pattinase (abbott)

Friday’s Forgotten Books, June 14, 2013

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Jun 142013
 
Two weeks until Elmore Leonard Day. For anyone who has a review but no blog, please send your review to me.  












SIDESWIPE, Charles Willeford

Following MIAMI BLUES and NEW HOPE FOR THE DEAD, Miami homicide detective Hoke Moseley abandons his pregnant partner and housemate, Ellita Sanchez, and his two daughters to manage his father's apartment complex in Riviera Beach, Florida. 
When the book begins he cannot even get himself out of bed. 


Stanley Sinliewicz, a Ford retiree spending a night in jail, does a favor for a killer named Louden, which results in his release from jail. The two then embark on an odyssey which can only lead to disaster.

Hoke soon finds the simple life is easier to envision than envelop. Coping with a job offer from the local police, a string of local burglaries, and a daughter with an eating disorder puts him back on the path home. Playing the disinterested father can only go so far. 


Like others in the series, SIDESWIPE is packed with action and humor. Elmore Leonard says no one writes a better crime novel than Willeford. Who am I to argue with that? Walter Mosley claims he reads Willeford for a break for the monotony of endless grimness. There is a real art to telling a hard-boiled crime story with this much humor. 

 This is my favorite of the Hoke novels although I am saving the final one. 

Joe Barone. SHALLOW GRAVES, Jeremiah Healy 
Brian Busby, THE BROKEN TRAIL, George W. Kirby
Bill Crider, TAKE MY FACE, Peter Held (Jack Vance)
Martin Edwards, THE 10:30 FROM MARSEILLES, Sebastian Japrisot
Curt Evans, STUDIES IN MURDER, Edmund Lester Pearson
Jerry House, MOON MISSING. Edward Sorel
Randy Johnson, WEB OF THE CITY, Harlan Ellison
George Kelley, DEAD LOW TIDE and ONE MORE SUNDAY, John D. Macdonald
Margot Kinberg, THE LODGER, Maria Belloc Lowndes
B.V. Lawson, DR. NICHOLA RETURNS, Guy Boothby
Evan Lewis, MORE LONE RANGER, Big Little Books
Steve Lewis , IT TAKES A THIEF #3, APPOINTMENT IN CAIRO, Gil Brewer
Todd Mason, THE MEN IN MY LIFE by Vivian Gornick; BENCHMARKS CONTINUED by Algis Budrys...books about books and writers...
Neer, DEATH IN RETIREMENT, Josephine Bell
J.F. Norris, MURDER IN A NUNNERY, Eric Shepherd
J. Kingston Pierce, THE BIG FIX, Roger Simon
James Reasoner, TO THE HEART OF THE STORM, Will Eisner
Gerard Saylor, ON THE WRONG TRACK, Steve Hockensmith 
Michael Slind, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, Agatha Christie
Kerrie Smith, THE MAKEOVER MURDERS, Jennifer Rowe
Kevin Tipple/Barry Ergang, THE VANISHERS, Donald Hamilton
TomCat, THE SHADE OF TIME, David Duncan
Prashant Trikannad, NO COMEBACKS, Freerick Forsythe
James Winter, THE POET, Michael Connelly

The Hardest Hardboiled?

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Jun 122013
 
What is the hardest hard-boiled crime novel you have read? Or the noirest noir?
I am going with THE KILLER INSIDE ME. Top that!



Forgotten TV: The Equalizer

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Jun 112013
 



This scene (with Adam Ant) reminds us that TV was just as scary thirty years ago as now. Eek!


The series stars British actor Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a former covert operations officer of an unnamed U.S. Government intelligence organization, which was often referred to simply as "The Agency" or "The Company" (it is implied that it is the CIA), who tries to atone for past sins by offering, free of charge, his services as a troubleshooter (often literally), a protector, and an investigator. People in need find him through a newspaper ad: "Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer. 212 555 4200". In the pilot episode (as he "opens for business"), we discover that the nickname "Equalizer" was bestowed on him by another operative, played by comedian Jerry Stiller.

The show was on from 1985-89. Would he be considered a vigilante if he hadn't been paid for his services?
I liked it for a while but the level of violence and similar plots eventually got to me. It was easy to see too that the likelihood of a man like this drifting into indiscriminate crimes for money was awfully high. 


Say Something Good About Detroit: The Whole Foods Market and Murals

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Jun 102013
 



This might not seem so wonderful to you but WHOLE FOODS is the first upscale or even middle-scale food stores to put a store in Detroit in decades. It is taking is mission seriously by enriching the lives of passersby as well as customers.

Local artists created the murals that deck all four outside walls. About 100 artists submitted proposals for what they would do and it came down to these four. Each winner received $1000 for supplies and a payment of $7500. The artists did their work on individual frames that were all linked seamlessly on the corners.










The artists are Jerome Ferretti, Katherine Larson, Tylonn Sawyer and Matthew Sharum, all local painters.

The store is located across the street from the Detroit Medical Center and near the Detroit Symphony buildings in midtown Detroit. The store is set to open this week.
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