"If the Coffin Fits" by Day Keene (1952) - FFB

If the Coffin Fits (1952) was Keene's eighth novel since his debut, Framed in Guilt, was published three years earlier in 1949. The title is borrowed from a pulp story he wrote for Dime Mystery (March 1945), but the stories have nothing in common (the original yarn is about a writer who debunks occult phenomena). The protagonist of this novel is another throwback to his pulp days, private eye Tom Doyle, who appeared in numerous yarns in the 1940s; this is Doyle's only outing in a novel. Here, Doyle gets caught up in a war for political control of a corrupt Nevada gambling town.

Keene's choice of reviving Doyle during his paperback period is really interesting, as Keene's novels tended to focus on average joes who, through extraordinary circumstances, have to prove that they or their spouse is innocent of murder. Considering the popularity of private eyes in paperback fiction at the time, perhaps Keene was hoping a publisher would latch onto the character for a series. Doyle's description as a World War II vet with premature white hair and blue eyes, in fact, reminds of another popular series private eye of the time: Richard Prather's Shell Scott. Scott's white hair and blue eyes graced the cover of scores of Gold Medal paperbacks in the 1950s (and beyond). The similarities stop there, however, as Keene's prose is decidedly less animated than Prather's.

"Death March of the Dancing Dolls and Other Stories, Day Keene in the Detective Pulps, Vol. #3" (2010) - Short Story Wednesday

Ramble House's Death March of the Dancing Dolls and Other Stories, Day Keene in the Detective Pulps, Vol. #3 (2010) starts off with an introduction by the late Bill Crider, a superb writer and generous soul whose enthusiasm for old pulps and paperback novels was as infectious as it was enlightening. For me, this introduction had extra special meaning because Crider's blog posts were some of the earliest writings that I encountered about Keene. Reading his words brought a smile to my face, and recalled memories of reading about Keene on his fabulous blog.

Among the selections here are two stories with Keene's series character Doc Egg, a former pugilist who has hung up his gloves in order to open a Times Square pharmacy. From his counter at the Crossroads of the World, Doc crosses paths with plenty of characters, and invariably plenty of mysteries cross his path that he is compelled to solve, either to save his own hide or to help the NYPD. Keene describes Doc Egg as "a bright-eyed, bald little man in his late thirties with the suspicion of a paunch . . . reputedly worth a million dollars." An amiable fellow to his friends, always willing to loan a buck when he can, "he never forgot a favor or forgave a slight. If he couldn't whip a bully with his fists, e used whatever was handy. He and Lieutenant Dan Carter of the Times Square Homicide Detail had been friends since they had been boys." Not everyone on the police force likes Doc, however, and he usually has to outwit an officer who is trying to pin the crime on him.

"By Hook or By Crook" edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg (2010)

I initially reviewed Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg's By Hook or By Crook, and 30 More of the Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year (2010, Tyrus Books) when it was new, and when we could count on new anthologies from its editors every year to highlight a fine array of stories from writers new and old, our favorite writers of today and tomorrow. How I miss those times. Cancer robbed readers of both of them, Greenberg first, in 2011, and Gorman in 2016. There was something comforting and assuring about seeing their names on the spines or book covers—an assurance that you'd be reading truly fine stories. They had impeccable taste and a mind-boggling comprehension and knowledge of fiction. They knew the most obscure stories from decades ago as well as the best stories from emerging writers. Sometimes they'd source stories from the pages of established magazines like Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazines, but sometimes more recently they'd pull from website and e-zines. Needless to say, their selections were always interesting.

"Black Wings Has My Angel" by Elliott Chaze (1953)

Elliott Chaze's Black Wings Has My Angel was originally published by Gold Medal in 1953. Bill Crider and Ed Gorman have long been touting this as one of Gold Medal's finest crime novels. Gorman calls it "one of THE classic noirs" while Crider admits "I'm probably to blame, at least in part, for the high price that the book commands these days because I praised it in a fanzine article 35 or so years ago." Now that I've read it, I’ll nod my head in agreement: they weren’t kidding. An unorthodox and peculiar heist novel, its protagonists are an oil rigger fresh off a 16-week stint in the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana and a volatile, bloodthirsty call girl. Beginning with their self-loathing meeting in a cheap motel room to their road trip across the Southwest and culminating in a camping expedition in the Colorado mountains, Black Wings Has My Angel often seems like a travelogue of American scenery and squalor. But that's precisely its magnetic appeal: Black Wings Has My Angel is a tantalizing novel that reveals its dark secrets slowly, never letting us in on the grand plan until we’re too far along to back out.

"Damn Near Dead 2: Live Noir or Die Trying" edited by Bill Crider (Busted Flush Press, 2010)

A strikingly unusual anthology is Damn Near Dead 2: Live Noir or Die Trying, a collection of twenty-eight tales in the self-defined niche of "geezer noir." Edited by Bill Crider and published by the small-but-ambitious Houston-based Busted Flush Press, this follow-up to 2006's original Damn Near Dead, manages to avoid the trappings of "gimmick" anthologies. The contributors clearly have fun with the "geezer" theme, but they focus on the story rather than the shtick. Stories range from the satiric—Joe R. Lansdale's pithy "The Old Man in the Motorized Chair," about a grumpy, retired detective who solves crimes between commercial breaks —to the tragic—Ed Gorman's "Flying Solo," about two terminally-ill cancer patients whose turn to violent vigilantism reflects their deeply rooted social and personal discontent. Anthology-opener "Sleep, Creep, Leap" by Patricia Abbott, a clever slow-burner about neighborly good intentions gone wrong, evokes the patient plotting and redolent characterization of Margaret Millar. Gary Phillips' "The Investor" points to new directions in socially conscious crime fiction by fusing classic genre elements - mob corruption and hitmen—with timely economic and environmental concerns. And James Reasoner's "Warning Shot" mixes pathos and action, as a Depression-era night security guard copes with the emotional and tangible consequences of an accidental shooting. Happily, Damn Near Dead 2 does without nursing home pastiche and cranky cane wielders.

This review was originally published at the Los Angeles Review of Books on June 23, 2011. It appears here in a slightly revised form.

Harry Whittington Slideshow from Bill Crider

I was going to sit down this evening and compile Harry Whittington's paperback covers...but then I discovered that Bill Crider already did this back in 2006. More impressively (but not surprisingly), they're all from his own collection! I think it might be time to nominate Bill's library as the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Without further ado...here's Bill Crider's Fabulous Harry Whittington Paperback Slideshow!

Thanks, Bill!

"Fresh Pulp and Geezer Noir" at Los Angeles Review of Books

Over at the Los Angeles Review of Books, I have a piece called "Fresh Pulp and Geezer Noir" in which I review: Damn Near Dead 2: Live Noir or Die Trying, edited by Bill Crider; By Hook or By Crook, and 30 More of the Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year, edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg; The Best American Noir of the Century, edited by James Ellroy and Otto Penzler; and The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories, also edited by Penzler.

The full review is available here on the LARB's website, but here is a sample:

Among the most unusual of the original anthologies is Damn Near Dead 2: Live Noir or Die Trying, a collection of twenty-eight tales in the self-defined niche of “geezer noir.” Edited by Bill Crider and published by the small-but-ambitious Houston-based Busted Flush Press, this follow-up to 2006’s original Damn Near Dead, manages to avoid the trappings of “gimmick” anthologies. The contributors clearly have fun with the “geezer” theme, but they focus on the story rather than the shtick. Stories range from the satiric — Joe R. Lansdale’s pithy “The Old Man in the Motorized Chair,” about a grumpy, retired detective who solves crimes between commercial breaks — to the tragic — Ed Gorman’s “Flying Solo,” about two terminally-ill cancer patients whose turn to violent vigilantism reflects their deeply rooted social and personal discontent. Anthology-opener “Sleep, Creep, Leap” by Patricia Abbott, a clever slow-burner about neighborly good intentions gone wrong, evokes the patient plotting and redolent characterization of Margaret Millar. Gary Phillips’ “The Investor” points to new directions in socially conscious crime fiction by fusing classic genre elements — mob corruption and hitmen — with timely economic and environmental concerns. And James Reasoner’s “Warning Shot” mixes pathos and action, as a Depression-era night security guard copes with the emotional and tangible consequences of an accidental shooting. Happily, Damn Near Dead 2 does without nursing home pastiche and cranky cane wielders.

Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, the editors of By Hook or By Crook, and 30 More of the Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year (Tyrus Books), have collaborated for over two decades and are among the most respected anthologists in the field. Their latest collection offers a thorough and comprehensive look at the contemporary crime fiction scene, ranging from established novelists to up-and-coming writers. Laura Lippman—whose Tess Monaghan novels have won nearly all the major mystery awards (the Edgar, Agatha, Shamus, Nero Wolfe, and Anthony) — gives the archetype of the suffering mother a dark twist in “Cougar,” a story about a woman whose life comes to a crossroads when her son converts her house into a meth lab. Tom Piccirilli, two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Paperback Original, is known primarily for his novels, but has done some of his best work is in the short form. Less bleak than his recent novella “The Last Deep Breath,” “Blood Sacrifices and the Catatonic Kid” combines a loony-bin jailbreak with a revenge fantasy, and highlights the author’s capacity for dark humor. And Anthony- and Derringer-winner Bill Crider’s “Pure Pulp” is a delightful and loving tribute to a bygone era: a locked room mystery set amidst a group of pulpwood writers.

Two of the best stories come from emerging voices and first appeared online, a forward-thinking decision on the editors’ part. Sandra Seamans’ “Survival Instincts” (Pulp Pusher) — about a young girl who hides in the walls of a hotel room while listening to a brutal murder — is a tense, existential snapshot of sudden violence, and Greg Bardsley’s “Crazy Larry Smells Bacon” (Plots with Guns) is a psychotic head-scratcher in the best possible way. Bardsley’s story is wild, unpredictable, and totally original: Crazy Larry is an eccentric neighbor who likes to play with knives on the front lawn while lathered in cocoa butter and wearing a Speedo, and revenge smells like bacon to him. Another distinguishing highlight is Jon L. Breen’s extensive year in review feature, which covers novels, stories, scholarly and reference books, as well as all the award winners; this survey will surely be a boon for future generations of readers and scholars.

"Damn Near Dead 2: Live Noir or Die Trying" edited by Bill Crider (Busted Flush, 2010)

Geezer Noir returns with a vengeance in Damn Near Dead 2: Live Noir or Die Trying (Busted Flush Press, 2010). The first collection, released back in 2006, showed us that the elderly don’t always go gentle into that good night – give them a cane, a gun, a golf club, anything they can get their arthritic hands on, and they’ll put up a fight to the bitter, brittle end.

That first collection was just the tip of the proverbial ice-berg. The geezers are back, and this time with a whole new crew of writers, along with Bill Crider as editor. (Crider’s story “Cranked,” from the first anthology, won a Derringer and was nominated for an Edgar.) The 28 stories included feature characters ranging from their late 50s to the late 160s. That’s right – “Stiffs,” by Neil Barrett Jr., has a hitman that is 168 years old. The story also takes place on the Moon. Didn’t expect that, did you? I sure as hell didn’t.

Damn Near Dead 2 has a lot of surprises in store for readers. Some of the stories are downright hilarious (like Joe R. Lansdale’s “The Old Man in the Motorized Chair,” about a retired detective who has to solve a case before his favorite TV show about snakes begins, or Tom Piccirilli’s “Zypho the Tentacled Brainsucker from Outer Space vs. The Mob,” whose title says it all); others are tragic (like James Reasoner’s “Warning Shot,” about a security guard who accidentally kills a man while on duty, and Scott A. Cupp’s “Love Story,” about an ex-cop whose love for a woman unknowingly puts her in danger); while others show that darkness doesn’t decrease with age (Toni L.P. Kelner’s “Kids Today” and Marcia Muller’s “Sometimes You Can’t Retire” end with grim, ironic punches).

The stories and their characters are very diverse, but they are all excellent. The anthology reads cohesively cover to cover, and it never feels like the writers are going over the same territory or repeating the same ideas. There's a lot of originality to be found in Damn Near Dead 2, and the writers take the unifying theme seriously, which is what saves the book from falling into parody. Editor Crider and publisher David Thompson did a superb job in rounding up a strong crew of writers for this collection.

Starting off the anthology is Patti Abbott, who sets the tenor perfectly with one of her best stories yet. “Sleep, Creep, Leap” is about an elderly man who tries to do the right thing when he thinks his neighbor is in trouble, and winds up making things a whole lot worse. Abbott is a smart and patient writer, and she puts as much craft and care into building the characters as she does the suspenseful atmosphere. The payoff at the conclusion is as much due to the clever plot twist as to the characters coming full circle.

There are loads of other terrific stories – like Anthony Neil Smith’s “Granny Pussy,” about a doddering pimp and his over the hill hookers, which manages the difficult task of balancing its eccentric humor without turning its characters into caricatures – and I could go on and on about the masterful precision of Bill Pronzini’s retired hitman story “Trade Secret,” or how Don Winslow’s elegiac “Old Men and Old Boards” brings the collection to a tonally fitting close… But I should probably just let you discover the many joys, sorrows, laughs, and killings to be found in Damn Near Dead 2.

Damn Near Dead 2: Live Noir or Die Trying is now available. The print edition features outstanding original artwork from Jeff Wong, including the full-color geezer bandit on the front cover shooting his way to freedom, as well as several black-and-white drawings inside, including a fond farewell image of the late David Thompson. Check with your local bookstore to see if it is in stock or if they can order a copy for you.

Here is the full table of contents:

Introduction by Charlaine Harris
Editor's Foreward by Bill Crider
“Sleep, Creep, Leap” (by Patti Abbott)
“El Conejo” (by Ace Atkins)
“Stiffs” (by Neal Barrett, Jr.)
“The End of Jim and Ezra” (by C. J. Box)
“Out Stealing Buddha” (by Declan Burke)
“Love Story” (by Scott Cupp)
“All About Eden” (by Christa Faust)
“Flying Solo” (by Ed Gorman)
“Neighborhood Watch” (by Carolyn Haines)
“Memory Sketch” (by David Handler)
“Some Things You Never Forget” (by Gar Anthony Haywood)
“The War Zone” (by Cameron Pierce Hughes)
“You’re Only Dead Once” (by Dean James)
“The Sleeping Detective” (by Jennifer Jordan)
“Kids Today” (by Toni L.P. Kelner)
“The Old Man in the Motorized Chair” (by Joe R. Lansdale)
“Angel of Mercy” (by Russel McLean)
“Miss Hartly and the Cocksucker” (by Denise Mina)
“Sometimes You Can’t Retire” (by Marcia Muller)
“The Investor” (by Gary Phillips)
“Bill in Idaho” (by Scott Phillips)
“Zypho the Tentacled Brainsucker from Outer Space vs. the Mob” (by Tom Piccirilli)
“Trade Secret” (by Bill Pronzini)
“The Summer Place” (by Cornelia Read)
“Warning Shot” (by James Reasoner)
“Cutlass” (by Kat Richardson)
“Chin Yong-Yun Takes the Case” (by S. J. Rozan)
“Granny Pussy” (by Anthony Neil Smith)
“Old Men and Old Boards” (by Don Winslow)
Afterward by Bill Crider

Beat to a Pulp is Unstoppable

David Cranmer and Elaine Ash's Beat to a Pulp is on a roll lately -- but seriously, when are they ever not on a roll?

If you haven't read the latest Mystery Scene, Bill Crider gives a nice shout out to the anthology Beat to a Pulp: Round One in his review column "Short & Sweet: Short Stories Considered." He highlights contributions by Paul S. Powers, James Reasoner, Robert J. Randisi, and Evan Lewis. "Don't pass up Beat to a Pulp: Round One," says Crider. You heard the man!

Ron Scheer and Farley's Bookshop also reviewed the anthology. It was a great pleasure to be able to contribute the essay "A History of Pulp" to the collection and to be included amongst so many friends and wonderful writers. Of all the pieces I've written, it is the one I am most proud of.

Not sure what to get your loved ones for the holidays? Beat to a Pulp: Round One is still available to purchase here at Amazon.

In other BTAP-related news...

Mr. Crider delivers the latest Weekly Punch. This one is called "The Quick and the Dead." With dashes of mystery, revenge, and horror, the story is wild, unpredictable, and impossible to put down. Not wanting to ruin its surprises, I'll just say that it is about a young woman with a 12-gauge shotgun on an unusual mission for vengeance.

She pushes the thought out of her mind and tries to find something to eat in the kitchen. She cannot remember when she last ate real food. She has been existing for weeks (months?) now on whatever she can scavenge from other houses, from stores. There is never much. Others who are still alive have always been there before her, and she has to be wary of them. The others are more dangerous to her than the dead.

And Mr. Cranmer himself has also been in the headlines lately. Keith Rawson, over at Day Labor, named "The Great Whydini" as the sixth best short story of the year. If you haven't read it, take a look and you'll be sure to agree with Rawson's praise. Under the pen-name Edward A. Grainer, Cranmer's latest Cash Laramie story is over at Dark Valentine. It is called "Justice Served," another terrific entry in the on-going Western series. Fingers crossed that someday soon we'll see a collection of all these stories in print. (Hint, hint, to any publishers out there...) And over at Women of Mystery, there is an interview with David about Beat to a Pulp.

Rancho Diablo Interview with Bill Crider

A new Western series is here -- Rancho Diablo! A collaboration between writers Bill Crider, James Reasoner, and Mel Odom, and featuring artwork by Keith Birdsong, the Rancho Diablo series will center around main character Sam Blaylock. The first book, Shooter's Cross (published under the house name "Colby Jackson"), is now available in print and as an ebook. One of Rancho Diablo's collaborators, Bill Crider, was kind enough to answer a few of Pulp Serenade's questions about his latest endeavor.

Pulp Serenade: Can you tell us a bit about your cohorts in Rancho Diablo and how you all came together?

Bill Crider: The Rancho Diablo crew is me, James Reasoner, and Mel Odom. Mel is the driving force. He's very into the e-book market, and he thought we should get into it as soon as we could. He thought it would be fun to do something in the spirit of the old pulps. Instead of, say, THE RIO KID WESTERN MAGAZINE, we'd have RANCHO DIABLO WESTERN MAGAZINE, and instead being a print magazine, it would be an e-publication. Mel knew that James and I were big fans of the fiction in the pulps, so he asked what we thought. We thought it was a great idea, and we jumped at the chance to be part of it.

PS: How did you all come up with the main character of Sam Blaylock?

BC: This was a group project from the beginning. We used e-mail to bat around ideas, and everybody contributed. Mel originated the concept, and then we hashed things over until we had characters and a setting that everybody liked. I think I've saved all the e-mails for posterity.

PS: How are you all splitting the writing duties for the Rancho Diablo books?

BC: Mel wrote the first one, James will do the second, and I'm in line to do the third. The idea was that sometimes we might do just a short story instead of a novella, and who knows what might happen as we go along? I'm eager to read James's contribution. After I do mine, we'll see where we stand, and if things are working out, we'll keep going.

PS: Is there a story behind the house name "Colby Jackson" that is attached to SHOOTER'S CROSS?

BC: That's the same story as above. We went over everything together, including all the names, locations, and so on.

PS: Can you divulge any hints about the upcoming books? There’s an advertisement for the next one, HANGROPE LAW at the end of the first book.

BC: Well, I have James's plot summary right here, but I haven't see the completed story, so I don't want to say much. Sometimes an outline and the final product differ considerably. I'll just say that you can count on some more action, some more good writing, and some complications in the relationships with characters from the first episode. This time some of Sam's kids will be involved.

PS: I know you're a big fan of gators and they appear frequently on your blog. Any chance of a gator cameo in a Rancho Diablo book?

BC: I'm not sure gators got up to that part of Texas in the 19th century, but you never know what somebody (namely me) might do.

PS: What is the most fun part of the Rancho Diablo project for you?

BC: Since I haven't written my story yet, I had the most fun during the planning. Mel and James are great to work with, and they're both pretty funny guys. So we had some laughs and we got a lot done at the same time. Which is always fun.

PS: Lastly, what’s up next for you?

BC: There's a big secret project that I'm connected with, along with a few other writers. All will be revealed soon. Of course I'll be working on my Rancho Diablo story soon, too. Next year there'll be another Sheriff Dan Rhodes book, THE WILD HOG MURDERS. And there's always my world-renowned blog [Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine]. I keep pretty busy for an old guy.

PS: Thanks so much, Bill.

Stories for Sunday: "Cranked" by Bill Crider (Busted Flush, 2006)

This Sunday morning was something special - my upstairs neighbor seems to have gone away for the weekend but forgotten to shut off their alarm, which beeped from 6AM until about 7:15 or so. Not sure if someone turned it off, or the alarm just got sick and tired of making all that racket. I sure did. Even with earplugs, my fan, and the rest of early-morning New York noise coming through my open window, the alarm was unmistakable, and unavoidable.

So, cranky that I was, I decided to read Bill Crider's "Cranked." Winner of the Derringer Award and nominated for an Anthony, "Cranked" was published in Duane Swierczynski's excellent anthology Damn Near Dead: An Anthology of Geezer Noir (Busted Flush, 2006). The cover advertises, "Old, Bold, Uncontrolled" - and if that has some unpleasant double meanings, then perhaps the other quote would be more appealing: "Every Story New!" Which means when you look at its great lineup (Jeff Abbott, Megan Abbott, Charles Ardai, Ray Banks, Mark Billingham, Steve Brewer, Ken Bruen, Milton Burton, Reed Farrel Coleman, Colin Cotterill, Bill Crider, Sean Doolittle, Victor Gischler, Allan Guthrie, John Harvey, Simon Kernick, Laura Lippman, Stuart MacBride, Donna Moore, Zoë Sharp, Jenny Siler, Jason Starr, Charlie Stella, Duane Swierczynski, Robert Ward, Sarah Weinman and Dave White), you have a whole lotta' great new stories to look forward to.

"Cranked" really hit the spot this morning. It's about how a quiet day at a gas station can suddenly turn into a fiery hell when the four wrong people run into each other at the wrong time. There's Karla, a female undercover agent for the drug squad who took a jail sentence for someone else; then there are a couple of crank-addicted rednecks with pistols, one of whom is responsible for Karla doing time; and there's Lloyd, a cranky old man with a stomach problem who just broke out of the nursing home.

Lloyd may be a senior citizen with false teeth, but when you get down to it, he's old-school hardboiled how knows how to kick some serious ass and still charm the ladies:

"He wondered how much fun a man his age could stand and how long somebody who was damn near dead would last with a woman like this one. By God, maybe he’d just find out."

Read "Cranked" online here courtesy of Busted Flush Press.

If you'd like to buy the anthology, you can order it from Busted Flush's website.