Author Archives: Keith West

A Different Take on St. Nick

St. Nick
Alan Russell
Thomas & Mercer
Paper $14.99
ebook $3.99

I was looking for a noir novel with a Christmas theme. Something similar to the book I reviewed last year. While browsing some of Amazon’s Christmas offerings, I came across St. Nick by Alan Russell. It wasn’t quite what I was looking for, but I’ll get to that.

The book opens on Thanksgiving afternoon. Disgraced San Diego cop Nick Pappas has gotten up and is trying to decide what to eat, the bowl of cereal he’s just poured…or his service revolver.

So far, so good. This is a good opening, and I’m wondering what is going to keep Pappas from offing himself. The phone rings, and it’s his first partner, who is retired from the force and is in charge of security at a large mall. There have been some violent muggings at the mall. Can Nick go undergover? Continue reading →

Happy Birthday, Cornell Woolrich

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Mystery and suspense author Cornell Woolrich was born on this day (December 4) in 1903. He died in 1968.

Although he started out in the 1920s writing jazz age stories in the vein of F. Scott Fitzgerald, he soon began writing stories of crime and suspense.

His work is characterized by protagonists who often feel as though they are at the mercy of forces beyond their control. In much of his work from the 1930s, the Depression was a major theme. Few writers were capable of ratcheting up the tension like Woolrich. He never wrote a sequel, so there was never a guarantee that any of the characters would survive until the end of the story, including the protagonist. Continue reading →

Mr. Finn Returns in Scar Tissue

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Scar Tissue
Trace Conger
paper $12.95 ebook $4.99

A few months ago I reviewed the first volume in a new PI series, The Shadow Broker by Trace Conger. At the time it was a finalist for the Shamus Award for best independently published novel. Since then, it has won the award. So congratulations to Mr. Conger for the win. It was well deserved. I’d also like to say thank you to him for the review copy of Scar Tissue.

The story picks up about three months after the end of The Shadow Broker. Finn has moved from his house boat into an apartment in Cincinatti that he shares with his father. He still spends weekends with his daughter. He also spends a considerable amount of time with his new girlfriend, who just happens to be the nurse at his daughter’s school. His ex-wife is still living with the doctor she left him for, but that’s about to change. It seems the doctor has a little secret. Continue reading →

Strolling Through the Devil’s Garden

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Devil’s Garden
Ace Atkins
Putnam
paper $16.00
ebook $11.99

At one point in The Lost Detective, Nathan Ward mentioned that Hammett had worked for a time on the Arbuckle case. And that reminded me that Ace Atkins had written a novel about Hammett’s work on the case which I had been wanting to read. So I did.

For those who may not be aware of the Arbuckle case, and I’m assuming that’s going to be many of you because Arbuckle is pretty much forgotten these days, it changed Hollywood and the studio system forever. Continue reading →

Finding The Lost Detective

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The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett
Nathan Ward
Bloomsbury
hardcover, $26, 214 p.
ebook $9.99

I’m a huge fan of Dashiell Hammett, particularly the Continental Op stories. So when I saw The Lost Detective come across my recommendations on Amazon, I preordered it.

This isn’t the first biography of Dashiell Hammett, nor will it be the last. He’s too fascinating a figure to be summed up in one biography. What caught my attention about The Lost Detective is that the book doesn’t focus on his relationship with Lillian Hellman or his life after he became famous. Continue reading →

Congratulations to the 2015 Shamus Award Winners

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We here at Gumshoes, Gats, and Gams would like to congratulate all the nominees for the 2015 Shamus Awards and especially the winners, which were announced October 9 at Bouchercon:

Best Hardcover P.I. Novel
Hounded by David Rosenfelt

Best First P.I. Novel
Invisible City by Julia Dahl

Best Original Paperback P.I. Novel
Moonlight Weeps by Vincent Zandri

Best P.I. Short Story
“Clear Recent History” by Gon Ben Ari in Tel Aviv Noir

Best Indie P.I. Novel
The Shadow Broker by Trace Conger
(reviewed here)

John D. MacDonald’s You Live Once

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You Live Once
John D. MacDonald
Fawcett

This was originally published as a Fawcett Gold Medal book, but the edition I have is a later one without that designation on the cover. But it’s still a great book. It’s one of the bundle I wrote about in my last post.

Clint Sewell is a rising middle manager in a midwest firm. He’s fairly new to town. Lately he’s been seen in the company of a local heiress, one Mary Olen. Even though Clint would like things to happen with her, their relationship is something of a ruse. Clint’s boss, Dodd Raymond, who happens to be married, is a hometown boy. He and Mary knew each other years ago. Now that he’s back in town, they’re having an affair. He’s got Clint acting as Mary’s date so he can spend time with her.

The book opens with Clint being awakened from a deep sleep by a couple of police officers. Mary didn’t come home last night, and Clint was the last person seen with her. He tells them the truth. Mary dropped him off after a double date with the Raymonds. She was supposed to pick him up and take him up to a party at her family’s lake house.

The police believe him and leave. Clint goes into his bedroom to get dressed and finds Mary in his closet. She’s been strangled by one of Clint’s belts. In a panic, Clint disposes of her body. He soon realizes that this was a mistake. But it’s too late to turn back now. Clint can only hope he can find the real killer before suspicion is focused on him. Continue reading →

Acquisition: John D. MacDonald Bundle

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If you’re ever in Ruidoso, New Mexico, check out Dog Eared Paperbacks. I was there a few weeks ago, and I came across a bundle of eleven vintage John D. MacDonald paperbacks. That’s ten of them on the right. (I couldn’t get One More Sunday to fit in the picture in a way I liked.)

I’d like to thank Patsy, the proprietor. The bundle was cash only, and I didn’t have enough left to cover the cost. She graciously let me send her a check when I got home and mailed them to me. They showed up in the mail last weekend.

I’m going to be diving into them over the next few months, so watch this space for reviews. You just don’t find MacDonald titles anymore. I’m looking forward reading these.

Dealing with The Shadow Broker

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The Shadow Broker
Trace Conger
$12.95 paper
$4.99 ebook

So back in the middle of June or thereabouts, I received an email from Trace Conger. Mr. Conger had seen my post about the Shamus Awards. His novel The Shadow Broker had made the final ballot for best independently published novel, and would I be interested in reviewing it? I said I would, but I didn’t think I could get to it before sometime in August as I had a pretty full slate. He said that would be fine and sent me an electronic copy. (Many thanks, sir.)

In fairness, I can’t say whether The Shadow Broker is deserving of the award simply because I haven’t read any of the other independently published titles on the ballot. But I can say that it certainly deserves to be on the ballot and should be hard to beat. Continue reading →

Interview with Bill Crider

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Yeah, I know, it’s been a while. This summer has been busier than I thought it would be. I’ll be back with a review of one of the Shamus Award nominees just as soon has I can get the ebook file off my dying hard drive. Anyway, until then, I though I’d link to an interesting interview with Bill Crider conducted by Ben Boulden. I’m a fan of Bill’s work, and you can expect me to review some of it here at some point. There’s some great discussion about Bill’s early work as well as his latest release in the long running Sheriff Dan Rhodes series.

Here’s the interview.