Old Bones

"The Red Scarf" by Gil Brewer

2011-03-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Crest Book No. 310, 1958New Pulp Press, 2010 "About eight-thirty that night, the driver of a big trailer truck let me out in the middle of nowhere. I had stacked in with a load of furniture all the way from Chicago and I should have slept, too. I couldn’t even close my eyes." Roy, desolate at failing to get a loan from his brother, is hitching his way from Chicago to Florida. He and his wife,

"Moonraker" by Ian Fleming

2011-02-01T21:46:00.003-07:00

Penguin 2003 (Orig. 1955) It was the beginning of a typical routine day for Bond. It was only two or three times a year than an assignment came along requiring his particular abilities. For the rest of the year he had the duties of an easy-going senior civil servant . . . . The first part of Moonraker gives us a glimpse into an ordinary day at the office for Bond. The films would leave us to

"Angel's Ransom" by David Dodge

2011-01-20T21:28:00.002-07:00

Dell D304, 1956 "The girl came running out of the dark, almost on the stroke of midnight. ... From the desperate hurry of the clicking heels he guessed that she was frightened, too frightened to realize that she was running toward a dead end." Sam Blake is the captain of the Angel, a yacht owned by a rich American playboy, Freddy Farr. The girl running through the midnight darkness is Marian

More on Bond, James Bond

2010-11-22T11:56:00.002-07:00

In my last post I noted my oft-scorned opinion that Casino Royale (2006) is the best Bond film. I ran across an article by Lawrence Meyers which explains, far better than I ever could, why I am such a fan of Casino Royale. He writes: For viewers longing for the traditional Bond trappings involving Q, gadgets, cackling villains utilizing sci-fi technology, and eccentric nemeses like Jaws, let

"Casino Royale" by Ian Fleming

2010-11-02T20:32:00.003-06:00

Penguin 2002 (Orig. 1953) When, dazed and half-conscious, he raised himself on one knee, a ghastly rain of pieces of flesh and shreds of blood-soaked clothing fell on him and around him, mingled with branches and gravel. Then a shower of small twigs and leaves. From all sides came the sharp tinkle of falling glass. Above in the sky hung a mushroom of black smoke which rose and dissolved as he

"Memory" by Donald Westlake

2010-10-26T16:35:00.000-06:00

Hard Case Crime, 2010 Glen Orbik’s wonderful cover tells all you need to know about the beginnings of the nightmarish journey documented in Memory. Actor, and erstwhile seducer of married women, Paul Cole, awakens in the hospital after his collision with the chair. He is disoriented and confused, with a highly dysfunctional memory. From the moment of that awakening, the reader is placed into

"Angel" by Gil Brewer

2010-10-07T20:20:00.002-06:00

Avon No. 866, 1960 “When I saw the prowl car, I threw the gun down in the yard. I thought of running, but there would have been no chance. It would have been stupid.” Nick Gavin had come to see his old friend Fred Westfall. Fred called him talking about trouble, needing help. Now Nick is standing in Fred’s front yard with a gun in his hand. Fred ... Fred is dead man, lying at Nick's feet.

"Quarry In the Middle" by Max Allan Collins

2010-09-16T10:41:00.000-06:00

Hard Case Crime, 2009 “Feed lettuce to the bunny and eat the bunny.” - Dashiel Hammett “In a mad world, only the mad are sane.” - Akira Kurosawa “An assassin can display a sublime altruism.” -Sergio Leone Collins begins Quarry In the Middle with these quotes from masters of the man-in-the-middle tale. This Quarry adventure takes place at some point in the middle of Quarry’s career. He

"House of Flesh" by Bruno Fischer

2010-08-19T13:42:00.001-06:00

Gold Medal No. 123, 1950 House of Flesh employs one of my favorite pulp noir themes - a man obsessed with a rotten but irresistible woman. It concerns Harry, a professional basketball player who decides to spend the off-season in rural New England to rest his mind and recover from an injury. He stays in the guest house of retired lawyer Conrad Hickey, who entertains himself by painting nudes.

"Nobody's Angel" by Jack Clark

2010-08-11T12:04:00.000-06:00

Hard Case Crime, 2010 "You want to see some bad neighborhoods," I offered. "I’ll show you some bad neighborhoods." Ever wonder what it would be like to get behind the wheel of a cab in a large and frenetic city? Look no further, Nobody’s Angel takes us right into the harrowing world of Chicago cabdriver Eddie Miles and provides a detailed and fascinating view of what its like to turn a

"Satan Is A Woman" by Gil Brewer

2010-07-29T20:15:00.002-06:00

Gold Medal No. 169, 1951 Satan Is a Woman was Brewer’s first title for Gold Medal and he was writing in top form. Brewer’s best novels are based upon a similar motif - the lead character’s blind obsession with a rotten but irresistible woman. In Satan Is a Woman, this motif is set against a background and sub-plot that is actually quite compelling and adds a richness that some of Brewer’s

"The Big Bang" by Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins

2010-07-23T11:41:00.002-06:00

I listen to a lot of audiobooks and I was very happy to recently run across the audiobook version of The Big Bang at my local library. The novel is excellently performed by Stacy Keach. Listening to him made me really want to check out the old Hammer tv show, starring Keach. He has just the right amount of tough guy growl for Mike Hammer and does a pretty good job characterizing the other

"Guilty Bystander" by Wade Miller

2010-07-15T21:20:00.002-06:00

Signet No. 1089 “The room wouldn’t stay still. It kept swinging in slow, creaking circles like a carousel running down. He was lost in a fog - a hot, sticky fog. A voice echoed down an empty street toward him, calling his name. Georgia’s voice. He waited for it to fade away as it always did.” So begins Guilty Bystander as Max Thursday is awoken from a drunken stupor by his ex-wife Georgia.

"-And the Girl Screamed" by Gil Brewer

2009-10-27T20:00:00.001-06:00

Crest Book No. 147, 1956 The story begins with our hero, Cliff, being denied an opportunity to return to the police force because a panel of cops and prominent citizens decide he can't handle a gun after having his arm permanently injured by an escaped convict. The chief opposition to his return is mounted by Edward Thayer, with whose wife Cliff has been having an affair. Cliff is despondent

Stop This Man! by Peter Rabe

2009-10-13T20:31:00.001-06:00

Hard Case Crime No. 58 Gold Medal No. k1403 Tony Catell is a professional thief. A buddy tips him off about an easy score - a gold ingot kept in a university lab. Tony gets the gold, but doesn’t realize that it has been used in an experiment and it is radioactive. Soon the FBI is on his trail. He manages to stay one step ahead of the feds, but the radioactive gold he is carrying leaves a

"Casino" by Nicholas Pileggi

2009-10-06T17:16:00.000-06:00

I recently was surfing the net and somehow ran across Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal’s website. Lefty died just about a year ago, but his website is still out there in cyberspace. For those not in the know, Lefty was long-time handicapper that ran the Stardust Hotel & Casino for the mob in the 70s. His story was the subject of the Scorcese film Casino, in which he was played by Robert DeNiro,

Hard Case Crime Favorites

2009-09-30T15:47:00.000-06:00

I owe a debt of gratitude to Hard Case Crime. I have always loved film noir, crime stories and detective novels, but I was totally ignorant of the vast catalog of pulp fiction produced in the 1950s PBO scene. I ran across “The Colorado Kid” while looking at some Stephen King novels, found the HCC website and was awakened to what I had been missing. HCC has now published over 50 novels and

"So Rich, So Dead" by Gil Brewer

2009-09-15T19:59:00.004-06:00

Gold Medal No. 196, 1951“There was this rushing hum . . . Marie reached out toward me, both hands outstretched, her eyes pleading. She was clothed in something silken, diaphanous. Her hair flowed across her shoulders in that soft jet, like the overside of a cloud when the moon is down. She reached toward me, drifted close, yet came no nearer. I tried to tell her to go away, leave me alone.”So

"The Killer" by Wade Miller

2009-08-26T09:43:00.005-06:00

Gold Medal Books 1951 Jake Farrow is a hunting guide in Africa that recently had his ticket jerked for helping a client shoot a lion on the Masai preserve. We find him wallowing in boredom when a mysterious man shows up and offers him an exorbitant sum to guide a hunt - location, prey and client undisclosed. Farrow reluctantly takes the job and ends up in New York. Turns out Farrow's client

"Sue Me" - A Twist of Noir No. 139

2009-08-19T11:57:00.005-06:00

Christopher Grant over at A Twist of Noir was nice enough to publish my first attempt at flash fiction, a piece entitled Sue Me. You may peruse it here. My writing obviously isn't in line with the exceptional talent usually featured on A Twist of Noir and the other flash fiction blogs noted in my blog list, but I really enjoyed putting pen to paper. I appreciate Christopher's feedback and his

"Up In Honey's Room" by Elmore Leonard

2009-08-18T11:00:00.003-06:00

Up In Honey’s Room takes place in the waning days of World War II. Walter Shoen, described as the most boring man alive, is a German butcher living in Detriot. He believes that he is Heinrich Himmler’s identical twin and considers himself a loyal Nazi. He is hiding two escaped German POWs on his farm. Carl Webster is a federal Marshall tracking the escaped POWs. We also meet several other

"Casino Moon" by Peter Blauner & "Fake I.D." by Jason Starr

2009-08-05T21:12:00.005-06:00

I think it no coincidence that Hard Case Crime published Casino Moon and Fake I.D. back to back. Both novels star protagonists named Russo and basically tell the same story - Russo is a down on his luck loser stuck in a dead-end life. He wiles away his time dreaming of a way out. An opportunity presents itself. Seems too good to be true at first, but the idea is soon embraced and pursued with

Off To Do Justice

2009-05-20T10:45:00.003-06:00

I'm off to do justice for a client in an 18 day jury trial starting June 1st. I've read enough lately to make my eyes bleed and typed boxes full of documents. Of course, none of that reading or typing has been recreational. This blog hasn't been forgotten, just regretfully set aside. I hope to get a review of Gil Brewer's Flight to Darkness up before the trial, but it might not happen.I'll

"Death Rides A Horse" the 1967 Film

2009-04-15T15:06:00.006-06:00

I recently happened upon Death Rides a Horse on the Encore Western channel late one night. I saw that it starred Lee Van Cleef (one of the greatest) so I decided to check it out despite the blurb review in the channel guide. The blurb gave it two stars and said it was a "standard tale" about a cowboy out to revenge the death of his family. How horribly wrong the dolt that wrote that was!Although

2009-03-28T19:57:00.008-06:00