Reviews – Page 4 – Larque Press | The Digest Enthusiast

Reviews August 2, 2024

Wild by Gil Brewer

Private Investigator Lee Baron relocates to his Florida past to take over his now deceased father’s one-man agency. He explains his approach to a couple of local cops who think he’s holding out on them:

“My old man was a lummox. He was a great guy, but he believed the book. Sometimes the book isn’t right. You go through life believing every word in the book, that’s all right. You live it your way. It’s not my way.” I stopped talking, and they didn’t speak. I said, “It’s not that I don’t want to come to you. You have facilities, means of operations I’ll never have. But I can’t always come to you.”

It’s an anemic explanation of Baron’s hardboiled detecting style, but then it wouldn’t be wild if it wasn’t.

In true 1958 PI rogue, an old flame walks into Baron’s office with a heap of trouble—most of it below her surface story—giving him just enough to set the hook. This is a juicy, messy, murder mystery with a cast of untrustables who leave more cuts than clues. The wild cover girl is one of two sisters, both hot, but one far reckless than the other. What begins as one sort of case soon reveals a more complex chain-of-trouble underlaid by a high-stakes robbery.

Gil Brewer was a top-tier paperback original author, and Wild is a worthy entry on his impressive bibliography of hits.

Reviews June 28, 2024

Black Gat 60: The Other Woman by Charles Burgess

Neil Cowan is a happily married indie real estate broker and father of a five-year-old daughter. Emmaline Royal is the wife of one of the biggest operators on the western coast of Florida. She’s also the most beautiful woman Cowan has ever laid eyes on. When they meet over a real estate deal with her husband, she’s as stricken by Cowan as he is of her. Infidelity ensues.

Burgess delivers a riveting murder mystery that’s only waylaid for the novel’s three shag scenes. Great cast of flawed characters that includes a (refreshingly) competent police force whose number one murder suspect is Neil Cowan. Of course, Cowan lies and withholds evidence during their investigation, yet his actions seem reasonably rational, not simply convenient to the plot. A 5-star read, highly recommended, especially for fans of 1960s crime books.

Reviews May 24, 2024

BG59: Drink With the Dead by Jay Flynn

Booze is big money, not only for the supply chain, but for Uncle Sam who collects premium excise taxes off each gallon sold. That’s why when counterfeit brand names start cutting into the market for the legitimate stuff, the Treasury Department takes particular notice.

The stuff in Drink With the Dead is good. Maybe near as good as the real thing. Based on the volume and quality there must be a major operation behind it—well funded and well hidden.

The Agent-In-Charge of the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Unit for Northern California, Leonard Purvis, assigns John Levangie to find out who’s running it and where it’s located. Levangie poses as a newspaperman and begins asking questions. He has a photographic memory and keeps all his leads and evidence in his head. Trouble is, when he’s killed, he doesn’t leave any clues about what he’s learned.

His murder is covered up and ruled an accidental death by the local authorities. The boss, Purvis, ain’t buying it, and sends in Konrad Jensen to investigate both Levangie’s death and the agent’s original assignment. Jensen poses as a private operator hired by Levangie’s kinfolk to disprove or validate the official accidental death finding.

Jensen is a tough, live wire who leads with aggression and apologizes not at all. He soon embroils himself in the action, and trouble ensues as the pages zip by. Jensen makes good progress, but only through considerable wear-and-tear and high-stakes endangerment. There’s a woman too, and she’s a doozy.

John M. Flynn, writing as Jay Flynn, delivers a fast-paced espionage mystery. Its protagonist is not unlike its author according to Flynn’s biography, written by Bill Pronzini for mysteryfile.com—and Pronzini knew the guy.

Reviews May 3, 2024

BG58: Bait by William Vance

Melody Frane had it all, and she had nothing. She was strikingly beautiful, seventeen, and dirt poor; wandering from town to town working the fields under the tutelage of her drunken, promiscuous mother. Not a promising future.

She catches the eye of every man that ogles her. Two of them change the course of her life. Millionaire Harry Ransome seduces her with the promise of the good life—education, steady meals, clothes, travel, and money. But it’s a deal with the devil. Ransome wants Melody not only for his own amusement, but as bait to get what he wants from the men who can deliver it. And Melody is gullible and confused enough to allow him to use her.

The second beau, Kenney Ward, flies a private plane for Ransome. He wants Melody too, but in light of the life she’s living, can he stick by her? Can he provide a way out of her degradation?

Bait is a heartrending tale of a young woman coming of age in poverty, exploited by the only asset she controls—herself. William Vance writing as George Cassidy, lingers long enough on the sex in Bait to classify it as a sleaze novel; but the majority of its pages rise above that label to offer a stark portrait of an impoverished life with few prospects.

Reviews April 30, 2024

Naming the Ghost by Emily Hockaday

Hockaday is the managing editor of both Asimov’s and Analog SF digests. She’s also their poetry editor and makes all the selections, so it comes as no surprise she also writes poetry. This collection centers on two overlapping major life events, the death of her father and the birth of her daughter.

It is a deeply personal and introspective search for meaning; one of which many aspects will resonant with anyone who has experienced these life milestones. Hockaday’s lyrical phrasing is easy to access and remarkably honest.

Reviews April 26, 2024

SC 010: Hacking New York by Robert Hazard

A novel in vignettes. Street savant Hazard shares jazz-age memories of the daily grind of a hackman in the heart of the Big Apple. It’s his own (and a few compadres’) street savvy view of the intersection of customers, cops, and cab fare. His urban urbane names names and paves the route on when to stick it to ‘em and when to take the high road. Remarkably candid, this is the real inside deal, out of print for over 90 years.

It’s bookended by a deep-dive intro by Staccato Crime co-editor Jeff Vorzimmer who unearths the mystery of the man behind the wheel and a quartet of short stories. “Old Bill” delivers the same folksy tone as the main event, but this time the setting is rural; in a passionate memoir about an earlier mode of transport—the horse. “Brothers” shifts our perspective from horses to a couple of farm dogs, and “The Cops Got Their Men—Including the Taxi Driver” fictionalizes a robbery where the astonishing getaway car is a taxicab!

The volume’s final entry is a reprint from Scribner’s Nov-Dec 1929. And it’s a reprint here as well, as every vignette is pulled from the earlier mother lode. Kind of a “best of” the vignettes that came before. They read faster the second time, and provide a satisfying end cap to a fascinating slice of history from the big city.

Reviews April 13, 2024

Black Gat 57: The Steel Noose by Arnold Drake

First published as a paperback original in 1954 by Ace, The Steel Noose is a tightly plotted murder mystery in which newspaperman Boyd McGee sleuths out the truth, two or three steps ahead of the sometimes cooperative, sometimes antagonistic NYPD. Gangsters, blackmail, and politics all play a role in this fast-paced crime drama. I think this was Drake’s only novel, which is unfortunate because he turned in an excellent manuscript, which could easily have been the first novel of a series. He spent more of his career in comics with DC, Marvel, Dell, and Charlton. He also wrote a couple of screenplays for low-budget drive-in flicks.

McGee is tapped into the NY scene at every level. His sources run the gamut from high-society to hard-luck street sleepers. His daily gossip column is so popular he calls most of the shots despite his sometimes testy relationship with his editor and publisher. When his latest effort highlights an affair with a high profile tobacco baron, he finds himself closer to the edge than usual. And as the story progresses, his troubles only blossom.

The Steel Noose is a fine, hardboiled crime novel. Loaded with clever patter, elements of noir, and a cocky protagonist who manages to right himself after several missteps along the way—some nearly fatale. All-in-all, a terrific read.

Reviews March 14, 2024

Night Boat to Paris by Richard Jessup

Night Boat to Paris by Richard Jessup

A very entertaining adventure story with great characters, plenty of action, and excellent writing. It is primarily a heist novel that’s wrapped inside a spy mission. Our hero, Duncan Reece, is pulled out of espionage retirement to serve his country just this one last time. The robbery’s spoils, which Reece will be allowed to keep, is cover for the real target, a microfilm of a Soviet blueprint for a military space station that could potentially end the cold war with Russia the victor.

Reece accepts the mission more for its massive payoff, than for his patriotic spirit, and begins assembling a ragtag team of outsiders, each with their own skillset and baggage. The team relocates to a remote farmhouse where Reece runs them through training exercises to ensure their success. Then it’s on to the mission itself, where of course, not everything occurs as intended.

Reece perseveres with complications as the tension and action continues with a chase adventures in the mountains of France.

All said, Night Boat to Paris is a terrific heist/spy/chase novel with near non-stop action. Originally published by Dell in 1956, it was Jessup’s fourth novel and already shows his command of the medium.

Reviews March 9, 2024

All My Ancestors Had Sex by Susan Emshwiller

I feel privileged to have received an advance look at Susan Emshwiller’s new novel, coming this April 2024 from PineHead Press. I’m happy to say, it lives up to its stellar title in every facet.

Elizabeth Gaston is an unusual breed of ugly duckling, an amalgam of her ancestors’ worst genetic imprints. The poor, ungainly gal is flagrantly snubbed and smeared by her family. When her perfect younger brother arrives, the contrast only amplifies her peculiarities. By the time a teenaged rebellion emerges, “Izzy” somehow finds the strength to reject her highfalutin parents’ belittling, and kidnaps her sibling to save him from cementing his current snobbish, ultra-privileged mien.

What ensues is a rollicking, rocket’s blast chase caper, jammed with rich characters and affecting insights into the human condition. AMAHS delivers a delightfully inventive cross-country thrill ride loaded with surprises and PTSD.

Reviews January 5, 2024

Freak Show by Jacquin Sanders

A deep-dive character study of a roughneck outsider and his serial attempts to find his place in a fickle world. As Jacquin Sanders’ (1922–2001) first novel begins, Bat Fidler drifts into a traveling carnival and takes a job as a wrestler. His size and build make him a natural for a rousing performance in his predetermined bouts with Frankie Peranzo, his rowdy opponent.

As Bat tries to find a niche in his new home, he hooks up with Emmy Claus, a pretty young stripper with few inhibitions and fewer morals. Their relationship-of-convenience places Bat near the Fish Girl, for whom he is struck with an inexplicable fascination upon first sight.

“She was wearing a yellow sun-suit, and her body was nearly perfect. She had smooth, slender legs; her back was slim and straight, her waist small. Her breasts were full and high, curving beautifully into rounded, shapely shoulders where heartbreakingly the symmetry stopped. Her arms and hands were tiny, babylike, they had not developed with the rest of her body. They were as soft and short and minutely formed as those of a two-year-old child.”

It’s an enigma. Bat is both drawn to, and repelled by, the Fish Girl. Attempting to dissuade his fixation, Bat cozies up to Emmy, going as far as contemplating marriage. But when Emmy’s lust for partying surfaces, Bat is drawn into a deadly battle with a pseudo-rival and ends up facing a murder rap.

The trial and his subsequent prison bit thrust him into another world, where he again attempts to find his place. The confinement triggers a change that only plays out after his release, when he again wrestles with conformity versus identity—external versus internal accord.

Freak Show is a beguiling plot of deceit, murder, and lust. Its story is an exploration of desire and attraction through the mind of a rugged outsider with little understanding of his true self or how to access it.

Freak Show is Black Gat Book No. 54, released on January 12, 2024. ARC provided by Stark House Press in exchange for an independent review.