Review: Kiss Me Hard: A Wildside Mystery Classic

Kiss Me Hard: A Wildside Mystery Classic by Thomas B. Dewey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kiss Me Hard starts with a bang as an alcoholic piano player inadvertently rescues a missing heiress from carnival sex slavery while being pursued by an extremely angry husband. Doubts about the authenticity of the attractive and damaged young heiress preclude an eventful trip across the country in an attempt to return her to family - who don't seem very enthusiastic about the return of the missing sister. The protagonist was exceptionally well portrayed with insights into his blatant alcoholism, self-doubt, and loneliness as his relationship with the helpless young heiress evolves from good samaritan, to responsibility, and then to love.

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Review: Empty Saddles

Empty Saddles by Burt Arthur
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Clearly marketed as a Western, the novel is instead a character study of a young lawyer named Joe who has recently returned from World War II, his difficulties getting reintegrated into his former small town life, and his quest to unseat the popular, albeit corrupt, politicians running the town. Joe has two love interests, the former flame and girl-next-door type Mavis, and a young and neurotic ingenue with the wonderful name of Avril Fawcett, whose fathers both happen to be corrupt politicians. The novel is a solid small town drama, perhaps a bit slow moving, with interesting characters and prose. It wasn't what I was expecting, however I liked it a lot.

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Review: Ambush on the Mesa

Ambush on the Mesa by Gordon D. Shirreffs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A superb Western noir that tells the story of a crew of soldiers and a pair of women who are holed up in some ancient abandoned cliff dwellings without food and surrounded by blood thirsty Apaches. The dramas unfolding within the doomed prey run the gamut of human emotions - rage, jealousy, greed, and deception with bullies, cowards, leaders, and lunatics squaring off in a desperate battle for survival. An exceedingly dark and violent novel that kept me riveted throughout. I'm going to be seeking out more of this largely forgotten authors work.

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Review: Small Town Nurse

Small Town Nurse by Harriet Kathryn Myers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Harry Whittington wrote nurse romance novels using this pseudonym. The novel starts out following the conventions of the genre, but eventually goes off the romance novel rails and turns into a murder and courtroom drama. No complaints from me. Young nurse Ann Wellington, burned out from the stress of a big city hospital is encouraged to transfer to a small beach community. Once there she meets and falls in love with Bruce Grayson, a medical intern with a Batman inspired name who recruits her to care for his crippled, depressive, and beautiful cousin Emily who lives in a secluded and shuttered beach house that seems out of a Bruno Fischer novel. Emily lives with Cousin Hester, a damaged and hateful woman who says something nasty every time she speaks. Hester becomes increasing domineering and violent as she resents the young lovers and the unwelcome changes that they bring to try to make Emily happy. From there a death, murder investigation and courtroom trial with a nice twist that I didn't see coming. Small Town Nurse is a odd book that tries to be both a nurse romance and a crime novel, but succeeds better as a crime novel. Exceeded my expectations.

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Review: Morgan

Morgan by Frank Roderus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The novel tells the story of Morgan, an old man who reminisces about his life in the post Civil War American West. The story is told chronologically starting when Morgan was orphaned at 15 years old as he begins a journey west to find gold, but finds that life gets in the way. The novel is a well told coming-of-age tale that then proceeds to tell Morgan's story as he grows old and the Old West, once wild and untamed becomes more advanced and civilized before his eyes. Morgan is not infallible and makes some egregious and unsavory mistakes during his long life. This is probably true of most of us. Frank Roderus, an old man himself, passed away in 2015 not long after this book was published making it even more poignant in my opinion. This was the Group Read of the American Westerns community this month and a fine selection.

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Review: Split Decision

Split Decision by Jack Tunney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the first book that I've read from Eric Beetner, who has garnered much acclaim for his neo-noir stories. Split Decision takes place in 1953 and it does a great job capturing the pulpy feel of a paperback from that era. The short novella builds quickly to a furious pace and is nearly impossible to put down. I am looking forward to reading more from Mr. Beetner.

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Review: Trouble Rides Tall

Trouble Rides Tall by Harry Whittington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another tightly plotted gem from Whittington. Marshall Bryant Shafter was paid good money to clean up a lawless town, now that he's succeeded he has become expendable. As the town bosses conspire to get rid of him he relentlessly pursues the killer of a saloon girl, a crime that no one seems interested in solving. The novel works well as a dark study of an aging gunslinger who tires of his role of cleaning up troubled towns, and as a whodunit mystery that keeps you guessing until the explosive ending.

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Review: Strangers in My Bed

Strangers in My Bed by Allen O'Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A good example of rural swamp noir, and a solid coming-of-age story, as kindly brother Willie tries to pick up the pieces when bad brother Elroy comes home from college and creates a unholy mess of everything. Although the title and cover blurbs promise some sleaze the book is not nearly as salacious, consisting of horny hillbillies talking about sex in metaphorical terms with no gratuitous or graphical depictions. The books touches on the discrimination of urban Southerners against the uneducated backwater folks, and some pretty disturbing examples of racism in the Deep South. A talented writer, Mr. O'Quinn wrote three backwoods/swamp novels for Gold Medal and then disappeared.

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Review: Saddle the Storm

Saddle the Storm by Harry Whittington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An ambitious novel that follows three main narratives, a young couple in a rocky marriage, a bible-thumping rancher who feels that he has been spurned, and a mentally challenged boy who's actions are an enigma. All of the action takes place during one hot Independence Day celebration in a small Texas town where Whittington effectively expands and merges the narratives into a cohesive story of love, obligation, betrayal, hatred and violence. This may have been Whittingtons attempt to write something more substantial than his excellent genre focused Crime and Western books, his Great American Novel perhaps, and although it looks like a traditional Western it is so very much more. Highly recommended.

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Review: In His Blood

In His Blood by Harold R. Daniels
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the earliest and best of the novels that employ the dual narratives of a serial killer and the cop trying to track him down. The novel really excels in how it portrays both of these characters, you feel that you know and understand them, a difficult objective for any writer. The author and novel have been largely forgotten over time, so this terrific novel was a very welcome surprise. Well deserving of it's 1956 Edgar Award nomination and highly recommended.

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