The Best Short Stories of Daniel Woodrell's THE OUTLAW ALBUM

The Outlaw Album is a collection of short stories by one of my favorite authors in Daniel Woodrell. The vast majority are very short (5 to 10 pages) and in some instances this is too short, but the length generally works.  

The Echo of Neighborly Bone is a tale of a deranged and violent individual in a rural setting who becomes a serial killer of one. murdering his neighbor time and time ago. The ending was a little of for me, and threw the story making it not feel complete.

One of my favorites, Uncle is about a sexual predator; a menacing figure who has his way with young women on vacation. He's a predator who not only takes what he wants from strangers but family too. Woodrell writes a clever and evocative tale of revenge with prolonged satisfaction for the sufferance of the man who ultimately gets his comeuppance.

Twin Forks is a small town campers delight that touches upon the rural noir Woodrell writes so well without quite giving up the goods to satisfy this reader. The story itself felt like it was just getting started before ending. 

Florianne is an emotional tale which lacks depth of a missing daughter not found. More of a thought provoking narrative than deep and meaningful mystery. 

The Night Stand was strange and engaging. Woken by a man standing over a couple as they slept, the recently startled awake male contributes to a seemingly premeditated intruder suicide. Good depth and back-story - it would make a great novel. 

Some of the stories in the middle of the collection felt flat; one about a Chinese whisper that grew and got murky over time and another about a man in prison with a knack for poetry, while well written didn't really engage the reader. The later stories also didn't do it for me which is disheartening as the collection got off to a relatively strong start.

Fans of Woodrell will no doubt have read this. I was left with mixed feelings - perhaps my exceptions were too high but for some reason the majority of the stories just didn't connect with me; I'd rate this book a 2 out of 5. 

THE NICE GUYS: The Official Movie Novelization

Charles Ardai is one of my favorite authors, under the alias, Richard Aleas,  he's penned two of the most enjoyable Hard Case Crime books I've read in Little Girl Lost and Songs of Innocence as well as the epic 50 to One under his own name, also by Hard Case Crime. This time 'round Ardai puts his skills to use, adapting the The Nice Guys screenplay into a laugh out loud buddy cop-like story that captures the essence of the characters beautifully and adding that little bit extra. 

Holland March is a private eye, hired to track down deceased porn star, Misty Mountains - wait, she's supposed to be dead right? Not according the elderly woman who swears she saw her briefly before Misty turned heel and did a runner from her home - the day after flipping her car and officially being declared dead. March is a guy with questionable ethics, and he's sure as hell not about to let an easy payday pass him by. He takes the case but it doesn't turn out at all like he had hoped...

Jackson Healy is the tough guy who was hired by Amelia, a young woman with a striking resemblance to Misty, to put the hard word on a man (March) who had been snooping around her. 

The two cases collide in a wave of conspiracy, murder and evil schemes that neither could have predicted. 

I read the book before watching the movie and have got to say, the novelization was better - which is to take nothing away from the buddy-cop laugh out loud premise of the movie - they were both very fun to read / watch. 

The human is on point, the story rushes along at breakneck speed, jumping from one problem to the next as the 'heroes' bundle their way through the case.

I highly recommend checking out both forms of media.

Pick Up A Pulp [14]: THE SCARLET FLUSH by Carter Brown

The Carter Brown mysteries can be hit or miss, such is the nature of a dime-store pulp hack, the novels often being churned out within quick succession of one another, written with little to no editorial influence. Luckily, THE SCARLET FLUSH falls into the 'hit' category. 

Down on his luck and in debt to the house for over ten thousand dollars, gambler Mike Farrell finds himself staring at a bottomless pit; one that sucks the cash and life right out of him. Putting all he has on 0 at the roulette wheel in a last chance high risk, high reward stake; he nails the risk but not the reward. Soon he's hustled into a back office by a couple of heavies thinking he's about to get a beating, only to be confronted by a dame to kill for; a curvy blonde with a heart-shaped face and a body that draws the eye in all the right places. The kicker - she's also got a proposal that'll not only clear Mikes' debt but leave him twenty thousand dollars richer.

All Mike has to do is impersonate Mike Kluger, a jewel thief who is due to return home to a lovely and lonely wife after seven years in prison. Sure, he just happens to 'look' like Kluger, but can he pull of 'being' Kluger in order to find where the hidden diamonds have been stashed all these years?

The Scarlet Flush is cheesy and entertaining. Every woman Farrell encounters (bar one, I should mention) is gorgeous and willing to drop their inhibitions as quickly as they are to drop love laced one liners. While the criminal element itself plays out in page turning anticipation. There's even a crafty twist involving Kluger's wife I didn't see coming. 

The Scarlet Flush, originally published in 1963, is hands down one of my favorite Carter Brown books and well worth tracking down.