MASK MARKET - Andrew Vachss

This is about number 14 in the Burke series.

If you like your crime stories cut to the bone these are for you. There is not a word wasted through this book or any of the others. The hero is totally hardboiled and although he can be a bit cartoonish sometimes that is a minor niggle.

This is the usual Burke type noir. He and his "family" get involved in a situation that leads to a child abuse victim and they resolve the matter,always through violence.

The whole series is totally entertaining and "Chandleresque" but there are no greys in Burkes world, everything is black or white.

This one has him tracking down a runaway he has previously rescued after a client is gunned down in front of him by a professional hit team.

Vachss does tend to be a one trick pony with his stories, but his day job is as a children's advocate so it can be expected, but if you have never come across this series try and give them ago. They are all very entertaining.

THE SIMPLE ART OF MURDER - Raymond Chandler

Unfortunately, I believe this is the last collection of Chandlers available.

This collection starts with an essay published in 1950 where he argues the virtues of the crime novel as literature and does a very good job . This essay was originally published in The Atlantic magazine.

After the essay there are eight short stories all originally published in the "pulps'. None feature Marlowe but the same moral code is apparent throughout.

There is one delightful story " Pearls are a Nuisance' which I think is a genuine hat tip to Dashiell Hammett and The Thin Man.

This collection was published while Chandler was still alive and are the best of the best as far as his short stories go.

He is an exceptional writer and its a real shame there are no more stories to discover.

BORDERSNAKES - James Crumley

I have just had a great weeks reading and it was finished off nicely by Bordersnakes.

It features both of Crumley's P. I's in the same story, partnered up, there's C W Sughrue and Milo Milodragovitch, both alcoholic, both drug abusers, both very nasty individuals.

Sughrue wants to find the person that shot him in the guts and Milodragovitch wants to find the person that stole his 3 million dollar inheritance. That's the story and both story lines are intertwined.

The only annoying bit is that's it's written in the first person and chops and changes between the two P.I.s, not a great trick to pull on your readers, Jim ( but he's dead now so he won't ever care what I think.)

It not very often that a entire novel is populated by totally unlikeable individuals but this is one of them, even our hero's aren't nice.

Its a normal Crumley, very violent and very well written, its not his best but a great rainy day read (and we have had a few lately).

The story ranges through 'dives' and various bedrooms of West Texas and L A and finishes south of the border.

A drug fueled adventure but a very very dark read.

THE RIGHT MADNESS - James Crumley

It is well known that there is no justice on plant Earth, but one of the greatest literary injustices is that James Crumley is not one of the best known crime writers in history. The equal of Hammett,Chandler and MacDonald.

His hero in this story is the alcoholic Private Investigator, C W Sughrue, who is not only ultra violent when the need arises but he is very human as well with lots of emotions, the strongest being loyalty. Sughrue smokes dope, snorts cocaine, smokes crack and drinks like a fish, but he gets the job done.

In this tale he sets out to help his best friend locate some files that have been stolen. And to say things get a bit out of hand is an understatement of quite large proportions, but they do, my,my.

Along the way we meet sundry psychopaths, wives, girlfriends and bent cops, all the usual for a "noir".

As stated it is very violent and you could never accuse Crumley of writing for laughs. In fact I felt exhausted at the end - its dark but mighty entertaining.

James Crumley passed away in 2008 without the following that was his due, but he's that good he'll stay in print and one day people will realise what they missed out on.

KILLER IN THE RAIN - Raymond Chandler

This a collection of eight stories published in 1930's pulp magazines by Chandler.

These eight stories, actually they are all novella's, were the basis for his famous books. That's why this collection was never published while he was alive.

These stories sometimes have a few paragraphs, sometines entire chapters that went into his novels. Chandler himself called the process , cannibalization.

All of the stories are genuinely exciting and true Raymond Chandler. My favourite being "No Crime in the Mountains".

There is an excellent introduction to this edition by Peter Robinson. In this introduction he says that Chandler's was first edited by Cap Shaw in the pulp magazines and he was the man who could pare-to-the -bone anything written and still make it exciting.

There is no Philip Marlowe in any of these stories but it can be seen how the detectives here morphed into Marlowe. I just felt sorry for their livers, my god, do they put the booze away.

This collections gives you 583 pages of really ,really excellent detective yarns and its worth every cent you pay.

THE BIG KILL - Mickey Spillane

Mike Hammer P I , makes Chandlers 'Phillip Marlowe' look like a cream puff, and thats saying something. He's ruthless and kills or maims anyone in his way when he is on a mission.

Hammer is a completely one dimensional character out to solve the murder of a man he never met but goes after the killers because they left a little boy orphaned.

Along the way in this "noir" he gets all the 'chicks', because that is in the rules for loner private investigators, deals with intrusive policemen and at the end solves the problem leaving a trail of corpses behind him.

Its wonderful stuff, very violent for its time (1951) and very well written.

The author Mickey Spillane was criticised continually regarding his "low brow' novels during his lifetime, but developed a knack with spectacular self depreciating rejoinders to silence the critics.

"My work may be garbage but it's good garbage."

Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar... If the public likes you, you're good."


This criticism was and is unfair, he is a great writer and even though his main character is a cartoon, he can set a scene as well as Dashiell Hammett and this makes the scenes genuinely exciting.

Hammer has a completely black and white moral outlook on life and this keeps his life nice and simple.

If you can get hold of any Spillane's do, I believe you can import them or there will be a number about in second hand stores. He's great.

INHERENT VICE - Thomas Pynchon

How do you solve crimes after you have smoked 5 - 6 joints during the day? - or for that matter manage to brush your teeth.

This was the first question I asked myself as I got into this poor man's 'Chandler'.

The 'gumshoe' in this California 'noir' smokes his pot like Marlowe smoked cigarettes.

More power to him ,but it makes for pretty tedious reading when all he seems to do is 'flash up' the next number , then we get "stoned think", his stoned thoughts on God, the universe, the munchies and the case at hand.

I surmised that the early 70's California weed must have been very mild due to the amount he consumes and still stays upright. Perhaps if our hero, Doc Sportello, had been a bit straighter he may have sorted this very ordinary plot out quicker than the 366 pages it takes him.

Its a strange book set in about 1970. Why its set there I do not know,and there is no clue.

The constant references to the pop icons of the era - i.e Ginger and others from Gilligans Island -are just plain annoying. My age group may remember this stuff but to most younger people none of the television, music or movies constantly referred are well enough known to have any meaning.

At the end of the book, after many digressions, all we have is a story about heroin and bad guys. with Doc Sportello getting his chick back!

I don't know if Mr. Pynchon imbibes but it gives the impression of being written by a stoned person. Things start up all the time but never go anywhere.

This purchase wasn't a complete waste of $34 but close, a few laughs saved it from getting packed straight off to the church jumble sale.