Thrift Shop Book Covers: "Listening Woman"

Listening Woman, by Tony Hillerman, was published as a hardcover in 1978 by Harper & Row. The edition that caught my eye is the mass market paperback published by Avon. The cover art has an appealing desert feel, which is appropriate to the novel’s setting. And who can resist a a helicopter and bundles of greenbacks? The artist: Unknown (to me at least)

The first sentence:

The southwest wind picked up turbulence around the San Francisco Peaks, howled across the emptiness of the Moenkopi plateau, and made a thousand strange sounds in windows of the old Hopi villages at Shongopovi and Second Mesa.

SLAMMER by Allan Guthrie

Nick Glass is a rookie guard in a Scottish prison. He’s been on the job six weeks with bad results. The other guards make trouble for him and he’s not respected by the inmates. At home he has a five year old daughter and a wife. A wife who’s at the tail end of an affair and drinks more than she should. 

To make things worse Nick is approached by one of the inmates and asked to mule drugs inside the prison. The inmate gives Nick a couple options: mule the drugs and make an easy buck, or don’t mule the drugs and his little family gets hurt. Nick is in big trouble because neither choice is worth having, and ultimately both his life and his families lives are in danger. 

Slammer is the sort of novel that creeps up on you in a hurry. It starts hard and strong and never lets go. Glass is a regular guy caught in a nasty and impossible situation. He doesn’t belong in the prison, as a guard or anything else, because he’s a nice guy; weak and fear-filled. Nick, like his surname, is prone to fracture and Guthrie makes sure he does.

Reminiscent of Guthrie’s first novel Two-Way Split, but Slammer displays a higher skill set with a sharper execution. The prose is hardboiled, lean and smart. The dialogue crisp. The atmosphere weighty and oppressive. A fine example of the new noir: a hopeless, distraught and shameless (in a good way) vision of the human condition. 

Thrift Shop Book Covers: "Monocolo"

Monocolo, by Theodore Taylor, was published as a hardcover in 1989 by Donald I. Fine. The edition that caught my eye is the mass market paperback published by St. Martin’s Press in 1991. The cover art has a television movie quality to it with those great early-1990s colors and the showgirl trapped inside a kitchen knife’s blade. The artist: Edwin Herder

The first sentence:

Sunday night, January 28, 1979—Epperson “Fingers” Watts, Jr., wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders, was saying, “Now, here’s a good-looking piece of thigh,” as he inserted it into the full-color erotic jigsaw puzzle.

Theodore Taylor is best known for his young adult novels, including The Cay and The Bomb, but he also wrote twelve adult novels, including two mystery novels: The Stalker, and Monocolo.

Thrift Shop Book Covers: "The Man Who Made the Devil Glad"

The Man Who Made the Devil Glad, by Donald McCaig, was published as a hardcover by Crown Publishers in 1986. The edition that caught my eye is the mass market paperback published by St. Martin’s Press in 1987. The cover illustration is—well, take a look. It’s something special with a montage of secret love, car chases, and a tough looking cop who sees everything. The artist: Unknown (to me at least).

The first lines:

When he woke, it was dark except for a dim red light down the corridor. H ached like he’d been run through with a hammer mill.

Interview: Jo Walpole

Jo Walpole published her first novel in 2005—a well-received Western romance she would “prefer to keep…in the past”—and since then Jo has written another eight novels and a short story collection. Her recent work has been in the Western genre, both traditional—“standard [and] non-offensive”—written as by Terry James, and a more violent and graphic variety with her tough-as-nails Maggie O’Bannen series, written as by Joe Slade.

Jo’s work has been well-received by critics and readers alike. The first Maggie O’Bannen novel, Days of Evil, was called “absorbing” with “smooth writing, real characters, and a great story” by novelist Paul Bishop. Her writing has also been hailed as “fun”, “fast moving, hard hitting”, and “unputdownable”.

Jo was kind enough to take a break from her writing and answer a few questions. The questions are italicized, and as always, the answers are so much more important. 

What’s your latest novel?

It’s called Wanted - Dead and is the second in the Maggie O’Bannen series, which I write as Joe Slade for Piccadilly Publishing. It’s available now. The first book was debuted in November 2017 and introduced the reader to Maggie and her band of misfits. It was hard hitting and graphic in its violence, a diversion for me from my other alter ego Terry James who writes more standard, non-offensive westerns. However, the Maggie O’Bannen series is very organic in that Maggie and her relationships with those friends grows and changes to create a stronger story so that in the second book means the graphic descriptions of violence, to quote Western Fiction Review, have been toned down a little. However, there is still plenty of hard hitting bloody action, which will hopefully satisfy readers along with an interesting plot.

I’m always intrigued by the origin of pseudonyms used by writers. Do your pseudonyms—Terry James and Joe Slade—have any special meaning to you?

Terry James is a nod to my husband. Joe Slade happened because I wanted to separate my two writing identities, being that the Maggie O’Bannen books are much grittier than anything I’ve written before. Joe has always been my preferred short version of Joanne and Slade was completely random.

Without breaking any of your personal taboos, would you give us an idea of what you’re working on now?

I’m now working on book 3 in the Maggie O’Bannen series. I love writing the characters and, as I mentioned above, their experiences and circumstances are shaping them, as would happen in life, so I never truly know what’s in store except for the outline of the main plot. It certainly makes life interesting for me.

What was your first published novel? 

Wow, that was a while ago, back in 2005. I published a romance western with Whiskey Creek Press called Raven Dove (very arty). It was a story I’d always wanted to write and I was lucky enough to get it accepted on its first outing. When I look back on it now, it’s very wordy and emotional, something I have tried hard to limit as I have become a more experienced writer and found my genre. It was for a different market and it was well received at the time but I’d prefer to keep it in the past now.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I always wanted to be a writer, even if only in the back of my mind. Until I was about 13 years old, I was focused on becoming a journalist but my circumstances and the resources available to me at that time didn’t fit. I wrote fiction for friends and family until I was about sixteen at which time I met my husband and got distracted. Also, I decided at that time that I didn’t have enough life experience to write what I wanted to, which was bodice rippers. I didn’t start writing anything again until I was thirty-three and that took the form of short stories, poems, haikus, absolutely anything. It was when I stopped working full time and also joined a supportive romance forum that I really dug in.

How do you go about writing?

I think about it a lot. I can’t put two words together until I have a full technicolour picture of the main story elements in my mind. Once that’s set, I sit and write as the mood takes me. Sometimes I write big chunks and other times I write a few sentences. It can be days or weeks between sessions. That I actually finish a book at all is a miracle. I don’t have a specific time for writing but I do prefer first thing in the morning before the day starts to drain my creativity.

Do you have any specific pleasures, or displeasures, that come from writing? 

I love living vicariously through my characters. I hate not being disciplined about the process. However, I feel that if it becomes something I attach rules and timeframes to then the pleasure I get from writing and creating will be spoiled. I’m very lucky to have found a publisher in Piccadilly Publishing who are happy to support me in that. 

Are there any writers that inspired—or continue to inspire—your own writing?

Louis L’Amour, obviously. I grew up reading his books which were always available at the library. Early on I was very influenced by Rosemary Rogers and Kathleen Woodiwiss, both of whom write historical romance novels. The attraction for me there was the depth of characterisation as well as a full story. Thinking about the western genre, I’d include TT Flynn definitely and Ed Gorman, who I read a lot when I wanted to start writing westerns seriously. More recently, I have been influenced by the writings of John Benteen (Sundance and Fargo), Neil Hunter, Ben Bridges and Brent Towns. Brent will laugh at that but I find him very inspirational because I sometimes find it tricky to move characters around locationally and he has a natural way of propelling a story along at a fast pace without neglecting the character, the action or the background.

As a writer and reader, what draws you to the Western genre?

I like the scope of possibilities the Old West offers. It’s a good escape from modern life. As long I get a good fast paced read with no unnecessary padding, a believable plot and characters I can root for, I’m happy.

If you could write anything, without commercial considerations, what would it be?

Happy to say, I already am. The Maggie O’Bannen series is the fulfilment of a desire to get down and dirty and write outside my comfort zone. Luckily for me, Ben Bridges and Mike Stotter of Piccadilly Publishing were willing to take a chance that I could pull it off. So far, I don’t think they’ve been disappointed.

If you were stranded on an island and you had only one book, what would it be?

Easy. It would be Louis L’Amour’s To Tame A Land. I love everything about it. It’s the book I’d like to write. In fact, I’d like to step inside the pages and live it.

If you were allowed only to recommend one of your own novels, or stories, which one would you want people to read?

That depends. If it’s something mainstream (like a John Wayne movie) they’re after, then I’d recommend The Badman’s Daughter under my Terry James pseudonym. If it’s something with teeth then definitely Maggie O’Bannen book 1 Days Of Evil by Joe Slade. I’d hope that either would be a good read.

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Thrift Shop Book Covers: Allen & Unwin's Wyatt Novels

In the 1990s the Australian publisher Allen & Unwin published Garry Disher’s first six Wyatt novels in a seven year period: Kickback (1991), The Fallout (1997). The covers are elegantly simple, especially the first four with the solid white background offset by a darker color, the title split between the two, and a nicely detailed illustration above the title. The final two books—Port Vila Blues and The Fallout—have a similar layout, but without the white background and a photograph instead of an illustration. Less effective, but still nice.

The artist for the first four titles: Russell Jeffery. The photographer for the final two titles: Michael Killalea.

Kickback was originally published as a trade paperback by Allen & Unwin in 1991, but the edition that caught my eye is Allen & Unwin’s mass market edition published in 1993.

The first paragraph:

Wyatt tensed. A silver BMW had emerged from the driveway of the Frome place. The headlights plunged, then levelled, as the car entered Lansell Road. Wyatt counted heads: Frome driving, wife next to him, kids in the back. He checked the time—8 pm—and watched the BMW disappear in the direction of Toorak Road.

Paydirt was originally published as a trade paperback by Allen & Unwin in 1992, but the edition that caught my eye is Allen & Unwin’s mass market edition published in 1993.

The first paragraph:

The work was dirty, the little town a joke, but Wyatt was interested only in the advantages—they didn’t know who he was, there were no cops, and no one was expecting a payroll snatch.

Deathdeal was originally published as a mass market paperback by Allen & Unwin in 1993, which is the very edition that caught my eye.

The first lines:

There were two of them and they came in hard and fast. They knew where the bed was and flanked it as Wyatt rolled onto his shoulder and grabbed at the backpack on the dusty carpet. He had his mind on the .38 in the side pocket and was swinging it up, finger tightening, when the cosh smacked across the back of his wrist.

Crosskill was originally published as a mass market paperback by Allen & Unwin in 1994, which is the very edition that caught my eye.

The first lines:

The stranger appeared just after lunch on day one of Wyatt’s operation against the Mesics. He was driving a red Capri, soft top down, and Wyatt watched him park it against the kerb, unfold from the car, stride to the compound gates and bend his face to the intercom grille in the brick pillar.

Port Vila Blues was originally published as a mass market paperback by Allen & Unwin in 1995, which is the very edition that caught my eye.

The first lines:

Carlyle Street, Double Bay, 7 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, the air clean and cool. Behind closed doors in the big houses set back far from the street, people were beginning to stir, brewing coffee or standing dazed under showers.

The Fallout was originally published as a mass market paperback by Allen & Unwin in 1997, which is the very edition that caught my eye.

The first paragraph:

By the fifth hold-up the papers are calling him the bush bandit. An inspector of police, flat, inexpressive, resistant to the pull of cameras, is less colourful: “We are looking for a male person who is armed and should be considered dangerous. His method of operation is essentially the same in every case. 

The Allen & Unwin mass market paperbacks had brief distribution in the United States. The first four titles were available in my local Barnes & Noble for about three months in the mid-1990s. I purchased the first, Kickback, read it in a single evening and rushed back to the bookstore and purchased the other three. Since then, I’ve been an enthusiastic Garry Disher reader. His work has gotten easier to find in the United States over the years, but those original four Wyatt novels are harder to find than ever, at least in print. They are available as ebooks on all the major platforms.

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"Postcard from Cambodia" by Andrew Nette

“Postcard from Cambodia” is a stark, hard-nosed, crime tale from Australian writer Andrew Nette. When Moss’ 1990 Commodore, purchased for $350 and probably worth less, develops engine trouble outside Riviera, a small Australian town, he finds the trouble he’s been hunting for years. A trouble—which I’m not going to spoil for you here—Moss is willing to do anything to beat.

“Postcard from Cambodia” is a near-perfect hardboiled crime story. Moss plays a mysterious stranger, whose backstory and secrets are revealed expertly as the story develops. He is both uncomfortable and sympathetic to the reader. The prose is razor sharp, characterization nicely rendered, the descriptions vivid—

The man licked his pale lips, smiled at the prospect of a fellow conspirator.

The plot slam-bang. The ending satisfying and complete with enough wonder to make it interesting. 

I read “Postcard from Cambodia” in the excellent anthology Crime Scenes, edited by Zane Lovitt, and published by Spineless Wonders in 2016.

Thrift Shop Book Covers: "A World the Color of Salt"

A World the Color of Salt, by Noreen Ayres, was published as a hardcover by William Morrow and Company in 1992. The edition that caught my eye is the mass market paperback published by Avon in 1993. The cover illustration is a superb aerial view of a mountainous coastline that shifts into something else entirely. A cover that is both vivid and alluring. The artist: Unknown (to me at least).

The first sentence: 

First they shot him in the mouth. His tongue split down the middle like a barbecued hot dog.

A World the Color of Salt is Noreen Ayres first novel. It introduced forensic specialist Samantha “Smokey” Brandon, with “time served as a stripper and a cop,” and her hardboiled world.

Mystery Scene: Issue No. 153

The latest issue of Mystery Scene Magazine—No. 153—is at a newsstand near you. As usual, it is packed, featuring interviews with Jane Harper and John Hart, an article celebrating Mickey Spillane’s 100^th birthday, another celebrating the life and work of Sue Grafton and many others.

It also features my short story review column, “Short & Sweet: Short Stories Considered”. In the column I discuss:

The Realm of the Impossible, edited by John Pugmire and Brian Skupin, is an anthology featuring a brilliant cast of reprinted locked-room mysteries by writers from around the world.

Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Vol. 1, Issue 1. A welcome addition to the criminal short story market with stories by Michael Bracken, Alan Orloff and others. 

Alive in Shape and Color, edited by Lawrence Block, is the follow up to Block’s 2016 anthology In Sunlight or in Shadow, and like its predecessor the tales are inspired by works of art. It includes stories by David Morrell, Lee Child, Joe R. Lansdale and many others.

The Big Book of the Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett, edited by Richard Layman and Julie M. Rivett, is the first time Dashiell Hammett’s serialized Continental Op stories—the way they appeared in Black Mask Magazine—are together in a single volume.

This issue also includes a single book review by yours truly.

Splintered Silence, by Susan Furlong, is the beginning of a new mystery series starring traveller—more commonly thought of as gypsies by outsiders—and former military police woman Brynn Callahan and her cadaver dog, Wilco, as they try to start over in Bone Gap, Tennessee.

The reviews, except for Black Cat Mystery Magazine, are available online at Mystery Scene’s website—click the titles above.

Mystery Scene is available at many newsstands, including Barnes & Noble, and available for order at MS’s website.

Thrift Shop Book Covers: "The James Dean Story"

The James Dean Story, by Ronald Martinetti, was published as a paperback original by Pinnacle in 1975, which is the very edition that caught my eye. The cover illustration is nicely realized with a soft sky blue background. Not to mention, its titillating blurb—“The myth-shattering biography of a legend!”—promises the reader an appealing journey. The artist: Gil Cohen.

The first sentence:

James Byron Dean was born in Marion, Indiana on February 8, 1931.

Gil Cohen illustrated many of the early Don Pendleton’s The Executioner books published first by Pinnacle and then Gold Eagle. He later gained fame as an Aviation artist. The Men’s Adventure Magazines website has adetailed and interesting interview with Gil Cohen.

SOME DIE HARD by Stephen Mertz

Some Die Hard is Stephen Mertz’s first published novel. It appeared as a paperback original in 1979 from the low-rent New York publisher Manor Books, as by Stephen Brett. A pseudonym, at least the surname—according to an informative and interesting Afterword in the recent Rough Edges Press edition—that was a hat-tip to Brett Halliday. The same Brett Halliday behind the fictional private eye Michael Shayne. 

Rock Dugan, a former stuntman who gave up Hollywood for private detective work and Denver, is returning home—after tying up an employee theft investigation—from the fictional Langdon Springs, Colorado. Sitting next to Dugan on the bus ride home is a nervous man who, once they arrive at the depot, panics and bolts, stumbling into Dugan before dashing into traffic where he’s hit and killed by a taxi. The police think the man’s death is an accident, an opinion Dugan doesn’t share because the man expertly passed an envelope to him in the confusion. The envelope’s contents are for Susan Court who, with a dying millionaire father changing his will at the last minute and a no-good brother, hired the nervous man, also a P.I., to uncover a few secrets.

Some Die Hard is a hardboiled locked-room murder mystery—those impossible crimes where the whodunit is less important than the howdunit (and I’m not even going to tell you who the victim is). Its prose is smooth, although not as crystal as Stephen Mertz’s latest work, and the story is enjoyable and easy. Easy to read, rather than easy to guess. Dugan is likable and hardboiled. He is big-fisted, clever and carries that sacred Private Eye code. A knight-errand more concerned with justice than law. 

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Thrift Shop Book Covers: "Westworld"

Westworld, by Michael Crichton, was published as a paperback original by Bantam in 1974, which is the very edition that caught my eye. The cover is dominated by Yul Brynner shedding his humanity to reveal the robot beneath. The artist: Unknown (to me at least).

The first sentences:

A desert landscape at dawn, all muted grays. The desert stretches for miles with no sign of life.

Westworld is a film written and directed by Michael Crichton. This book features a Foreword by Saul David—Hollywood screen writer, producer and man behind the film adaptation of Logan’s Run—a very interesting essay, “Shooting Westworld”, by Michael Crichton, and the original screenplay.