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RARA-AVIS: Review: The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction
BOOK REVIEW
"The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction", Edited and introduced by Maxim
Jakubowski, Carroll & Graf, 1996, xii + 586 pages, softcover, U$S 9.95, ISBN
0-7867-0300-8
CONTENTS:
TOO MANY HAVE LIVED - Dashiell Hammett
FLIGHT TO NOWHERE - Charles Williams
BLACK - Paul Cain
FINDERS KILLERS - John D. MacDonald
MURDER'S MANDATE - W. T. Ballard
CIGARETTE GIRL - James M. Cain
THE GETAWAY - Gil Brewer
PREVIEW OF MURDER - Robert Leslie Bellem
FOREVER AFTER - Jim Thompson
THE BLOODY TIDE - Day Keene
DEATH COMES GIFT-WRAPPED - William P. McGivern
THE GIRL BEHIND THE HEDGE - Mickey Spillane
ENTER SCARFACE - Armitage Trail
A CANDLE FOR THE BAG LADY - Lawrence Block
BLACK PUDDING - David Goodis
A MATTER OF PRINCIPAL - Max Allan Collins
CITIZEN'S ARREST - Charles Willeford
SLEEPING DOG - Ross Macdonald
THE WENCH IS DEAD - Fredric Brown
SO DARK FOR APRIL - Howard Browne
WE ARE ALL DEAD - Bruno Fischer
DEATH IS A VAMPIRE - Robert Bloch
DIVIDE AND CONQUER - Jack Ritchie
A REAL NICE GUY - William F. Nolan
STACKED DECK - Bill Pronzini
SO YOUNG, SO FAIR, SO DEAD - John Lutz
EFFECTIVE MEDICINE - Bruno Traven
KILLING BERNSTEIN - Harlan Ellison
THE SECOND COMING - Joe Gores
HIBISCUS AND HOMICIDE - William Campbell Gault
HELL ON WHEELS - Thomas S. Roche
ORDO - Donald Westlake
Collections such as the present one remind us of all that was
lost when the short story and novella, which played such a prominent role in
the development and maturation of the mystery genre, were increasingly
replaced by the more profitable novel. There is a raw energy, a compactness,
and a pace to the short forms that, even in the most skilled authorial hands,
is rarely captured in novel form. Fortunately for the mystery fan and the
historian of the genre, the archives of pulp and mystery magazines - of
which, alas, too few remain - are a seemingly inexhaustible gold mine of
good stories, of which "The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction" offers a very
generous sampling. Perhaps even more importantly, most of the stories in
this collection have either not been previously reprinted in book form or
appeared in volumes that are out of print and hard to find. The authors
included range from classic masters like Dashiell Hammett and Paul Cain
to currently active practitioners like Donald Westlake, John Lutz, Max Allan
Collins, Lawrence Block, Joe Gores, Bill Pronzini, William F. Nolan, and
Thomas Roche.
A thorough, systematic description of the riches contained in this
self-titled "mammoth" book is out of the question in a brief review; I will
therefore limit myself to offering a brief commentary on some stories that
caught my attention - be warned, however, that there really isn't a weak
story in the lot, and that the book is hard to put down once opened!
Dashiell Hammett's missing-person story, "Too many have lived", originally
published in Black Mask, marks Sam Spade's first appearance and, though
not one of Hammett's best, will no doubt be of interest to his many fans.
The writing is lean, the dialogue precise, and every word is at the service
of the action in the purest hardboiled manner made famous by the author.
Paul Cain's superb "Black", also from Black Mask, was previously collected in
Cain's "Seven Slayers", a book that every short story aficionado is encouraged
to read. If anything, Cain is even more hardboiled than Hammett, and his
tale of an outsider who outsmarts Prohibition-era racketeers is tough,
suspenseful, and unforgettable.
The late Charles Willeford was a natural writer who must surely be ranked
among the most versatile crime masters. His entry in this collection,
"Citizen's Arrest", published in 1966 in Alfred Hitchcock's magazine, shows
what can happen when a customer at a department store sees another steal
and does his duty by reporting it. Wry, effortless writing from a writer
who broke all the boundaries of the genre and whose spontaneity makes him
compulsively readable.
Charles Williams was a great writer who is not talked about often enough,
and whose books should be reissued en masse. He is represented in this
collection by the long story "Flight to nowhere", a dress rehearsal for
"Skorpion Reef", one of his finest achievements as a novelist. The story
tells of a man hired by a beautiful woman to protect her husband and help her
find a treasure lost in the sea and the subsequent double-crossings, deaths,
and suspenseful adventures at sea; the narration is sure-footed,
unsensational, and realistic. It would be difficult to imagine a better short
introduction to Williams's work.
Lawrence Block's versatility and credentials as an impeccable stylist are
also well-known; "A candle for the bag lady" finds him at the top of his form.
In it, Matt Scudder gets interested in the death by stabbing of a "bag
lady" in his New York neighborhood, after finding out that she has left him
money in her will. Despite its minimal elements of detection and suspense,
this is a melancholy, wonderfully atmospheric, poetic tale.
James M. Cain's "Cigarette girl" proves again his legendary skill in
creating gripping dialogue, condensing the action, and maintaining suspense.
Howard Browne, a master private-eye fiction writer, contributes his classic
"So dark for April", a Paul Pine story which shows the author at his best.
Soberly and realistically told, the investigation of the death of an unknown
man in Pine's waiting room unfolds with clockwork precision and a remarkable
economy of means.
Noir writing is well represented by David Goodis, Fredric Brown, and Jim
Thompson. Goodis's story, "Black Pudding", is a marvellously excessive,
feverish yarn in which the protagonist, just out of prison, exacts violent
revenge on those who sold him. Fredric Brown's "The wench is dead" is the
tragic, pessimistic, sporadically funny, and highly alcoholic story of a Los
Angeles wino and his companion, a really good bad girl. Thompson's "Forever
after" is the story of a murderous redneck led astray by his obsession
with her lover, a married woman, with the usual Thompsonian mix of melodrama
and dark, violent scenes.
A more detailed survey could go on for pages and pages. Suffice it to say
that there is something for everyone in this volume; the modest asking price
is an additional incentive to making the acquaintance of a wide range of
authors and styles. For the serious mystery lover, it's not only a
bargain but an essential read.
Copyright (C) Mario Taboada
Old Dominion University
taboada@math.odu.edu
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