Marty Donovan is a cop who happens to be in love with Lenore, his partner's wife. When the two cops can't crack a tough case, Lenore suggests a stakeout that's not approved the the department. Her husband is killed, and Marty begins a complicated cover-up as the tries to find the killer.
There's plenty of action and atmosphere, some nice old-time procedural details, and enough red herrings to keep you guessing about the outcome. While Backfire isn't up there with Marlowe's best work for Gold Medal (it reminded me a bit of his early Avon books), it's still an entertaining crime novel.
Michael Lawrence (Lawrence Lariar), Naked and Alone, Popular Library, 1953.
The other day I commented on Lawrence Block's $20 Lust, reprinted as Cinderella Sims. Block started out to write a Gold Medal crime novel, figured this one didn't quite cut the mustard, and published it as soft-core porn. Now Hard Case Crime has reprinted another of Block's old soft-core novels, Lucky at Cards (aka
The Sex Shuffle). This one comes a lot closer to being a Gold Medal book, I think, than Cinderella Sims.
For one thing, there's a lot less sex. Cinderella Sims has a lot of sex, and the scenes are considerably longer and more explicit than those in Lucky at Cards. Another thing is that the background in Lucky is a lot more carefully worked out and believable than the one in Cinderella. All the stuff about poker and gin sounds exactly right, and the setting is as convincing as in anything Block has done.
With a little tweaking, especially toward the end, this book would have fit right into the Gold Medal line. I wonder if Block tried it there and it just didn't fly for some reason. At any rate, it's great to have this new edition on the shelves. Check it out.
Since James Reasoner reviewed the new Hard Case Crime edition of one of Lawrence Block's old softcore novels (Lucky at Cards), I thought I'd chime in. The Original Nightstand book was reprinted in hardcover by Subterranean Press a couple of years ago. I like the paperback cover better, but that's just me.
The book, by whatever name, is certainly a crime novel. In the Afterword, Block says, "I set out with the intention of writing a Gold Medal-type crime novel, and somewhere along the way I decided it wasn't good enough and finished it up as a sex novel."
The narrator, Ted Lindsay, loses his wife and goes downhill fast. He quits his job as a reporter and moves to New York to forget. He takes a job as a waiter in a greasy spoon and just lives one day to the next until he sees a woman named Cindy, Cinderella Sims. He knows she's the one, and he meets her. That's when things get complicated because Cindy has a past, and quite a past it is, involving killers and counterfeiters and lots of money. She wants Ted's help, and he's glad to give it, even though it means they're going to have to to some Very Bad Things.
There's lots of sex along the way. It's nothing special now, but it would have seemed plenty hot back in 1960. After all, as Block says, the book was written "to be read with one hand." The book isn't very long, and it would be a lot shorter if the sex were removed.
When all's said and done, I think Block was right. The book's not Gold Medal material. But it comes close enough to be a lot of fun to read, even now. Check it out.
Meanwhile, I guess I'll read Lucky at Cards.
Marty Donovan is a cop who happens to be in love with Lenore, his partner's wife. When the two cops can't crack a tough case, Lenore suggests a stakeout that's not approved the the department. Her husband is killed, and Marty begins a complicated cover-up as the tries to find the killer.
