The Burglar

As a career midpoint, The Burglar exemplifies everything we've grown to appreciate and admire about David Goodis. It was originally published as a paperback original by Lion Books and later reprinted by Black Lizard, Simon & Schuster, and a host of others. Goodis wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation, making it Goodis' only solo authored screenplay to actually be produced. The film was released in 1957 and starred Dan Duryea and Jayne Mansfield. In 1971, the French continued their fascination with the author by remaking the film with Omar Sharif and Jean-Paul Belmondo in starring roles. 

In flashback sequences, readers learn that Harbin experienced a poverty-ridden childhood. After his mother and father both die, Harbin hits the road and is picked up by a professional thief named Gerald. Harbin learns to become a skilled burglar under Gerald's tutelage. After Gerald is killed, Harbin is left to raise Gerald's young daughter Gladden. Over 18 years, Hardin's role transforms from Gladden's older brother to father, bringing the novel to the present with Hardin at age 34 and Gladden now 24. 

The opening chapters is a suspenseful heist as Harbin and his crew (two men and Gladden) rob a large mansion on Philadelphia's Main Line. The take is a whopping $100K in emeralds. But, the robbery didn't go as planned due to Harbin being interviewed by police outside of the mansion. Harbin miraculously explains his way out of the situation, but the police take note of his whereabouts. 

Back at the crew's “home”, a place deemed The Spot, Harbin makes the decision to send Gladden to Atlantic City for a few days while their hot status cools down a bit. While wasting the days, Harbin strolls around Philly with no real destination in mind. He contemplates the next move and his relationship with Gladden. But, a knockout named Della approaches Harbin at a bar and the two immediately hit it off. 

After a few chapters, Harbin and Della are in love and have the proverbial “white picket fence” lifestyle planned in the Pennsylvania countryside. The problem is multifaceted – Harbin has a criminal background that he needs to share with Della, he has a complicated relationship with Gladden that needs unraveling, and he has to leave the burglary business and his crew. The first one is easy, the second is an emotional implosion and the third becomes central to the book's propulsive plot.

As always, Goodis is one of the masters of crime-noir storytelling (arguably the very best) and The Burglar is about as good as it gets. The characters are dynamic, with each one facing extreme adversity while carrying heavy burdens. Both Della and Gladden are in love with Harbin, but his decision to choose one not only has a lasting impact on his own life, it controls the fate of the heist crew. There is the obligatory “running from the law” plot threads that keep the narrative at a brisk pace.

I like the author's subtext that theft is like a drug. It brings these characters emotional peaks and valleys while insuring they avoid the rat-race of a 9-to-5 job. At one point Harbin admits he has nothing he wants or even desires. He can't locate any material objects to buy with his $7K in walk-around money. Much less, where to spend his share of $25K from the most recent heist. It's not about the money, it's the adrenaline rush. 

If you just love a great story, The Burglar is absolutely fantastic. As a mid 20th century crime-noir, it's sheer perfection. Tangled love, the burden of criminality, greed's fascinating tug-of-war, flawed justice, the price of happiness, these compelling, prevalent plot-points just go on and on. Excellent books create meaningful discussion and The Burglar does just that. Highest recommendation. 

Get the book HERE.

Arrow #01 - Wine, Women...and Death

According to his website, Walter Deptula Jr. graduated from Columbia University and became both a Naval Aviator and an educator at California community colleges. Along with acting, writing, and producing community theater, Deptula also authored a six book series of men's action-adventure novels in the 1970s. The Arrow series stars Franco Arronelli, known as Frank Arrow, as a professional thief living in Hawaii. The debut, Wine, Women...and Death was published by Curtis Books (a subsidiary of CBS) in 1974. 

As a young man, Arrow worked the beat in Staten Island as a patrol officer. During a bank heist, Arrow is shot in the leg while fatally shooting the thief. During the struggle, Arrow swiped $4,000 from the bank drawer. Being wet behind the ears, Arrow buys a new car and is eventually kicked from the force. Arrow then develops a long career as a self-employed thief. He is paid by clients and insurance companies to steal back stolen goods – a thief of thieves. 

In the backstory, readers learn of Arrow's most recent undertaking, but it's only later in the novel that the events are explained in detail. A criminal named Serranto, possibly working for someone, robs a prominent jewelry store. After the successful heist, Serranto hides the jewels in a tomb on a large New York estate. The insurance company hires Arrow to find the jewels and agrees to his 25% commission fee. But, Arrow learns that some of the jewels are ancient relics traced back to an early English empire. If he can retrieve the jewels, his commission will be an extremely lucrative payout. 

Deptula's middle chapters are dedicated to Arrow's preparation and planning to retrieve the stolen jewels. These chapters were written so well and reminded me of great mid-20th century heist fiction by the likes of Dan Marlowe and Lionel White. In these chapters, Deptula absolutely shines. I loved the setup, planning, disguises, team players, and ultimately the execution. It's not imitation, but clearly the author was influenced by the crime-noir masters.

Surprisingly, Wine, Women...and Death isn't just a heist novel. Instead, the events of the heist lead Arrow into an underworld of bloody violence. Someone on Arrow's team sells him out to Serranto and his fiance is murdered. In a desperate bid for revenge, Arrow must not only find and kill Serranto, but also discover who the real mastermind is. It's this part of the book that is simply a product of its time. This is straight-laced, 1970s gritty action that is probably spawned by Mack Bolan and countless other paperback vigilantes of the era. 

I loved all of the little nuances that are associated with the character. Arrow lives in a beach-side mansion and possesses all of the luxuries one would expect – private plane, helicopter, employees, a compound and a pet shark (which plays into the book's finale). While not completely over the top with gunplay, the book still packs a serious punch in terms of action-oriented fight scenes. The author's presentation of Arrow and his fiance was really important and added a personal investment for me. I wanted Arrow to kill the SOBs that tortured and killed his lover. The book made me feel something, and that's always an important factor.

While this series mostly receives lukewarm reviews online, I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed the debut. I hope to borrow or buy the final installments. In reading the author's online comments about the series, I learned that six total books were written, but CBS shut down Curtis Books after Arrow #3 was published. The remaining books are now manuscripts that I'm sure Deptula is still hoping to publish someday. Anyone interested in releasing this trio of original novels, plus three unpublished works?

Swap

Walter Wager (1924-2004) was an American author of espionage, crime, and adventure fiction. He penned the books inspiring the movies Telefon and Die Hard 2. Under the name John Tiger, he also wrote several media tie-in novels for Mission Impossible and I Spy. His stand-alone 1972 novel Swap was a Cold War espionage heist adventure of the Vietnam war era.

The action opens in combat where American super-soldier David Garrison is 28 days away from the end of his tour in Vietnam. Garrison is a jungle fighter, parachutist, sabotage expert, and ambush maven. He’s like Rambo on steroids (make that additional steroids). Unfortunately, Garrison’s luck runs out when an enemy grenade detonates near him in the ‘Nam forest making his whole world go black.

Fortunately - for the sake of the novel - killing Garrison isn’t that easy. He is airlifted to safety - blind, mute, disfigured and paralyzed - where a U.S. Army brain surgeon named Dr. Bruce Brodsky saves Garrison’s life and mind. Garrison learns that Dr. Brodsky is “at war with war...he wants to kill death with a scalpel...it’s a personal feud.” In any case, Garrison’s war in Vietnam is over. He’s flown to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC, where a plastic surgeon gives him a new face - just like Parker, Drake, Bolan and dozens of other men’s adventure paperback heroes.  

Garrison owes his life to Dr. Brosky and seeks out the miracle medic to thank him. After tracking him down, Garrison offers him a favor - anything the surgeon wants. After some cajoling, it turns out that Dr. Brodsky actually does need help. The doctor’s grandfather is a department store tycoon in his 80s who is dying of cancer. Before the old man dies, he wants his 14 year-old great-grand-niece rescued from a Russian orphanage and brought to America to live in freedom. The problem is that back in 1972, the Soviets weren’t enthusiastic about shipping teenage orphans to capitalist America. The old man is willing to pay Garrison $250,000 to snatch the girl from her orphanage and transport her to the USA. Out of loyalty to Dr. Brodsky, Garrison accepts this impossible mission.

En route to the Soviet Union, Garrison stops in Athens and Israel and is able to dispatch terrorist plots in both countries. Once in Moscow, the difficulty of the mission becomes centralized. Grabbing a kid from a Soviet orphanage is harder than you might think. As Garrison’s plan evolves, Swap becomes a team-based heist novel featuring the obligatory Apache soldier, Georgia hillbilly, Israeli killing machine, and sexy babe. Think of them like a smarter, better-written Phoenix Force.

Beyond that, I don't want to give much else away other than to say that this book is so, so good. Wager’s writing is never flashy, and the action moves forward in a compelling, linear fashion. There are great twists and turns along the way and vivid characters who make you want to cheer and jeer. Wager successfully merges the combat, heist, and espionage genres into one, nearly-perfect paperback.  

Many of Wager’s novels have been digitized and reprinted over the past few years, but Swap has yet to be rediscovered by any of the reprint houses. This is a glaring oversight because the novel is simply awesome and will appeal to fans of early Nelson DeMille or classic Alistair MacLean high adventure. Whatever it takes, your mission is to drop everything and get yourself a copy of Swap. Highest recommendation. Get a copy HERE

Driscoll’s Diamonds

Crime-noir author Marvin Albert (1924-1996) began writing stylish, high-adventure novels in the 1970s under the pseudonym Ian MacAlister. It was a commercialized combination of successful writers such as Ian Fleming and Alistair MacLean. I especially liked Albert's writing style and I've been on an adventure-fiction kick of late. It was this motivation that led me to try out the 1973 Fawcett Gold Medal paperback Driscoll’s Diamonds.

In the middle chapters of the book, it is explained that the mercenary Driscoll, his partner Royan and three other hardmen ambushed diamond smugglers in Africa. Following the shooting, the diamonds were successfully stolen and the gang fled the scene. En route to the getaway plane, Royan betrayed the group and killed all but Driscoll. In the bloody exchange, Driscoll took the diamonds, left on the plane, but then crashed near a shore in the Middle East. Having survived the accident, Driscoll’s diamonds were stuck in the pilot's seat that was now underwater. 

Albert's narrative is a sprawling adventure yarn as Driscoll attempts to reclaim the diamonds from the sunken aircraft. He is in love with a woman named Shana and both have a big future planned based on recovering the diamonds. Unfortunately, Driscoll and Shana are both taken hostage by Royan and several hardened mercenaries. They have to lead Royan to the diamonds in return for their lives. Driscoll knows that he and Shana are dead anyway, so he's fighting tooth and nail along the way. There's a multitude of escape attempts, gun battles and the obligatory tough guy talk as Royan and Driscoll recount some of their old missions together. 

I loved this novel and found it better than Albert's other Middle East scavenger hunt novel, Valley of the Assassins. Driscoll and Shana are two admirable characters and I liked the heated tension between the various characters. There's a surprise when two other parties join the hunt, but I'm going to leave that unexplained in the hope that you read this book. If you love desert climates with tough men betraying other tough men looking for dirty money, then you are going to love Driscoll’ Diamonds. It's a gem.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

The Freedom Trap

Desmond Bagley (1923-1983) was one of the first high-adventure authors to join Hammond Innes and Alistair MacLean as the stars of the genre. I loved all of Bagley's novels I read, including 1970's Running Blind. In that book, the protagonist has fled a Russian spy named Slade. In the Freedom Trap, released a year later, Slade is presented again, although this is a totally different story. The two books could be considered companions, but are not directly linked to one another. I liked Running Blind so The Freedom Trap sounded like the most logical Desmond Bagley novel to read next. 

The book features a South African burglar by the name of Rearden. In the opening pages of the book, Rearden comes to London for the first time. It's here that he is asked to meet a mysterious man named MacKintosh and his sexy secretary Mrs. Smith. Mackintosh offers Rearden a sizeable sum to steal a packet of diamonds from a London mailman. Although it sounds absurd, I was surprised and convinced by MacKintosh's explanation that the diamonds (in the 1970s at least) were just posted in simple envelopes. Rearden accepts the job and in a few chapters the letter carrier is assaulted, Rearden is richer and MacKintosh has a handful of sparkling diamonds. The entire heist is performed flawlessly - no witnesses, smooth transaction. But later that night, two London detectives come to the door to arrest Rearden on assault and robbery charges. Did MacKintosh sell Rearden out?

The first 80 pages of this book are dedicated to theft and subsequent arrest. It was enjoyable, profoundly convincing and well written. As good as it was, the second act was absolutely terrific. Rearden pleads his innocence through the initial interrogation, sensationalized trial and the mandatory sentence. The judge begs Rearden to come clean on where the diamonds are. Rearden, refusing to cooperate, defiantly proclaims his innocence while the judge sentences him to 20 years in prison. 

After a year in the pen, a convicted mobster insider offers Rearden an agreement. For 20 grand, a mob-backed criminal squad can get Rearden out of jail. The cool part of it? They specialize in getting people out of prison for money. And they know he can afford it. If Rearden agrees to this deal, he could be free. But if he pays, he has no way of knowing if this team even exists. In the worst case, he pays the money and is caught fleeing. His 20-years would probably double. What the hell does Rearden do?

The Freedom Trap is one of the best books I've read in a long time. The first and second acts were just tremendously well written and just so much fun to absorb and understand. The conclusion of the novel was somewhat abrupt and seemed rushed, but it never really harmed what is otherwise a remarkable reading experience. Moreover, the Slade link between Running Blind, and The Freedom Trap is certainly there, but by all means the two books are independent titles. Highest recommendation available.

Note - The book was adapted into a theatrical film in 1973 starring Paul Newman. The title used for the film was The MacKinstosh Man. Fawcett reprinted the paperback under that title as well.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 88

On Episode 88 of the Paperback Warrior podcast, Tom and Eric have a heart to heart conversation about the future of the podcast. We also re-visit the life and literary work of Frank E. Smith, the Gothic paperback craze of the 1960s & 1970s, new Stark House Press releases, and Tom's secret work life is finally revealed! Listen on any podcast app, stream below or download directly HERE

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Like Mink, Like Murder (aka Passion Hangover)

Like Mink, Like Murder was a 1957 Harry Whittington novel that only received a French-translated printing (as T’as Des Visions!) after failing to find a U.S. publisher. The book was later heavily-adapted into a 1965 sleaze paperback called Passion Hangover. Whittington’s original manuscript has been lost to the ages, but literary scholar David Laurence Wilson reverse-engineered the sleaze paperback into something resembling Whittington’s original vision for a Stark House re-release.

The narrator of Like Mink, Like Murder is a milkman named Sam Baynard in the town of Dexter City (Population: 100,000). Sam is an ex-con whose past catches up with him when a hot babe named Elva tracks him down in Dexter City. She and Sam were crew members working for a gangster named Kohzak until Sam got nabbed robbing a jewelry store. Sam kept his mouth shut, served his prison time and then landed a straight job delivering milk to squares.

Sam used to be in love with Elva, who’s the main squeeze of Kohzak the gangster. For his part, Sam blames both Elva and Kohzak for his incarceration and just wants to be a milkman and assimilate into legit society. Unfortunately, Kohzak insists on Sam’s help to pull off a payroll heist, and he’s not the kind of mobster who takes no for an answer. Will Sam succumb to the pressure and return to a life of crime? Will he finally get into Elva’s britches? What about his promising future in the fast-growing field of dairy delivery? These are the dilemmas Sam and the reader navigate over the course of this 35,000 word paperback.

The writing in Like Mink, Like Murder was a bit clunky in the opening chapter, but things smooth out considerably thereafter and begin to feel like a normal Whittington potboiler. There’s a real emotional core at the center of the novel as Sam is torn between the straight life of a milkman and the potentially lucrative life of a stick-up man. Whittington did a great job ratcheting up that tension throughout the short paperback.

Where does Like Mink, Like Murder rank in the library of Whittington’s work? I’d say it’s a solidly better-than-average Whittington novel - likely due to the edits made by Wilson 50 years after the paperback’s original conception. Whoever gets the credit, if you dig a tightly-wound crime noir suspense novel, you’re sure to enjoy this one quite a bit. It’s part of a three-pack of Whittington’s lost works released by Stark House and a great value for your money. Highly recommended.

Buy a copy HERE

Parker #02 - The Man with the Getaway Face

Richard Stark was the popular pseudonym of Donald Westlake, and his Parker heist-adventures may be the best series of the genre. The second book in the series is The Man with the Getaway Face from 1963, a direct sequel to the opening installment, The Hunter.

Evidently in the 1960s, there was a burgeoning underground industry of plastic surgeons who would change your face if you were on the run from the mafia or the law. Earl Drake did it. Mack Bolan did it. And in the opening scene of Parker #2, our hero has the procedure to stay one step ahead of the mob bosses he upset in the previous book.

The action quickly shifts to new-face Parker being invited to execute an armored car heist with a five-man crew. The original plan was garbage, so Parker agrees to help only if he can rework the scheme and streamline it to a three-man job with bigger shares for each participant.

For the first time in the series, the reader gets to see Parker’s methodology in the planning and execution of a heist. The author walks us through the site survey, bankrolling, gun purchases, vehicle acquisitions and the post-heist location choices. We also get to meet the unreliable team members who sometimes gravitate to this line of work. In this case, the wild card is a dame named Alma who Parker suspects is planning a double-cross.

The heist story forms the core of an excellent Richard Stark heist novel, but there’s an important side plot about someone tracking Parker through his plastic surgeon to settle a score. There’s also a detailed summary of the events from the previous novel, and The Outfit isn’t done with Parker. As such, you should definitely read The Hunter first. Consider yourself warned.

The Man with the Getaway Face is another outstanding installment in this nearly-flawless series. I’m really looking forward to reading the third novel, The Outfit, which ties up loose ends from the first two books. After that, you can pretty much read the series in any order. For the uninitiated: Jump in. Trust me, you’re going to love this series.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

The Big Caper

Lionel White was a master storyteller who specialized in heist crime-noir. Several of his novels have been made into movies starring the likes of Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford. Director Quentin Tarantino credited White’s work as inspiration for his critically-acclaimed 1992 film Reservoir Dogs. I've been thrilled with every novel I've read by this author and I was excited to read what many consider one of his finest works, The Big Caper. It was published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1955 and adapted for film in 1957. It is now available as a twofer through Stark House Press. 

The book stars a WW2 veteran named Frank who finds himself befriended by a crafty bank robber named Flood. One thing leads to another and Flood eventually proposes his boldest scheme to Frank. The idea is that a professional heist crew, featuring an arsonist, a safe-breaker, two drivers and two gunmen, will rob a large bank in the small Florida town of Indio Beach. The millions will be split up and this triumphant caper will be Frank's first (and hopefully only) criminal foray and Flood's last. But, like any good ol’ fashioned bank blow-out, there's a wrench in the gears that proves to be a fatal flaw: Flood's girlfriend Kay.

Flood's proposal is that Frank and Kay become merry citizens of Indio Beach months before the heist. The two are to fake it as a married couple and submerge themselves into American Suburbia. Frank opens a thriving gas station where he smiles and pumps gas and fixes the town's auto problems. Kay is the proverbial happy housewife and makes plenty of canasta and bridge club dates with the couple's friends. After a few months of successful socializing and law-abiding living, Frank and Kay learn to fake it so well that the whole farce becomes reality. The two fall in love with each other and begin questioning their motives to gain happiness through a criminal enterprise. In a clever twist, White asks readers to ponder the real definition of happiness. Kay grows to fear and despise the controlling Flood, and Frank becomes wary of the plan and its proper execution. The Big Caper spirals into a character study of everyday people placed into a viper's den of greed and criminal exploits - the very essence of crime-noir.

White's narrative settles into a routine, customary tour of small town life in the book's opening half. The storytelling is key with the author providing many vivid images of this tiny Florida community. There's an ensemble cast of characters that are supportive of Frank and Kay's role as happily married do-gooders. But, once the professional criminals hit town, the novel's second half becomes a ticking time-bomb as Frank and Kay countdown to their date with destiny. White is willing and patient to deliver the goods, but he primes readers with a plethora of possibilities on which directions Frank and Kay turn. It is this nervous anticipation that makes The Big Caper such an entertaining and pleasurable reading experience.

I just can't say enough good things about this author and his stellar body of work. What a remarkable legacy to leave behind for generations of readers to enjoy and celebrate. When compared to Lionel White's contemporaries, this author remains in the very top echelon of mid-20th Century crime-noir creators.

Note – Dan J. Marlowe borrowed this novel's plot for his equally entertaining 1966 novel Four for the Money. In it, a former card-sharp and ex-convict migrates to a small Nevada town and integrates himself into the community. He awaits the professional heist crew who he plans to assist in knocking over the town's casino for millions. But, he finds that his pleasurable small town life, and lover, might override his need for crime.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Parker #01 - The Hunter

Donald Westlake had been writing professionally for several years when his first book as Richard Stark debuted in 1962. The Hunter (later reprinted as Point Blank) was a monster success and launched a 24-book series over the next 46 years with several movie adaptations along the way.

As the novel opens, Parker is pissed. He was left for dead in a post-heist double-cross orchestrated by his own wife and the novel’s primary adversary, a loathsome weasel named Mal Resnick. Adding insult to injury, the backstabbing lead to Parker serving a stretch in jail. The heist itself is a mere footnote to the plot as The Hunter is really a story of betrayal, vengeance, and settling accounts.

Even in this earliest iteration, Parker is a fully-formed, stoic violence machine. He’s like a Terminator in the famous sci-fi series - always moving forward towards the target. The physical descriptions of Parker as a big man with giant hands who doesn’t need a gun to kill are vivid and paint an intimidating picture of the legendary anti-hero.

By the same token, Resnick is a fantastic villain who inspires revulsion in the reader as Westlake fills us in on his own back story. The short version is that he betrayed Parker to steal Parker’s wife and $80,000 in heist proceeds to repay a debt to the mafia, famously known as “The Outfit” in the Richard Stark Universe.

As an organization, The Outfit is the third leg of the stool making The Hunter stand tall as one of the best crime fiction novels ever. Syndicate bosses set up shop in a hotel serving as a high-rise safe house for the mobsters to plan and scheme without fear of violence or the law. It’s an innovative idea borrowed decades later in the John Wick franchise of action films.

The Hunter is also the first in a trilogy of interconnected novels followed by The Man with the Getaway Face and The Outfit. After the first three paperbacks, the series generally showcases stand-alone Parker adventures with a few exceptions toward the end. As such, the first three books in the series should definitely be read in order. This shouldn’t be a hardship as they are all masterpieces.

But start with The Hunter. Don’t sleep on this book. If you read the book decades ago, do yourself a favor and pick it up again. It’s a reminder of how good crime-fiction can be. Highest recommendation. 

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Sin for Me

As a key contributor during Fawcett Gold Medal's paperback gold rush, the 1950s and early 1960s proved to be a fruitful time for Gil Brewer. Novels like 13 French Street (1951), Flight to Darkness (1952) and The Red Scarf (1955) cemented his place among John D. MacDonald, Day Keene and Jim Thompson as cornerstones of essential crime-noir fiction. As his career soared, his personal life descended into the murky waters of alcohol abuse and depression.

By 1962's Memory of Passion, Brewer had found himself nearing rock bottom, and the author experienced his first major gap between titles as fans waited four years for 1966's The Hungry One. A new publishing imprint, Banner Books, secured original titles from Harry Whittington, David Goodis and Gil Brewer in hopes of building a successful brand. In Brewer's case, that arrangement led to only two books, The Tease and Sin for Me, both published in 1967. Those two novels proved to be the end of Brewer's successful literary career. He would continue writing a few more years under house names doing series work and television tie-in novels, but Sin for Me was essentially Brewer's last crime-noir paperback. Both of Brewer's Banner novels, The Tease and Sin for Me, have been reprinted by Stark House Press as a double with an introduction by scholar David Rachels

Whether intentional or not, Sin for Me reads like a fast-paced western tale. It's a wild manhunt story through the forests and mountain ranges of Colorado. But unlike a dusty, violent cowboy saga, Sin for Me is classic Brewer – a femme fatale story involving greed, sexual desire and bad people. Really bad people.

The book's main character is real-estate agent Jess Sunderland. He's recovering from a bitter divorce from Germaine, a sexy, mountain-bred seductress. To rebound, Sunderland now works for an old colleague named Brownie. In the opening pages, Sunderland receives a call from a beautiful woman named Caroline Jones. After having Sunderland show her numerous houses for sale throughout Denver, she finally confesses the true nature of her business. She was involved in a Florida bank heist with Germaine's new husband. After the heist, Jones was abandoned and finds herself estranged from the money she helped steal. Now she wants Sunderland to assist her in locating the stolen money at Germaine's residence. Like many of Brewer's flawed and doomed protagonists, Sunderland agrees.

Brewer thrusts readers into a chase for stolen loot through Denver and the rural outlying areas. The characters are introduced quickly and often I had to re-read pages to determine which character belonged to which portion of the story. There's a fraud investigator from Jacksonville, Florida, Germaine's backwoods family members, and the various criminals who have tasted the money along the road to misfortune. The finale comes in the form of a western scene – rifle fire from mountain passes between burly men vying for the riches.

As a finale to Brewer's successful crime-noir career, Sin for Me is rather disappointing. The plot moves briskly and introduces too many characters whose cameo appearances clutter the story's elementary dynamics. There was a bank heist. The robbers turned on each other. Sunderland wants the money. It's a simple approach that could have remained rudimentary even given Sunderland's desire to have Germaine back in his arms. However, the book's rushed pace and shallow characters left something to be desired. Like any Brewer novel, it's a fun reading experience but one that could have been better. Packaged with the far superior The Tease, Stark House Press has balanced the great and the average together at an affordable price. It's definitely worth the money, but buy the reprint for The Tease. 

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 55

Paperback Warrior Podcast Episode 55 delves into the world of heist fiction with a discussion of Lionel White. Also discussed: Annoying Price Stickers! Louis A. Brennan! Music to Accompany a Good Book! Donald Westlake! Skylark Mission by Ian MacAlister! And much, much more! Listen on your favorite podcast app, stream below or download directly HERE: Listen to "Episode 55: Lionel White" on Spreaker.

Death by the Day

We read so many vintage paperbacks by authors with dozens - or even hundreds - of titles that it’s easy to forget that some guys only had one or two books in them. I’ve had a helluva time learning anything about author Lawrence Fisher. I know he wrote two crime novels: a 1961 paperback called Death by the Day (reviewed below) and a 1963 book club hardcover called Die a Little Every Day. Based on copyright data, his real name appears to be Lawrence V. Fisher. I don’t know where he was from, his birth year, his death year, his turn-ons, or any particulars. I did read his paperback, though, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

One month ago, our narrator Nick Paulson and his 15 year-old brother traveled to the mountain resort town of Park Village with 75 cents in their pockets to begin a lucrative summer as bellhops during the busy season at a Colorado resort. The monotony of elderly guests and bad tippers is broken one day with the arrival of a rich man named Mr. Rinehart, his driver and his young, sexy arm-candy, Margo. By page seven of the paperback, you know that this dame has femme fatale written all over her.

As the plot thickens, Nick becomes enmeshed in the real agenda behind Rinehart and Margo’s visit to the mountains - Rinehart and his “driver” are planning a heist. Meanwhile, it takes no time at all for the sexual tension between Nick and Margo to reach a boiling point. Can Nick get the girl and the money without being filled with bullet holes?

It’s a shame that Fisher didn’t produce more fiction because he was an excellent writer with a real knack for exciting plotting. His style reminds me of early Lawrence Block, top-shelf Harry Whittington or the best of Gil Brewer. He doesn’t reinvent the genre in Death by the Day, but he executes the crime noir formula with great skill. Some publisher should resurrect this paperback for modern audiences. It hasn’t seen the light of day in 60 years and deserves to be remembered. This one’s an easy, full-throated recommendation.

Caveat:

Neither the cover art nor the back cover’s plot description bear any resemblance to actual events in the novel. Both were certainly created by people who never read the book and were probably recycled from elsewhere. 

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Carnival of Death

Beginning in 1949, Day Keene (real name Gunard Hjertstedt) wrote over 50 novels. Just four years before his 1969 death, his heist novel Carnival of Death was published by Macfadden-Bartell. It was reprinted in 2012 by Simon and Schuster imprint Prologue Crime as an affordable ebook. Despite my preference for his 1950s work, I found I owned a copy of this book and decided to sample Keene's late career output. Was it a good decision?

A Los Angeles man named Laredo once fought side by side with Cuban rebels in the Bay of Pigs. Losing a leg in the fight, now Laredo dresses like a clown and runs a trio of children's rides in a shopping plaza's parking lot. After appearing on a radio show hosted by Tom Daly, Laredo's tiny carnival finds itself besieged by bank robbing clowns. Let me explain...

An armored car parks in the shopping plaza to run change into a store. While there, one of the guards decides to grab a quick cup of pink lemonade from Laredo's wife. Within minutes he drops dead from an apparent poisoning. While the guard's co-worker is distracted with the spontaneous death, clowns descend out of nowhere and create a confusing spectacle. One clown shoots Laredo's maintenance man, another shoots a woman while holding a baby. Another hops in the car, retrieves all of the clowns and begins throwing thousands of dollars in cash out of the back door to the money-grabbing hordes. The end result leaves two people fatally shot, one man poisoned and Laredo and his wife accused of murder. And a bunch of carnival attendees rich from surviving this macabre Shooting Gallery.

After the police name Laredo as the chief suspect in the murders and bank heist, Tom Daly emerges as the novel's main character. After Laredo's appearance on Daly's show, the radio host feels that Laredo is too genuine to pull off a caper. He truly feels the man is innocent and teams up with his editor to solve the crime. The book's narrative finds the duo in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and even Big Bear Ski Resort chasing clues and suspects.

I don't think anyone would declare Carnival of Death a good representation of Day Keene's writing. The storyline was a bit flimsy in spots and really disregards the police and their roles in the investigation. I can't imagine that a crime of this size (with press and people swarming) would rely on two radio professionals to do all of the heavy lifting. The narrative was simply unconvincing in that regard. Like his 1952 novel Wake Up to Murder, Carnival of Death still possesses two of Keene's strongest genre tropes – repressed desires and sexual frustration. Aside from those strong points, the author is fairly complacent in drawing up the standard whodunit and inserting rather anonymous protagonists as heroes. You can do so much better than this late career entry from Day Keene.

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The Mexico Run

Lionel White was a successful crime-noir writer and journalist. From 1952 through 1978, the New York City native authored 36 novels, some of which have been adapted to international cinema. While crime-fiction was certainly his forte, White specialized in an entertaining sub-genre – the heist. The New York Times deemed White as the “king of capers” and noirish filmmaker Quentin Tarantino credited the author as an influence on his cult crime classic Reservoir Dogs. While the author's 1950s work is substantially the best of his career, the talented scribe proved that he still had some literary strength in the 70s. At age 69, White authored The Mexico Run, a clever twist on the caper novel published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1974. The book has been reprinted in a handsome new edition with the author's 1976 novel Jailbreak. Yours truly was honored to be asked to write an introduction to the novel.

Mark Johns is a Vietnam vet who's fresh out of the service. Saving $18,000, Johns was encouraged by a fellow soldier to start running marijuana from Mexico into southern California. As the book begins, Johns is making the arrangements to meet a distributor of Acapulco Gold (a popular 1960s high class grass). His plan is to buy several kilos from a Mexican wholesaler and transport it using his friend Angel's fishing boat. After all of the planning and prepping, Johns is ready for the real thing. However, once he meets 17-year old Sharon, the whole thing begins to crumble.

After saving her from a savage boyfriend, Johns is forced to drag Sharon into his Mexican drug run. Using his Army buddy's contacts, Johns meets up with a crooked police officer named Captain Morales. The plan comes together that Morales gets 25% of the profit and will help smooth things over – as a respected officer of the law – so Johns can make the run. But, it's only after Johns successfully transports the dope that he finally realizes he's caught in a wicked trap – Morales wants Sharon badly and promises to keep her safe as long as Johns will start running narcotics. When Angel is imprisoned on a fake murder charge, Johns must either accept his fate as a drug-running mule for Morales or somehow escape from the game and still save Sharon and Angel.

Instead of dwelling on one bank heist, White expands the narrative with a complex game of drug running missions through customs. It's a fresh and enjoyable prose that left me breathless with possible outcomes. There's a remarkable twist at the end that hit me like a lead pipe, a feat that is next to impossible considering the volume of fiction I'm digesting weekly. From seedy motels to abandoned coastal villas, White takes advantage of atmosphere and environment to create his riveting portrait of betrayal and intrigue.

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The Empty Trap

The Empty Trap, published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1957, is a shorter, stand-alone crime-fiction novel by John D. MacDonald. It's patterned like a traditional western yarn, albeit more savage and uncontrollable in a contemporary setting. While the story's most violent portions occur in Mexico, MacDonald leads his readers into the dry, scorching Nevada town called Oasis Springs. It is here where The Empty Trap snares Lloyd Wescott and his beautiful lover Sylvia.

In the novel's opening pages, readers are immediately introduced to Lloyd. But it's a brief introduction. You see Lloyd has skimmed nearly $100,000 from his employer, a crooked Casino calling itself The Green Oasis, and he's now a broken shell of a man about to meet death. Harry's three brutish enforcers have gang raped Sylvia to death and viciously burned and beaten Lloyd in an effort to retrieve the money. In the opening 19-pages (not for the squeamish), Lloyd is placed into a Pontiac and pushed off of a high cliff. But unbeknownst to the enforcers, Llloyd survives.

Like a rugged Spaghetti Western, Lloyd is found by an old Mexican and brought to the man's large village. The impoverished villagers slowly nurse Lloyd back to health. With his disturbing new appearance – splintered teeth, broken facial bones, spider-web of scars – Lloyd contrives a plan to avenge Sylvia's murder...and his own.

MacDonald weaves his short narrative into a series of backstories. The reader is brought full circle from Lloyd's beginnings as a hotel manager to his affair with Harry's sultry wife Sylvia. It's a timeless retelling of a man's quest to avenge the death of a loved one, but MacDonald squeezes a lot of originality out of the familiar story. Lloyd's affection for his employer's wife helps the reader identify with a flawed character (as opposed to the popular crime-fiction trend of alcohol addiction). The novel's bloody beginning sets the tone for what is ultimately a very gritty and violent tale of theft, misfortune and loss. Readers know exactly what's behind the curtain jerk, but will still be impressed by MacDonald's magic.

The Empty Trap proved to be a fulfilling reading experience. Buy a copy of the book HERE.

So Wicked My Love

Following a prosperous writing career in the pulp magazines, Bruno Fischer became a crime-fiction success story. His novel House of Flesh sold 1.8 million copies, leading to a successful run of 10 books authored by the German-American throughout the 1950s. His 1954 novel, So Wicked My Love, was published by Fawcett Gold Medal. It originally appeared in a condensed form in the November, 1953 issue of Manhunt magazine. Crime-fiction scholars will often point to the novel as one of Fischer's best. Opening the book, I was hoping to agree.

When readers first meet Ray, he's a dejected, emotional wreck laying on Coney Island's sandy beach. His girlfriend Florence rejected his marriage proposal and ring the night before, explaining to Ray that she may still be in love with another man. As Ray ponders his life post-Florence, he spots a woman he once knew walking along the shore. Ray re-introduces himself to a beautiful vixen named Cherry and almost immediately becomes an accomplice in armed robbery and murder. Wicked love indeed.

After reading a brief newspaper headline about an armed car robbery, a mysterious woman and a band of criminals, Ray's one night out with Cherry proves to be a cornucopia of dark discoveries. He learns that Cherry has a car trunk filled with stolen cash and three violent men on her trail. Ray gives Cherry the engagement ring he bought Florence and the two decide to flee with the money together. But after a deadly, violent encounter with two of the three men, Ray drops the money at an abandoned farm house and anonymously calls the police to pick it up. Ray then reconvenes with Florence and the two become married and live happily ever after. Considering all of these riveting events happen in the book's opening pages, readers quickly sense that Bruno Fischer has an abundance of intrigue, suspense and violence left to explore.

Ray's lusty encounters with Cherry aren't explicit, but they're an enticing invitation for readers to take the journey with these ill-fated lovers. As Ray's average life becomes more complicated, readers can foresee the impending doom in Fisher's narrative. By its very definition, the idea of this average blue-collar man being trapped in a web of murder, robbery and blinding lust is crime-noir in its most rudimentary form. It's also the same ritualistic formula utilized by a mastermind crime-fiction veteran like Fischer to mesmerize readers, fans and literature scholars. From a reader's stance, it makes for an fantastic reading experience. So Wicked My Love is so wickedly good.

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The Tease

By the late 1960s, successful crime-noir novelist Gil Brewer was battling many personal demons. His bouts with alcoholism and severe depression both contributed to the shortening of his superlative literary career. After a successful run of Fawcett Gold Medal paperbacks, Brewer experienced a downward spiral through the publishing world, drifting to mid-echelon publishers like Monarch and Lancer. Aside from his three It Takes a Thief television tie-ins published by Ace in 1969 and 1970 and some house-name series work, Brewer's penultimate original novel in his own name was The Tease, published by Banner in 1967. It exists now as a reprint by Stark House Press

The book introduces readers to Wes McCord, a realtor and married man living in a shoreline house in Tampa, Florida. Wes is married to his very patient wife Lucille, who has lived with his lying and unfaithfulness for years. In the book's opening chapter, Lucille and Wes have a heated argument over their financial woes and Wes's sexual misbehavior at a neighborhood party. In the heat of the moment, Lucille flees to her sister's house with the solemn vow that she wants to dissolve the marriage.

That same evening, just hours after the fiery exchange with Lucille, Wes spots a half-naked vixen running along the beach. Rushing to her assistance, Wes meets Bonnie and brings her home where she claims she was assaulted by an elderly man at gunpoint in a nearby motel. While defending herself, the assailant’s gun discharged and shot the man in the chest. Fleeing the scene, she escaped down the beach and into the arms of Wes. Is that the story she maintains throughout Brewer's pulsing narrative? Thankfully, no.

With his wife out of the house, Wes finds a place in his home to hide this beautiful, sexually-charged 18-year old. When the cops arrive to ask about the footprints in the sand, Wes panics and covers for his new houseguest. The next morning, Wes reads in the local newspaper that a man from Jacksonville, Florida (fun fact: world headquarters of Paperback Warrior) named Joseph Vito was found dead in a Tampa motel. He was the prime suspect in a $325,000 bank robbery a month ago and his accomplices, including an unknown woman, were still being sought by authorities.

As Wes's emotional distress is elevated, he's faced with a number of life-altering choices. Does he defy the law and continue hiding Bonnie in hopes that she's holding $325,000 and is willing to share? Does he pursue his estranged wife and attempt to salvage their devastated marriage? Should he give into his desires and ravage this young woman in the sexual prime of life? It’s these questions that add fuel to the burning fire created by Brewer's compelling prose.

The Tease exhibits all of the vicious, savage tones that made Gil Brewer the crime-noir kingpin of his time. Like 1958's The Vengeful Virgin, the author melds sizzling lust with raw criminal intent. It's the perfect combination of hot, spirited passion and fervent greed. Bonnie's pleas for help – both mentally and physically – lead Wes into a spider-web of lies and treachery by forfeiting his career, marriage and lifestyle. 

When presented with sex, money and power, what does the everyman do? It is amazing that despite Brewer's myriad of personal problems, he was still able to orchestrate an exhilarating story in the twilight of his career. While it has yet to be reprinted, don't let the expensive second-hand price deter you from obtaining a copy of this entertaining crime-noir paperback. The Tease is simply excellent. Get a copy HERE

Parker #10 - The Green Eagle Score

By the time 1967 rolled around, Donald Westlake had really found his groove with the novels he wrote under the name Richard Stark starring a hard-nosed, emotionless thief named Parker. The commercial success of the series had far outpaced the popularity of the comedic crime novels Westlake authored under his own name, and the quality of the Parker stories showed no indication of deteriorating. That was also the year that Parker’s 10th paperback adventure, The Green Eagle Score, hit spinner racks.

The story opens with Parker and his woman sunning themselves on a Puerto Rican beach when a visitor from Parker’s past arrives with a business opportunity. Fusco is fresh out of the joint after doing a three-year stretch and his ex-wife is dating a U.S. Air Force paper-pusher named Devers. The relationship between Fusco, Devers, and Ellen the ex-wife is surprisingly cordial, and they’ve stumbled upon an opportunity for a $400,000 payroll heist at an upstate New York Air Force base. Pulling a theft on a military installation poses some logistical hurdles, so they need an expert planner like Parker to make it happen.

Parker has the appropriate misgivings about working with amateurs, but he leaves the beach and his girl behind, so he can assess the viability of the score in New York. As always, Parker is the consummate, stoic professional, and his time spent in New York casing the base and weighing the pros and cons of the heist make for some predictably outstanding scenes.

Westlake shifts the third-party perspective quite a bit in this installment, and along the way the reader is treated to scenes where ex-wife Ellen repeatedly overshares with her therapist unwittingly tipping the shrink to the upcoming robbery and getaway plan. Could this create a problem for the crew down the line?

There’s a lot of build-up and character drama leading up to the heist. I found it all very interesting, but it wasn’t exactly action-packed. Once the execution of the job is underway and the plan goes sideways, fans of the series will feel right at home. Overall, this wasn’t the best Parker novel, but that’s only because of the high watermark set by the rest of the series. If The Green Eagle Score was a stand-alone novel, it would be regarded as a masterpiece of the heist genre. Instead, it’s just an average installment in a masterpiece of a series. You should definitely read it, but be aware how it stacks up in the Richard Stark canon. Recommended.

Postscript

An exciting book bonus abridgment of The Green Eagle Score was printed in the July 1968 issue of For Men Only magazine under the name "The Young Bedroom Raiders" with some sweet men’s adventure magazine illustrations.

You can check out some screen grabs of the piece at: LINK

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Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 25

On Paperback Warrior Podcast Episode 25, the guys take a deep dive into the world of Nick Carter: Killmaster. Tom introduces listeners to James Howard’s obscure Steve Ashe series, and Eric reviews the nautical heist classic, “Hell Ship to Kuma.” Check it out on your favorite podcast app or listen online at paperbackwarrior.com. Stream the show below or on any podcast service. You can also download the episode directly HERE. Listen to "Episode 25: Nick Carter: Killmaster" on Spreaker.