Author Archives: Keith West

2015 Shamus Award Finalists Announced

pwa_logo_2If you read my main blog, Adventures Fantastic, then you know that one of the awards I hold in high esteem is the Shamus Award, given by the Private Eye Writers of America.  In fact, the only award I hold in higher esteem is the David Gemmell Award.

One of the things I like best about the Shamus it that it’s one of the few awards that honors work published by independent authors.  Most of the major genre awards, such as the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy (and, yes, the Gemmell) don’t recognize independent work, at least not as a matter of course.  So, kudos to the PWA for doing so.

Well, the other day the finalists for the Shamus were announced: Continue reading

The Vanishing Smile

vanishing smile ebookThe Vanishing Smile
Earl Emerson
ebook $3.99

I was in the mood for a private eye novel a couple of weeks ago. I’d picked up an old paperback copy of The Vanishing Smile somewhere during the last few months, so I thought I’d give it a try. I knew this wasn’t the first book in the series (The Rainy City), as I had a copy of that one along with a few of Emerson’s other books. But sometimes series really don’t hit their stride until two or three volumes in, so I decided to give The Vanishing Smile a try. Continue reading

Happy Birthday, Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961)

hammett_reduxDashiell Hammett was born on this day in 1894.  Hammett was arguably the greatest writer of detective fiction in the 20th century.  His lean prose and hardboiled style defined a genre.  Often imitated, he was rarely equaled.

It’s rather surprising that his reputation is built on such a small body of work.  Hammett started out writing for the pulps, particularly Black Mask.  His best known creation was Sam Spade, who was immortalized by Humphrey Bogart in the third film adaptation of The Maltese Falcon.

But it was his earlier creation, an unnamed operative of the Continental Detective Agency that built his reputation.  Narrating his own adventures, the Continental Op’s lean, first-person style created a fictional icon, that of the cynical, hardboiled, first-person PI story.

Hammett was able to bring such verisimilitude to his work because he’d been a Pinkerton operative.  He once said that all of his stories were true.  If anyone has written a book (or a Ph.D. thesis) on that topic, I’d love to see it.

Anyway, pour yourself a shot of something good, raise your glass to Hammett’s memory and legacy, and sit back with one of his books.  You won’t be disappointed.

A Review of Quarry’s Choice

Quarry's ChoiceQuarry’s Choice
Max Allan Collins
Hard Case Crime
Paperback, 248 p., $9.99 US, $11.99 Can L7.99 UK
ebook $7.99

Max Allan Collins has been working in the crime and mystery fields for decades now, and one of his most popular and enduring characters is the hitman Quarry. Quarry has had something of a renaissance in recent years, with Hard Case publishing a number of new novels. The previous volume, The Wrong Quarry, is sitting in my TBR pile.

In the latest installment, Collins gives us an episode from early in Quarry’s career.  He’s recently returned from Viet Nam and hasn’t been in the contract killing business long.  When an associate of his boss, known as The Broker, is shot at, Quarry is sent to Biloxi to take out the man who ordered the hit. Continue reading

Tis the Season for an Easy Death

Easy DeathEasy Death
Daniel Boyd
Hard Case Crime
paper $9.95
electronic $7.99

If you’ve been looking for some Christmas noir, then look no further. Daniel Boyd’s tale of an armored car heist gone wrong is the perfect stocking stuffer. And you shouldn’t wait until Christmas to open. The book, that is.

It’s December 20, 1951, and Eddie and Walter are planning on pulling off an armored car heist in the middle of snow storm. It’s a chancy thing to do, but it goes down without a hitch. The the other shoes start dropping. Continue reading

A Pair of Christmas Crimes From Kristine Kathryn Rusch

In this post, we’ll look at a couple of short stories with a Christmas theme from Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

EQMJAN2015“Christmas Eve at the Exit”
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
January 2015

Rachel and her daughter Anne-Marie are on the run from her husband, a brute of a man who has enough money and power that he can destroy her if he catches her. Rachel has faked their deaths and is heading for safety on the other side of the country. She has help and she’s going to need it.

It’s Christmas Eve, the weather and roads are bad, and Rachel is stopping for the night. Anne-Marie is concerned about Santa finding them. She’ll find out it will be better if he doesn’t show up at all. Continue reading

Being Dead Broke Can be Lethal in Jarrett Creek

Dead Broke_coverDead Broke in Jarett Creek
Terry Shames
Seventh Street Books
Trade Paper, 250 pages, $15.95
ebook $11.99 Kindle Nook

Hard times have come to the small town of Jarrett Creek.  The city coffers are empty, and there’s a dead body behind the American Legion building.

The body belongs the son of a prominent banker who works at his father’s bank.  He was last seen alive in the parking lot after a meeting to discuss what to do about the town being broke.

Now there isn’t any money to pay the police.  The now former chief hasn’t finished drying out, so he’s in no shape to continue with the job, even if there were money to pay him.  The acting chief quits when he learns he won’t be getting paid.

Thus it falls to former police chief Samuel Craddock to fill in.  He agrees to work for a dollar a year.  His first order of business: find who killed Gary Dellmore.  Was it a jealous wife?  A jealous girlfriend?  A business partner?  Someone associated with a failed water park development, the same development that caused the city to go broke?  Or someone else? Continue reading

RIP, Jeremiah Healy (1948-2014)

jerry_terry

Jeremiah Healy
Photo Jim Norman

Ed Gorman and Bill Crider are reporting that Jeremiah Healy has died. Healy suffered from severe chronic depression, and this (exacerbated by alcohol) led him to take his own life.

Healy was the award winning author of the John Francis Cuddy series of private investigator novels and stories.  He also wrote legal thrillers under the name Terry Devane.  The Cuddy stories are among the best private investigator stories I’ve ever read. If you haven’t read his work, you should.

I never had the privilege of meeting him.  By all accounts he was well loved by all who knew him.  I respectfully offer my condolences to his friends and family.  My deepest sympathies, as well as my thoughts and prayers, are with his wife Sandy Balzo.

 

Take a Walk Down Blind Moon Alley

Blind Moon AlleyBlind Moon Alley
John Florio
Seventh Street Books
trade paper $15.95
ebook $11.99 Kindle Nook

I love me some Prohibition gangster stories, and with his debut novel Sugar Pop Moon (reviewed here), John Florio created one of the most unique and intriguing characters in that subgenre. Jersey Leo is an albino, a bartender in a speakeasy, and someone who is a whole lot tougher than the looks.

In the sophomore installment in the series, Jersey is working in a speakeasy in Philadelphia when he gets a call from his childhood friend Aaron Garvey. During their days on the playground, Garvey was Jersey’s protector. These days he’s on death row for killing a cop.

It turns out that death row inmates can have one guest at their last meal, and Garvey invites Jersey to dine with him. He needs a favor. Garvey had loaned twenty grand to another childhood friend, Myra Banks, so she could buy into a speakeasy. Now Reeger, the partner of the cop Garvey killed, is putting the squeeze on Myra. Garvey wants Jersey to help Myra with Reeger.

Jersey is understandably reluctant to get involved, but then on the eve of his execution, Garvey manages to pull a breakout and heads straight to Jersey for help. Now, whether he likes it or not, Jersey is involved, so he helps Garvey hide.

Then Reeger comes knocking. Jersey Leo is about to find out that no good deed goes unpunished. Continue reading

RIP, Lauren Bacall (1924-2014)

Lauren BacallEven though most of the coverage out of Hollywood today is about Robin Williams, there was a brief announcement on the news a few minutes ago that Lauren Bacall has passed away in New York.  The legendary actress was 89.

Bacall got her first movie role in 1944 at the age of 19, with Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not.  The sparks onscreen mirrored those off, and they were married the next year.  He was 25 years older than she was.  Their marriage lasted until Bogart’s death from cancer 12 years later.

Bogey and Bacall - To Have and Have Not

Bogey and Bacall in To Have and Have Not

Bacall excelled as a hardboiled woman.  Her sultry voice was perfect for a romantic lead in a noir film.  To this day, she is the epitome of that type of character.

When I was a teenager, my favorite actor was Humphrey Bogart.  (Still is.)  Naturally, that means that Bacall had a major influence on me.  I’ve not seen one of her films for quite a while.  (I hate to be interrupted by anything while watching a film, something my wife, my son, and my dogs refuse to take into consideration.)  That’s a failing I need to correct, and I’ll probably watch To Have and Have Not.

Bogey and Bacall - To Have and Have Not 2

Steve and Slim appraise a sticky situation.

Of the four films Bacall and Bogey made together, this is probably my favorite.  The dialogue crackles, Steve (Bogey) and Slim (Bacall) are both tough and tender at the same time, and Hoagy Carmichael and Walter Brennan between the two of them nearly steal the show.  It’s the movie Bogey  made right after Casablanca (my all time favorite), and there are a number of similarities in the two stories.