Comments on: The coke sweat had been dutifully airbrushed from the mayor’s forehead; only a contaminated grin remained

By: walkerp

walkerp — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:50:06 +0000

I’m having the hardest time finding Wild Talent. It will fall into my hands one of these days.

I need to take A High Wind in Jamaica off my on-deck shelf as I have already read it. The review is pretty brief:

http://olmansfifty.blogspot.com/2005/12/56-high-wind-in-jamaica-by-richard.html

The Wiley book is also incredibly elusive. The source and reasons behind the recommendation are lost in time (and my bad memory). I’ve looked in used bookstores across North America for it and have yet to find it.

By: Max Cairnduff

Max Cairnduff — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:26:21 +0000

Hi Walker,

Glad to hear you’re getting back into it, your On Deck pile on your site has some real gems on it, and others I don’t know but am interested in.

I’ve written up Die a Little of course, Guy’s least favourite Abbot as it happens, I’m a big Wilson Tucker fan so am looking forward to your thoughts on that (even if negative of course) – a hugely underappreciated SF talent. The Wiley and the Warren Hughes both sound interesting too, what are those ones?

By: walkerp

walkerp — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:18:40 +0000

Thanks for the pimpage, Max! It’s a good kick in the butt to get my reading back in gear. I’ll say two things:

1. That vinpulp.blogspot is fantastic, but sadly he stopped posting quite some time ago and it sounded like something serious. I hope he comes back, but if not, the archives are full of lost gems of noir fiction.

2. I can’t emphasize enough the awesomeness of Richard Stark’s Parker series. These are tough, dark books the likes of which have not been matched. I won’t quite say they are noir, being even perhaps a bit too cold and dispassionate. Start with The Hunter and don’t stop until you get to Butcher’s Moon.

By: Guy A. Savage

Guy A. Savage — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:38:23 +0000

Thanks for those sites, Max. I’ll check them out.

By: Candy Schultz

Candy Schultz — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:31:30 +0000

Thanks Max. I will look them both out. I am half British but feel wholly so.

By: Max Cairnduff

Max Cairnduff — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:09:17 +0000

On a similar note, Walker maintains a blog here http://olmansfifty.blogspot.com/ which includes I note some Hard Case Crime, he also links to a vintage hardboiled blog here http://vinpulp.blogspot.com/ though it’s not been updated since January I note.

By: Guy A. Savage

Guy A. Savage — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:04:58 +0000

Ok, Laidlaw before Pelacanos. My impression was that I’d prefer Laidlaw/McIlvanney of the two.

It’s a shocker, isn’t it, when you think you’ve reviewed something you really loved and discover that you didn’t.

If you like film noir, considering joining us at http://www.noiroftheweek.com

By: Max Cairnduff

Max Cairnduff — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:01:58 +0000

I’m a huge fan of Laidlaw, I’d put it ahead of Pelecanos personally.

I thought I’d written up a couple of the McIlvanney’s here, but I must have read them before starting the blog. Shame, exceptional stuff.

By: Guy A. Savage

Guy A. Savage — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:58:05 +0000

Thanks Max. Good to know on the sports trivia as that would put me off. But…I have the Raymond book and then the Peace book (or books) and then I’ve been eying Laidlaw…
So Pelacanos is, as they say, on the back burner.

By: Max Cairnduff

Max Cairnduff — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:55:07 +0000

Raymond is definitely noir, very much so.

I don’t recall much sports trivia in this one, perhaps I just glossed over it though, certainly it wouldn’t mean anything to me.