Category Archives: bootlegging

When a Thousand Crows Fall

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Thousand Falling CrowsA Thousand Falling Crows
Larry D. Sweazy
Seventh Street Books
Paperback $15.95
ebook $ $11.99

I love noir, especially Depression Era noir, and most especially when it’s set in my home state of Texas. So A Thousand Falling Crows was my pint of hooch. Many thanks to the good folks at Seventh Street Books for the review copy.  Seventh Street has an outstanding line, and I need to get caught up on a number of their titles.

Sonny Burton is a Texas Ranger in the Panhandle who has been forced to retire after a shootout with Bonnie and Clyde in which he took a bullet in his right arm. Now the arm has been amputated, Sonny is no longer a Ranger, and he’s got to figure out what to do with the rest of his life.

He befriends the janitor, Aldo Hernandez, at the hospital. Aldo’s daughter has stolen her father’s recipe for bathtub gin and run off with a couple of minor league bootleggers, twin brothers. Aldo is afraid she’s going to end up in serious trouble with the law. He’s right. His daughter and the brothers are about to set out on a Bonnie and Clyde crime spree that is only going to escalate. Continue reading →

Strolling Through the Devil’s Garden

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91NSUhiOT5LDevil’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 →

Take a Walk Down Blind Moon Alley

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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 →

Step Up to the Bar and Have a Shot of Sugar Pop Moon

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Sugar Pop MoonSugar Pop Moon
John Florio
Seventh Street Books
Trade paper $15.95
Ebook $11.99  Kindle Nook

Sugar Pop Moon is a high class moonshine made from beets. It’s also a fine novel. Take your pick. Either way, it will be top notch.

Most of the story is set in New York during Christmas of 1930. (There’s a secondary plot taking place in 1906 filling in part of the backstory.) The country is sinking deeper into the Great Depression. Jersey Leo, AKA Snowball, is a young albino, the illegitimate son of a black boxer and a white gangster’s daughter. To make ends meet, he runs a speakeasy owned by Jimmy McCullough, a major gangster and bootlegger. Jimmy’s laying low after a raid when Snowball, in a bind because the regular supplier won’t deal with him directly, buys a shipment of what is supposed to be a high end moonshine known as sugar pop moon from a Philadelphia gangster. Only what he gets isn’t high end. It’s swill.

Now Snowball has to track down the gangster and get Jimmy’s money back before Jimmy returns. Easier said than done, when there are powerful people who don’t want Snowball to find the man he’s looking for. Throw in some members of a crazed voodoo sect who collect the bones of albinos, and Snowball will soon have his hands full. Continue reading →