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Reviews September 2, 2023

BG50: Any Man’s Girl by Basil Heatter

Written during the middle of Basil Heatter’s (1918–2009) crime fiction career, Any Man’s Girl follows, in hindsight, the curse of a gorgeous fatale unable to find her place in the world. The cover image of Lucinda Perky is as close as readers will ever get to meeting her, because she never appears alive in her story, which begins with the number one suspect of her murder—her husband, Russ—already incarcerated, awaiting trial.

The novel story takes place in Florida, rich in the southern racism of its barely 1960s era, but also with sections of remarkably progressive views. Dan and Marty Waxman have transported themselves from New York to Florida, chasing Dan’s dream of perfecting hydroponic farming. He’s the homebody when wife Marty sets out to refresh her career in law, at his uninhibited encouragement. Her case? Prove Russ Perky did not murder his wife, Lucinda, despite substantial circumstantial evidence and local political powers that want nothing better than to wrap this nasty thing up as quick as possible.

Heatter does a solid job maintaining momentum as Marty spins her wheels at every turn and manages to slip in some biting social commentary on prejudice and corruption along the journey.

“Governor Harwood felt a distinct sense of relief when Judge Grady failed to show up for his appointment. It was always a chore, being with Grady. His immense vitality was overwhelming, and those small piggish eyes concealed a cruel and vengeful intelligence.The political woods were full of Gradys, and as a matter of survival, the governor had long since learned to deal with them; but still, particularly in the case of the judge, it went against his grain.

“At what point, he wondered, did a man rise above this sort of thing, free himself of these political vultures? The answer, of course, was never. Right on up to the White House, he felt sure, it must be the same—a never ending procession of men to whom you owned favors—men who could swing votes—men who were important cogs in the party machine. People really imagined that when they elected a governor, they were electing one man to an important office. What they didn’t know was that they were electing a thousand-and-one Gradys at the same time, and that it was the Gradys who made the governor, and that without them, he would vanish into political limbo.”

Heatter does fine work with characterization, dialogue, setting, and plotting his story. Any Man’s Girl is a great read, worthy of celebrating Black Gat’s 50th classic-size paperback. Here’s hoping their are 50 more!

Black Gat Books No. 50 published September 18, 2023

Reviews August 13, 2023

BG49: Off Duty by Andrew Coburn

Layered, noirish tale exposing the tangled pasts of two dirty cops from Beantown. One, the big shot, is entrenched in corruption and the abuse of power. The other, with a more centered compass, only dripped his toe in once—but it followed him to his attempt at a new life up Andover way. as a real estate salesman, threatening his life and family.

Frank Chase, the hero of this yarn, married the ex of Rupert Goetz and is raising Goetz’s son. An uncomfortable state of affairs, but they try to make it something better than work. Goetz continues to mete out abuse in Boston pulling the strings on his home turf and keeping tentacles wrapped around his “second family” up north.

This is a more contemporary book than most of the Black Gat series, first published in hardcover in 1981. As such, the sex is more nuanced, as is the violence. The book went on to earn a CWA Silver Dagger Nominee that same year. It’s easy to understand why. Coburn is a terrific writer, and I’m grateful Stark House has reissued this title. Coburn unfurls the history of his two main characters and their orbits seamlessly while moving the narrative forward in satisfying strides. There is never a dull moment. The story is told largely by its strong characters spouting frank dialogue, revealing the roots of their perspectives and how it guides their present slant. Even the secondary cast is well-drawn and engaging, from the local (Andover) cop to the top-dog antagonist who ultimately is forced out of the shadows to pull a few string of his own.

Although Coburn was a bestselling author during his peak crime fiction writing years, his books have largely gone out of print. If the others were as well-conceived and delivered as this one, let’s hope Stark House will keep ‘em coming.

Vault June 23, 2023

Blonde Bait by Stephen Marlowe

Black Gat 47

Chuck Odlum has less excuse than many of his ilk for falling head-over-heels into the irresistible pull of the black hole that is noir. He married money, Inez Cameron, owner of the flourishing Whiteface Hotel/ski resort in New York state; valued at a cool million in 1959-dollars. An era when big, strong men like Chuck can’t embrace the sting of a woman calling the shots and claiming the breadwinner crown. Not that Inez is a bitch about it. She’s a benevolent magnate—beautiful, and gives Chuck the run of the mountain and his choice of plum jobs. In this case, ski instructor; a job Chuck loves.

Sound good? Well, in Chuck’s view it was all right until Bunny Kemp—blonde bait of the first degree—dawned on his doldrums and wiggled her way into his bruised primal brain. Bunny’s hubby, Orin Kemp, drove a cab for a living, and one day happened on a rich couple who hired him for a whole night’s shift. As they drank their way across town they let slip more than a tanked couple ought, and Orin wound up with a suitcase full of ransom money—purportedly in small, unmarked bills.

Unfortunately, Orin is making a history of abuse with Bunny. He still loves her big time, but the feeling ain’t mutual no more. So when Bunny and Chuck lock their steely blue googly eyes, their animal instincts overwhelm reason, and willpowers wither. One guilty measure leads to another and in a few short chapters, the two partner in crime as co-conspirators and murderers, one step ahead of Joe Law and cosmic karma.

There’s little doubt where things are headed, but here the journey really is the destination. It’s a bumpy joy ride up and down noir alley, littered with vibrant characters, lousy prospects, dumb luck, and spiraling terminus. A top-drawer noir revival courtesy Stark House and Black Gat Books.

Reviews May 20, 2023

Take Me as I Am by Darwin Teilhet is Black Gat 46

The latest Gold Medal reprint from Black Gat Books opens with a bang. In this case, a bazooka wielded by Monk Anzeiger, a dead-stop can opener against an armored truck hauling dough destined for a branch bank in Boone. An easy-money assault devised by the bossman, Gramma, who’d get half the take for his impeccable scheme. Only things don’t pan out as per the blueprint. The half-a-million payload tip fell way short of its promises, and Monk and his crony Pinkie have to settle for a measly cut of a hundred grand. A high price for what was now a multiple murder scene. The two crooks split with Monk headed for a rendezvous with Alma, his blonde bombshell, who’s brought a change of clothes and a blue Plymouth.

While the couple drives away, a radio newsflash reports the fourth guard didn’t die at the scene. He survived long enough to get to the hospital where he told the cops he’d heard the name Monk yelled out during the robbery. The cops quickly identify a known gangster named Monk Anzeiger, often seen lately with a blonde woman driving a blue Plymouth. Now too hot to be seen in public, Monk bails to hoof it into the wilderness, instructing Alma to take the loot to Gramma in Atlanta. He promises she’ll be less likely stopped if she’s driving alone.

Nervous as hell, Alma decides to pick-up a young hitchhiker on her route, figuring she’s less likely to be stopped with a companion who in no way matches the description of Monk. She even gets the eighteen-year-old Bill Evans to claim she’s his sister when they run into a roadblock a few miles down the road. Luckily, the cop in charge remembers Bill from high school football and lets them pass without a care.

Ever the manipulator, Alma gets Bill to scope out the shabby grocery store where she’s to hand off the loot to Gramma. Bill enters the place behind a young blonde girl and looks around for Alma’s ploy, her grandmother. He’s about to leave when some guy in a blue suit whips out a pistol and threatens the blonde girl. Acting on pure adrenaline, Bill whacks the guy who is finished off with the blunt end of meat cleaver swung by the girl’s father, who also happens to be the butcher working the meat counter. Bill hightails it back to Alma who recognizes trouble even if she can’t fully understand what went wrong based on Bill’s recount of events.

Now she’s on the lam with a satchel of hot money and an innocent bystander; and isn’t quite sure what’s coming next or what happened to Monk. Over the course of the novel, Alma and Bill slowly get to know each other better, and a romance blooms. But trouble hangs continuously in the background, and is slowly revealed to Bill, either through his own deductions or in confidence as Alma slowly opens up to him.

Darwin Teilhet, who wrote as William H. Fielding, delivers a tense, defective romance driven by dread and pursuit from every glimpse into the light. A top-flight noir, with brilliant character depth and clever plotting.

Reviews April 2, 2023

Murders in Silk by Asa Bordages

Murders in Silk boasts an intricate plot, masterfully meted out by a terrific author. In a short bio at the rear of the volume we learn the author wrote only four novels; two under his real name and a second pair under the pseudonym Mike Teagle. This one is so good, it’d be worth searching out the others—or maybe we’ll get lucky and Stark House will reprint them a little farther down the road.

The opening pages of the novel catapult us into a murder mystery when our protagonist Tiberius Bixby (aka Tie) observes a alluring fellow traveler who proceeds to stumble upon a man with his throat cut in the women’s rest room. The cops rush to the scene and question everyone in the vicinity of the murder, but unfortunately don’t learning much.

Tie however, learns the name of the femme fatale, Gretchen Jones, who discovered the body. He’s so smitten with her, he irrationally wants to minimize any exposure she has—he saw her and the victim together earlier on the train. Thus, he plays things cagey with the lead investigating officer of the murder, detective Rafe Conner, whom he knows from their days growing up.

The story takes place in 1948, and it those days, believe it or not, the train toilets flushed out onto the tracks. Obviously, there were enough issues with this practice that as trains became more common in urban areas, a containment solution was implemented. But in terms of our story, detective Conner is savvy enough to search the tracks for the murder weapon in case the killer had flushed it. And sure enough they had. It’s a unique knife that Tie fails to mention looks familiar.

As the initial investigation begins, it isn’t long until a second murder breaks and leaves Conner with more questions than he started with. Tie is a clever amateur, who is drawn into the case due to his infatuation with Gretchen. But as good as he his, his sleuthing skills pale in comparison to his old man, Zeb Bixby.

The first 170 pages are told first person by Tie, but when the case finally beats him, and he’s forced to the sidelines, papa takes over the proceedings—and the narrative—to wrap things up in a bow.

One quirk of Teagle/Bordages storytelling. He loves to give his characters multiple monikers. Most times it’s only two, like Zebediah and Zeb, but in some cases it’s more, like with Rat Face aka Salvatore Fiore aka Sal aka Sally. I guess it’s intended to add character depth, but it sometimes gave me pause to wonder who he’s talking about.

The novel includes two love-at-first-sight romances. Tie and Gretchen (mutual), and Tie and the daughter of the second murdered man, Paula Wannerman (one-sided). This second infatuation isn’t really developed, and seems to exist only as motivation for her character to protect Tie from danger.

Despite these minor ticks, the narrative is rich, steeped in period phrases and practices that make the mystery a joy to read. Both thumbs up on this one!

Reviews March 5, 2023

Dr. Gatskill’s Blue Shoes by Paul Conant

Soon to be reprinted as Black Gat Book No. 44 by Stark House Press.

Paul Eugene Conant (1906–1968) wrote only three novels. This was the lone entry under his real name, the other two were as by Gene Paul. Gatskill’s presents a swell premise: Lieutenant Peter Hanley finds himself at the Whitman-Bourne Clinic, unable to remember how beautiful Narcissa Maidstone was killed. Did he do it, as several of the higher-ups in the force believe, or is he innocent as his boss, Inspector Battle, presumes?

Dr. Gatskill, her boss, Dr. Holmka, and a few nurses are tasked with prompting Hanley’s memory for the truth. Hanley was at the murder scene, he either did it himself or witnessed who did. Gatskill administer’s successively larger doses of sodium amytal that leave Hanley sedate and dreamy. Sometimes he’s talking to the docs, sometimes he thinks he’s talking aloud, but it’s all internal narrative. Conant handles the transitions in and out of Hanley’s dazed consciousness with aplomb. The Lieutenant’s memories creep slowly back from his subconscious mind as he relives snippets of the past; the big mystery and the reader’s need to know driving the story forward. The struggle inches ahead over the first 100 pages or so. Some of it is a bit repetitive, but Conant does a good job of keeping things as fresh as possible. As Hanley’s memories return, the pace quickens, the twists turn, and the final chapters bring a satisfying wind-up to an unusual mystery story.

Reviews January 28, 2023

Object of Lust by Charles Runyon

Object of Lust by Charles Runyon (alias Mark West)
Black Gat No. 43

Bombshell, Marian Morgan is bored with her husband, Dewitt Morgan, who works too much and pays her too little attention. She copes with liquor until the day she nearly dies. The close-call that rocks her world, and has her looking at her rescuer, Lewis Leland, in more than gratitude. That is, until his inner psychopath starts showing.

It’s a character-driven story, and the characters are all driven by sex. Thinking about it, engaging in it, and then reflecting on it. That gets pretty tedious in other sex books I’ve read, but Runyon does an admirable job of giving his original publisher exactly what they ordered along with highly readable prose, tucked inside a terrific crime story.

If I had to shelve this novel in a bookstore, I’d reluctantly forego the crime section and place in firmly in erotica. It’s 75% sex and 25% crime. The final chapters are particularly gripping as all that bedsheet steam finally gives way to different kinds of excitement and tension.

The final pages include a Runyon bibliography and a short bio. Black Gat No. 43 will be widely available February 20, 2023.

Uncategorized July 24, 2022

Blood Alley by A.S. Fleischman

A prolific author, Albert Sidney Fleischman wrote novels as A.S. Feischman and Sid Fleischman. Blood Alley was his eighth novel and draws from the cultural and geographic sides of his experiences in the Far East during WWII. Later in his career, Fleischman wrote primarily children’s stories. Blood Alley is unique in that he wrote both the novel and the screenplay for the Batjac film production starring John Wayne and Lauren Bacall.

American Merchant Mariner, Tom Wilder, is taken prisoner by Chinese Communists after they seize his ship. He is sprung from prison through a carefully planned escape bought and paid for by the town of Chiku Shan, whose residents need a ship’s captain familiar with the waters off the coast to aid their to Hong Kong. The only ship they have access to is a wood-burning, stern wheeler, capable of a top speed of about eight knots.

The story is rich with intrigue, dangerous scrapes with discovery throughout Communist territory, and steeped in local customs and topographic detail. Although the part of the movie Tom Wilder was originally cast with Robert Mitchum, Wayne eventually got the part; and reading the book, it’s far easier to imagine Wayne as the nearly one-dimensional, macho-man Captain Wilder than Mitchum.

Stark House does fans of Gold Medal’s 1950s PBOs a real service by bringing this one back to print. It’s a thrill-packed adventure with a terrific introduction by David Lawrence Wilson, who knew the author prior to Fleischman’s death in 2010 at age 90.

Stark House provided the novel for review. Publication release: August 2022

News March 10, 2022

Killer by Robert Silverberg

Coming soon: Black Gat No. 37.

Originally published as Passion Killer by Don Elliott for Sundown Reader in 1965, this sleaze paperback seems like an odd choice for the Black Gat imprint. Maybe it’s an experiment to test the waters. Weighing in at 163 pages, I’d guess well over three quarters of this is one boring soft-core sex scene after another. Marie and Dolores’ cups runneth over explicitly above the waist, but anything below is a mere hint and a wink other than their rear ends that are described a lot like their tatas sans nipples.

The plot that moves intermittently forward as interludes between all the sex scenes ain’t bad. It could’ve easily been the basis for a good crime novel about a rich dude who hires a hit man to snuff his wife so he can marry his much younger, voluptuous girlfriend. Obviously, Silverberg can write. Unfortunately, the soft porn dominates too many pages and I couldn’t wait to finish unfulfilled.

Collectors will want this volume to keep their Black Gat runs complete, but I hope if Stark House continues with this genre they’ll spin it off in a line of its own.