Rating: 5
Year: 2011
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes.
Raylan's got a warrant for Angel Arenas, a marijuana dealer. He finds Angel in a hotel bathtub full of ice water, near death, and shy a pair of kidneys.
Once he gets Angel to talk, Raylan learns that the dealer was meeting with a couple of men. He figures the guys drugged their mark, cut him open, nipped the kidneys. But Angel refuses to ID them.
Doctors at the hospital say the job looks professional. The incisions were stapled up.
The kidney-nappers send their victim a fax: $100,000 to get his guts back. As a show of good faith they've taken the liberty of dropping the purloined pieces at Angel's hospital, ready to reinstall.
But if he doesn't produce the cash, they'll repossess them. Angel has one week.
The plot breaks up into several threads from here: the hunt for the pair of small-timers who waylaid Angel; a young woman who's insanely good at poker and who might be part of a trio of drug addicts who rob banks; and the people running the kidney-theft ring. Harlan County is very busy.
A lot of this book has made its way into the TV series "Justified," but not quite as-written. The kidney-theft and bank robber arcs are part of the show's third season and get tweaked to fit the show's plotline. It's got me wondering whether the poker champ will show up for the 5th season.
Good book, more meaty and satisfying than "Fire in the Hole."
Showing posts with label Crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crime. Show all posts
Monday, July 1, 2013
Raylan 03: Fire in the Hole (Elmore Leonard)
Rating: 4/5
Year: 2002
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens has been reassigned to Harlan County, Kentucky in the wake of a shoot-out with a mobster. To be fair, Raylan did give the guy 24 hours to get out of town or get shot. Guy didn't leave.
It was simpler to just shuffle Raylan out of sight than to try to build a case against him.
This being Raylan Givens, he's not even settled in before the trouble starts. His old schoolmate Boyd Crowder has started up a white supremacist church, mostly as a criminal enterprise: bomb goes off in a Black neighborhood, cops rush to the scene, and Boyd's boys rob a bank or two elsewhere while the cops are busy.
Meanwhile, the recently-widowed Ava Crowder shows an interest in Raylan now that her abusive husband is out of the picture.
This novella is the basis for the TV show "Justified"; I haven't seen much of the show's first season, so I don't know how well they fit together. The book's a very quick read, but there are no real surprises. By the halfway point the ending is obvious, but Raylan's got so many awesome one-liners in his dealings with the bad guys that it doesn't matter. I would have liked a longer story with more of a challenge for Raylan.
Year: 2002
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens has been reassigned to Harlan County, Kentucky in the wake of a shoot-out with a mobster. To be fair, Raylan did give the guy 24 hours to get out of town or get shot. Guy didn't leave.
It was simpler to just shuffle Raylan out of sight than to try to build a case against him.
This being Raylan Givens, he's not even settled in before the trouble starts. His old schoolmate Boyd Crowder has started up a white supremacist church, mostly as a criminal enterprise: bomb goes off in a Black neighborhood, cops rush to the scene, and Boyd's boys rob a bank or two elsewhere while the cops are busy.
Meanwhile, the recently-widowed Ava Crowder shows an interest in Raylan now that her abusive husband is out of the picture.
This novella is the basis for the TV show "Justified"; I haven't seen much of the show's first season, so I don't know how well they fit together. The book's a very quick read, but there are no real surprises. By the halfway point the ending is obvious, but Raylan's got so many awesome one-liners in his dealings with the bad guys that it doesn't matter. I would have liked a longer story with more of a challenge for Raylan.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Raylan 02: Riding the Rap (Elmore Leonard)
Rating: 5
Year: 1995
Genre: Crime
Read Again? Yes
Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens drives up to Ocala to nab Dale Crowe on a warrant (Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution). He puts Crowe in the driver's seat and makes him drive them back to Palm Beach County.
He's alone with the man convicted of battery on a police officer. Being a Crowe, he tries something stupid and ends up handcuffed to the steering wheel, still driving.
On the way, they pick up a pair of carjackers (dumbasses tried to jack Raylan's car), so now the Marshall has three prisoners and feels pretty damn smug.
Meanwhile, Harry Arno, the bookie-in-trouble from the first book, hires a bounty hunter to ferret out a $16,500 gambling debt owed by Warren "Chip" Ganz up in Manalpan, Florida. Harry's retiring and wants to settle his accounts.
The bounty hunter, Bobby "the Gardener" Deogracias, finds Ganz at his mother's run-down 9,000 square foot home. Ganz' mother is in a different sort of home, dying alone of Alzheimer's. Ganz himself is hardly living large, since his mother controls the house and whatever money there is.
The Gardener offers to prune Ganz' ears, one at a time, if he doesn't pay up the $18,000 he owes (finder's fee). More anatomy to follow as needed for motivation.
Chip sees an angle and proposes a business opportunity: he and The Gardener could team up, take Harry Arno hostage, and squeeze him for the money he's had to be skimming in all his time as a bookie. They'll split the take three ways, since Chip's already got another partner, man named Louis Lewis.
Harry vanishes. Raylan reluctantly tries to find him, prodded by Harry's lady friend. He finds some interesting puzzle pieces: a young, attractive professional psychic; a robbery at a little Mom & Pop grocery (with strawberry Jell-O as part of the take); one of the robbers threatened one victim with pruning shears. Raylan suspects Bobby Deo, "The Gardener," but lacks all the pieces just yet.
The genius of Elmore Leonard's tale is that we're not dealing with criminal masterminds. You've got the financially embarrassed, desperate man-of-the-house (Chip Ganz) who once read a book about hostages and how they were treated. Chip wants the caper done By The Book, but the practicalities keep this from going to plan. Straw mattresses are hard to come by in Palm Beach County. Crappy food, chains, and squalid shacks are kind of hard on the jailors and the jailed, and Chip's partners refuse to go along. Harry makes do with being chained in a run-down 9,000 square foot mansion instead.
Then there's Louis, who almost immediately starts trying to undercut the other guys; and The Gardener, who's so obsessed with his gunslinger-badass self-image that he fails to think very far ahead.
Greed is the only thing keeping the trio of kidnappers together, and each of them is plotting against the other two.
Fast-paced, easy reading here. I really like that the bad guys are just regular, stupid human beings instead of evil geniuses. It really doesn't take much more than that and a little greed to drive a typical crook.
Year: 1995
Genre: Crime
Read Again? Yes
Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens drives up to Ocala to nab Dale Crowe on a warrant (Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution). He puts Crowe in the driver's seat and makes him drive them back to Palm Beach County.
He's alone with the man convicted of battery on a police officer. Being a Crowe, he tries something stupid and ends up handcuffed to the steering wheel, still driving.
On the way, they pick up a pair of carjackers (dumbasses tried to jack Raylan's car), so now the Marshall has three prisoners and feels pretty damn smug.
Meanwhile, Harry Arno, the bookie-in-trouble from the first book, hires a bounty hunter to ferret out a $16,500 gambling debt owed by Warren "Chip" Ganz up in Manalpan, Florida. Harry's retiring and wants to settle his accounts.
The bounty hunter, Bobby "the Gardener" Deogracias, finds Ganz at his mother's run-down 9,000 square foot home. Ganz' mother is in a different sort of home, dying alone of Alzheimer's. Ganz himself is hardly living large, since his mother controls the house and whatever money there is.
The Gardener offers to prune Ganz' ears, one at a time, if he doesn't pay up the $18,000 he owes (finder's fee). More anatomy to follow as needed for motivation.
Chip sees an angle and proposes a business opportunity: he and The Gardener could team up, take Harry Arno hostage, and squeeze him for the money he's had to be skimming in all his time as a bookie. They'll split the take three ways, since Chip's already got another partner, man named Louis Lewis.
Harry vanishes. Raylan reluctantly tries to find him, prodded by Harry's lady friend. He finds some interesting puzzle pieces: a young, attractive professional psychic; a robbery at a little Mom & Pop grocery (with strawberry Jell-O as part of the take); one of the robbers threatened one victim with pruning shears. Raylan suspects Bobby Deo, "The Gardener," but lacks all the pieces just yet.
The genius of Elmore Leonard's tale is that we're not dealing with criminal masterminds. You've got the financially embarrassed, desperate man-of-the-house (Chip Ganz) who once read a book about hostages and how they were treated. Chip wants the caper done By The Book, but the practicalities keep this from going to plan. Straw mattresses are hard to come by in Palm Beach County. Crappy food, chains, and squalid shacks are kind of hard on the jailors and the jailed, and Chip's partners refuse to go along. Harry makes do with being chained in a run-down 9,000 square foot mansion instead.
Then there's Louis, who almost immediately starts trying to undercut the other guys; and The Gardener, who's so obsessed with his gunslinger-badass self-image that he fails to think very far ahead.
Greed is the only thing keeping the trio of kidnappers together, and each of them is plotting against the other two.
Fast-paced, easy reading here. I really like that the bad guys are just regular, stupid human beings instead of evil geniuses. It really doesn't take much more than that and a little greed to drive a typical crook.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Raylan 01: Pronto (Leonard, Elmore)
Rating: 4/5
Year: 1993
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
This is the first of several stories about Deputy US Marshall Raylan Givens; they cover the events that led to Givens being "exiled" to Kentucky in the TV series "Justified."
Raylan is assigned to protect Harry Arno, a Miami bookie and witness against small-time Mobster Jimmy Cap. Harry finds out he's been screwed by the Feds: they faked a call from an angry bettor who hasn't been paid off, making it look as though Harry skimmed several thousand bucks.
As it turns out, Harry's been skimming, all right--a few million bucks over four decades. The Feds' screwing blows things up just as he's about to "retire" and run off to Italy.
He gives Raylan the slip, but the Marshall has dealt with Harry before and easily finds the Bookie in a little town.
The Mob doesn't have much trouble tracking Harry, either....
Leonard doesn't waste the reader's time in extra syllables or meandering prose, but "Pronto" doesn't move as quickly as "Maximum Bob," the only other Elmore I've read. It still has the "ordinary people" feel of "Bob" and of "Justified," but I still felt the need to take a point for the pacing.
Year: 1993
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
This is the first of several stories about Deputy US Marshall Raylan Givens; they cover the events that led to Givens being "exiled" to Kentucky in the TV series "Justified."
Raylan is assigned to protect Harry Arno, a Miami bookie and witness against small-time Mobster Jimmy Cap. Harry finds out he's been screwed by the Feds: they faked a call from an angry bettor who hasn't been paid off, making it look as though Harry skimmed several thousand bucks.
As it turns out, Harry's been skimming, all right--a few million bucks over four decades. The Feds' screwing blows things up just as he's about to "retire" and run off to Italy.
He gives Raylan the slip, but the Marshall has dealt with Harry before and easily finds the Bookie in a little town.
The Mob doesn't have much trouble tracking Harry, either....
Leonard doesn't waste the reader's time in extra syllables or meandering prose, but "Pronto" doesn't move as quickly as "Maximum Bob," the only other Elmore I've read. It still has the "ordinary people" feel of "Bob" and of "Justified," but I still felt the need to take a point for the pacing.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Maximum Bob (Leonard, Elmore)
Rating: 5/5
Year: 1991
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
Kathy Baker is a parole officer. One of her "projects" is a kid named Dale Crowe, 2 days out of prison for hitting a cop. He broke parole in a drunken bar fight.
Maximum Bob Gibbs is the Palm Beach County judge presiding over Dale Crowe's fighting case. Bob ignores the underage drinking and the fight altogether, focusing on the kid's prior cop-hitting instead.
He's not called "Maximum" Bob for nothing. He likes making examples of people--and since the Crowe family are a bunch of habitual offenders, he decides to send the kid back to prison on a longer sentence.
Bob's also a lecherous 57-year-old. He quickly notices Kathy Baker and starts trying to put some moves on her. Of course he's married, but his wife's a crystal-gazing, aura-reading New Ager who's gained a little extra weight. She's also slightly crazy: she believes she can channel the spirit of a long-dead 12-year-old black girl.
Bob's tired of married life and really wants the house clear so he can lure that attractive young parole officer. He pays a man to drop a dead gator in the back yard, hoping to scare her away.
Gator's not quite dead. Eats her dog. The cops get involved, and they're thinking someone's trying to kill old Bob.
Meanwhile, Dale Crowe's uncle has been offered $10,000 to kill Maximum Bob.
Leonard's writing is tight! He metes out bits of exposition as needed, but keeps it on the fly. He doesn't pause to hold your hand or tell in-depth back stories.
Each character carries a piece of the puzzle. They all stand out and they're all interesting and believable. It's clear that we're not following heroic, important people here, just regulars--some on the take, some on the make, some just wanting the work day to end, thinking of that cold beer at home. We know their motivations: lust in the old judge, revenge in the ex-con, the parole officer who's afraid to say "no" to the judge who could easily wreck her career, the cops who know something hinky is going on.
Leonard's style is clean, free of wasted words or wasted time. He takes you from A to B, gives hints about C along the way, builds things a little more, and you're expected to keep up. He won't hold your hand.
This is how writing ought to be! Make every word count. After reading a couple of really bad Star Wars books and one Lackey book, this was an unexpected pleasure.
Year: 1991
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
Kathy Baker is a parole officer. One of her "projects" is a kid named Dale Crowe, 2 days out of prison for hitting a cop. He broke parole in a drunken bar fight.
Maximum Bob Gibbs is the Palm Beach County judge presiding over Dale Crowe's fighting case. Bob ignores the underage drinking and the fight altogether, focusing on the kid's prior cop-hitting instead.
He's not called "Maximum" Bob for nothing. He likes making examples of people--and since the Crowe family are a bunch of habitual offenders, he decides to send the kid back to prison on a longer sentence.
Bob's also a lecherous 57-year-old. He quickly notices Kathy Baker and starts trying to put some moves on her. Of course he's married, but his wife's a crystal-gazing, aura-reading New Ager who's gained a little extra weight. She's also slightly crazy: she believes she can channel the spirit of a long-dead 12-year-old black girl.
Bob's tired of married life and really wants the house clear so he can lure that attractive young parole officer. He pays a man to drop a dead gator in the back yard, hoping to scare her away.
Gator's not quite dead. Eats her dog. The cops get involved, and they're thinking someone's trying to kill old Bob.
Meanwhile, Dale Crowe's uncle has been offered $10,000 to kill Maximum Bob.
Leonard's writing is tight! He metes out bits of exposition as needed, but keeps it on the fly. He doesn't pause to hold your hand or tell in-depth back stories.
Each character carries a piece of the puzzle. They all stand out and they're all interesting and believable. It's clear that we're not following heroic, important people here, just regulars--some on the take, some on the make, some just wanting the work day to end, thinking of that cold beer at home. We know their motivations: lust in the old judge, revenge in the ex-con, the parole officer who's afraid to say "no" to the judge who could easily wreck her career, the cops who know something hinky is going on.
Leonard's style is clean, free of wasted words or wasted time. He takes you from A to B, gives hints about C along the way, builds things a little more, and you're expected to keep up. He won't hold your hand.
This is how writing ought to be! Make every word count. After reading a couple of really bad Star Wars books and one Lackey book, this was an unexpected pleasure.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Trouble Is My Business (collection; Chandler, Raymond)
Overall rating: 4
Year: 1950?
Genre: Crime
Read again? In a few years, maybe.
I'm glad I read it, but I'm not happy that it took a solid month to do so.
The book itself didn't drag; the killer is in the formula. The detective is asked onto a case, he goes to interview an important witness, who turns up dead. It's a time-honored formula, and obviously successful, but it made for some disorientation. Good thing I took notes.
The big surprise, as mentioned in several of the early story reviews, was that Chandler went on to build novels from several stories. The upshot of this is that a reader who's already seen the novels will already know where a component short story is going.
Here's the breakdown:
The Big Sleep (1939) uses "Killer in the Rain" and "The Curtain."
Farewell, My Lovely (1940) uses "The Man who Liked Dogs," "Try the Girl," and "Mandarin's Jade."
The Lady in the Lake (1943) uses "Bay City Blues," "The Lady in the Lake," and "No Crime in the Mountains."
I do like Chandler's style, but it doesn't seem as developed in the shorts as in his novels.
Year: 1950?
Genre: Crime
Read again? In a few years, maybe.
I'm glad I read it, but I'm not happy that it took a solid month to do so.
The book itself didn't drag; the killer is in the formula. The detective is asked onto a case, he goes to interview an important witness, who turns up dead. It's a time-honored formula, and obviously successful, but it made for some disorientation. Good thing I took notes.
The big surprise, as mentioned in several of the early story reviews, was that Chandler went on to build novels from several stories. The upshot of this is that a reader who's already seen the novels will already know where a component short story is going.
Here's the breakdown:
The Big Sleep (1939) uses "Killer in the Rain" and "The Curtain."
Farewell, My Lovely (1940) uses "The Man who Liked Dogs," "Try the Girl," and "Mandarin's Jade."
The Lady in the Lake (1943) uses "Bay City Blues," "The Lady in the Lake," and "No Crime in the Mountains."
I do like Chandler's style, but it doesn't seem as developed in the shorts as in his novels.
Red Wind (short story; Chandler, Raymond)
Rating: 5
Year: 1938
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
Number 12 of 12 in "Trouble is my Business." This is a good ending, since I'm sort of dealing with detective fatigue.
Marlowe's sitting in a little club, minding his own business, chatting with the bartender. There's a fat guy at the other end of the bar buying and devouring his booze a shot at a time. Other than these three gents, the bar's empty.
Another man enters and asks some very specific questions about a woman, right down to describing her clothing. No one's seen her. He turns to leave.
Fat Guy shouts at him, then pulls out a gun and wastes him, walks out, and steals the man's car.
Marlowe finds the woman without even trying (she turns up in the hall near his apartment), but then things start getting complicated.
Year: 1938
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
Number 12 of 12 in "Trouble is my Business." This is a good ending, since I'm sort of dealing with detective fatigue.
Marlowe's sitting in a little club, minding his own business, chatting with the bartender. There's a fat guy at the other end of the bar buying and devouring his booze a shot at a time. Other than these three gents, the bar's empty.
Another man enters and asks some very specific questions about a woman, right down to describing her clothing. No one's seen her. He turns to leave.
Fat Guy shouts at him, then pulls out a gun and wastes him, walks out, and steals the man's car.
Marlowe finds the woman without even trying (she turns up in the hall near his apartment), but then things start getting complicated.
Goldfish (short story; Chandler, Raymond)
Rating: 5
Year: 1936
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
One of the better shorts! Number 11 of 12 in "Trouble is my Business."
Marlowe's brought in on a chance to make a cut of $20,000 in reward money being offered by an insurance company. All he has to do is find some pearls that went missing in a train robbery years before.
Chief suspect Wally Sype admitted to killing a mail clerk on the train and stealing the other stuff that went missing in the operation. This admission (and the recovery of everything but the pearls) got him a pardon.
But one Peeler Mardo claims that his cellmate (Sype) admitted to grabbing the pearls and hiding them in Idaho.
Marlowe goes to interview Mardo. Mardo's dead, tortured--but did he spill before he died?
It's a race to find the pearls, and Marlowe's up against a tough broad and her ambulance-chaser partner in crime.
Much more entertaining than most of the previous stories--the angel-faced tough broad is a lot of fun and is probably the best fleshed-out character, even with the relatively small amount of screen time she gets.
Year: 1936
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
One of the better shorts! Number 11 of 12 in "Trouble is my Business."
Marlowe's brought in on a chance to make a cut of $20,000 in reward money being offered by an insurance company. All he has to do is find some pearls that went missing in a train robbery years before.
Chief suspect Wally Sype admitted to killing a mail clerk on the train and stealing the other stuff that went missing in the operation. This admission (and the recovery of everything but the pearls) got him a pardon.
But one Peeler Mardo claims that his cellmate (Sype) admitted to grabbing the pearls and hiding them in Idaho.
Marlowe goes to interview Mardo. Mardo's dead, tortured--but did he spill before he died?
It's a race to find the pearls, and Marlowe's up against a tough broad and her ambulance-chaser partner in crime.
Much more entertaining than most of the previous stories--the angel-faced tough broad is a lot of fun and is probably the best fleshed-out character, even with the relatively small amount of screen time she gets.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Finger Man (short story; Chandler, Raymond)
Rating: 5
Year: 1934
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes.
Number ten of 12!
Marlowe has just finished testifying in a Grand Jury on a murder. He's offered a job as a bodyguard by one Lou Harger, who has an angle on a roulette wheel he used to own. The wheel's at Canale's casino. Harger wants Marlowe along in case he starts winning and Canale gets pissy.
Marlowe takes the job and goes to the club as though he's just a customer, sitting at the bar and people-watching. Harger's girlfriend racks up more than $20,000 in winnings. But Canale has noticed Marlowe and asks him to leave.
He gets sapped before he even reaches his car. His gun is taken away...then the girl shows up at the office with the money and Harger turns up dead...and fingers are pointing at Marlowe as the killer.
Year: 1934
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes.
Number ten of 12!
Marlowe has just finished testifying in a Grand Jury on a murder. He's offered a job as a bodyguard by one Lou Harger, who has an angle on a roulette wheel he used to own. The wheel's at Canale's casino. Harger wants Marlowe along in case he starts winning and Canale gets pissy.
Marlowe takes the job and goes to the club as though he's just a customer, sitting at the bar and people-watching. Harger's girlfriend racks up more than $20,000 in winnings. But Canale has noticed Marlowe and asks him to leave.
He gets sapped before he even reaches his car. His gun is taken away...then the girl shows up at the office with the money and Harger turns up dead...and fingers are pointing at Marlowe as the killer.
Trouble is my Business (short story; Chandler, Raymond)
Rating: 4
Year: 1939
Genre: Crime
Read Again? maybe
Nine out of 12, and I'm ready for it to end. Time for something different.
Anna Halsey hires Marlowe to dig up dirt on Harriet Huntress, an unsavory woman who works a scary gamblin' kingpin. Harriet's on the prowl for a rich man's son; the rich man wants her gone.
Mr. Jeeter's the prissy rich man, a complete snob who carries his air of superiority the way a man wears a hat. Marlowe doesn't like him--and he doesn't take crap from the man, rich or not.
Jeeter Junior owes the gamblin' kingpin $50,000 in debts. Pops refuses to pay, even after he hires an investigator to see whether the debts are legitimate. Marlowe goes to meet the investigator, John Arbogast.
Arbogast is, of course, dead. Shortly afterward, some heavies try to scare Marlowe off the case.
Year: 1939
Genre: Crime
Read Again? maybe
Nine out of 12, and I'm ready for it to end. Time for something different.
Anna Halsey hires Marlowe to dig up dirt on Harriet Huntress, an unsavory woman who works a scary gamblin' kingpin. Harriet's on the prowl for a rich man's son; the rich man wants her gone.
Mr. Jeeter's the prissy rich man, a complete snob who carries his air of superiority the way a man wears a hat. Marlowe doesn't like him--and he doesn't take crap from the man, rich or not.
Jeeter Junior owes the gamblin' kingpin $50,000 in debts. Pops refuses to pay, even after he hires an investigator to see whether the debts are legitimate. Marlowe goes to meet the investigator, John Arbogast.
Arbogast is, of course, dead. Shortly afterward, some heavies try to scare Marlowe off the case.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
No Crime in the Mountains (short story; Chandler, Raymond)
Rating: 5
Year: 1943
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
Number 8 of 12 in "Trouble is my Business" and another piece of the "The Lady in the Lake" novel.
John Evans gets an urgent note and an advance payment: his services are needed by one Fred Lacey out at Puma Point. Evans heads out, finds a hotel, and calls Lacey's number. Mrs. Lacey says he's not in, so Evans relaxes a bit.
I liked this description of the band: "In the deep, black corner of the room a hillbilly symphony of five defeatists in white coats and purple shirts was trying to make itself heard above the brawl at the bar." This is the kind of descriptive I've been hoping to see more of, but it's been rare in these shorts so far.
Evans decides to go looking for Lacey himself. He finds the cabin number and location and heads that way. He stops near the lake short to admire the view and look at Lacey's body. As he's walking back to his car, he's confronted by a little man with a big enough gun...and gets himself knocked unconscious.
When he wakes up, he goes to visit the widow, who tells him that Lacey had found some counterfeit money....
A good story, good characters, though the bad guys are almost comically clichee'd true-believing Nazi Germans and an inscrutible Japanese man.
The sheriff isn't the same character as the one in "The Lady in the Lake," but the descriptions and manner are identical.
Still...not gonna knock points.
Year: 1943
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
Number 8 of 12 in "Trouble is my Business" and another piece of the "The Lady in the Lake" novel.
John Evans gets an urgent note and an advance payment: his services are needed by one Fred Lacey out at Puma Point. Evans heads out, finds a hotel, and calls Lacey's number. Mrs. Lacey says he's not in, so Evans relaxes a bit.
I liked this description of the band: "In the deep, black corner of the room a hillbilly symphony of five defeatists in white coats and purple shirts was trying to make itself heard above the brawl at the bar." This is the kind of descriptive I've been hoping to see more of, but it's been rare in these shorts so far.
Evans decides to go looking for Lacey himself. He finds the cabin number and location and heads that way. He stops near the lake short to admire the view and look at Lacey's body. As he's walking back to his car, he's confronted by a little man with a big enough gun...and gets himself knocked unconscious.
When he wakes up, he goes to visit the widow, who tells him that Lacey had found some counterfeit money....
A good story, good characters, though the bad guys are almost comically clichee'd true-believing Nazi Germans and an inscrutible Japanese man.
The sheriff isn't the same character as the one in "The Lady in the Lake," but the descriptions and manner are identical.
Still...not gonna knock points.
The Lady in the Lake (short story; Chandler, Raymond)
Rating: 5
Year: 1939
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
Number 7 of 12 shorts in "Trouble is my Business," and also a chunk of the novel of the same name.
John Dalmas is hired to look for a missing wife; she's told her husband she's leaving him and getting remarried in Mexico. But Mr. Melton saw loverboy just a few days earlier.
Dalmas goes to loverboy's house and pokes around the outside of it, knocking on doors, before finally tripping a spring-lock in back and letting himself in. Loverboy is dead in the living room.
Mr. Melton supposes that wifey could be up at the lake house, so Dalmas hoofs it up there and meets Mr. Haines, the caretaker of a few cottages, including Melton's. Haines is unhappy. Dalmas shares out a pint of whiskey to loosen him up, get him to talk. It seems his wife left him a few days before, about the same time Melton's wife went missing.
They go for a walk so Haines can talk some more...and they find a woman's body submerged in the lake.
Year: 1939
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
Number 7 of 12 shorts in "Trouble is my Business," and also a chunk of the novel of the same name.
John Dalmas is hired to look for a missing wife; she's told her husband she's leaving him and getting remarried in Mexico. But Mr. Melton saw loverboy just a few days earlier.
Dalmas goes to loverboy's house and pokes around the outside of it, knocking on doors, before finally tripping a spring-lock in back and letting himself in. Loverboy is dead in the living room.
Mr. Melton supposes that wifey could be up at the lake house, so Dalmas hoofs it up there and meets Mr. Haines, the caretaker of a few cottages, including Melton's. Haines is unhappy. Dalmas shares out a pint of whiskey to loosen him up, get him to talk. It seems his wife left him a few days before, about the same time Melton's wife went missing.
They go for a walk so Haines can talk some more...and they find a woman's body submerged in the lake.
Bay City Blues (short story; Chandler, Raymond)
Rating: 4
Year: 1938
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes.
Number 6 of 12. Halfway there numerically, but it seems like so much more. As I'm writing this one, I'm reading #9 ("Trouble is my Business").
John Dalmas is set up with a case: A woman is dead, supposedly of carbon monoxide poisoning. There was no coroner's inquest, no police investigation. She was given a once-over, proclaimed a suicide, cremated, and that was that. Now Dalmas is asked to help Henry Matson, a P.I. from Bay City who didn't think the woman was a suicide, and that there are dirty cops and medical types who rigged the whole thing. They pulled Matson's P.I. license and ran him out of town.
Dalmas shortly receives a parcel with clues that point him to an apartment. Shortly after he gets there, Matson shows up and dies.
This story forms part of Chandler's novel, "The Lady in the Lake." I haven't read that one yet, but I'm going to give it a few months (or years) at least so I won't know what's about to happen, given that the shorts so far are lifted scene-for-scene into the later novels.
Year: 1938
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes.
Number 6 of 12. Halfway there numerically, but it seems like so much more. As I'm writing this one, I'm reading #9 ("Trouble is my Business").
John Dalmas is set up with a case: A woman is dead, supposedly of carbon monoxide poisoning. There was no coroner's inquest, no police investigation. She was given a once-over, proclaimed a suicide, cremated, and that was that. Now Dalmas is asked to help Henry Matson, a P.I. from Bay City who didn't think the woman was a suicide, and that there are dirty cops and medical types who rigged the whole thing. They pulled Matson's P.I. license and ran him out of town.
Dalmas shortly receives a parcel with clues that point him to an apartment. Shortly after he gets there, Matson shows up and dies.
This story forms part of Chandler's novel, "The Lady in the Lake." I haven't read that one yet, but I'm going to give it a few months (or years) at least so I won't know what's about to happen, given that the shorts so far are lifted scene-for-scene into the later novels.
Mandarin's Jade (short story; Chandler, Raymond)
Rating: 4
Year: 1937
Genre: Crime
Read Again? maybe.
Fifth of 12 shorts in "Trouble is My Business," and another chunk of "Farewell, My Lovely."
John Dalmas is hired by a rich guy to act as protection while he pays off some jewel thieves. They drive to a secluded place. Dalmas gets sapped (as always--the guy's got to have some headache issues by now!). The client gets his head caved in.
We also see the Big Indian, the psychic, and the girl reporter in scenes that later became part of "Farewell."
At first, the novelty of these shorts kept me reading...but by the time I got done with this one (or it got done with me) I was getting tired of the formula and of having read it all already. Still, I'll give it a 4 like the ones before. It's not a bad story. I just want to see something different now.
Year: 1937
Genre: Crime
Read Again? maybe.
Fifth of 12 shorts in "Trouble is My Business," and another chunk of "Farewell, My Lovely."
John Dalmas is hired by a rich guy to act as protection while he pays off some jewel thieves. They drive to a secluded place. Dalmas gets sapped (as always--the guy's got to have some headache issues by now!). The client gets his head caved in.
We also see the Big Indian, the psychic, and the girl reporter in scenes that later became part of "Farewell."
At first, the novelty of these shorts kept me reading...but by the time I got done with this one (or it got done with me) I was getting tired of the formula and of having read it all already. Still, I'll give it a 4 like the ones before. It's not a bad story. I just want to see something different now.
Try the Girl (short story; Chandler, Raymond)
Rating: 4
Year: 1937
Genre: Crime
Read Again? Yes.
Fourth of 12 shorts in "Trouble is My Business." This is another of the stories Chandler combined with some others and made into a novel--in this case, the opening scene and parts of "Farewell, My Lovely."
John Carmady is hijacked by a big man at the entrance to a Blacks-only bar. The man is fresh out of the Joint, looking for his old girfriend. He kills a couple of guys during his interrogation.
Carmady goes on the case, looking for the woman, hoping to reach her before the Big Man does.
So far, this story's got the most "dirty" words--but because of the censorious mentality of the time, they're all rendered as dashes: "-- you!"
Year: 1937
Genre: Crime
Read Again? Yes.
Fourth of 12 shorts in "Trouble is My Business." This is another of the stories Chandler combined with some others and made into a novel--in this case, the opening scene and parts of "Farewell, My Lovely."
John Carmady is hijacked by a big man at the entrance to a Blacks-only bar. The man is fresh out of the Joint, looking for his old girfriend. He kills a couple of guys during his interrogation.
Carmady goes on the case, looking for the woman, hoping to reach her before the Big Man does.
So far, this story's got the most "dirty" words--but because of the censorious mentality of the time, they're all rendered as dashes: "-- you!"
Saturday, July 4, 2009
The Curtain (short story; Chandler, Raymond)
Rating: 4
Year: 1936
Genre: Crime
Read Again? Maybe
The third short story in the "Trouble Is My Business" collection.
Carmady wakes up to find a man with a gun in his bedroom; it's an acquaintance on the run from some bad guys.
The man gets aced by some thugs with a chopper, so now Carmady's looking for the killers and their bosses...
...and this brings us to a matching scene from "The Big Sleep," where Marlowe went to visit a sick old man who wanted his son-in-law found, had a followup discussion with the old man's daughter, and then a run-in with the house sociopath (Carmen in "Big Sleep," a little boy in this one).
Both "Curtain" and "Killer in the Rain" (1935) were the basis for 1939's "The Big Sleep;" two of his other novels--"Farewell, My Lovely" and "The Lady in the Lake" are also built from earlier short stories. While it was confusing at first (while reading "Killer in the Rain"), and disappointing because now I knew what was about to happen, it's still fascinating to see how Chandler plugged slightly different characters and situations into these pieces.
Year: 1936
Genre: Crime
Read Again? Maybe
The third short story in the "Trouble Is My Business" collection.
Carmady wakes up to find a man with a gun in his bedroom; it's an acquaintance on the run from some bad guys.
The man gets aced by some thugs with a chopper, so now Carmady's looking for the killers and their bosses...
...and this brings us to a matching scene from "The Big Sleep," where Marlowe went to visit a sick old man who wanted his son-in-law found, had a followup discussion with the old man's daughter, and then a run-in with the house sociopath (Carmen in "Big Sleep," a little boy in this one).
Both "Curtain" and "Killer in the Rain" (1935) were the basis for 1939's "The Big Sleep;" two of his other novels--"Farewell, My Lovely" and "The Lady in the Lake" are also built from earlier short stories. While it was confusing at first (while reading "Killer in the Rain"), and disappointing because now I knew what was about to happen, it's still fascinating to see how Chandler plugged slightly different characters and situations into these pieces.
Man Who Liked Dogs, The (short story; Chandler, R)
Rating: 4
Year: 1936
Genre: Crime
Read again? Maybe
Second of 12 shorts in Chandler's "Trouble is my Business" collection.
Carmady's the shamus on the case, looking for a missing woman and her police dog; he goes to a kennel in search of the dog and finds it there. Then he pretends to leave, tails the kennel man--Sharp--who's trying to play it sneaky, get rid of the dog. Carmady watches the man and the dog enter a house; there's barking, shouting, more barking, and a man's scream. He rushes to the door and inside: Sharp's lying and dying on the floor, the dog standing over him, growling, and there's a woman with a gun, then a man with a bigger gun. Carmady disarms them both and asks some questions. They've only been there a week. They say they don't know Sharp or the dog; he was trying to knock the critter out with chloroform and stuff it in a closet.
Then the cops show up--and they sap Carmady without asking any questions.
...and this brings us to a scene right out of "Farewell, My Lovely"--Carmady wakes up in what amounted to a rehab back in the day, a private hospital. From there he faces down corrupt cops and the thugs keeping them as pets.
This is the first of the shorts to use the wise-ass dialogue I liked in "The Big Sleep," stuff like this:
Dirty cop, to nosy nurse: "Go climb up your thumb."
Bad guy, with a Tommy gun, ordering the dirty cop to rais his hands: "Grab a cloud."
After a brief firefight: 'In the room were five statues, two fallen."
The dirty police chief glares at him: 'He measured me for a coffin.'
It's looking like most of the shorts in the collection went on to become major parts of Chandler's novels. That's disappointing, but interesting, so I'm not going to beat him up over it.
Year: 1936
Genre: Crime
Read again? Maybe
Second of 12 shorts in Chandler's "Trouble is my Business" collection.
Carmady's the shamus on the case, looking for a missing woman and her police dog; he goes to a kennel in search of the dog and finds it there. Then he pretends to leave, tails the kennel man--Sharp--who's trying to play it sneaky, get rid of the dog. Carmady watches the man and the dog enter a house; there's barking, shouting, more barking, and a man's scream. He rushes to the door and inside: Sharp's lying and dying on the floor, the dog standing over him, growling, and there's a woman with a gun, then a man with a bigger gun. Carmady disarms them both and asks some questions. They've only been there a week. They say they don't know Sharp or the dog; he was trying to knock the critter out with chloroform and stuff it in a closet.
Then the cops show up--and they sap Carmady without asking any questions.
...and this brings us to a scene right out of "Farewell, My Lovely"--Carmady wakes up in what amounted to a rehab back in the day, a private hospital. From there he faces down corrupt cops and the thugs keeping them as pets.
This is the first of the shorts to use the wise-ass dialogue I liked in "The Big Sleep," stuff like this:
Dirty cop, to nosy nurse: "Go climb up your thumb."
Bad guy, with a Tommy gun, ordering the dirty cop to rais his hands: "Grab a cloud."
After a brief firefight: 'In the room were five statues, two fallen."
The dirty police chief glares at him: 'He measured me for a coffin.'
It's looking like most of the shorts in the collection went on to become major parts of Chandler's novels. That's disappointing, but interesting, so I'm not going to beat him up over it.
Killer in the Rain (short story; Chandler, Raymond)
Rating: 4
Year: 1935
Genre: Crime
Read again? Maybe
"Killer" is the first of 12 shorts in Chandler's "Trouble is my Business" collection.
The story opens with Philip Marlowe (never named in the story--I'm naming him) in his apartment, interviewing a big man who has a problem. Tony Dravec wants Marlowe to warn off one H. H. Steiner, who's showing too much interest in Dravec's girl, Carmen. Marlowe takes the case and goes to Steiner's book shop, knowing the man's running a porn-for-rent gig in back.
He follows Steiner home and settles down in his car to watch for a while...and a girl shows up. Marlowe sneaks over to her car to scope out the license. Carmen Dravec. He sneaks back to his car.
There's a bright flash and a scream! He runs to the house just in time to hear three gunshots and running footsteps out the back of Steiner's house. He breaks the lock on the front door and runs in. Carmen's sitting in a chair, naked and stoned. Steiner's lying on the floor with a fatal dose of lead poisoning.
It was at this point that I realized that "Killer" is a shorty version of Chandler's "The Big Sleep," right down to the stoned girl named "Carmen." Dravec's cheauffer turns up dead, someone tries to blackmail Dravec with naked pictures of Carmen. It reads like an alternate-universe version, given that I've read "Sleep" a couple of times and seen both the Bogart version and the pitiful 1978 Robert Mitchum remake. There's a gangster heavy with a business interest in Steiner's porn library, but he's not as friendly or smart as the gangster in "Big Sleep."
Not as snappy as "Big Sleep"--you can see Chandler's style, yes, but where are the amusing descriptions of people and situations? Call it a sort of proto-Marlowe story.
After I did this writeup, I did a little Google hunt and found my answers at Wikipedia. This short and "The Curtain" (the 3rd story in the collection) were used as the foundation for Chandler's novel "The Big Sleep."
Year: 1935
Genre: Crime
Read again? Maybe
"Killer" is the first of 12 shorts in Chandler's "Trouble is my Business" collection.
The story opens with Philip Marlowe (never named in the story--I'm naming him) in his apartment, interviewing a big man who has a problem. Tony Dravec wants Marlowe to warn off one H. H. Steiner, who's showing too much interest in Dravec's girl, Carmen. Marlowe takes the case and goes to Steiner's book shop, knowing the man's running a porn-for-rent gig in back.
He follows Steiner home and settles down in his car to watch for a while...and a girl shows up. Marlowe sneaks over to her car to scope out the license. Carmen Dravec. He sneaks back to his car.
There's a bright flash and a scream! He runs to the house just in time to hear three gunshots and running footsteps out the back of Steiner's house. He breaks the lock on the front door and runs in. Carmen's sitting in a chair, naked and stoned. Steiner's lying on the floor with a fatal dose of lead poisoning.
It was at this point that I realized that "Killer" is a shorty version of Chandler's "The Big Sleep," right down to the stoned girl named "Carmen." Dravec's cheauffer turns up dead, someone tries to blackmail Dravec with naked pictures of Carmen. It reads like an alternate-universe version, given that I've read "Sleep" a couple of times and seen both the Bogart version and the pitiful 1978 Robert Mitchum remake. There's a gangster heavy with a business interest in Steiner's porn library, but he's not as friendly or smart as the gangster in "Big Sleep."
Not as snappy as "Big Sleep"--you can see Chandler's style, yes, but where are the amusing descriptions of people and situations? Call it a sort of proto-Marlowe story.
After I did this writeup, I did a little Google hunt and found my answers at Wikipedia. This short and "The Curtain" (the 3rd story in the collection) were used as the foundation for Chandler's novel "The Big Sleep."
Monday, January 19, 2009
Salvation Boulevard (Beinhart, Larry)
Rating: 5/5
Year: 2008
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
We gonna rock down to Salvation Boulevard! Yeah, it doesn't rhyme.
I first heard about this book in an FFRF podcast interview with author Larry Beinhart. This is the guy who wrote "Wag the Dog," which I haven't read yet; but after reading "Fog Facts" and "Salvation Boulevard" back to back (after several weeks of the disappointing 'Diana Tregard' trilogy), I'm at a point where I want to keep going with Beinhart. His style is solid, engaging. He doesn't wander around, and he isn't wordy.
Y'know...if Mercedes Lackey's wordiness got to me in the "Tregarde" books, I'm screwed when I get around to reading "Lord of the Rings."
So anyhoo...here's the facts:
Nathaniel McCloud: University professor. An atheist. Murdered. Lead poisoning.
Ahmad Nazami: One of McCloud's students. A Muslim. Prime suspect. Says Homeland Security types tortured his confession out of him.
Manny Goldfarb: Nazami's defense attorney. A Jew. Utterly certain the kid's innocent.
Carl Vanderveer: Private Dick. A true-believin' Christian. Hired by Manny to investigate the case.
Pastor Paul Plowright: Vanderveer's pastor. A truer-than-thou-believin' Christian. Runs a mega-church that the entire planet goes to. Says the godless atheist had it coming. Wants to re-make the entire country in his own Dominionist image.
That's most of the religious high points. All it needs is a Pastafarian hooker with a heart of gold.
Carl quickly finds himself in trouble with his entire true-believin' world for taking the case, from his true-believin' pastor to the true-believin' cops who go to the church to his true-believin' wife. They all say Nazami's a terrorist. He's being followed by Homeland Security, who also say Nazami is a terrorist.
Then things go wrong.
Carl is a likable point-of view character. He comes across as a basic good guy, ragged around the edges. He used to be a cop, a dirty one, and he was saved from that life by Plowright. But Carl finds himself questioning his faith as he investigates McCloud's murder, and maybe it's a bit too easy, given how devoted he's been to being a megafundie. I don't know. Give me a year or two, a couple more reads. Right now I'm just basking in the afterglow of a pleasant reading experience. If you read a lot, you know how tiring it can be to plow your way through tedious "Oh, for fuck's sake!" moments, especially when they're piled deeper than soiled sheets in a hotel laundry.
I didn't see any such moments with this book the first time through, but that sort of thing tends to pop up in later readings for me. At any rate, it'll take someone who is a former true-believin' type to decide whether Carl went into unbelief too quickly or not, since I've never been one.
Year: 2008
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes
We gonna rock down to Salvation Boulevard! Yeah, it doesn't rhyme.
I first heard about this book in an FFRF podcast interview with author Larry Beinhart. This is the guy who wrote "Wag the Dog," which I haven't read yet; but after reading "Fog Facts" and "Salvation Boulevard" back to back (after several weeks of the disappointing 'Diana Tregard' trilogy), I'm at a point where I want to keep going with Beinhart. His style is solid, engaging. He doesn't wander around, and he isn't wordy.
Y'know...if Mercedes Lackey's wordiness got to me in the "Tregarde" books, I'm screwed when I get around to reading "Lord of the Rings."
So anyhoo...here's the facts:
Nathaniel McCloud: University professor. An atheist. Murdered. Lead poisoning.
Ahmad Nazami: One of McCloud's students. A Muslim. Prime suspect. Says Homeland Security types tortured his confession out of him.
Manny Goldfarb: Nazami's defense attorney. A Jew. Utterly certain the kid's innocent.
Carl Vanderveer: Private Dick. A true-believin' Christian. Hired by Manny to investigate the case.
Pastor Paul Plowright: Vanderveer's pastor. A truer-than-thou-believin' Christian. Runs a mega-church that the entire planet goes to. Says the godless atheist had it coming. Wants to re-make the entire country in his own Dominionist image.
That's most of the religious high points. All it needs is a Pastafarian hooker with a heart of gold.
Carl quickly finds himself in trouble with his entire true-believin' world for taking the case, from his true-believin' pastor to the true-believin' cops who go to the church to his true-believin' wife. They all say Nazami's a terrorist. He's being followed by Homeland Security, who also say Nazami is a terrorist.
Then things go wrong.
Carl is a likable point-of view character. He comes across as a basic good guy, ragged around the edges. He used to be a cop, a dirty one, and he was saved from that life by Plowright. But Carl finds himself questioning his faith as he investigates McCloud's murder, and maybe it's a bit too easy, given how devoted he's been to being a megafundie. I don't know. Give me a year or two, a couple more reads. Right now I'm just basking in the afterglow of a pleasant reading experience. If you read a lot, you know how tiring it can be to plow your way through tedious "Oh, for fuck's sake!" moments, especially when they're piled deeper than soiled sheets in a hotel laundry.
I didn't see any such moments with this book the first time through, but that sort of thing tends to pop up in later readings for me. At any rate, it'll take someone who is a former true-believin' type to decide whether Carl went into unbelief too quickly or not, since I've never been one.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Maltese Falcon, The (Dashiell Hammett)
Rating: 5/5
Year: 1929
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes.
"When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it." Hammett's an utter pleasure to read--almost as much fun as watching Humphrey Bogart playing Sam Spade in the film version--and a vastly more satisfying detective romp than Mercedes Lackey's "Diana Tregarde" series.
Sam Spade is a detective, partnered up with Miles Archer. They agree to do some gumshoe work on a guy named Thursby, paid for by a Miss Weatherly, who's looking for her sister.
Archer and Thursby end up dead, Miss Weatherly is really Miss O'Shaughnessy, and she's trying to hide from some men who are after a mysterious black bird statue. The men are sniffing around, trying to intimidate him into spilling what he knows about the bird. The cops and District Attorney are sniffing around, trying to intimidate Spade into spilling on who killed Archer and Thursby.
He doesn't intimidate well. Keeps his cards close to the vest. One hell of a poker face, right up to the end.
The story's dialog-driven, very tightly put-together. Any description is minimalistic, utilitarian. The dialog is snappy, and Sam Spade is a better wiseass than Han Solo: he doesn't need a walking carpet for punctuation. It's a toss-up, though, between Spade and Philip Marlowe for my favorite gumshoe. Enthusiastic five for five!
Year: 1929
Genre: Crime
Read again? Yes.
"When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it." Hammett's an utter pleasure to read--almost as much fun as watching Humphrey Bogart playing Sam Spade in the film version--and a vastly more satisfying detective romp than Mercedes Lackey's "Diana Tregarde" series.
Sam Spade is a detective, partnered up with Miles Archer. They agree to do some gumshoe work on a guy named Thursby, paid for by a Miss Weatherly, who's looking for her sister.
Archer and Thursby end up dead, Miss Weatherly is really Miss O'Shaughnessy, and she's trying to hide from some men who are after a mysterious black bird statue. The men are sniffing around, trying to intimidate him into spilling what he knows about the bird. The cops and District Attorney are sniffing around, trying to intimidate Spade into spilling on who killed Archer and Thursby.
He doesn't intimidate well. Keeps his cards close to the vest. One hell of a poker face, right up to the end.
The story's dialog-driven, very tightly put-together. Any description is minimalistic, utilitarian. The dialog is snappy, and Sam Spade is a better wiseass than Han Solo: he doesn't need a walking carpet for punctuation. It's a toss-up, though, between Spade and Philip Marlowe for my favorite gumshoe. Enthusiastic five for five!
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