"Saint with a Six-Gun" by Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard is known as a crime writer, but at the beginning of his career he wrote some pretty good westerns, both novels and short stories. In fact, many knowledgeable readers argue that some of Leonard’s best work was in the western field. My reading of his is work is not nearly complete enough to make that judgment, but I do know that of the Leonard stories and novels I have read, my favorites tend toward his western fiction.

I recently read his short story “Saint with a Six-Gun” and that notion was reinforced. Lyall Quinlan is a dreamer—he wants to be a lawman, but he is the type of guy who isn’t taken seriously. He is young, skinny, and just plain green. When the local Marshal brings in a known outlaw for murder Quinlan shows up at the right time. The badman—Bobby Valdez—is locked up in the jail and Bohannon, the Marshal, wants to go to his weekly poker game, but he needs and extra hand to help guard the prisoner. He happily gives the duty to Quinlan—only “temporarily, you understand.”

Quinlan takes his duty seriously and doesn’t sleep a blink that first night, or any other night on that long week between Valdez’s sentencing and scheduled hanging. The only major problem is the boy begins to not only understand Valdez, but also actually like him and feel a touch of empathy. A situation that will very likely spell trouble for everyone involved, especially one Lyall Quinlan. “Saint with a Six-Gun” is nearly a perfectly executed short story. It is written in Leonard’s patented sharp and sparse prose with a touch of subtle humor and enough humanity to populate a full-length novel. The characters have the feel of flesh, from Quinlan’s naïve devotion to Bohannon’s and Valdez’s cynicism.

The story is told in third person, but it has an intimacy that attracts the sympathies of the reader to the story and its participants. The plot is pretty basic, which is exactly what Mr. Leonard intended as he leads you down the expected path until the moment he pulls the rug out. It is surprising and humorous with a mild jest at justice—the poetic kind.

“Saint with a Six-Gun” was originally published in the October 1954 issue of Argosy. It is currently available in The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard, and Blood Money and Other Stories.

A Quintet of Alistair MacLean Trailers

I started out this evening cruising through IMDB looking for films based on the novels of Alistair MacLean and I ended up at YouTube watching the trailers for a few. They reminded me of two things: 1) how much I like the work of Alistair MacLean; 2) how much I like some of the films based on the work of Alistair MacLean.

So here are five trailers for five films based on the work of Alistair MacLean.

The Guns of Navarone



Ice Station Zebra



Where Eagles Dare



Breakheart Pass



Bear Island

THE THIRD ILLUSION by Harrison Arnston

David Baxter is a wanted man. He is a former CIA operative who, six years earlier, stopped a terrorist attack and in the process killed a man named Nadi Amur. Amur was the leader of a small Palestinian terrorist organization that will do anything to kill Baxter. David took an early retirement from the Agency and now lives a secluded life in a California mountain town. His new name is Jack Slade and no one but a select group knows where he went or even if he is still alive.

Baxter’s carefully planned life explodes when a wealthy businessman with political ambitions and a wayward daughter contacts him. He wants David to find his estranged daughter so he can make amends in a very public way. Baxter takes the job against his own better judgment and finds the girl in short order. Unfortunately the whole thing feels too easy, like he is being led down a carefully arranged path. And when the businessman releases a recent photo of Baxter along with his real name his carefully arranged world crumbles.

The Third Illusion is a 1990s thriller with a perfect set-up and delivery. The narrative is first person and the prose is clean and simple. It is loaded with dialogue that sounds just right and enough–but not too much—philosophy scattered into the storyline to make it interesting.

“I didn’t answer. Instead, I opened my attaché case, removed Ronald Webster’s business card, and threw it on the bed. “This guy works for Steel. He’s the one who bearded me at John Gull’s funeral. He got a good look at my car, and I sensed he knows who I am. In fact, he’s the only person in the last few weeks who’s had a look at my car, other than some people I trust.”

The style and narrative give the The Third Illusion the feel of a private eye novel with a heady dose of thriller plotting. The prose is medium-boiled—not too smooth, but certainly lacking the aggressive and gritty toughness of hardboiled. The characters are standard, but likable and interesting within the context of the story. And the story absolutely zooms! It runs 452 pages in mass market, but it doesn’t feel nearly that long.

The Third Illusion is an example of some of the better genre pulp of the early 1990s. It is entertaining, swift, and damn fun. The plot is tricky without any gimmicks and while the climax stretches belief a bit, it is done expertly enough that the reader doesn’t much care.

The Third Illusion was published by Harper in 1993—it was a paperback original. It was Harry Arnston’s second to last novel and it was, if not his best novel, damn near the top of his body of work. But his work improved with each novel and I can only imagine what he would be producing now.

To read some biographical information about Harry Arnston click Here.

Other Gravetapping reviews of Harry’s work:

Act of Passion
The Venus Diaries

ENDGAME by James Elliott

A couple fishing buddies—both former Delta Force operators—are camped by a remote lake in the Canadian wilderness. They are old friends, but their lives have drifted apart and this trip is the first in six years. It’s been two great weeks of fishing, hiking, leisure and lot of catching up. As the sun begins to set on the final evening of their trip they spot the flicker and glare of a Lear jet approaching hard and steep. Its engines are silent and it appears to be making an attempt to land on the small mountain lake. It hits the lake’s surface fast and bounces back into the air and then hits hard several hundred yards into the forest.

The pair of former operators swiftly move to the crash site and find the crew dead along with a very unexpected cargo—three large black nylon bags stuffed with $20,000,000. The two men—Eddie Barnes and Ben Stafford—make an easy decision. They decide to keep the money and split it even. Unfortunately the money belongs to some pretty unsavory characters who will go to any length to retrieve their property and it doesn’t take them long to discover who took the money and execute a plan to get it back.

Endgame is one of the better straight thrillers I’ve read in the past few years. The plot is exciting and it is loaded with tradecraft and technical spy and tracking stuff without being burdensome. The action is nicely paced—it doesn’t have the low and slow spots that inhabit many thrillers—and the prose is swift and very much in the style made popular by Tom Clancy in the 1980s; although a little more solid and just a shade more literate.

The characters are exactly as are expected from this type of novel: tough, lightly developed with just enough backstory—most of it military experiences—to raise the characters from straight cardboard to interesting and likable. The novels major flaw is its climax—it diffused the storyline into a strange oblique web that was not quite satisfactory. But the journey was one hell of a ride, enough so that I could forgive the ending and wish that Mr. Elliott were still producing novels.

The British publisher Piatkus originally published Endgame in 2000; as far as I know it was never published in the United States. It was written by J.C. Pollock as by James Elliott. I’ve written several posts about the Pollock-Elliott connection:

J.C. Pollock Update
J.C. Pollock Update 2

The Covers of H.M.S. Ulysses

Over at the Rap Sheet a few days ago J. Kingston Pierce posted, in response to a meme, the different covers of the Erle Stanley Gardner novel--as by A.A. Fair--Turn on the Heat. I wasn't tapped for this one, but I'm going to do it anyway. I love cover artwork; specifically paperback artwork and I have been known to grab different editions of the same novel when I stumble across them.

My choice is H.M.S. Ulysses by Alistair MacLean. It was published in 1955 and it was MacLean's first novel. I've read it a few times and it gets better with every read--the action is fast, the plot is tricky, and it is vintage Alistair MacLean. It should be I guess, since it was his first.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about H.M.S. Ulysses:

"The novel features a light cruiser, one of a unique type similar to the real Dido class cruisers (MacLean had served on HMS Royalist of that class), extremely well armed and one of the fastest ships in the world. But her crew is pushed well beyond the limits of endurance, and the book starts in the aftermath of a mutiny on board. The Ulysses puts to sea again to escort a vital convoy FR-77 (based on the ill-fated Convoy PQ-17) heading for Murmansk. Predictably, all elements have a part to play against them: an unusually fierce arctic storm, the German ships and U-boats, as well as airborne attacks, all slowly decimate the convoy from 32 ships to only 5. The Ulysses herself is lost, fittingly, in a failed attempt to ram into an attacking cruiser, after all her other weapons had been destroyed. There is a true story of HMS Rawalpindi an armed Merchant Cruiser that sacrificed itself"




























The obvious cover scan missing up top is the Fawcett edition. Maybe I'll post it later. Maybe.

"Peekers"

There is an excellent short film available on the web for free. The title: Peekers; it is based on a short story by Kealan Patrick Burke. Mark Steensland directed it, Rick Hautala wrote the screenplay and Richard Chizmar produced it.

It runs about eight minutes and it is worth a look.

Go Here to watch

Book Trailer: Greasing the Pinata by Tim Maleeny

A few months ago—November 10^th when I actually checked and wondered where the hell time goes—I posted a review of a short story by Tim Maleeny titled “Hardboiled”. It was a terrific short—if you want to read the review go Here.

Mr Maleeny has a new novel out from Poisoned Pen Press titled Greasing the Pinata. I started it a few days ago and so far it is also great. The book trailer is what first sparked my interest in the novel.

Here it is…

BOSTON BLITZ by Don Pendleton

I’ve “rediscovered” The Executioner over the last year. I voraciously read this series as a teenager and somewhere between eighteen and twenty I completely lost track of the older titles as well as the current books in the series. I viewed them as nothing more than fond memories solidly in the rearview mirror of my reading, but like much of what I read Mack Bolan has cycled back into my reading pile. The most recent title I read is the twelfth in the series: Boston Blitz.

Boston Blitz is one of the original Mack Bolan novels; it was written by Don Pendleton and published by the old Pinnacle Books in 1972. I have it on good authority that Boston Blitz was Pendleton’s favorite executioner title and after reading it I can understand why. It is exactly what this type of novel is supposed to be: fast, lean, hard and very rough.

As the title suggests Bolan’s twelfth war ground is Boston, but this time it’s a little more personal than a few of the earlier hits. The Boston mob has kidnapped Mack’s kid brother—Johnny—and girlfriend Valentina Querente.

The novel opens at a mob hangout with Bolan blasting a low-level mob boss named Julio LaRocca. When the audience is properly attentive he tells them to spread the word he is in town and ends it with:

“Tell them! I’m here. Tell them someone knows why! Tell them.”

The plot moves quickly and without a hitch. The action is explosive and exciting, but there isn’t nearly as much action as you would expect. It is paced expertly and the action is used moderately to emphasize and catapult the story from one twist to another. Bolan is a super-hero; more comic book hero than anything else, but Mr Pendleton clutters the narrative with a visually tired, worn out and burdened Mack Bolan. Not so much that it gets tiresome, but rather just enough to make the guy likable and human.

The prose is very hardboiled:

“Yeah, all too familiar. Bolan threw off a tremor of revulsion—for himself, for the world he adopted—then he steeled himself and dropped into the reality of War Everlasting.”

And it—the prose—matches the action and mood of the novel perfectly. There is no humor. There is only sorrow and sadness in the manner of the outsider, very much like the hero of a traditional Western that saves a society that cannot tolerate him or his actions.

Boston Blitz is the best The Executioner novel I have read and if you think you know the work of Don Pendleton and you haven’t read it you should. You might be surprised how good these novels can be. And you might be surprised that Don Pendelton was a pretty fair storyteller who not only created a genre, but worked that genre better than anyone else ever has.

Other Don Pendleton reviews:

COPP FOR HIRE
COPP ON FIRE

Reviews for Executioner Novles not written by Don Pendleton:

#63 DAY OF MOURNING by Stephen Mertz
"Early Fire" by Stephen Mertz

The Wrestler

I like Bruce Springsteen; especially his later work. Specifically the handful of folk albums he has produced over the last several years starting with The Ghost of Tom Joad in the early 1990s and more recently Devils & Dust and We Shall Overcome. His E Street stuff isn't nearly as interesting, but I'll listen to it too on occasion.

The Boss has a new song--I think he did the entire soundtrack--for the film The Wrestler and it is perfect. It has a deep sorrow and melancholy of working class angst and struggle. It tells a story that anyone can relate to, and more importantly it gives a little light to the human soul. Take a listen. It's really pretty great.

THE CEILING OF HELL by Warren Murphy

I’m a sucker for three things. The first is a cleverly plotted 1980s thriller. The second is a private eye novel. The third is any story that features shrewdly evil Nazis. It’s not often to find all three packaged neatly together in one story, but that’s exactly what Warren Murphy did with his 1984 Shamus-winning novel The Ceiling of Hell.

Steve Hooks is a former Secret Service agent and presidential bodyguard. He was wounded in the service and his wife was put in a coma. He left the service to start his own private security agency and while it looked good on paper his client list is shockingly short, so when a former co-worker—Robert Pardin—refers a German academic to Hooks as a bodyguard he can’t turn it down. The German’s name is Professor Edward Kohl and he makes his living hashing up bad memories about the Third Reich. And there are more than a few groups that would like to silence his voice.

The job doesn’t go as planned. Professor Kohl is killed in his hotel room and Hooks is knocked cold. Before Kohl dies he asks Hooks to help him find a German girl who reportedly immigrated to the United States at the end of the war. The professor doesn’t have anything except her name: Anna Mueller. Hooks doesn’t think much of it until Pardin contacts him and asks him to—unofficially—go to Germany to give condolences to Kohl’s family and investigate the German side of professor’s murder.

It doesn’t take long for Hooks to realize he’s into something much larger than he first thought. He is kidnapped, intimidated and basically wants the hell out. Unfortunately the trouble follows him back home and what he discovers is more than a little unsettling. In fact, it very well might be the beginning of the Fourth Reich in the United States.

The Ceiling of Hell is an interesting mix. It is a private eye novel, but it isn’t the standard fare. The protagonist doesn’t fit the hardboiled mold and the story line is a mixture of a sleek thriller, an inventive adventure tale, and a straight-up mystery. There is plenty of action, and more than a few twists.

The protagonist is likable and more than capable. The prose is swift and clean. The plot is perfectly played. And just about everything else about the story is clean, smooth and entertaining. The real story is the mixture of genre—even related genre—into the novel. It gives The Ceiling of Hell a certain sparkle and originality that it otherwise wouldn’t have. It takes the novel from the entertainingly escapist fare to the next level. It showcases Mr. Murphy’s talent and skill as well as his inventive and subtle humor.

The Ceiling of Hell is a real treat. It is been out-of-print for twenty or more years, but it is very much worth scouring a few used bookshops to find. It was originally printed in 1984 by Fawcett Gold Medal.

Book Trailer: THE ATTRACTION by Douglas Clegg

The Attraction is a mass-market paperback released by Leisure Books in 2006. It contains two novellas. The first is the title piece, "The Attraction" and the second is titled "The Necromancer." "The Attraction" is the better of the two stories; it is a straight forward slasher-type horror yarn (I've always wanted to use that word) that reminded me more than a little of a high quality slasher horror film mixed with something Richard Laymon would have written. The description and location is spot on: As I read it I could feel and smell and the desert heat.

The Attraction is probably the last Clegg title I've read and yesterday when I bumped into the trailer on You Tube, I had to ask myself why? He's a pretty damn good writer and while his current vampire series doesn't intrigue me most of his early work is really terrific.

Joe R. Lansdale

This is pretty great. It's a clip of Joe Lansdale reading part of a short story--"Dirt Devils"-- from a new collection titled Sanctified and Chickenfried.

ROGUE ANGEL: DESTINY by Alex Archer

Annja Creed is an archaeologist and television personality on the cable television series Chasing History’s Monsters. She is beautiful, talented and damn near everything the television audience wants—unfortunately her stubborn search for truth, rather than sensation, keeps her producer on his toes. Rogue Angel: Destiny is the first in a new series written by Alex Archer, and if beginnings mean anything, this series is going to be something special.

The novel opens with Annja in rural France searching for the legendary Beast of Gevaudan—a werewolf-like creature reputed to have killed nearly one hundred people in the three-year period between 1764 and 1767—when she stumbles across an ancient charm that is more than it seems. She is immediately embroiled in an escalating battle between an ancient sect of monks and an occultist profiteer who will do anything to get the charm. Annja is cast in a web of intrigue, mysticism, and history, that promises to do more than pique her intellectual curiosity; it very well may be her end.

Rogue Angel: Destiny is billed as science fiction, but that is a misrepresentation. It is all adventure with a dash of light fantasy. The plot moves along quickly and is kept interesting with a complex storyline. The action scenes are sharp and brutal—Annja is able to take on multiple foes and dispatch with them ease. In the end, Annja Creed is the story. She is immediately likable with her calm intelligence, competence and grace under pressure. She is a superhero who will be liked by both men and women. In a word, she is cool.

If you enjoy a good thriller, a rerun of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or a breezy and quick read, Rogue Angel: Destiny is your ticket.

This review originally posted at SFReader March 2007. Alex Archer is a Gold Eagle house name used for the Rogue Angel series. Rogue Angel: Destiny was written by Mel Odom.

Worldwide Releases Ed Gorman's FOOLS RUSH IN

A quick note. Worldwide Mystery has released Ed Gorman's seventh Sam McCain novel Fools Rush In in mass market. Fools Rush In was originally released in hardcover by Pegasus Books in 2007. The description on Worldwide's website reads:

Summer 1963. In suburban Black River Falls, Iowa, there's more than just politics behind a troubled judge's decision to have private investigator Sam McCain probe a blackmail scheme involving a powerful senator's daughter, Lucy, and David Leeds, the black student she was dating. When the blackmailer, a shady photographer named Richie Neville, and David are found murdered, local cops assume it was racially motivated. Sam suspects, after finding wads of cash and damaging photos of other victims, that perhaps the only intended victim was the extortionist shutterbug.

I read and reviewed Fools Rush In shortly after it was released. To read the review go Here.

For those of you unfamiliar with Worldwide Mystery, the books are not available from brick-and-mortar bookstores or even Internet booksellers, which is a severe limitation. There are only two ways to acquire the books: 1) join the Worldwide Mystery club; 2) purchase the titles individually on Worldwide's website. The most practical and certainly least expensive option is to purchase Worldwide titles individually. At least that is what I have done in the past. I don't like the idea of the book club route simply because I don't necessarily want all of the titles offered by Worldwide or any other publisher for that matter.

Fools Rush In is definitely worth owning, and the mass market edition is an inexpensive route to add it to your collection. And it gets better. If you have never ordered from the Worldwide website you can get an instant $4 discount on your first order. Which takes the price of the book down to $0.79 + $3.00 shipping and handling. Not bad, at least in my world.

And the cover art is pretty cool, too.

And yes, I know Gravetapping is dangerously close to slipping into the role of unofficial Ed Gorman fan club. But hell. I love his work, and the Sam McCain novels are something special.

Stuff

A personal update is needed here to explain that posts, while hopefully no less frequent, are going to be a little less predictable. At least as far as when they are posted. I started graduate school Jan 5. I have two classes along with a fulltime job. I’m busy, but so far not outrageously busy.

I try to get three posts up per week. The key word here—as you’ve probably noticed—is try. This isn’t going to change. I still plan on three posts per week and hopefully at least one a review of either a short story or novel. The others will range from films to anything else that catches my fancy.

So come back often, and hopefully there will be something new. And to dangle a carrot, I’m hoping to get a review of Warren Murphy’s Shamus Award winning novel The Ceiling of Hell posted this weekend sometime.

Stark House Press

It’s no surprise to the conscious reader that we’re smack in the middle of a crime noir revival. The old stuff is new again, and there is a whole lot of the old stuff that is pretty damn good. Hard Case Crime is a big time New York house that is publishing old titles and new in the hardboiled tradition, and there are also several smaller houses focusing on classic crime fiction.

One of the better—at least that I’m familiar with—is Stark House Press. Stark House has been bringing older titles back into print over the past few years in high quality and handsome trade paperback editions. All of the Stark House editions have at least two novels, and every so often there will be a bonus third novel.

Stark House has released titles from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. A few of the classic authors are: Malcolm Braly—Shake Him Til He Rattles / It’s Cold Out There; Gil Brewer—Wild to Possess / A Taste for Sin and A Devil for O’Shaugnessy / The Three-Way Split; Day Keene—Framed in Guilt / My Flesh is Sweet; Stephen Marlowe—Violence is My Business / Turn Left for Murder; Peter Rabe—there are five titles here with two novels per. There are also several contemporary authors including early novels by two of my favorite writers: Bill Pronzini and Robert J. Randisi.

The titles are modestly priced; ranging from $14.95 to $19.95 and each is introduced by someone who knows a helluvalot more than I do about the subject. And the fiction. It’s absolutely top-notch—

—this is sounding like a commercial. I don’t mean it to, but I’ve read a few of the Stark House titles and I have been impressed. If you haven’t sought a title or two out, you should. The books are sold on Amazon.com as well as the publisher’s website...

…end commercial.

But really, these books are great.

TALES FROM DEADWOOD by Mike Jameson

This is a review I originally published on Saddlebums September 14, 2007. As the title suggests it follows the exploits of the men and women who came to the legendary mining town of Deadwood. It is a terrific Western and, if you don't already know, Mike Jameson is a pseudonym of James Reasoner. Mr Reasoner is an impressive writer. His output is phenomenal and the quality of his work is always high.

The fourth in the series The Troopers is scheduled for release March 3, 2009 and if the first three are any indication it will be terrific.

Tales from Deadwood is the first in a series of three novels featuring a lavish mixture of dime-novel mythology, historical fact, plenty of action, and a whole lot of the Old West, which sums to an original and fresh novel. It chronicles the lives of several men and women who make their way to Deadwood, South Dakota in search of wealth on the newly discovered gold of the Black Hills, including all of the regular players: Wild Bill Hickok, Charley Utter, Al Swearengen, Calamity Jane; and a few new ones as well.

Dan Ryan is the central character in the story, and the novel opens with him defending a wagon train from an Indian attack. He, along with the other men in the party, repel the attack, and Dan makes a new friend in the process. He and Bellamy Bridges decide to partner up, and when they finally reach Deadwood they purchase a claim. The relationship between Dan and Bellamy—plus a few whores, a madam, a gambler, and an old general—is the main storyline, but it isn’t the only storyline.

The other plotline follows Wild Bill Hickok and his entourage as they travel from Cheyenne to Deadwood. Wild Bill doesn’t make it to Deadwood before the end of the novel, but Mr. Jameson does an admirable job of painting him as a strong, courageous, patient, and kind man who protects his friends and shows uncommon patience with his admirers.

Tales from Deadwood is not a rip-off of HBO’s Deadwood, but instead it is story that stands on its own merits—the characters are portrayed significantly different, and the storyline focuses on places and people the television series does not. It is a traditional western with enough action, lore, and suspense to please the core readership of the genre, but the characters and simple, sparse prose is done with the economy and expertise that will also appeal to nearly anyone who enjoys a well-told tale.

Changling

My wife and I saw Clint Eastwood's Changling last weekend at the bargain theater; we still call it the dollar theater, but it costs a bit more these days. I wanted to see this film when I first saw the trailer several months ago, but it had a very limited release locally. One of the reasons I wanted to see it was, it was written by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczyinski. It didn't hurt that it was directed by Eastwood. A guy who can seemingly do just about anything in the film industry.

Changling is a well executed period piece that is more social commentary than mystery, but it is an interesting, entertaining, and poignant film. The cinematography is beautiful, the direction is quite good, and the acting is more than adequate. In fact, this is one of the first films that I have really enjoyed Angelina Jolie.

Changling is worth a look, and I can't wait to see Clint Eastwood's latest film Gran Torino. It is being favorably compared to John Ford's classic The Searchers.

Trailer for Changling



Bonus trailer for Gran Torino

Donald Westlake

This is a bit sentimental. But I mean every word of it...

2008 was a tough year on mystery writers. It opened with the death of short story specialist Edward Hoch, and then in close order he was followed by Gregory Mcdonald, James Crumley, Tony Hillerman, and now very recently Donald E. Westlake. I’m a fan of each of these writers and I was saddened and reminded how damn unfair life is, especially the death part.

The last writer to die in 2008—Donald Westlake on New Years Eve—was one of the true masters of the genre. He came of age in the 1960s and Mr Westlake pretty much wrote it all. He started his career writing confession stories and moved on to short fiction and then novels. He wrote in just about every genre, but he found a home in the mystery arena. His work ranged from the hard and humorless Parker novels to the witty and downright funny Dortmunder series. And he wrote a whole lot in between.

I was first introduced to Westlake’s work in the early-1990s with his adventure story Kahawa—a novel that is a mixture of fast and sleek action, suspense, and more than a little wit and humor. I moved on to the Parker novels and then found one of his best novels: The Ax. I have three copies of The Ax; two mass markets and one hardcover. You can’t have enough copies of a Westlake novel.

Mr. Westlake’s work speaks for itself much better than I do and I know I’m a little late on this, but I wanted to put my two cents in. Donald Westlake was a writer, a storyteller, and damn good at both. His work will be missed and I know that what he left behind will be read for years and years. At least they will be at my house.

A toast: To all the wonderful entertainers we lost in 2008. To Don Westlake, Tony Hillerman, James Crumley, Gregory McDonald, and Michael Crichton.

I hope heaven--of such a place exists--is a bookstore and library fashioned as one. And if it is, I know the work of these fine gentlemen will be in stock.

Click Here to listen to interviews on NPR's Fresh Air with Donald Westlake from 1988 and 1997.

NORTHFIELD by Johnny D. Boggs

The James-Younger gang has been done too many times in modern Western fiction, but Johnny D. Boggs has found a fresh perspective in his novel Northfield. It chronicles the events of the Northfield, Minnesota raid that claimed the lives of two gang members and saw all three of the Younger brothers jailed. It is the story of the downfall of the gang.

It is written in multiple perspectives; the opening and closing scenes are in the voice of Cole Younger, and each chapter between is in the voice of an eyewitness to the events. The narrators include all of the gang members—Frank and Jesse James, Bill Stiles, Clell Miller, Charlie Pitts and Jim, Bob and Cole Younger—as well as a large assortment of witnesses including a prostitute, the former Governor of Mississippi Adelbert Ames, an innkeeper and the boy who first saw the Younger brothers limping out of Minnesota. The style is noticeably different for each narrator; at times it is subtle with stronger and different word choices and other times it is a hard and distinct shift from literate to less literate and even near illiterate.

The story sprawls across the pages with a vivid recreation of the events. Johnny D. Boggs does not make a moral judgment on the players. The gang is portrayed with an astonishingly effective blend of villain and common man. They are not necessarily good men, but neither are they bad men. The Youngers, specifically Cole, are humanized and made more real than I have experienced them before in film or literature. The James brothers are viewed less favorably, especially Jesse, but even they are viewed as whole people and not cardboard folk heroes or black-hearted villains. The story is familiar—I know how it ends before I read the first page—but Boggs style and eloquence make it interesting and more than readable.

The scenes narrated by Cole Younger have the most power. The style is sharp, literate, and at times, tough as hell:

“Seven minutes…seems like seven lifetimes.
“‘For God’s sake, boys, hurry up! They’re shooting us all to pieces!’”

It is, however, the separation of viewpoint that gives the narrative its power. It is a piece that rings true; perhaps someone who knows more about the story and subject can find fault, but to my eyes it is damn close to the correct version. The characters are alive and the story is stirring and vivid.

Northfield is an excellent novel that should get more attention than it has. It is not a shoot-‘em-up Western, but rather a contemplative and fine example of how good the modern Western novel can be and often is.

RUNNER by Thomas Perry

Jane Whitefield is in retirement. She married a surgeon, changed her name, and has worked diligently to keep her past behind her. A past that was dangerous yet fulfilling. She helped people disappear. Every one of them was in trouble and while not all of them were necessarily good people none of them deserved to die. Her new name is Jane McKinnon and the world she has built is threatened when a young pregnant girl finds her at a hospital fundraiser and asks for help. Jane can’t turn the girl down. It might be that she is pregnant, but it’s probably because the dangerous group pursuing her set a bomb in the kitchen of the hospital as a diversion to get the girl out.

Jane faces the group of six—two women and four men—who are chasing the girl in the parking lot of the hospital. She puts one down with a fierce attack and then beats it out of there in her Volvo sedan. She doesn’t have time to think about what she is doing. She just does it. The old ways kick in and Jane’s only concern is to get the girl to safety. That means a new identity, a new city, and a new life. Unfortunately for both Jane and her client nothing goes quite as planned and this job gets very personal for Jane Whitefield.

Runner is the first Thomas Perry novel I have read, but it won’t be the last. It is a thriller that amps the tension with action, suspense and raw violence. There are no unnecessary sub-plots and the characterization is balanced very near perfection between backstory and forward momentum. There is just enough of the former and plenty of the later. Jane Whitefield is an extremely competent and likable protagonist and the girl—Christine Monahan—is young enough and naïve enough to make her mistakes forgivable. The prose is swift and stylish:

“Jane Whitefield fought the darkness. She struggled to hold in her mind the possibility of waking, and then to make her way toward it. She felt pain where her body was in contact with the hard, cold terrazzo floor. She opened her eyes to the sight of the overhead light s flickering and then steadying to a sickly yellow glow as the hospital’s generators came on. She could hear the voices of confused people, some moaning and others calling to each other.”

Runner reminded me how good a well-crafted thriller can be. It was very much like what David Morrell was writing in the late-1990s—Double Image, Extreme Denial, etc—but it has its own voice and style. Mr Perry is a terrific storyteller and if Runner is an example of his work I can’t wait to get my hands on more of it.

Leisure's Classic Film Collection

This is kind of cool. Leisure Books recently announced a series of four Western novels in its upcoming Classic Film Collection. The novels are all the basis of classic Western films. The first to be released is Alan LeMay’s novel The Searchers. It is scheduled to be released in February 2009. I recently watched the film version of The Searchers for the first time on a local PBS affiliate. It truly is a masterpiece. John Wayne can’t do everything well—like deliver lines—but in The Searchers the director John Ford captures Wayne at his best: the long lonely look of his aging face; the heavy swagger and bravado and his sheer masculine essence. It was a great film and I’m betting the novel is just as good.

The second to be released is Destry Rides Again by Max Brand. It is scheduled for release in March. This is a novel and film that I have never read or seen. I’ve read a handful of Brand Westerns and each one was enjoyable. Here is a taste from the Dorchester website:

“Destry Rides Again helped launch James Stewart’s career and revitalized Marlene Dietrich’s in 1939. The character has remained one of Max Brand’s most famous, spawning a 1954 remake of the movie, a TV series, and a Broadway musical.”

The third will be released in April 2009. Its title: The Man from Laramie. The author: T.T. Flynn. Flynn is a writer whom I have yet to read, although I have a few of his novels floating around. I do, however, remember the film. It starred James Stewart—as I recall—and was a pretty good Western. Dorchester’s website claims that there were more than 500,000 copies of this novel printed in the day.

The fourth and final novel in the series—so far as I know—is another Alan LeMay titled The Unforgiven. This is another title that I’m not familiar with. Here is what Dorchester has to say:

"In many ways this novel, a May release, is a companion to The Searchers, as it features a different perspective on the clashes and prejudices between whites and Native Americans. Rather than chasing after a missing white girl taken captive by the Comanches as in The Searchers, The Unforgiven presents the explosive ramifications when it’s revealed a white family may have taken in a Kiowa baby 17 years before."

I’m looking forward to these titles. I grew up with John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart on the television screen. My father enjoyed the work of the former and my mother the later. I’m especially looking forward to The Searchers. The film has been playing quite frequently on television recently and I’ve watched it more than once.

Top Five Reads of 2008

It’s nearly 2009 and that means one thing—well several things, but the most exciting is the Gravetapping top five reads of the year. The rules are simple. There are really only three. The first is, the novel can be published anytime, anywhere. The second is, I have to have read it in 2008. The third is it has to be new to me, which means that I can’t use the same old book year after year.

So, without further ado, drum roll please. And now imagine your favorite celebrity at the pulpit with a cheesy smile and overdone hair. Here it is—in ascending order—the top five Gravetapping reads of 2008 are…

5) Archangel by Robert Harris. I love the occasional thriller. I enjoy the fast-paced style and the deep backstory that many well-written thrillers provide. Unfortunately many of the current crop of thrillers skip backstory altogether and the fast-paced style seems less fast-paced and more contrived and tedious. However, a few months ago I read a terrific thriller by Robert Harris. It is a modern story of Joseph Stalin and it is filled with historical insight, adventure, suspense and enough twists to keep even the most jaded thriller readers—me!—satisfied.

4) Red, White, and Blue Murder by Bill Crider. I discovered the work of Bill Crider earlier this year and I’m getting dangerously close to declaring Gravetapping as his unofficial fan club. His Sheriff Dan Rhodes stories are terrific and Red, White and Blue Murder is no exception. Click Here to read the review.

3) The Other Side of Silence by Bill Pronzini. Bill Pronzini is a regular on this list. His novel The Crimes of Jordan Wise won the top honor a few years ago—I still think about that one. It was terrific. And The Other Side of Silence is right up there with it. The first chapter is actually the short story “Engines” Pronzini wrote for Tony Hillerman’s The Mysterious West back in the mid-1990s and the story follows the recently separated Rick Fallon to Death Valley where he saves the life of a young woman who is in trouble. His journey takes him from the desolate desert to Las Vegas to Bull City, Arizona, and then into the southern climes of California.

2) A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson. This is a masterpiece of psychological horror. The amazing thing is it is also a brilliantly created view into suburban American life of the 1950s. The characters are rich and the story is perfect. Click Here to read the review.

1) Death Ground by Ed Gorman. I can’t say enough about this novel specifically or Ed Gorman’s work as a whole. He is a favorite writer of mine and Death Ground is one of the many reasons why. It is dark and pessimistic, with an overcast of sly humor and unruly humanity. Click Here to read the review.

This year it was particularly difficult to narrow the list down to five. I very easily could have made a list of ten or fifteen. Ed Gorman had another novel that barely missed the list—Sleeping Dogs—as did Bill Crider with Gator Kill. A few other honorable mentions are: Breeding Ground by Sarah Pinborough, Baby Moll by John Farris, Zero Cool by John Lange, Luck Be a Lady, Don’t Die by Robert J. Randisi, The Incredible Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson and Stephen Mertz’s The Korean Intercept.

An excellent year in my reading chair. And here is to 2009. I bet it’s even better.

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine; Feb 2009

The latest issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine arrived in the mail Friday, and as always it is a treat. I have the mail schedule pretty much pegged and I had been expecting it for a few days. Not that it was late, but rather I was impatient. It is the February 2009 issue and it is a celebration of Sherlock Holmes. But like always there is a broad array of high quality stories that will appeal to any and all mystery readers.

The contents are (I haven’t read all the stories yet--I try to savor every issue--so if there aren’t any comments it means I have been there yet):

“The Last Drop” by R.W. Kerrigan

“Greetings from Purgatory!” by Steve Hockensmith – Old Red and Big Red are back in a Sherlock Holmes-type adventure set in the old West; the thriving metropolis of Lovelock, Nevada. A can’t miss story that is whodunit, Western, and down right humorous.

“That One Small Thing” by Shane Nelson

“The Package” by Frank T. Wydra

“Wolfe at the Door” by Loren T. Estleman – An Estleman story is always worth the price of admission and this take on the Nero Wolfe mysteries is no exception.

“Clowntown Pajamas” by James Powell

“The Wilt of Love” by Michael Z. Lewin

“A Stab in the Heart” by Twist Phelan

“The Adventure of the Dying Ship” by Edward D. Hoch – This is a reprint of the late-EQMM regular and it is a dashing Sherlock Holmes story.

“Down to the Bitter Dregs” by Silvija Hinzmannn – This Passport to Crime story originates from a Croatian-born German. A terrific little tongue-in-cheek satirical revenge story. A great introduction to a foreign language writer.

It also includes The Jury Box by Jon L. Breen and Blog Bytes by Bill Crider. Another terrific issue that every mystery reader should make a point to pick up.

HARM by Brian W. Aldiss

Apologies in advance. This is another retread review. I originally wrote it for SFReader.com last summer. It posted 27-July-2007. The good news is, most of you probably never saw it, so it very well may be just as good as something new. Maybe. I have a couple reviews slated for next week; probably Monday and Wednesday. I just need to find time to write the damn things. Have a great weekend.

Brian W. Aldiss is a living legend in the science fiction genre—he has won the Hugo Award, the Nebula, the British Science Fiction Association Award, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He has been a progressive voice in the genre for decades, and his latest novel, HARM, has all the life, voice and thought provocation of anything he has ever produced.

HARM—an acronym for Hostile Activities Research Ministry—is a satirical novel based in the near future. It is the story of Paul Ali, a writer and British citizen of Islamic heritage, who is being held as a political prisoner in a terrorist detention camp. Inside the prison he is known only as Prisoner B. His crime: a few characters in his comic novel "The Pied Piper of Hament," drunkenly joke about the assassination of the British Prime Minister. His only human contact is with his interrogators, who practice torture and violence with a particularly frightening glee.

When Paul is not in interrogation he is sequestered in a solitary cell where he suffers visions and vivid imaginings due to a mental illness. He lives in two separate and distinct worlds. The first is the world of torture and pain, and the second is a distant world where insects are dominant, and the local human population has been transplanted with extreme difficulty. They were transported in Life-Process Reservoirs, which contained their brain functions and DNA and then were reconstituted on arrival. Unfortunately the reconstitution did not work perfectly, and many of them have lost significant verbal skills, a vast amount of their intelligence, and their cultural identities.

HARM is a disjointed novel that is effective for the simple reason that when all of the storylines are connected and examined as a whole, they become something more than their parts. It is a story that casts a cynical eye at our post September 11th society. Mr. Aldiss cleverly unmasks the tightrope that many British Muslims are walking—they must embrace the British culture without losing their own—and he also casts a shadow against the methods used by Britain and the United States in the war on terror.

HARM is a novel that is both enlightening and demanding. It is very much a novel of our time, and it captures many relevant themes—immigration, identity, racism, torture—but it also examines the obscurities and nuances of what has happened to our culture since the September 11th terrorist attacks. It translates the hate and anger with a perfect pitch, all while telling a compelling and entertaining story. I recommend HARM wholeheartedly.

Book Trailer: The Chameleon Conspiracy

I've read two thrillers by Haggai Carmon this year -- Triple Identity and The Red Syndrome -- and I enjoyed both. The novels feature DOJ lawyer Dan Gordon; a protagonist that has a little trouble with authority and doesn't mind breaking the rules to catch the bad guy. There is always a financial connection and Gordon always follows the money.

The third novel in the series is due out in April 2009 from Leisure Books and Mr. Carmon sent a link to a book trailer that highlights the series. It's pretty good and makes me excited to read The Chameleon Conspiracy.





PS. If anyone knows of any good book trailers send me an email. If you are an author or publisher I would love to hear from you. 

Tom Piccirilli: "The Blood Beneath When the World Draws Back"

This is a repeat post (at least the review of "The Blood Beneath When the World Draws Back"). It first went live 21-June-2007.

It has been a hectic week at my house and the blog has suffered from more than just a little neglect. So…

I’ve been reading Tom Piccirilli short stories for years. I’m a big fan, and a few months ago I decided to track down all of his Western short stories. I even emailed him and asked for a list. The list wasn’t long, but it was long enough. Here it is:

"The Day Lamarr Had a Tall Drink with His Short Daddy"; Desperadoes edited by Gorman & Greenberg, 2001

"The Blood Beneath When the World Draws Back"; Texas Rangers edited by Gorman & Greenberg, 2004

"Slicing Through Ninety-Two Pages of the New Testament"; Guns of the West edited by Gorman & Greenberg

"The Comfortable Coffin of Miz Utopia Jones Clay"; Boot Hill, edited by Randisi, 2003 (I think this one is also the first chapter of Piccirilli's novel Coffin Blues.)

"Tracking the Death Angel"; The Best of the American West II edited by Gorman and Greenberg, 1999

I recently re-read the “The Blood Beneath When the World Draws Back” and I liked it better the second time than the first. If that’s possible. My only complaint. I need more Tom Piccirilli Western short stories. A novel or two wouldn’t be bad either.

And now the review...

Tom Piccirilli is best known as a horror writer, but he has published two western novels—Grave Men and Coffin Blues—and several western short stories. I recently read his western short story “The Blood Beneath When the World Draws Back” and it had the same power as his best horror—the prose sharp as a dagger, the story literate, and very entertaining.

“Blood Beneath” is the story of Smoke, a Texas Ranger, who is hot on the tracks of two outlaws: rapists, murderers and overall bastards in the worst way. They left a child to die in the hot sun and raped her mother. Smoke quietly follows the outlaws across the open country of Texas until he hunts them down in the small town of Last Chance where he seeks justice and more than a little vengeance.

“The Blood Beneath When the World Draws Back” is one of the best stories I have read this year—short story or novel. It has the feel of a 1970s Spaghetti western, and as I read I couldn’t help but picture Clint Eastwood with his quiet strength, compassion, and tough-as-nails exterior. Smoke is the champion of the downtrodden, the protector of the weak, and basically one tough dude—an anti-hero to root for. Mr. Piccirilli brings a solid story to life with a bare, stark, cynical and violent style. The opening is pitch perfect:

“Smoke found the dying child in the rocks about midday, gave her water and shade for the two hours she lasted, and buried her beneath a red plum bush.”

The power of the prose never lets up, and the story glides seamlessly to its inevitable conclusion. Mr. Piccirilli is a terrific writer who deserves a larger audience, and “The Blood Beneath When the World Draws Back” not only gives hope to a shrinking genre, but is also one hell of a good tale.

“The Blood Beneath When the World Draws Back” was originally published in the anthology Texas Rangers—edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg--in 2004.

DEATH GROUND by Edward Gorman

Leo Guild is an aging bounty hunter. He is a former lawman, father and husband, but that is all behind him. Now he rides alone. He is melancholy, intelligent and violent; when he needs to be. He also has a past that sticks with him. He killed a little girl. The courts forgave him, but he can’t find the heart to forgive himself.

Death Ground opens on the evening of Guild’s 54th birthday. In lonely celebration he makes a date at the local brothel with a young “straw-haired” girl. Things don’t go as expected with the girl and his birthday truly turns for the worse when he is summoned to the Sherriff’s office.

Two men are dead. One—Merle Rig—hired Guild as a bodyguard and the other—Kenny Tolliver—was technically Guild’s employee. He hired Kenny to protect Rig while he paid a visit to the "straw-haired" girl. As he looks at the cadavers on the heavy mortician’s tables he figures his job is gone and it is time to ride on, but first he pays a visit to Kenny’s mother. A scene that unsettles Guild and also piques his interest; Kenny’s mother knew Rig and Kenny palled around with a couple local deputies.

Leo Guild decides he can’t leave town until he figures who really killed the pair and why. He has a feeling it is not the violent mountain man being blamed by the Sherriff, but he doesn’t have many suspects. He doesn’t have anything but a hunch, really.

Death Ground isn’t a traditional Western. It, like all of Gorman’s Westerns, is a noir mystery wrapped in the trappings of the Old West. That is not to say that the historical element isn’t accurate or interesting, because it is. It is also central to the story, but an Ed Gorman Western is more of a historical mystery than anything else. A hardboiled historical mystery at that.

The prose is tough and tender in varying shades. It defines the story, action, and protagonist with a lean, smart and melancholy and literate style:

“Then he started digging snow up with both hands, and he covered them good, the two of them, and then he stood up and looked out on the unfurling white land. There was blue sky and a full yellow sun. Warmer now, there was even that kind of sweetness that comes on sunny winter days. It made him think of pretty women on ice skates, their cheeks touched perfect red by the cold, their eyes daring and blue.”

Leo Guild is an everyman. He is the man who does what needs to be done. He isn’t a hero, or a villain, but rather he is simply a man; a man who has seen much, done much, and lost much. Guild is an example of what makes Ed Gorman’s fiction so damn good: characters that are measured and three-dimensional; characters that act, feel and sound real. His male characters are strong and pitiful, lustful and scared, vain and dangerous, lonely and weak—generally all at the same time—and more importantly they are recognizable. And his female characters exhibit the same steady qualities. Neither wholly good nor bad, just human.

Death Ground is a Western that should have wide appeal. It will please the traditionalist with its rugged description of frontier life and the people who settled it. It will also introduce readers of hardboiled crime fiction to a new genre, but mostly it will please any reader who wants something tangible and meaningful mixed into a well-told, excellently plotted and immensely entertaining novel.

This one is well worth searching out.

Death Ground is the second of three novels to feature bounty man Leo Guild. It was originally published by Donald M. Evans in 1988. The other two are: Guild (1987) and Blood Game (1989). I have also read Blood Game, and it is every bit as good as Death Ground. I can only imagine that Guild holds it own as well.

Meme: Authors New to Me

I was “tagged” and invited to play a little game by J. Kingston Pierce from The Rap Sheet—a pretty damn good blog that you should check out if you haven’t. The game? List the writers I was introduced to in 2008.

The rules are pretty simple: 1) The writer must be new to me, regardless of publication date; 2) bold the titles that were debut novels in 2008; 3) Tag some other people.

Here they are…in the order read.

Haggai Carmon – Triple Identity [Review]
David Gunn – Death’s Head
Gwen Freeman – Crazy Fool Kills Five [Review]
Sarah Pinborough – Breeding Ground [Review]
Bill Crider – Red, White, and Blue Murder [Review]
Dan Ronco – Unholy Domain [Review]
Robert Fate – Baby Shark’s High Plains Redemption [Review]
Michael Norman – The Commission [Review]
Cody McFadyen – The Darker Side [Review]
I. Micheal Koontz – A Matter of Revenge (I just started this one.)

Now that I look at it, it’s an embarrassingly short list. Although there are a few gems; namely Red, White, and Blue Murder, Breeding Ground, The Commission, and Baby Shark’s High Plains Redemption. But none of the books were duds, and I would happily pick up another title from any of these writers.

You probably noticed I broke the second rule; I bolded the title if it was a debut novel even if it wasn’t published in 2008. Opps.

Movie Trailer: STAR TREK

I’m a sucker for Star Trek films, and I really don’t know why. I’ve never been a big fan of the original series or any of the spin-offs, but the films, that’s another story. I like all of them; especially the last several TNG offerings.

The latest installment in the franchise is scheduled for release May 9, 2009. It is directed by J.J. Abrams, written by Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and stars Chris Pine, Eric Bana, Simon Pegg, Winona Ryder, Bruce Greenwood—the Nowhere Man, a series that should still be on—and Leonard Nimoy.

A pretty damn good cast. I hope it lives up to expectations.

"The Empty Manger" by Bill Crider

I have a love-hate relationship with Christmas. I love that I get a day off work. I love the stereotypical atmosphere of goodwill—I usually don’t see it, but I love the idea of it—the music (in small doses) and time spent with family and friends. And eggnog. Always eggnog.

The part of Christmas I don’t love so much are the crowds, both in stores and on the roads. The rush to buy junk no one wants. And the “me me” of the season. So to make-up for the all the bad stuff I usually lose myself in a few mystery stories with Christmas as a backdrop. My only rule—if I actually have one—is that Christmas should only be a backdrop and not the central theme of the story. So this year I thought I would share a few.

The first is a Sheriff Dan Rhodes Christmas primer. It is a novella length story titled “The Empty Manger.” Blacklin County, Texas isn’t a typical Christmas location. There are no white Christmases, it is warm and there probably aren’t many pine trees. But it is the type of rural county where the people are eccentric, there is always a perplexing crime, and enough humor and mystery to satisfy any reader.

The story begins when Sheriff Dan Rhodes is called to investigate the kidnapping of the baby Jesus doll from the manger scene in downtown Clearview. Clearview, like the rest of America, has a decaying and nearly abandoned downtown and one of the plans to attract more traffic to the area is a live manger—including a donkey and a few goats. The production is sponsored by the local First Baptist Church and when Rhodes arrives to investigate the missing Jesus he finds much more—namely the murdered body of Councilwoman Jerri Laxton, a proponent of the downtown revitalization plan, in the alley behind the abandoned furniture store next to the manger.

“The Empty Manger” is pure Dan Rhodes. It is a whodunit with style, humor, and just enough hardboiled action to carry the mystery. Sheriff Rhodes is an old style detective. He doesn’t rely on crime scene investigation or science to solve his crimes, but instead he talks to people and generally noses around until he finds a thread and then picks and pulls at it until the mystery unravels.

The supporting cast, as usual, is an eclectic mix of varying eccentricity. Rhodes is surrounded by bickering geriatrics, hostile romance writers, nosy young reporters, spiteful housewives, lonely widowers and a host of small town goofballs that not only make good suspects, but act as foils to Sheriff Rhodes. They tend to keep him in his place and whenever possible remind him of his failings, both past and present.

“The Empty Manger” is good and fun entertainment. It clocks in at 88 pages in paperback. It can easily be read in one sitting and it has everything that makes the Dan Rhodes series vibrant and it makes for a great escape from crowded super stores, clogged roads and cold weather.

“The Empty Manger” was published in the novella anthology Murder, Mayhem, and Mistletoe. It was released in 2001 by Worldwide and contains three additional novellas—“The Headless Magi” by Terence Faherty, “Christmas Cache” by Aileen Schumacker, and “Stocking Stuffer” by Wendi Lee.