I've been lurking for a couple months and, unfortunately, have very little time on my hands to post but when I saw the name of Dave Zeltserman this morning, I just had to shout out. I just finished Small Crimes (it was recommended when I bought a novel by Ken Bruen on Amazon) this week and was (almost literally) blown away. Mr. Zeltserman, you've created a minor classic here (I hope that comes across correctly!). It's the best novel Jim Thompson never wrote. I don't want to include spoilers here just in case... but your descriptions of how your main character takes one step up and two steps back in the morals department and mentally justifies it the whole way through kept me turning the pages late into the night. I read quite a bit of crime fiction but tend to concentrate mainly on the fifties output (Manhunt Magazine and Gold Medals) because I find today's mystery fiction, for the most part, watered down and saccharine. Your Small Crimes could easily have been published in 1953 by Lion Books with a beautiful Maguire cover. And that's the biggest compliment I can pay a writer. I look forward to picking up your other novels.
Peter Enfantino
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 05 Mar 2010 EST