not the ending that you would expect from this kind of story, maybe it’s that it was from ’61, and it was reflecting the end of the 50’s era, and the entrance into a new era, maybe it’s that Block could see where things were going and was on the cutting edge of where not only crime but social decay was starting.

 

            I should give a few words about Block here. I haven’t read any of this stuff for years, but he has an energy, a style and the occasional turn of a phrase that has made him one of the modern grand masters of the crime novel. He has that page turning energy, and the first half of this book flew by like a great Hi Energy Garage Punk tune.  There is also a slower side to his writing, and in several places he talks about the hypnotic effects of things, the pulse of the waves, the blur of a motion picture, and in some ways his writing has that effect, it draws the reader in and holds them long enough to get what it needs from them, it’s like the Grifter’s Game, it takes you along on this journey and keeps you coming back for more…. And soon enough I will be back, as I have two more of his Hard Case Crime entries sitting on my bedside table.

The Return of Max and Angela

Slide By Kenn Bruen and Jason Starr

This was one of the few books that I have read where you can feel the velocity of the story while reading. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’s even funny. You have the remaining cast of Bust racing towards meeting once again; the book is filled with unhinged, deluded criminal types getting caught up in their own stupidity and failing to achieve. Not only is the book a fun read, it was obviously a fun book to write… in that it’s very over the top, almost to the point of parody, but never getting too ridiculous… unless you want to think that an assault on one of the authors of the book happening in the book as an act that’s over the line. I do have The Max, which is the third book in the Max and Angela series on my bedside table, and plan to read it soon.

Night Walker by Donald Hamilton

Night Walker by Donald Hamilton

A Hard Case Crime Novel

Making my way thought the Hard Case Crime entries so far has had one big lesson for me, and that is that I understand so much more clearly the underlying message of these stories, and their impetus, and that’s the level of distrust of others that really came to the fore in the post WWII era. Now I am sure that it was there before, what with the history of swindlers, shysters, thieves, and politicians who were on the con, but it feels to me like the major social fall out of the war was that you really didn’t know who to trust.

 The story is pretty simple, a Navy Reserve Lieutenant is on his way to report for duty, he’s not looking forward to his having been called back, mostly because he is suffering from Post traumatic Stress Disorder, and when he is picked up hitch hiking to his duty station and kidnapped, he finds himself with what might be an out. He awakes to find himself weakened and playing a role in the plans of a groups of Reds who are under the watch of the feds. Now, this isn’t always the clearest, but that works, as our Lieutenant is in and out of it due to his injuries, and it takes him and the reader a while to figure out what has happened, who he can trust and how to get out of the situation.

The things that I liked most in this book were the little things, the fact that so many people had issues with the nick names they were given, as if they were saying to each other, don’t distill me to just this one little thing, this name that paints me as a child, a hair color, or a profession. I also enjoyed the fact that the book took place in a limited space, just like our hero, was trapped in his head, and in his body that wasn’t always respond ding the way he would have wanted.

 Yes he book isn’t big on action, and it’s kind of a twisted puzzle of a story, but it never drags, and it’s a quick enough read. I am not really sure how this fits into the Hard Case Crime world, but hey they must have had a reason to republish it. I have to admit that I have never read any of Hamilton’s other books, he is most famous for writing the Matt Helm spy novels in the 60’s, and I do have a couple of his Westerns lurking around.

 Over all this was a solid (and I need to find a new word to describe an acceptable, or slightly more than acceptable book) entry in the Hard Case Line.

Home Is The Sailor by Day Keene

A Hard Case Crime

In my continuing quest to read though the Hard Case Crime series, I have found another winning entry. Day Keene’s Home is the Sailor is a quick Hard Bolied blow of a book. It’s the story of a sailor who has not business getting off the boat, as it’s nothing but trouble for him. He drinks to much, he falls for the wrong dame, and gets himself in trouble. I should take umbrage at the disparaging of my heritage in the fact that he is called Swede and is think, then again he is from Dumbasota, so let me just assure you that all the dumb Swedes did end up the land of gods frozen people… us Michigan Swedes are a cut above, kinda like those living 08… but anyway, what I like about the book is it’s pure unapologetic dumb muscle guy getting past a head full of booze, lust and good old fashion dumbness and figuring out how he’s being set up and how he has to get out from under… more than anything this book reminded me of the joy of reading Vikki Hendricks Miami Purity recently (see review), they had similar plots, and the same quick prose…. Speaking of prose there were two great passages in this book:

“The magic madness of the cliff was gone. Now all there was between us was flesh.”

and

“Love. A Will-o’-the-wisp. St. Elmo’s fire. A biological deep rooted urge of the male to propagate his kind. A packet of cigarettes. A Hershey Bar. A Ten-thousand dollar mink coat. Five Dollars.”

And this gem of wisdom:

“I had to stop spending my life like it was money”

I also have to say that this was one of my Fave Hard Case Crime covers….

It’s all in the set up

First of all…. I love that cover, if there Hard Case was offering posters of these covers, this would be on my short list of my faves…. It’s perfect in it’s evocation of the danger, sexiness and intrigue of the mystery…. And it’s the best part of the book…. The book, it’s fine, it’s solid, it’s the set up for Ms. Tree story, it’s what in the comic book biz (where Ms. Tree started off) is know as reboot… I have to say that the twist at the end…I saw it coming, I figured it out real early. I don’t think this was a bad book, it was just incredibly eh? Ms. Tree was well defined, and her story was set up well… and I hope that we get another Ms. Tree prose work that steps out from the shadow of having to set up her story and let her flex her character muscles. You need something to pass a trip, a plane flight (I read the bulk of this in the car during a recent road trip), it’s fine.

Classic 40’s Pulp Adventure

Plunder of the Sun

By David Dodge

A Hard Case Crime Novel

Originally published 1949

Plunder of the Sun is the first of the Hard Case Crime books that I have read that don’t fall into the category of Noir and Crime Fiction as we tend to think of it today. It has crime elements in it to be sure, but it’s much more in the vein of the paperback pulp novels of the ‘30’s and 40’s. It’s a simple tale of artifact smuggling, a treasure hunt, and of course lots of double crossing, uneasy alliances and historical mystery. The story is set in Chile and Peru, and centers on a lost Incan legend and treasure. The book is most definitely a product of it’s time in that it’s not in depth on the archeology angle as a Clive Cussler story, which really is the heir to books like this one, but it moves along quickly, it’s very readable and it’s a nice peek into a genre that really hasn’t vanished but morphed into…. Well the Cussler type of books…. This is also one of the better examples of the kind of story that Indiana Jones was (and is) riffing on and inspired by…. all and all, a nice change of pace that’s not to far off the beaten track for Hard Case Crime.

There are they Now or Death of Innocence

Little Girl Lost by Richard Aleas

A Hard Case Crime Novel

The surface of Little Girl Lost is the story of murder and missing money… the standard stuff of pulp… however it’s the underlying story of PI John Blake and his uncovering of not only the truth of the murder of his High School girlfriend on the roof of the strip club that she ended up working it… it’s also his coming to terms with the way the way life doesn’t always work out the way you think. Or want it to. There is action a plenty, there are skuzzy thugs and low life scumbags, fallen women and even a twist ending… which really wasn’t much of a twist. The language is fine, I do wish that it had a little more zing, or edge, but as some who looks back and thinks about the past and often finds the question of …. How did I get here?…. is worth a few hours of contemplation, I found this book to be more than just an diverting time passer. Now I tend to post these reviews on multiple sites, and sometimes I have to come up with a title for my review, and partly out of laziness and partly out of trying to draw the lines of connection I often pick a illusion to another media… in the case of Little Girl Lost, I find myself torn between citing the song ‘Death of Innocence’ by LA Punkers Legal Weapon or ‘Where are they  Now’ by Brit’s Cocksparrer… so I will let you chose your own.. 

Top of the Heap by Earl Stanley Gardner

Top of the Heap by Earl Stanley Gardner

A Cool & Lam mystery

Republished by Hard Case Crime
Originally published in 1952


The Los Angles Detective agency of Cool & Lam are hired to help flesh out a sham alibi, only investigator Don Lam is to smart to just do what he’s asked. Soon he is at work uncovering the real story behind the need of the alibi, and making his way though the underworld of San Francisco. This is a thinking story; it’s a puzzle, with a hard boiled edge. The action in the book is pretty minor, the gun play off stage and the banter of the need to know variety….. all that said, this was a fun and fast read, it perfectly captures the pulp format of it’s era, and while I can sit here more than 50 years later wishing that it was a little tougher, a little more Moonlighting, and a tad more edgy, I am glad to have spent time with Cool & Lam… ok mostly Lam… and look forward to checking out more of their exploits, and seeing how their tales change and morph and they author makes his way through the 50’s and into the 60’s, dealing with and reflecting the changes not only in the expectations from the paperback market, but also the coming of rock and roll and the drug culture.

Karma… or something like it.

Bust by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr

Wow, talk about a rousing crime adventure. I am reminded of the great Elmore Leonard after reading this tale of a group of ego driven greedy people all trying to get their hands on what they want. For most of the character it’s money, but for those who have money? It’s sex, it’s power and it’s control. The basic plot is rich guy hires out a hit on his wife to get free of her, and everyone wants to shake him down for money afterward. In the end… we all the debts are paid, or mostly paid, and it was a fun enough journey. I think I will be looking up the sequel Slide in the very near future.

Post Motrem

I have returned Robert Bloch's Shooting Star/ Spiderweb to the Library... it just wasn't holding my attention at the moment... sure there were some solid moments, but Shooting Star just wasn't making it... so I am going to put it on my list of books that I will have to come back to...

I have instead started to read... Cop Hater by Ed McBain.... it's the first of the 87th Precinct book... I read a couple of the back in the day, but as I have been in a pulp mood as of late figured that I would try some of the early ones and try to work my way though the series over the next how ever long...

Lemon Aid

Lemons never lie by Richard Stark

Honestly this was a great read, it was fun, fast and most importantly to me, it was about more than the simple heist caper that it might seem at first.... our hero is a actor who pays the bills by pulling jobs.... and that's one of the things that I dug the most about the story, it's about a guy who is good at pulling a job from a purely professional point of view, who first of all walks away from a job that he understands is way to risky, and will bring down way too much heat... then he has to deal with the fall out of walking. Anyone that liked the film Pulp Fiction should dig this book, and I will be on the look out for more Stark books.