tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43952233977918546762024-03-18T00:17:58.997+00:00Alpha-60 BooksJure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.comBlogger194125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-84128240238459284802024-03-18T00:17:00.000+00:002024-03-18T00:17:05.480+00:00Danger Woman (Abel Mann, 1966)The back cover promises some sort of a Baroness men's adventure action espionage, but I lowered my expectations once I checked the imprint page. Published in 1966, the same year when the last Fleming's Bond hit bookstores, this looked more likely to be another clon jumping on the 007 bandwagon.It's neither. It's a book with a couple of scenes in which our eponymous heroine is naked and tortured Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-10792214425826948002024-03-10T15:17:00.000+00:002024-03-10T15:17:24.191+00:00Nice Guys Finish Dead (Albert Conroy, 1957)A "wrong place, wrong time" story with a twist: our hero is a reporter, so it is really the "right place, right time." And yes, the Pulitzer Prize will be mentioned as soon as on page 47.No mystery whatsoever as the story unfolds in 3rd person narration from various protagonists. So it is a thriller, and this is where my first problem with the book arises: its incredibly uneven pace. Halfway Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-34004286338273853642023-10-08T12:21:00.000+01:002023-10-08T12:21:59.201+01:00Night Lady (William Campbell Gault, 1958)I usually leave commenting on offensive language until the end. We all understand these pulpy paperbacks were written in another century when different morality codes were in place. Hell, sometimes their crudeness and political incorrectness even make them more amusing. But this time, I will make an exception since the very opening of Night Lady goes a bit loopy. Check this:The thing you want to Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-65847377559734539962023-01-29T15:33:00.000+00:002023-01-29T15:33:50.980+00:00Strange Witness (Day Keene, 1953)It opens promisingly. Instead of the classic "You'll be back" lines that the prison warden always uses for bidding farewell to the released inmate, in this one, our hero promises that he'll be back. What a badass! And yes, ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts - the name of the game will be revenge!Well,... a few chapters into this snooze fest, you can safely unfasten them. Strange Witness Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-21509348425706377952022-03-31T21:43:00.000+01:002022-03-31T21:43:43.783+01:00 Save Them For Violence (James M. Fox, 1959)It is a Monarch book, so we shouldn't really be surprised by its misogynistic sex & violence cover. After all, the crazier they are, the more we collect them, right?But what is somehow surprising is that the cover scene actually takes place in the book! But it happens very close to the end, and until then we need to endure a dull story with a bunch of uninteresting characters that are/were Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-10610863752996018752022-02-26T19:27:00.001+00:002022-02-26T19:27:20.956+00:00 Self-Made Widow (Philip Race, 1958)I came across this one while reading an excellent article on convicts-turned-writers in the recent issue of Justin Marriott's one and only Paperback Fanatic. Like always, I discovered lots of exciting stuff and several new books were added to my ever-growing to-do list. Just couldn't pass this one because of its incredibly cool title. Luckily, I could find a nice copy for just a few bucks.We Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-22055326783496229452022-02-11T23:05:00.000+00:002022-02-11T23:05:25.648+00:00I Get What I Want (Larry Heller, 1956)This one seems so obscure that it's not even listed on goodreads.com. So yes - I bought it simply for its badass cover and great title. But I did have a good feeling about it, and I'm happy to report that it was justified.Three-part structure. We start off with the Gil Brewer-ish "boy meets girl" type of story, meaning that our couple ends up in the back of his car on their very first date. On Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-50880241003162435542022-01-27T22:19:00.000+00:002022-01-27T22:19:35.214+00:00 I Like it Tough (James Howard, 1955)Do not be fooled (like I was) into thinking that the cover blonde likes it tough. Nope, that would be our hero Steve Ashe. At least this is the way he sees himself and you can read the details on the back cover. I do have a few reservations though. The guy practically suffers a nervous breakdown after his first kill and runs crying to his girlfriend because he "had to see someone - anyone he Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-85284160838532938462021-06-28T22:31:00.003+01:002022-01-31T17:02:19.862+00:00No Angels For Me (William Ard, 1954)No messing around in this one. No hero's background, no family shit, etc. It opens with our main man Luke identifying the corpse of his gumshoeing colleague and then it follows the genre's established rules. At least for a while.It's one of those in which the investigation will be based on a list. Four names (suspects?) in this particular case and very soon things get quite complicated. But not Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-2713009158549914242021-05-29T13:46:00.003+01:002022-01-31T17:03:13.381+00:00 Sin in Their Blood (Ed Lacy, 1952)If such a sub-genre as left-wing pulp fiction exists, this one would be its prime example. Not only it does not shy away from themes of communist paranoia, anti-war sentiment, racism, homophobia, and feminism, but it actually uses these social issues as the plot devices. Cool and smart. But make no mistake - "Sin in Their Blood" is far from some liberal rambling. It's a terrific hard-boiled Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-49939867271167052382021-04-11T17:16:00.003+01:002022-01-31T21:01:15.215+00:00No Business for a Lady (James L. Rubel, 1950)Another blonde (don't let the cover fool you) bombshell private eye, but this one is very different from Mavis Seidlitz whom we had the pleasure of meeting in the previous post. For this one, I'm still a bit on the fence.It's most definitely no page-turner. The plot is based on some pretty ludicrous premise and the story progresses painfully slow as our heartbroken heroine runs around prettyJure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-9763806249094582872021-03-14T22:49:00.002+00:002022-01-31T21:10:27.632+00:00 None but the Lethal Heart (Carter Brown, 1959)With such a badass cover, this post was scheduled to be published on International Women's Day. I'm not writing this on the 8th of March, so you can probably guess right away about where this review is heading.Mavis Seidlitz is just not a heroine appropriate for celebrating strong and independent women. She's supposed to be an equal partner in the Rio Investigations detective agency, but this "Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-10477940770821142232021-03-07T23:12:00.002+00:002022-01-31T21:17:51.343+00:00The Star Trap (Robert Colby, 1960)This one truly is a quick read. Not just because of the fairly large font and decent line spacing; it simply races through at the neck-breaking speed. Here's an example: there is a highway chase scene in which our hero is pursued by cops at 96 mph (=154 km/h!). The real deal. With the red lights and blaring sirens behind him. Glenn is an actor, not the badass Ryan O'Neil-like driver - Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-54094066050289364902021-02-17T20:08:00.001+00:002022-01-31T21:28:56.081+00:00Better Corpses (Carroll John Daly, 1940)I started to read Susanna Lee's "Detectives in the Shadows: A Hard-Boiled History" but just had to put it aside after the first chapter. Simply got too intrigued about the author Carroll John Daly and his badass protagonist Race Williams. Apparently, Daly was an agoraphobic bookworm, so out of touch with the real world that once he even got lost on his way back from Manhattan to his Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-46798319139090486372021-02-09T00:19:00.002+00:002022-01-31T21:31:51.085+00:00Girl Running (Adam Knight, 1956)I keep giving chances to Mr Knight but the guy just doesn't deliver the goods.This one is even below his usual mediocracy of simplistic plots, dull characters, and uninspired dialogue. What makes it bad instead of simply not very good, is its mean and nasty spirit. Women are broads, chicks, babes, and dolls. They don't speak. Instead, they ramble, rattle, babble, and bark. The promiscuous Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-59648690698120187352021-01-16T11:47:00.003+00:002022-01-31T21:43:20.091+00:00Nightmare Town (Dashiell Hammett, 1948)Last week marked the 60th anniversary of Hammett's death, so a quick tribute post is more than appropriate. After all, the guy can easily be considered godfather to 90% of the authors featured on this blog.A nice collection of three novelettes and one tiny, not even four pages long story titled Albert Pastor at Home. Amusing (obviously) quick read, published in Esquire magazine in 1933. But Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-78349759476746057312021-01-03T13:19:00.000+00:002021-01-03T13:19:40.543+00:00Kill One, Kill Two (Robert H. Kelston, 1958)Things are looking just grand for Allen McCoy. He is an engineer that just completed building a dam in Mexican town Monterrey and is now expecting to receive a lucrative offer for working on an even bigger one in Guadalajara. Townfolks are so appreciative that they named the new dam's artificial lake after him. Not to mention that during his stay he has enjoyed a special kind of "Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-24833595419934184522020-12-25T15:52:00.003+00:002022-01-31T21:46:05.245+00:00A Nice Way to Die (Hank Janson, 1963)Let me see if I got this one right: an exotic Slavic beauty arrives from Ileria with the sole purpose of wreaking havoc in America by corrupting its youngsters. Going from city to city stirring up ever-susceptible teenagers to make trouble and thus undermine US civic authority. To make things worse, this professional organizer of teenage crime is above the law. She has some (not really Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-12017689672787925272020-11-03T21:43:00.003+00:002022-01-31T21:48:17.938+00:00Stiffs Don't Vote aka Forty Whacks (Geoffrey Homes, 1941)I'm a big fan of Geoffrey Homes and was saving this one for a special occasion. It's election day today so let's celebrate the mysterious ways of the US political machinery with a book about non-voting stiffs!It blends personal grudges of a small-town community with the local politicians' dirty contest to win over the electorate. So when the crime takes place, our hero has plenty of Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-89311138033023208402020-10-31T21:34:00.004+00:002022-01-31T21:56:22.020+00:00Revenge (Jack Ehrlich, 1958)It's always a pleasure to read something different. This one is memorable for quite a few things and let's start with its unpredictability. The title and the cover suggest a somehow sleazy run-of-the-mill pulp yarn, so it comes as a surprise when it opens with a proper - well planned and executed - bank heist. And continues with our anti-hero raping a woman! Encouraged by getting away with these Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-13212602308226949812020-09-11T21:33:00.002+01:002022-01-31T21:59:29.120+00:00Syndicate Girl (Frank Kane, 1958)
It starts with a bang. Several bangs actually: a judge is assassinated, his wife witnesses the killing, so she becomes collateral damage, a crooked cop frames a good cop for the hit, and finally - to make it sure, I guess - the mobsters kill him and stage his death as a suicide.
And the best part is that all this mayhem is orchestrated by a woman. The woman! The titular Syndicate Girl goes by Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-86591055108973882352020-08-31T23:28:00.002+01:002022-01-31T22:09:56.788+00:00Green Light for Death (Frank Kane, 1949)We are used to efficient private sleuths, but Johnny Liddell tops them all in this one. Check out the recap of his first day on this case:
It opens in the morgue where he identifies the body of his client/friend Nancy and meets Detective Seargent Happy (I kid you not!) Lewis
Together they go to the police station where we meet Lewis' superior, Chief Connors. He's an asshole. See how crooked he Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-56555179899475800002020-07-05T23:35:00.002+01:002022-01-31T22:15:04.039+00:00The Desired (Carter Brown, 1959)
What the hell, let's quickly do another Carter Brown.
This one has a bit of Agatha Christie's feel about it. There is a closed group of quirky characters, and most of the action takes place in some secluded house. A thing to mention about this cast is that there's really no need for any of them to be particularly extraordinary. It does neither help nor hurt the story itself.
But, I guess, Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-90507089357170468272020-06-28T22:21:00.001+01:002022-01-31T23:34:20.786+00:00Murder in the Key Club (Carter Brown, 1962)Live snooker is finally back on after the three long covid-19 lockdown months! Meaning I can only spare my time for simple, quick reads, and there are not many that fit the bill better than Carter Brown's novels.
As usual, it follows the three-act structure. First, our hero Rick Holman, the top showbiz fixer, gets hired as a sort of bodyguard by Carter Stanton, a sleazy nightclub and dirty Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395223397791854676.post-35442700815523314932020-06-15T00:09:00.001+01:002022-01-31T23:41:39.492+00:00I'll Kill You Next (Adam Knight, 1954)Page 100 and our hero still has no tangible results or clues other than pathetic whining "he wasn't the type" on investigating his friend's alleged suicide. But Steve shouldn't be too surprised because he's just running around like a headless chicken for the better part of the book and gets knocked out every now and then. And to be a bit mean, his lack of progress can easily be attributed to a Jure P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15438337654554370168noreply@blogger.com0