THE LIFE OF CRIME ~

 

R EA D     M E

RE-READING JIM THOMPSON ~

If you have only one Jim Thompson

book to read ~ this might be the one.

Published the year I was born and today

barked out in multiple editions, the book

has never gone away, become dated, or

softened. Made into at least

two films, with various other adaptations

and still nothing comes close to what

you're going to go through reading the book.

Thompson aligns with David Goodis and

Chester Himes as my top three in the

era that swept in after the king, Raymond Chandler.

[ BA ]

RE-READING CHICAMAW & FRIENDS ~

Bowie tapped the Gulf of Mexico. 
"You ever seen the ocean, Keechie?"
She shook her head.
"Me neither. I'm almost thirty years old and you know I
never have seen the ocean. Can you beat that? 
Say, how would you like to live on the ocean?"
"Sounds pretty good to me."

____________________

I’ve been down in your territory the last few days re-reading West Texas and Oklahoma district books: The Killer Inside Me with relentless Jim Thompson, and now Edward Anderson, harsh right-winger from Oklahoma and his Thieves Like Us. Anderson sold the book to Hollywood for the film They Live By Night and got himself $500 for it, his second book, thoroughly grubby rich armed robbery stuff, but nothing seemed to help his career because of himself. Dead in his early 60s. By the energy in each Thompson novel you’d think he was made from electricity or kerosene and should be alive to this day. I never read a bad or weak book by him. I may go back and re-read a bunch of other books since I have them all, plus a biography I always liked that I keep on display out in The Studio part of the bookshop that no one ever buys. We may be talking about a world gone by. Usually the one I liked best.

[ BA ~ to ~ J.D. ]

Cathy O' Donnell & Farley Granger in the film
'They Live By Night'
directed by Nicholas Ray
1948

~ If you want film noir at one of its best,
start here.

RE-READING PATRICIA HIGHSMITH ~

In July I went back to re-read Highsmith's

The Blunderer (1954) — not an entirely

successful novel by the crime master

but mostly a thrilling read for 3/4s

of the book. A slight muddle

sets in where you can sense the author

has lost her story, whereas she doesn't

in her first novel Strangers on a Train.

Compared to say, Sue Grafton, Highsmith is

Shakespeare, and anything by her, including her short

stories, are well worth frightening yourself.

[ BA ]

P A T R I C I A      H I G H S M I T H

DOROTHY B. HUGHES ~

That's Humphrey Bogart & Gloria Grahame

from the stylish film noir (1950) of the same title

directed by Nicholas Ray.

Dorothy Hughes, a Yale Younger Series poet (1931)

wrote a masterpiece (1947) right up there with Raymond Chandler

if you're looking for a unbeatable read in the crime genre.