Aug 23 2008
Hard Case Crime–Pulp Fiction in Fine Form
A redhead, backed up against a wall, eyes wide, cleavage, hands gripping a necktie looming in the foreground– ”Was he an innocent man…or a depraved killer?”
If you love crime stories, how do you not love a cover like that?!
This is one in a new series of Hard Case Crime, complete with cheesy covers, jacket blurbs, and inserts hawking the Hard Case Crime Book Club–”Get 2 Books Every Month…For the Price of ONE!”–and”the best in hard-boiled crime fiction, from lost pulp classics to new work by today’s most powerful writers, all in affordable paperback editions.” Names like Lawrence Block, Erle Stanley Gardner, and beyond. The only part that gave me pause was the word “affordable.” I paid $6.99 for this affordable paperback. That sent me on a long and winding road of affordable paperback memories, though I don’t think I really remember when they were as cheap as I think I do.
On to the story itself: The Confession, by Domenic Stansberry (2004). Not bad. True to the “pulp” genre, you can see it all coming a mile away, and it’s probably wearing a blue suit and tie or a sexy blouse, skirt just above the knee. There’s a smelly PI, a vindictive prosecutor, but–here’s a 21st century twist–our narrator is a shrink. He’s testifying in a case where a woman was strangled, but there are those who think he may be a little closer to the case than meets the eye. The setting is Marin, CA, a lush area outside San Francisco, and home to Mount Tamalpais (tam-el-PI-es). Not a landmark that rolls trippingly off the tongue, but he works it in there. To distraction. At one point I wondered if he had a bet with someone. ANYWAY…Not worth $6.99, but maybe at 2 For the Price of ONE! Maybe…
