For Emile Griffith
EDITOR IN CHIEF: ...Cameron Ashley EDITS: ...Liam José, Jimmy Callaway & Andrew Nette DESIGN: ...Liam José
ISSUE FOURTEEN COVER:
ERIC BEETNER www.ericbeetner. blogspot.com
WEB: thecrimefactory.com EMAIL: crimefactoryzine@gmail.com TWITTER: @crimefactory REVIEW FOR US - CONTACT: crimefactoryreviews@gmail.com See website for submission guides. See me for hugs.
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
THE LINE UP
CRIME
FACTORY
VOL.2
NO.14
NERD OF NOIR’S CRIME SLEEPER DOUBLE Truth
FEATURE: (But
Throw
in
the Some
Legend)
...Peter Dragovich
...Page 08
TRUE CRIME FACTORY: Prodigal Tropical
...Tom Darin Liskey
...Page 20
A SIT DOWN WITH THE GODFATHER: The Peter Corris Interview
...Andrew Prentice
...Page 42
03
CRIME FACTORY
CRIME
ISSUE FOURTEEN
THE LINE UP FACTORY
VOL.2
NO.14
TEMP WORK: Short Fiction
...Kevin Burton Smith
...Page 71
...DeLeon DeMicoli
...Page 75
...Michael M. B. Galvin
...Page 81
...Robert James Russell
...Page 93
...Ryan K. Lindsay
...Page 99
THE
MYSTERY
THAT
HAS
NO
PHYSICAL EXISTENCE, BUT THAT HAUNTS: A Reflection on Georges Franju’s Nuits Rouges
...Benjamin Welton
...Page 108
THE HIP POCKET SLEAZE FILES: Manson on the Rack
...John Harrison
...Page 120
04
CRIME FACTORY
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THE LINE UP
CRIME
FACTORY
VOL.2
NO.14
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
FEATURED BOOK: American
Death Songs
REVIEWS
...by The Crime Factory
...Page 134 ...Page 138
05
IN PRINT & DIGITAL
FIERCE BITCHES, & LEE
Still available: Crime Factory: The First Shift Crime Factory: Hard Labour Horror Factory Kung Fu Factory
www.thecrimefactory.com
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
NERD OF NOIR’S CRIME SLEEPER DOUBLE FEATURE by Peter Dragovich
Print the Truth (but throw in some legend)
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Andrew Dominik’s ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ (2007) and ‘Killing Them Softly’ (2012)
If there was anybody on the planet that was more excited for the release of Killing Them Softly last fall than your humble Nerd I’ll give them full access to my fucking savings (don’t break your back trying to prove it, dear reader, there ain’t much to be had in there).
Andrew Dominik’s follow-up to his masterful
western, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, had a massive cast of badass actors attached, was based on a George V. Higgins novel, reteamed him with Brad Pitt, and was, you know, a fucking crime film - anticipatory boners for a film don’t get much more rock hard than mine was for this beast.
So
when it fucking finally came out I was, well, a bit let down.
I mean, it still was one of my favorite films of 2012, but
there were all these little things that bugged me about it. Why, in a movie that has punishing and major bummer violence throughout, is there a big show-stopping scene where we watch a bullet go through a guy’s head in slo-mo, with beautiful bursts of glass and rain water reflecting from the blast like a
09
CRIME FACTORY
glorious dream?
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Why were there so many obvious music choices, from
Johnny Cash’s painfully over-used “The Man Comes Around” introducing Brad Pitt’s character (the song was also in the Insomnia remake, Friedkin’s The Hunted and probably most famously in the Dawn of the Dead remake) to Velvet Underground’s (admittedly great song) “Heroin” bashing you on the nose during a scene where two characters shoot up?
And why did they have to underline, bold and circle the
political parallels within the story by incessantly playing news footage of the 2008 election and economic collapse throughout the entire film?
So I had all these nit-picks clouding my overall opinion of
what I thought was otherwise a pretty special movie when I went in to watching it again on home video recently and, no, these
10
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ISSUE FOURTEEN
problems did not evaporate on
further in this CSDF column.
rewatch but I do kind of love
Yes, you can complain that one
Killing Them Softly now in a
of them is actually a western
way that I didn’t before -
but
and it’s a movie that needs
westerns
love.
period crime films...so there
There’s almost no way
fuck
you, are
favorite
essentially
that this film will ever be
(how’s
the cult film it deserves to
reasoned argument).
be, too many people will shun
I’ve
it for its bleakness or its
it at some length here and
political obviousness or its
elsewhere, let’s get into it
lack of traditional crime movie
with more Killing Them Softly
thrills.
talk.
But then the same
that
my
already
for
a
wellBecause
talked
about
To refresh your memory
could also be said of Jesse
– and it should be noted that
James, a movie that similarly
if you’re not hip to either
fucks
you
with
its
audience’s
should
probably
look
expectations, and
I
have
found
many
people
who
love that film same as me in recent years.
W i t h
these films
two weighing
heavily on my mind I
lately
decided
explore
to
them
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CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
elsewhere until you’ve caught
the corporation who answers
up with them because I’m gonna
to
go deep down the rabbit hole on
character, a liaison of sorts
both with this piece – the film
to the unseen higher-ups.
follows ex-con Frankie (Scoot
McNairy from Argo) and junkie
out who is behind the robbery
Russell (Ben Mendelsohn, the
mainly because of the stupidity
particularly evil brother in
of Russell (plain and simple
Animal Kingdom) as they take a
idiocy is the downfall of many
job from the Squirrel (Vincent
characters in both films) and
Curatola aka Johnny Sack from
he is careful and financially
The Sopranos).
practical in how he delegates
They are to
Richard
Jenkins’
Coogan
quickly
lawyer
figures
rob a card game run by Markie
the necessary hits.
Trattman
from,
off, though he knows Trattman
come on, you know what that
had nothing to do with it,
motherfucker’s been in).
to keep up appearances on the
(Ray
Liotta
a
gig
street (public opinion is a
sentence
but
fickle bitch), the guy’s first
the Squirrel figures it’s a
gotta be dealt a beating then
cakewalk seeing how everyone
killed.
will blame it on Trattman as
of Trattman is heartbreaking,
dude’s robbed his own card
one of the saddest and most
game once before. They do the
visceral scenes of violence
job with no casualties in one
you’ll see, with Ray Liotta,
of the most quietly agonizing
legendary
scenes in recent memory and
yet most likeable character
then Jackie Coogan is called
in
onto the scene.
crying and puking while two
is
Normally a
death
such
First
Brad Pitt’s
the
character is the man who knows
thugs
all the angles, the fixer for
up.
The beatdown scene
screen
movie,
tough
begging
reluctantly
fuck
guy and him
There’s nothing cool or
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badass about the scene in the slightest, just misery and shitty duty.
But the subversion of classic genre tropes abounds in this film,
though never in a nudging, ironic way.
Though there’s some definite
“movie-movie” cool in the film, like the makes of a few seventies cars, Pitt’s clothes and hair (rocking a legitimately rad pompadour) and some good cigarette smoke photography, Dominik prefers downbeat and stark instead of holy-shit-how-awesome in Killing Them Softly. There are no action sequences, just pitiful, soul-crushing murders (outside of the aforementioned, baffling-but-heavenly-looking slo-mo bullet hit, that is).
The violence hurts both the beaten and the
beaters, the dead and the murderers, and transgressive fun never enters into the proceedings.
There are no big twists or conspiracies in the finale, just
Jackie Coogan demanding payment for services rendered. Along the way
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we also spend some time with
amounts of time to supporting
a character that advances the
characters is also a major
story in no way whatsoever in
part of the sprawling, loose
James Gandolfini’s washed up
and
hitman, Mickey, a friend of
Assassination of Jesse James
Coogan’s who is called in as a
by the Coward Robert Ford.
favor to Jackie. Jackie could
The first two-thirds of the
handle the hits himself but
film cover the last months of
he’s looking out for Mickey who
Jesse James’ (Brad Pitt) life
has fallen on hard times. They
wherein he meets and befriends
share a couple of brilliant
his killer Robert Ford (Casey
scenes together (God, I miss
Affleck).
Gandolfini already) and then
film allows us to meet a whole
Jackie recognizes that Mickey
lot of great character actors
is too much of a liability,
playing the disparate members
too drunk and scattered to go
of the James gang, with folks
through with the hit.
like Paul Schneider, Garret
Dillahunt, Jeremy Renner and
Giving over surprising
visually
gorgeous
The
This section of the
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CRIME FACTORY
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Sam Rockwell making distinct
mainly involve lazing around
impressions upon the audience
the farm houses of cousins and
despite not being major parts
friends, telling tall tales
of the central relationship
about the whores you’ve bedded
of the film.
Like the Mickey
and worrying when Jesse will
scenes in Killing, a great
finally come around and kill
deal of time is spent between
you.
James and Garret Dillahunt’s Ed
Miller, with tons of suspense
character
wrung out of our knowledge
some
that James is paranoid and
him, same as Coogan was the
prepared to kill off anybody
only classic movie badass in
who might have whispered word
Killing. Both characters are
one about him.
legends surrounded by buffoons
and schmucks.
As Killing Them Softly
Jesse James is the only allowed
mythic
to
have
dimension
to
James is often
fucked with our expectations
shown to be a fucking psycho
of the crime genre, so does
and an asshole but he also
Assassination set out to shit
has genuine charm, wears cool
on our favorite myths of the
clothes and there’s a sense
western.
Murder and violence
of mystery and legend around
in
film
and
him, mystery and legend that
unexciting, and though there
is equal parts put upon him and
is something of a shootout,
spread by him.
it is sloppy and stupid and
have found as interesting of
unlike
ways to both fuck with and
the
is
anything
ugly
we’ve
seen
in a John Ford or even a Sam
play
Peckinpah
Horses
towering movie star quality
themselves
as Dominik has with these two
don’t
ever
western. work
up into a gallop in this film
films.
and the outlaw life seems to
to
Few directors
Pitt’s
undeniably
Of course, when Robert
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Ford lives up to his titular designation, he has a tougher go of the living legend life than genuine article James in the last third of the film.
He performs a stage show recounting that fateful day to
decidedly mixed reviews because after all, our celebrities were so much more interesting before they were hounded by TMZ and putting all their thoughts and lunches up on twitter.
Jesse James knew
(perhaps just instinctually) that legends don’t grow in constant direct sunlight
The interplay between the embracing and the disgracing of
genre tropes is what makes both films sort of wonky but also, more importantly, tantalizing and re-watchable. As I wrap up this article I am only just now realizing that without the mythic moments these movies would be one note, they’d be graduate theses instead of lasting art.
Both these stories could have been filmed in a very flat and
style-free way that would hammer home their anti-noir/anti-western concerns but then you could only view them once.
You’d get what was
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happening implicitly and move on.
Seen it, don’t need to
revisit it.
But the way they play
as they are now, with their virtuoso sequences that don’t match the rest of their tone (Killing
Them
Softly)
and
their occasional acceptance of genuine legend (Assassination of
Jesse
are
more
something present
the
films
intangible,
like
by
Kubrick
period
Anderson. no
James),
grand
Paul
or
Thomas
And maybe there’s point
to
such
contradictory touches, maybe Dominik
just
couldn’t
indulging
himself
good
fashioned
ol’
in
help some
classic
movie mythmaking, but for the Nerd’s sake I hope he never says one way or the other.
17
“You have power and money. Destroy everything.� -Nakamura
CRIME FACTORY TRUE
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CRIME
FACTORY
Prodigal Tropical by Tom Darin Liskey candles in a dark, misshapen grotto. The pattern of light spreading
out
across
the
valley lacks any semblance of order - and darkness fails to shroud the shrill of police sirens and the distant report Carnival of Light The night-time view from the heights of the city reveals the
eye-straining
panorama
of hundreds of thousands of illegally
rigged
electric
lights - each one illuminating a ramshackle home or underthe-table business along the cramped hilltops surrounding the valley of Caracas. The shanty-town lights flicker in the inky sky like frail votive
of gunfire.
Caracas is a war zone
where every city block is a front-line. Hyperbole or not - the place is Murder City of the World. Officially known as Santiago de LeĂłn de Caracas, the frontier settlement was founded in the far off epoch of
Spanish
conquest
and
colonialism in 1567. But the modern-day city was built on the
country’s
oil
wealth.
unprecedented Venezuela
has
20
CRIME FACTORY more
oil
underground
than
ISSUE FOURTEEN won’t
go
without
armored
Saudi Arabia. It also has vast
cars and riot gear. Worn-out
deposits of gold and other
apartment blocks stand beside
minerals in hot demand. When
glitzy
oil prices rise, so does steel
rustic remnants of colonial
and brick. Not surprisingly,
neighborhoods.
the downside of hitching long-
hodgepodge
of
term urban plans to short-term
influences
and
commodity prices means that
helped to make this frenzied
when oil falls, buildings can
and willy-nilly city a perfect
remain
urban killing ground.
unfinished.
That
was
skyscrapers
and
the
Caracas’ architectural styles
has
the fate of the Helicoide, a
famous landmark on the skyline
hand. I arrived in Venezuela
of Roca Tarpeya in the San
in 1994 - fresh out of college
Agustin parish of Caracas.
- at a time when the country’s
economic
For
I saw a lot of this first
foundations
were
years
it
stood
like
a
sun-
being worn away. Later, it
parched piece of Babylonian
was easy for me to understand
architecture before it finally
the former coup leader Hugo
housed
Chavez’s
unfinished
the
hated
intelligence by
its
agency
Spanish
former known
acronym
as
he
released
after
from
jail
in 1994 and began building his
DISIP.
was
popularity
grassroots
political
build
movement. Chavez had promised
bigger and better in Caracas
to be a renovating force in
has
confusing
national politics where two
districts
parties
This
rush
created
warren
of
a
urban
to
-
the
AD
(Accion
among crime-ridden “informal”
Democratica) and COPEI parties
settlements like the hillside
- had essentially shared in
shantytowns where the police
the
pillage
of
Venezuela’s
21
CRIME FACTORY
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vast wealth for decades. I
Hardened by years of violence,
can still remember his early
Venezuelans
speeches
more prosperous salients in
from
underpasses
the
and
grimy
streets
in
the
city,
are
flocking
where
they
to
live
poorer districts of the city.
in charming penthouses with
Chavez won the presidency and
pastorally
ruled Venezuela from 1999 to
like Prados del Este, thrown
his recent death in April 2013.
up with the easy money of high
But
oil prices.
instead
of
creating
a
evocative
names
more equitable redistribution
to the country’s wealth, the
drive in armored sedans and
cronies of Chavismo - and his
live
in
cult
that
have
of
personality
behind
Those who can afford it
it - have emerged as the new
armed
financial elite. They are just
are
as
Miami,
shallow
and
callous
as
apartment
around-the-clock
security.
fleeing
towers
the
Even
more
country
Calgary,
and
to
Oslo.
the oil patricians they had
Any
pretense
of
affluence
toppled.
and
modernity
is
decaying
in
But Venezuela is also a
Caracas
as
the
rot
of
country writhing amid a crime
corruption and crime spreads.
spree that is even deadlier
Venezuela, once one of Latin
than
America’s
the
60,000-plus
death
toll in Mexico’s war on drugs. Some
criminal
like
the
researchers,
highly
respected
Fermín Mármol García, believe that since 1999 Venezuela has experienced more than 155,000 violent deaths and murders.
The body count is rising.
longest
standing
democracies, is a basket case
“Since 1999 Venezuela has experienced more that 155,00 vilent deaths and murders...”
22
CRIME FACTORY now. Its capital Caracas is
ISSUE FOURTEEN soon.
more dangerous than war-torn Holy Rollers
Baghdad and Kabul - or even Haiti, the poorest nation on this side of the globe. If
Caracas is an urban planner’s
you want to understand the
nightmare. Anyone who has ever
macabre
had to navigate the greater
city’s
mathematics killing
of
spree,
the look
metro
area
can
understand
at the city’s sole morgue in
just how haphazard the city
Bello Monte. Staff is finding
feels.
it
the functional chaos of this
increasingly
tough
to
deal with bodies waiting in
urban
hallways, storage rooms and
are
the
These
curbside
hearses
still
What
helps
sprawl carritos are
the
to
keep
sewn
together
por
puesto.
dingy
-
and
waiting to disgorge their dead.
sometimes whimsically painted
According to the Venezuelan
-
Violence
in
service the city. Caracas has
2012 alone there were 21,692
an underground metro, but if
murders and violent deaths in
you have to get some place
the region. That breaks down
fast and cheap, you take a
to
carrito.
a
Observatory,
rate
of
73
homicides
low-fare
death toll during the high-
around the city at a terrifying
living weekend is often the
speed - no matter how congested
fodder of Monday morning news
traffic
stories. Even with the dead
Salsa
Chavez’s
Thanks
heir,
beat-up
that
per 100,000 inhabitants. The
hand-picked
The
minibuses
is and to
-
them,
economy
power, the murder rate isn’t
Carritos
expected
transportation
change
anytime
blasting
Merengue
President Nicolas Maduro, in to
buses
actually provide
zip
out
music.
Caracas’s functions. a
crucial
artery
in
23
CRIME FACTORY
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this valley of 3 million-plus
there.
inhabitants. The downside to
this
by-the-seat-of-your-
dangerous spots in the city
pants transportation is that
remains the historic downtown
they have always been easy
area and government district
targets for crime. Knocking
where streets, alleyways, and
over
underpasses
a
carrito
is
easy
One
of
the
are
most
poorly-lit
pickings because they operate
with easy access for escape to
on a cash-only basis, with the
the slums. The newspaper, an
driver typically accompanied
English language daily, where
by someone to handle the till
I got my start in journalism
and make change.
was located there. I laid out
A roadside malandro, or
the Opinion pages for Sunday.
bandit, jumps on a bus, often
To be honest, I liked taking
looking like any other hard-
carritos to work instead of
working
pulls
the stuffy subway because the
out a hand gun to stick up the
valley of Caracas has spring-
passengers.
like
commuter. Once
He the
thief
temperatures,
year-
has his loot, he jumps off the
round.
bus. It’s blitz banditry. In
my time in the city, I had
the cityscape pass by slightly
never seen a bus driver stop
before noon on Sunday when
to run down the thief. The odd
the bus driver slowed down
robbery is simply an expense
and a new passenger climbed
of
the
on board. The driver gunned
No police risk their
the vehicle’s engine and the
lives in raiding the warrens
motor whined with plumes of
of shantytown alleyways and
black smoke spitting out of
narrow streets in search of
the
the petty thieves who escape
gaining speed when I saw the
doing
city.
business
in
I
was
lazily
tailpipe.
The
watching
bus
was
24
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
passenger from the corner of
enough you learn how to keep
my eye. Instead of sitting
your cool in a situation like
down, he was swaying in the
this.
aisle
and
scowling
at
the
The people on the bus had
other passengers. That’s when
been robbed before and they
I saw he was holding a butcher
knew the drill. They began
knife. He grabbed a young boy
throwing money and whatever
from his seat and pressed the
other valuables they had into
butcher
the bag. The man was laughing
knife
against
the
kid’s throat. The boy must
by
have been around twelve. The
pronouncements
lady, who had been in the seat
on the quality of jewels -
with him, his mother, began
and cash - dropped into the
pleading
with
pillow-case.
wielding
man
the not
knifeto
harm
then,
making and
bizarre comments
“Very good, mamita,” or
the boy. The man ignored her
“Don’t worry, baby girl, I’m
pleas and shouted out threats
sure your rich boyfriend can
to the others on the bus with
get you another necklace,” or
a cocky bravado.
“Sorry, grandpa, but life is
hard all over...”
He said he had no qualms
about
slitting
throat.
the
boy’s
He said he was an
evil man already.
But
there
was
little
sincerity in his voice. His
Then he
words came off with a hint of
pulled a dingy pillow-case out
mockery - and malice - at our
from behind his back without
misfortune. The kid’s mother
a blink. So fast in fact the
was crying worse by then. She
boy could not get away or for
twisted
his mother to react - as she
wedding band - off a trembling
was too astonished anyway.
finger. She handed it to the
man as if it were useless scrap
You live in Caracas long
a
gold
ring
-
her
25
CRIME FACTORY of metal.
The mother tried
ISSUE FOURTEEN Who is talking?
to console the boy who looked
like he was having a panic
him
attack. When she reached out
murmuring and chattering. It
to touch the boy’s hair, the
rose in crescendo and a bolt
thief pushed her hand away.
of
He laughed at her and clutched
me. I had heard praying like
the boy in a choke hold and
this
dragged him down the aisle of
Pentecostal
the rollicking bus.
Pentecostals
people
Behind me there arose a
The with
women their
lightning
prayer-like
shot
before
to
ignored
as
a
tent me
through child
meetings.
were as
at
peculiar a
child,
cacophony of rebuke.
and other people made fun of
I looked over my shoulder
them. But my mother sought
at the commotion. There were
them out for some reason. She
five ladies sitting together
had been orphaned as a child
on the last two dingy rows of
and became somewhat unhinged
seats on the bus. They bore the
by
outward signs of Pentecostal
when I was five. There were
holiness:
pulled
times she talked of suicide
tightly back in buns, ankle-
and I’d catch her weeping on
length skirts and long sleeve
the edge of her bed with her
shirts,
and
age
hands folded into her lap like
from
chubby
to
she was praying. I think she
a solid gray-haired matron.
went to the tent meetings and
That woman, I was sure, was
storefront
the grandmother of the rest.
for a miracle - or at least a
The thief stopped midway on
little bit of peace.
the bus and stared past me
confused.
women again. The matron of
the group by now was openly
a
long
hair
ranged
in
teenager
“¿Quién está hablando?”
the
death
of
my
churches
father
looking
I turned to look at the
26
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
yelling at the thief as she
man looked terrified by then.
raised her open palms up in
The money and jewelry he had
prayer.
the
collected mattered little. He
thief and told him to let the
dropped the bag on the dirty
boy go as the other women in
floor, pushed boy aside, spun
the group shouted alleluia.
around and ran to the bus’
None of the other bus riders
door. He jumped off without
- including me - knew what to
a blink. I saw him land on
think or do. The eldest among
the sidewalk, stumble, roll,
the
and then regain his footing.
She
women
chastised
prayed
louder.
She was praying with Jesus’
“The entire episode had lasted three minutes and forty-five seconds...”
blood. But the thief pressed the knife’s blade closer to the young boy’s throat. The malandro
told
her
to
shut
up or he’d do something to him. He said the kid’s blood would be on her hands for not
He
shutting up.
direction.
She
shrugged
off
his
ran
off
in
the
opposite
The boy’s mother jumped
threats and said things like:
from her seat and grabbed her
“Flee you dirty devil - get
son. She held him close to her
out of here - leave the boy
breast and cried out loudly.
alone.”
Everyone
The thief’s eyes darted
started clapping. We didn’t
back and forth, but he kept
understand what had happened
on yelling at her to quiet
- and I think we all felt
down. He kept on saying he
uncomfortable,
was going to do something like
applauding those hard-bitten
“punch the boy’s ticket.” The
holiness
else
on
but
sisters
that
we from
bus
were the
27
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
slums of Caracas. The ladies
friends of mine in a backstreet
ignored our adulation, raising
area
their hands and shouted out:
Boulevard, a major retail area
“Aleluya,
aleluya…
in the city. We were in a bar
gloria al Señor.” I didn’t
called El Bon Bon. It was the
know if the thief was evil,
kind of place where the rich
like those ladies believed.
came to slum with artists,
I didn’t know if he was just
leftists, street walkers, and
someone who had been pushed
transvestites. The salsa clubs
to his limits and he saw that
had all closed by that time of
knocking over the bus was the
the night and the streets were
only way he could buy baby
filling with people grabbing a
formula, diapers, or insulin.
bite to eat or another drink
Maybe
and
before making their way home.
needed dope. I really didn’t
In El Bon Bon, the music was
know. But he was dangerous and
ear-piercing
I’m glad the ladies scared
floor was writhing with sweaty
the living hell out of him. I
bodies
really was. When I looked at
cops
my watch after it was over,
They wore bullet proof vests
the entire episode had lasted
and high leather boots. The
three minutes and forty-five
cops took up positions at the
seconds.
entrance to the men’s bathroom
he
aleluya,
was
a
junkie
to Serve and Protect
of
the
and
when came
sell
Sabana
two into
little
Grande
the
dance
motorcycle the
club.
packets
of
coke. That’s what the cops did sometimes
in
Caracas.
They
I had dodged a bullet that day
would knock over a dealer in
on the bus. A few days after
the shanties, take his stash,
the
robbery,
and peddle the white powder
I was out on the town with
at clubs like El Bon Bon. I
attempted
bus
28
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
didn’t like being around cops
commonly known by the Spanish
like them because they would
acronym as PM, were the most
act all friendly with you if
loathed
you were a foreigner and then
rank-and-file
shake
from the slums.
you
down.
I
told
my
-
and
feared.
was
Its
recruited
friends I was leaving as the
cops looked over at us and
were PM roadblocks on the road.
started
each
We were waved through most of
other. I left out the door
them until a PM officer ordered
at the opposite end of the
us to pull over near Los Dos
building. I had enough change
“The cops took up positions at the entrance to the men’s bathroom to sell coke...”
whispering
to
in my pocket for a carrito, so I hailed one down.
At the time I lived in
Venezuela, there were several police jurisdictions in the city.
Some,
like
investigative
the
elite
force,
La
It was March and there
Caminos metro station.
Policia Tecnica Judicial, or
PTJ, actually had a modicum
full. Most of the bus riders
of
were
respect
because
technocrats to
its
had
ranks.
younger flocked
The
PTJ
is
The bus was not even half waiters,
cooks,
university
students
home.
only
The
and
heading
female
on
now known as the Cuerpo de
the bus was a dozing middle-
Investigaciones
Criminales
aged woman who had swayed to
Penales y Criminalísticas, or
the rhythm of the bus in the
CIPC. The largest police force
seat behind the driver. The
in the greater urban area,
bus idled in park as two PMs
the
with their corporal climbed
Policia
Metropolitana,
29
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
on board. The driver knew the
like mine, he slipped into
protocol and he kept his eyes
his shirt pocket behind the
on the road ahead of him. He
vest. After he examined all
didn’t even look at them. The
of the IDs on the bus, he
PM corporal squeezed past them
motioned to five us - the ones
and took the lead. He hooked
whose ID he still held - to
his thumbs into the straps of
get off. We grabbed our things
his bullet proof vest as his
and followed the PMs to the
scuffed combat boots thumped
sidewalk.
hollowly
on
the
floorboard.
One of the PMs standing
The two younger PM recruits
guard at the blockade slapped
followed him with their fingers
the side of the carrito, giving
resting on the trigger guards
it the okay to continue on.
of their automatic weapons.
We were left behind. In our
The corporal told us to
small group there was a well-
take out our papers. No one
dressed man carrying a load of
raised their eyes to the PMs
books. He looked to be about
except the sleepy-eyed woman
thirty-five. I could tell from
up front. She breathed out
their bindings they were law
tiredly when she handed over
books. The PM corporal ordered
her dogged eared carnet, or
us to the wall.
ID, to the officer. Sometimes
the
air
problems with your ID - and
he
some have not papers at all.
looked at the IDs. It was his
We’ll pat you down and then
way of showing disdain. When
talk,” he said.
I handed him mine, he looked
at both sides of it and did
weapons
that. He returned most of the
cash.
cards to their owners. Some,
against
corporal
between
his
sucked
teeth
when
“Some
They
of
were and
We
you
looking
for
easy-to-swipe
placed
the
have
wall,
our
arms
but
the
30
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
woman in our group pleaded
pavement.
to be let go. She said her
daughter was sick.
why the PMs were pummeling the
She
even
up
couldn’t
understand
the
guy after they disarmed him.
prescription that needed to
But then I caught a glimpse
be filled. The corporal ignored
of the mobile phone he had
her. I leaned against the wall,
pressed hard against his mouth.
my legs spread eagled. They
I could hear him yell out the
patted me down before moving
words “Dos Caminos” and “PMs”
to the man with law books.
until he fell unconscious from
There was sudden shouting and
the beating. The mobile phone
the
of
skidded across the sidewalk
weapons being cocked - and
with one final boot-kick to
then a thump. The law student
the man’s face. The voice on
collapsed after one of the PMs
the other end of the device
whacked him on the back of
was anxious: “Hello? Dammit -
his head with the butt of his
do you copy me?”
automatic rifle. The other PMs
started pummeling and pistol-
unconscious
whipping him. The wounded man
sidewalk
tried to wiggle away. One of
bleeding against the wall. The
the PMs bent over and yanked
woman with the sick daughter
a small service revolver from
was sobbing and biting her
the holster clipped on the
tightly clenched fist - the
lawyer’s belt underneath his
man’s text books lay open and
shirt. But the man kept on
scattered on the pavement.
crawling on the sidewalk as
the PMs kicked him harder.
city was a lawyer. The firm had
He finally stopped and curled
a big case awaiting judgment
up into a ball on the dirty
for months. In Venezuela a
tell-tale
held
I
clicking
The
PMs man
and
dragged across leaned
the the him
A friend of mine in the
31
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
delay of this nature meant
PMs pulled me away. He asked
the
for
for my wallet. I asked him
a little nudge. He wanted a
why he needed it since the
bribe.
other PM already had my ID.
judge
calls
was
But
even
corruption she
He shrugged and told me to
and another lawyer sent the
hand it over. I looked at my
judge a present. The sub-rosa
fellow traveler bleeding on
benefaction
rare
the wall. So I caved, pulled
volume on jurisprudence. The
it out and slapped my wallet
lawyers had even cut some of
into his open hand. He dug
the pages out of the book and
through it looking for cash -
stuffed the space with a load
but found none. The he pulled
of cash.
out my bank card. He looked
for
waiting
It
decorum.
was
was
So
some
almost
like
at as if it were Willy Wonka’s
something from a movie, she
Golden Ticket.
told me. My friend then told
me it was a pretty hefty sum
take care of your fine.”
of money. She said hated to do
“What fine?”
it, but sometimes you had to
He held up my ID.
tip the balance of justice.
“Fake
Then
are forged. You can pay the
she
told
me
that
the
“Look, $200 dollars will
documents.
They
judge sent her and the other
fine or be done with it.”
lawyer a thank-you card. The
note read that while the judge
I’m a journalist. They are not
loved reading the first volume
fake. They are accredited”
of the collection, he was now
He shook his head.
eagerly awaiting the “second
“You’re
tome” in the series.
No, man, you are jodido, you
are screwed - that’s what you
At the barricade next to
the beaten-up cop, one of the
“I’m not going to pay.
a
journalist?
are.”
32
CRIME FACTORY
He handed me the wallet
back.
ISSUE FOURTEEN man on the wall. I was waiting for the first shot when a PM
“And
now
you’re
sergeant stepped out into the
arrested.”
melee with his arms raised
like a referee.
But before I could even
let it sink in, three police
cruisers came barreling down on
shouted.
us from the main road. The cars
came to screeching halt near
dancing
the
Plainclothes
as the sergeant pushed the
PTJ officers rolled out of the
officers apart. There was no
cars with automatic weapons,
bravado when he spoke, but a
pistols,
shotguns
taut, nervous grin cut across
aimed at the rival PMs. The
his face. He made some excuse
metropolitans
at
about one of the younger PM
the ready too, their weapons
recruits seeing the gun and
pointing
panicking.
blockade.
and
in
pump were the
now
direction
“They kept their fingers close to the trigger guards...” of
the
incoming
“Whoa!
Whoa!”
he
The PTJs and PMs stopped around
each
Some
crap
other
along
those lines. The PTJs eased back.
The PM sergeant was eating
crow
because
contingent
his
was
barricade
outnumbered
by the rival force. Silence
judicial
fell and the sergeant nodded
technical police. There was
to the jittery PMs to lower
shouting and threats. Everyone
their weapons. They followed
was hair-triggered. The PTJs
his command, but kept their
were shouting and demanding
fingers close to the trigger
that the PMs release their
guards. The sergeant huddled
fellow officer - the bleeding
with the head of the PTJs. They
33
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
broke apart and the judicial
valuables for a bribe. But
technical police got the go-
before we could move on that,
ahead to gather their wounded
the sergeant saw us from across
comrade.
him
the street. He sprinted over
into the back seat of one of
with a riot gun clenched in
the sedans. The vehicles left
his hands. Once he reached us,
the scene with their tires
he began whopping the biggest
screeching.
of the group with the butt of
They
bundled
The
adrenaline
wore off among the PMs. They
the rifle.
were
slighted
by
the
PTJs
We scrambled back into
and were pissed off about it.
the wagon, but the sergeant’s
So the PMs grabbed us by the
blows fell hard on the man’s
shoulders and forced us across
face and upper body. We tried
the street to a Wrangler Jeep
to pull the man inside with us,
that had been converted into
but we weren’t quick enough.
a paddy wagon. They threw us
The enraged PM officer slammed
inside amid curses. All we
the doors on the man’s legs
could do there was wait now.
when his belt got stuck on
Nothing happened for an
something. We finally got him
hour. The back of the jeep
inside and the PM sergeant
was cramped and one of the
walked away, yelling at the
group asked a passing PM if
other officers.
we could stretch our legs.
He opened the back door to
badly that the whites of his
let us out. We lit up again,
eyes filled with blood. When he
smoking cigarettes and talking
tried to speak his breathing
quietly about what was going
was raspy. All we could make
to happen next. The prevalent
out was that he had been out
idea was to make a kitty with
so late at night only because
our cash, watches, and other
he wanted to see his daughter
The man was beaten so
34
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
on her birthday. The man was
woman with a young daughter at
separated from his wife and
home sick awaiting medicine.
lived
some
distance
from
her.
“No,
sir,
I
am
Venezuelan-born, and proud to The Jeep finally jerked
be so,” she said with her eyes
to life. We ascended uphill,
cast down, her fingers running
swaying and bumping in the
along the edge of the folded
tight
up prescription.
space
of
the
paddy
wagon. There had been plenty
of
and pounded the table with
rumors
of
cops
killing
The
officer
stood
up
people and leaving them in
Napoleonic flare.
shallow graves in the dismal
wastes
above
We
out of here. Don’t tell me I
didn’t
know
were
don’t know a foreign accent
the where
city. we
being taken.
“Turncoat! Spy! Get her
when I hear one!” Calabozo Blues
Then it was the turn of
the beat-up man to go before the inebriated official. The
We were processed at a nearby
wounded
station. A senior officer sat
bloodied and barely responsive.
pompously at a wooden table at
He
the entrance of the station.
concussion perhaps.
He was drunk and ridiculed
every
frustrated with the laconic
detainee
that
passed
was The
man
wavered
still
there,
stunned,
officer
a
grew
before him. Each one of us
responses from the man.
had to kowtow to his questions
and accusations. They seemed
Have some respect when you face
both insidious and surreal.
the law. Clean up,vagabond!”
“Is
that
a
Colombian
accent?” he asked the worrying
The
He yelled, “Drunk!
man
was
hauled
away. Each one in the group
35
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
went before him, including an
she shook her head. I did not
effeminate
say anything about the clash
young
university
student.
between the PTJs and PMs - it
would not have mattered. She
“Little papi, I hope you
brought
with
said she could not do anything
you tonight because these men
for me, but then told me to
inside are hungry for some
get behind the desk and call
fresh meat. Chau, pendejo!”
someone to come down with my
turn.
passport. She had no idea when
He greeted me with a bizarre
a magistrate would be able to
smile.
see us - the latest additions
some
Then
it
“Hey,
lipstick
was
my
gringo,
welcome
to the country’s overcrowded
to our country. But no clean
jails.
towels and no breakfast in
bed for you today. But please
over to her. There was a US
do enjoy your stay!”
one dollar bill in it that
they
Inside made
the us
station
un-loop
I had to turn my wallet
I had hid. She dug through
our
the hidden pouch and pulled
shoestrings, belts, and turn
it out. It had been my in
in anything else that could be
father’s wallet when he died.
used as a weapon. One of the
I had held onto the greenback
clerks - a young pretty woman
since I started carrying a
in uniform - asked me what
wallet in my teen years. I
I was doing there. She could
always carried it with me,
tell I was a foreigner and
knowing no matter how tough
seemed genuinely concerned.
things got, as long as I had
When I told her it was
the old dollar, I’d never be
because I didn’t want to bajar
broke. I begged her to not
de la mula, or get off the
to let anyone steal it. She
mule, and pay the crooked cop,
only nodded, took the wallet
36
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
but let me take out some of
drugs
the
currency,
slice of the profits. I asked
bolivares, I had hid. I never
him if he had any cigarettes.
saw that old dollar bill again
He nodded and I bought two.
and I was stupidly naĂŻve to
They took us to one of the
think she would believe me.
jail cells in the building,
few
a vast and bare windowless
bolivares I had into my cowboy
room with the high overhead
boot. I snuck behind her and
lights
burning
called my roommate. No one
night.
There
answered, but I left a message.
in the place. Prisoners were
Another PM led us, in Indian
curled up on the dirty floor
file, through clanging gates
with shirts pulled over their
to
heads to block out the light.
Venezuelan
I
the
stashed
jail.
the
The
concrete
because
got
through
were
no
the beds
Two
stains. To our right there
placed in the back for our
were showers where you could
necessities.
shoot up drugs. An Italian
- who I later found out was
out pass-through holes in the
busted for trying to smuggle
walls where the cells could
coke out of the country - met
carry out jailhouse commerce
us after we walked in. He said
for
he had basuco - a very cheap,
drugs. There were about 45
but highly addictive form of
men in the cell. The younger
cocaine - for sale.
ones pranced around the cell
The
through
cops the
who
led
starkly
buckets
a
walls were greasy with soot
reeking
they
were
The prisoners had carved
food,
cigarettes,
and
us
with a cocky attitude. Some
lit
had fresh tattoos and brand-
hallway heard him offering the
new
drugs to us.
shoes. We were the newcomers
and they wanted to show their
They let him sell the
-
expensive
-
running
37
CRIME FACTORY dominance
A
are a bunch of sick bastards.
group of them came over to
We got such a beautiful country
me.
and they throw tourists in
of
the
place.
ISSUE FOURTEEN
“Epa mi yanqui, what’s
jail! Corruption, the whole
up, brother? Busted by the
place reeks of it.”
cops! Ha! Were you trying to
buy drugs? Did you get busted
on the floor and mumbled to
for
himself
something
else?
What
The drunkard slid back -
something
about
happened, big daddy?”
his adulterous wife who he
Why lie?
reckoned had finally learned
“One of the PMs wanted
her lesson. I declined to ask
money - and I wouldn’t pay
him just what it was. I eased
him.”
down onto the floor next to the
That was all I had to
bleeding man from the Wrangler
say. The mood lightened up
Jeep. One of the arresting
after that. They believed me.
cops - the sergeant who beat
They better than anyone else
him up - came by. Someone else
in the city knew how crooked
from
the cops were. One of them
faced man who claimed to be
offered me a smoke. Another
an accountant making his way
one flicked his lighter for
home from a late night at the
me. I was not a part of their
office, made a joke about the
brotherhood, but even these
accommodations. The PM looked
hardened could show a mercy
at him pointedly.
on a poor slob who had fallen
on the wrong side of a crooked
belongings. You are going to
police force. An older drunk
be here a long time.”
stood up and shook his fist at
The man trembled.
the bars imprisoning us.
“I didn’t have coke, you
“Bastards.
These
cops
the
group,
a
narrow-
“I found coke in your
must have planted it!”
38
CRIME FACTORY
“You
calling
me
a
ISSUE FOURTEEN wall. That’s when I realized
liar?”
that one of the first things
It was rhetorical.
you do in a South American
We all knew it. The PM
jail is pray after you get
spun
around
some cigarettes and a better
and
left.
The
accountant who had made the
lay
joke
necessarily
wept
in
his
hands.
I
of
the
land in
-
that
if
not
order.
finished my smoke and wanted
Nothing
to sleep. I tapped my shirt
even proper, just something
pocket where I had stashed the
simple like, Get me out of
two smokes I had bought from
this
the drug-dealing Italian.
what I did on the floor that
night as the moon rose over
“Don’t worry, gringo,”
someone shouted out to me.
He
must
have
seen
the my
sanctimonious
shithole.
pretty
And
mountain
or
that’s
ranges
and the shantytown where the
tired eyes.
lights still glimmer against
the
“You are safe with us.
vast
black
velvet
of
We ain’t the PM and anyway
night like the campfires of a
you ain’t got anything left
besieging army at bivouac.
to rob.”
I almost laughed bitterly.
Here
I
was,
murderers,
surrounded
thieves,
by
pimps,
rapists, petty criminals and hit men. But I was safer in this place than on the heavily policed streets of Caracas.
I pulled off my cowboy
boots and rolled them up for a pillow. I turned to face the
39
“I wondered if my autonomy wasn’t itself an illusion, a phantom operating inside the black hole of The End” -Hendricks
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
A Sit Down With the Godfather The Peter Corris Interview by Andrew Prentice With one of the longest-running series has
been
dubbed
the
godfather
Photo: Lorrie Graham
in crime fiction history, Peter Corris of
Australian crime writing. Approaching the 40th Cliff Hardy novel, Peter’s famous
literary
Sydney
PI,
Corris
and for that matter Cliff, are not planning on slowing down, despite both enduring more than their fair share of health setbacks in recent times. Andrew Prentice from Crime Factory and Peter sat down one afternoon at one of Cliff’s favoured Newtown pubs, to chat about writing, films, politics and why Sydney is the place to be.
42
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Your pre-writing career was academia
and
journalism,
wasn’t it? Yes. Where did the shift take place into writing novels? I was working at the National Times when the first of the Hardy books came out in 1980. I was the literary editor, sending the books out, doing the reviews, and also doing some
interviewing
sports and
people,
the
first
pieces,
politicians… book
was
a
success, very well reviewed.
five years for the first one to get published. I gave up the journalism and was bringing in enough from the books and
That was The Dying Trade?
writing short stories to get I’d
going. I should add I had a
second
working wife as well, which
one because I enjoyed doing
was helpful. In fact, I handed
the first one so much, and had
the literary journalism job
started a third one, and well,
over
the ball just got rolling,
(Bedford) of course, so she
even
worked at the National Times
That’s
the
already
finished
though
one.
it
And
the
took
about
to
her.
That’s
Jean
43
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
and topped things up while I wrote.
Look, I’ve never known. It was
And was there a particular reason
why
you
left
journalism? I got sick of it. I got sick of the literary editor shit. I got fucking sick of new books, beautiful new hardbacks flowing in every week in their dust covers, filling the cupboard up. For the first year or so I thought, “This is heaven.” I took a hell of a lot of them home myself, got paid for the extra reviews I did outside of the paper. It was a dream job for eighteen months but it got to the stage where I hated the look of a new book. It just sort of swamped me. It became so much more enjoyable staying at home, tapping away at Cliff Hardy. I’d found my niche. What was the inspiration for Cliff Hardy?
really just to imitate Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald and see if I could. I’d tried a historical novel based on my PHD thesis and about eighteen different publishers rejected it. So I had this idea. I’d been
reading
Chandler
and
MacDonald recreationally for years, and I thought, well, I’d try this. I felt like I really knew how they worked and what the formula was like and what changes you could make. I thought, Sydney, San Francisco, LA, I felt like there was a symbiosis there and
figured,
have
a
go
at
what you know you can write. Imitation was the stimulus. But after a few books, I felt I
had
and
an
the
individual confidence
to
voice play
around with the formula, say what I wanted to say, shit on people I wanted to shit on, things like that, so it took off creatively after a very
44
CRIME FACTORY imitative
start,
you
might
ISSUE FOURTEEN of faux-American.
It really
wasn’t set anywhere. But those
say.
publishers were wrong, there It’s been often noted that up
are letters in the Mitchell
until the time the first Hardy
Library
came out, that most Australian
publishers saying, this will
crime fiction was the Carter
never work, Peter should do
Brown-style books that were
something else. Fuck ‘em.
very
Americanised
and
from
some
of
those
this
was the very first Australianised crime book. And that’s why there was
resistance
to
it from publishers for at least four years.
They
that
Australian
crime
readers
wanted about
said
books New
York,
LA or London. They weren’t interested in apart
local from,
crime as
you say, the pulp stuff, Carter Brown, Larry was
Kent,
which
really
sort
45
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Ha, we’d all like to say that
university
about a publisher sometimes.
Canberra,
And so in essence, certainly
again,
with the Cliff Hardy series,
working at a CAE, and really, I
Sydney became as central a
just hated Victoria, I wanted
character as Cliff did.
to get to Sydney. I’d visited
I
but
it
was
never
a
got
tried
to
Melbourne
tried
suppose
so,
there,
Gippsland,
Sydney,
and
I
the
wanted
warmth,
the
activity,
the
conscious
pubs
thing.
open till ten
I
was
staying
brought up in
o’clock,
Melbourne,
so
and
Jean,
well,
I
I
and
said
to
that’s
got away from
what I want to
Melbourne,
do, and off we
don’t like the
went.
place, got away
M u t u a l
as quickly as
decision
I
course, and I
could.
the
In
dreary
working
love
class
of
Sydney,
I’m still wide-
neighbourhood
eyed
I grew up in
Sydney.
it was a grey,
moved to Glebe,
puritanical
it
city.
gentrified
I
know extent
it
has
about I hadn’t to
it’s not like that everywhere
the
now,
it
in the place but I finished
was still a mixture of derros
46
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN pauses in the action, time for the character to reflect what’s
happening.
It’s
not
a central motif but it’s a useful device and I give it whatever shine I can. What point did you think Cliff Hardy went from imitative to unique? The Empty Beach. And
that
was
made
into
a
movie. and crazies, old blokes in boarding
houses.
It
had
a
seedy side to it as well as a gentrified side so it was a very interesting place to be. The novelty of Sydney was part of the early books and it just kept on going. I’ve kept going back into the city and wandering around because it changes so much. The urban landscape thing that people talk mainly
about, just
for
me,
it’s
punctuation,
That’s the one. Ratshit movie. Terrible film. But the money enabled me to put a deposit on a house. My stand-up comedy line is that I much preferred the house to the film. It’s a great line. Yep, I’ve wrung a few laughs from that line. I read online that you said The Empty Beach should have been
47
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN the
time,
he
might
have been thirteen or fourteen, said that. The film was a failure, a terrible flop.
And yet it had some
star power. Oh,
shit
yeah.
Ray
Barrett, Bryan Brown, John Woods, but there were all sorts of things wrong with it. I don’t know whether you know David Stratton’s book, The Avocado Factory, about the Australian film industry? There’s a
whole
section
on
reaction to The Empty Beach in there. I had various gripes, mainly
about
the
script, which was rat called The Empty Cinemas.
shit. I was contracted to write a script, so I did,
Can’t take credit for that
and they said… actually, I was
one, it came from the son of
contracted
a girl I was living with at
and then they had the right
to
write
three,
48
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
to get another scriptwriter
Political speak. Kevin’s got
if they wanted. That was fair
a good bounce, and I got a
enough.
bounce out of the movie.
So,
I
submit
the
first one – too tough. Second one
–
too
soft.
Did
the
third one, and the producer
Did you have a lot to do with the cast?
said to me, “Peter, this is almost there.” And the next
With
I’d heard, they’d chucked it
I met him a few times, and
out and got someone else in.
we talked about the role, I
But that’s film producers, you
liked him, and I liked him
know? They have their irons
in the movie, he was good.
in the fire and they take out
But there should have been
the one that heats up.
voiceover,
Bryan
(Brown)
if
I
there’d
did.
been
some voiceover from him to So you remain ambivalent about
give you an idea what he was
the movie but you still liked
thinking instead of that very
the house.
stoic look he had, I think it might have even redeemed
(Laughs)
That’s
it
in
a
the
bad
nutshell. I mean, the movie
no,
I
played in the cinemas for a
and went overseas. I wasn’t
while, it played on TV, it
present for the shooting. One
was a video in the shops for
of the things that went wrong
quite a long time and it helped
was that the girl, the main
to stimulate the book, which
character, was supposed to be
went through three or four
a
editions so the whole thing
skinny, go-getting woman. She
did give me a kick along –
was when they cast her but by
what they call it? A bounce.
the time they came to shoot
very
script.
think
I
spunky,
Otherwise, got
shitty
streetwise,
49
CRIME FACTORY she was pregnant and they had her
in
flowing
gowns.
ISSUE FOURTEEN unlikely.
That But
didn’t help.
everything
old
is
new
again, Peter. Any other film options on the Hardy books?
Well, there’s that. I’ve written a
couple
of
retrospective
Many, many. Over the years,
Hardy novels set back in time
it
for
so I’ll get my agent to pitch
film or television and keeps
it to a producer and see if
falling over for one reason
she can get them interested.
keeps
coming
up,
or another. And when they pay option money, you welcome it
Mind you, I haven’t read every
because you don’t ever have
Cliff
to pay that back, and that’s
quite a few, and Cliff moves
happened several times. I’m
with the times.
not
sure
another
film
Hardy,
but
I’ve
read
will
make it; that sort of private
Yeah, he does.
eye story, being told things, knocking on doors, is a bit
He’s got a mobile phone.
anachronistic. Crime films now are high-tech, very dependent
True. I had a mobile for a
on the workings of technology,
while
CSI-type
have
giving up and I couldn’t text,
eye
film
I couldn’t keep the screen
seventies
and
live long enough to text, even
costuming,
“Yes, I’ll be there.” So Cliff
cars, they have to mask the
doesn’t text either, he takes
mobile phone towers, things
photos with his phone, and
like that. So I think it’s
makes calls. He’s reasonable
to
set
stuff. a
You’d
private
back
in
the
it’s
expensive,
but
my
eyesight
was
50
CRIME FACTORY with
that’s
and
about
all.
But
ISSUE FOURTEEN
but
James Ellroy doesn’t seem to
his
like anything or anybody.
daughter Megan is pretty flash at that, as my wife is, so
No. I’ve met him a few times,
he’s got a back-up.
a remarkable guy, mad as all hell.
So are you convinced the modern take on a private eye wouldn’t
I read an interview he’d done
work in a movie setting?
where he said he couldn’t wait for Bill Clinton to die so he
I’d like to think it could
can write a book about him.
but it would take a tremendous commitment from someone who
He hates Bill Clinton. There
really wanted to do it. You’d
was an interview he did with
need
Bob Carr, who’s a noted crime
to
have
someone
as
good as the people who made
reader,
and
Chinatown. To me, that is a
Clinton
a
superb movie, set back in the
and
late thirties, early forties,
say that” and Ellroy said, “I
around there, the timeline is
fucking can!” He endorsed a
a
book for me once by writing,
little
you
can
indistinct, do.
You’d
which
have
to
Carr
“This
Ellroy
called
“weeny-wagger”, said,
book
is
“You
hotter
can’t
than
have a terrific script, really
cougar come.”
good actors…it might work, I
mean, look at LA Confidential,
phone with a howl and say:
that’s a bloody great film,
“This is the American Werewolf
even James Ellroy liked it
of
and James Ellroy doesn’t like
Fucking mad. I thought his
anything.
books were fabulous, up to,
He used to answer the
American
Literature.”
but not including, The Cold
51
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Six Thousand. I couldn’t read it. I couldn’t read Blood’s A Rover. I think he’s disappeared up his own arsehole as a stylist. Do you think? Agree 100%. I loved LA
Confidential,
The Big Nowhere… American Tabloid? American
Tabloid
is one of the best books
I’ve
ever
read. Exactly! One of the very And
best that
high
books. was
point.
the And
then he took on that cryptic,
tabloid
style, you couldn’t get
a
handle
on
character,
or
development,
or
anything. He says that
he
writes
complete
a
summary
of the whole book, about
200
pages,
52
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
and then goes back and builds
different way. Agatha Christie
it up and that is the complete
wrote the last chapter first,
and
of
so she knew what was going to
what I do, which is start,
happen, so I guess its horses
and not know from one day to
for courses.
absolute
antithesis
the next what is happening. I
write
the
same
way
you
I ask that question of any
described. Does it ever - for
writer I interview, haven’t
you
interviewed Ellroy. But the
where you think, I don’t know
others
where to go from here?
say
the
same:
They
-
lead
to
an
impasse,
start the book not knowing how it’s going to end. Carl
So far, no. I’ve never had
Hiaasen once said it would
to
spoil
knowing
a few short stories or put
how his book is going to end
them on hold because of that
before
sort of thing and I dread it
it he
for
him
starts
it.
That
abort
a
novel.
Aborted
would be like reading the end
happening
of a book first.
the anxiety about that, as I
in
a
novel,
and
say, is one of the fuels I I am exactly the same. The
use to keep going. There have
challenge
out
been pauses, and times when I
what is going to happen and
haven’t written for a day or
the anxiety of “Can I keep
two. I go out and see Jean, we
this going?” That keeps me
have a drink, and it occurs
interested and excited until
to me what I have to do and
about two-thirds of the way
I’m back on it, as it were.
through where you have to have
So, a few moments like that,
some idea how to shape it, and
but not terminal. Sick, ill,
then that’s interesting in a
but not terminal!
is
finding
53
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN they
were
set
in
different
We’ve talked a lot about Cliff
places. They started really
Hardy but you’ve done so much
well but failed badly.
more than just Cliff. There was also the Ray Crawly series,
What time period was this? I
that
have to admit I don’t remember
became
a
TV
series,
didn’t it?
the series.
Sort of the other way around.
The last one was called The
My friend Bill Garner, wrote a
Vietnam
lot of TV, wrote a lot of Blue
was published in about 2000.
Volunteer
and
that
Heelers and some plays, great guy, bloody good writer. He
And when did the TV series
came up to see me in Sydney
run?
and said: “I’ve got the ABC to commission an espionage mini-
It was a one-off mini-series,
series and I’ve got this idea.
which the ABC showed and never
And we wrote it together, as
showed again. I’ve had agents
a
And
pleading with them to show it
Bruno
again, just for residuals, you
Lawrence was Ray Crawly, New
know? An extra quid! But it’s
Zealand
he
never happened, not sure how
was in Frontline? And he was
you’d find it now, but it must
Crawly, and he was terrific,
be out there in the ether,
very
you can probably download it
it
mini-series was
script.
bloody actor,
tough
guy.
good.
remember
So
we
did
that and then I novelised our
somehow.
It
had
some
good
script, Penguin published it,
people in it and was really
it did well, and that kicked
very good. It wasn’t as good
off the Crawly series. Bill
as Blue Murder, or Scales of
would provide the basic idea,
Justice, or Phoenix - those
54
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
are outstanding series - but
you’re writing about has a
it was a hell of a lot better
really emphatic stamp to them,
than some of the other stuff
like, God knows, Fred Hollows
around.
did. But it takes longer. I love writing and the periods
You’ve
written
non-fiction.
Biographies?
between writing I get bored and fidgety, Jean has to tell me to stop moping! And this
Well,
“As
strictly never
told
to”,
biographies.
written
an
not I’ve
form of writing can be more laborious,
waiting
for
the
absolute,
transcripts to come in, and
objective biography. But I’ve
then you have to check and
written for Fred Hollows, Ray
re-check,
Barrett, John Sinclair, Bill
getting the good stuff down.
Hunter – which never saw the
It’s a different exercise but
light of day. But always, “As
I’m too old for it now, my
Told To Peter Corris.”
eyes have gone, I couldn’t
make
sure
you’re
work on the transcripts and What’s the difference, writing someone’s
autobiography
do the interviewing.
to
writing fiction?
Who
was
your
favourite
subject? Harder
work.
Working
from
the transcripts, getting the
Oh,
sequences
character, larger than life,
not
of
events
committing
slander,
libel.
right,
perjury, Trying
could
Fred do
Hollows.
What
microscopic
a eye
to
surgery on a child and then
capture the tone and manner
shoot wild pigs with a .303
of the person. I mean, it’s
rifle. I’d love to have done
not too hard if the character
a proper, objective biography
55
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
on someone like Fred, someone
earthquake. You were up there
with a cerebral and physical
at the time, weren’t you?
life, a popular and well-known figure. But that’s passed me
Yes,
by
Cliff.
the house shook, and as we
Crawly’s
moved around we saw what had
now.
I’m
Browning’s
down gone,
to
I
lived
Dudley,
gone. I did three books about
happened.
a
no way that such a traumatic
witness
protection
agent
named Dunlop…
There
at
was
really
event wouldn’t translate well into
Luke Dunlop?
a
Hardy
novel.
That
applies to some of the novels but not all by any means.
That’s the one. Nobody wants historical novels any more.
So,
Peter,
not
everything
They only want to read Hilary
that has happened to Cliff has
Mantel… So I’m down to Cliff
happened to you?
now, and I’m lucky, Cliff’s still a bread and butter man,
No, not everything. Though when
and can keep me writing, keep
I had a quadruple bypass that
some money coming in.
gave me the idea for another book and there probably are
How old is Cliff in literary
other examples which if we
time?
had five hours to sit here I’d remember. A lot of the stuff
You age a serial character at
does
one-third the natural rate.
experience,
The
first
Hardy
Aftershock, in
derive
from
personal
especially
stuff
around
relationships,
the
relationships,
I
read
was
good
which
was
set
ups… when that happens, the
the
information goes into a sort
Newcastle
after
break-
56
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
of a well and you know how
place in other locations. Are
to write about it when you
they places you’ve lived or
need it, painful or shameful
visited?
though it may be. Writing
from
p e r s o n a l experience? That’s
right.
I
don’t do a lot of documentary
or
physical research. The
ideas
come
from my own life, my imagination and what’s what’s
around, in
newspaper,
the what
I
hear on the radio or see on TV, what friends
tell
me,
you know, just the basics of the life around you. While Cliff Hardy is most
identifiable
with
Sydney,
few
novels
a take
57
CRIME FACTORY The
locales
when
they
There’s
ISSUE FOURTEEN
are
important
in the city. I mean, St Peters
become
familiar.
Lane in Darlinghurst. I went
been
a
novel
set
to have a look at it just a
in New Caledonia which Jean
couple of weeks ago and it’s
and I went to for a literary
changed,
conference, that was Master’s
Next to the building where I
Mates. Byron Bay has appeared
imagined Cliff’s office to be
in a few short stories.
there’s a new block of units
it’s
gentrifying.
and some of the streets have The South Coast?
been blocked off to control the traffic and make it quieter for
A few times, where we’ve lived
those who’ve bought terrace
at odd times on and off. It’s
houses to live there (puts on
great territory for a novel,
a snobby voice) if you know
you’ve got the escarpment, the
what I mean. The end of King
cliff road that fell apart and
Street where he had an office,
had to be re-built, that sort
gentrified. It was a set of
of
old buildings and they all
thing,
which
translates
well into a novel.
got tarted up and the rents skyrocketed. And now he’s in
Do you try and fit favourite
Pyrmont. But he had to take
places
out a mortgage on his Glebe
into
favourite
pub,
a
novel,
a
restaurant,
that sort of thing?
house
in
order
to
be
able
to afford to be in Pyrmont. So when you ask does Sydney
Very much so. Newtown, where
infuse the books, well, it
we are now, figures a lot. This
does in this kind of way. It
very pub has appeared a few
provides the working material
times. Hardy’s office has moved
that the story moves around.
around according to changes
58
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
It often strikes me that a
told me I had to update my
long-running crime series set
streetscape.
in a certain place can be a
only payola I’ve ever had.
historical
documentation
So
that’s
the
of
the changing nature of the
Do you read much Australian
setting as the story itself.
crime fiction yourself?
That’s certainly true. I think
I don’t read a lot of crime
that’s very much true of Rankin
fiction
and Edinburgh. I think Rankin
historical novels, don’t know
is very conscious of his locale
why I veer away from crime.
but for me Sydney is a little
I read the Scandinavian crime
more subliminal in the Hardy
novels.
books. Another one is Connelly
about them. I read the recent
and Bosch with Los Angeles.
Rankin just to see what it
Those books really chart LA
was
socially
I
new Bosch. Peter Temple, I
that
thought The Broken Shore was
could
terrific, but wasn’t so fussed
be lying to you about that!
with Truth. I read a bit of
I’ve never gotten any payola
true crime and wrote one not
from a publican or restaurant
long ago.
and
physically.
don’t
consciously
do
about
Sydney,
I
but
at
all.
Jean
like.
I
is
I
read
passionate
would
read
a
manager for including their books
Up until recently, you were
but a few have thanked me.
the only writer flying the flag
Although, Gleebooks (a famous
for crime fiction in Sydney.
Sydney
Everything seemed to come out
establishment
me
a
in
bookshop) brand
new
my
once UBD
gave
street
of Melbourne.
directory, because Hardy used to go in all the time and they
Funny how it works. When I
59
CRIME FACTORY started,
Melbourne
ISSUE FOURTEEN
didn’t
seem the place to set a crime novel. It was more a place for espionage and political intrigue. But that all changed with
shotgun
blasts
from
Carlton to Brunswick and the gang wars. There are a few more series based
in
interviewed
Sydney
now.
Lenny
I
Bartulin
recently, who sets his books in Sydney. He has a character called Jack Sisko, and Lenny, despite being from Tasmania, said that Sydney was an almost perfect place to set a crime novel,
and
that
he
almost
wrote the first book with his feet, by walking around the place.
continues a great tradition crime
writers
who
set
their books in places other than born.
wrote about LA. Hammett was born in Baltimore and wrote about San Francisco. Why do you think that is? Are
I have seen his work, and he of
Chandler was from Chicago and
that
which
Simenon
they
was
were
born
in
Belgium and wrote about Paris.
they seeing a new place with fresh eyes? I think that’s it exactly. It sounds a bit glib but I can’t think of a better reason why it happens so often. I’ve got no desire to set a book in
60
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Melbourne. I’ve got a book
No, it’s not, there’s a bit of
coming out soon called Standing
transposition perhaps…but to
In The Shadows. This is from
the extent that any of these
Arcadia, I’ve published two
people are in Melbourne, they
historical novels with them
move from Melbourne as fast
that haven’t made any great
as they can. So watch out for
splash. But this one is three
that one.
novellas that trawl through the
sexual
underbelly
of
I will.
Sydney from the 1940s to the 90s.
You know where the title comes from?
That’s
covering
a
lot
of
ground, Peter.
No…?
Yes. The first one is about
“Standing
a homosexual wrestler who is
Mick and Keith…
in
the
shadows…”
working in the years after the Second World War, and all the
Oh, I know who Mick and Keith
sorts of things he gets up
are.
to. The second one is about a transvestite draft dodger,
I should hope so.
set in Sydney in the late 60s. And the third one is about a
They just played Glastonbury,
lesbian literary agent in the
and the only concession to the
1990s (laughs).
big stadium shows was they had fireworks at the end.
That’s not going to be cutting too close to the bone is it?
Well, Mick’s nearly as old as me. I’m 71, Mick’s turning 70
61
CRIME FACTORY soon.
ISSUE FOURTEEN been proposed. When it came close, at one time… do you
You’re still looking good for
remember Phoenix, the show on
it.
the ABC?
Yeah, Mick’s looking better
Yes.
than me, doesn’t walk with a limp. Keith’s a bit younger
Remember Peter Faithful, big
but…
dark guy, who had been an excop. Really good actor. He
A well-worn late 60s, sort of
would have been a very good
a medical miracle.
Hardy. Hardy is a big, dark guy, bit of a hooked nose,
The grooves in that face, it’s
hard look to him, but funny.
like you’d have to unfold them
So
to read his story, a poet said
happy with that, but we never
that, can’t remember his name.
got to casting. And there was
But
great
a weird time that seemed to
musician. His autobiography,
get close, when Paul Hogan was
ghost-written obviously, is a
in the mix. And I thought,
damn good read.
well, if you were going to go
jeez,
a
fucking
I
would
have
been
very
funny and quirky, well, not So,
tell
filmmaker
me,
Peter,
contacted
if
you
a
my first choice but I wouldn’t
and
have set my mind against it
said, ‘We want to do a Cliff
if the money was right.
Hardy movie,’ who would play him? If you got to choose?
I
had
not
imagined
Paul
Hogan. Well, it’s funny. Over the years
various
people
have
But you can, in a way, can’t
62
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
you? But that didn’t go. But,
don’t think you’re as bad as
if I had a choice, Russell,
you’re made out to be.” And
Russell
age,
Crowe just looks at him, and
looks right, looking a bit
his presence fills the screen,
knocked
good
and all he says is, “Yes I am.”
actor, and all he needs to do
And you believe it. That’s an
is just look… doesn’t need to
actor. What does he command
say very much.
for a film now? Is it twenty
Crowe. about,
Right bloody
million? We can excuse the fact he was born in New Zealand?
He owns a football team. It could be anything.
Well, yes, and the fact he’s interested in rugby league,
He was thinking of selling it,
which
he’s
wasn’t he? Anyway, maybe it’s
probably a bit of a shit, but
fifteen million. Well, if not
great on screen. I saw him in
Russell… Mel’s a bit short,
3:10 to Yuma, have you seen
but he’s about the right age
it?
and looks a bit knackered. If
I
despise.
And
they had short women, shot Yes, the western based on an
from
Elmore Leonard short story.
work.
That’s right, and there was
If Tom Cruise can be cast as
an earlier movie as well. And
Jack Reacher, Mel might be OK
there’s a point in the movie
for Cliff.
where there’s
they’re a
camped
young
kid,
an
angle,
Mel
might
out, it’s
I’ve
read
a
few
of
the
dark, there’s a campfire and
Reachers, some of them were
so on. And the kid says, “I
very good. I didn’t see the
63
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
film, can’t bring myself to
better on screen, Hombre is
think of Cruise as Reacher.
one of my favourite films of
Mind you, I think Cruise is
all time but the crime novels
a good actor. Have you seen
seem very hit and miss. A lot
Collateral? Great movie, he
of it is in the dialogue, that
pulls
idiosyncratic
it
off
brilliantly,
dialogue
that
almost playing against type as
he does so bloody well and
this cold assassin. He can’t
filmmakers seem to struggle to
help being five foot five. Rain
translate that to screen.
Man, he was fantastic in that too. I mean he’s a pompous
Get Shorty got that right,
prick with the… what’s that
and so did Out Of Sight.
whacko religion…? Haven’t seen that one. Scientology. George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Fucking whacko religions.
Ving
Rhames,
and
Jennifer
Lopez. John Travolta is apparently a scientologist but it doesn’t
So you’re a movie man?
seem to affect him as much. I am a movie man. Another really good actor but in a whacko cult (laughs).
So am I. Very much, although
Great as Chili Palmer in Get
my wife now has to conduct
Shorty, that was one of the
me into the cinema and place
few Elmore Leonard books they
me down in the seat because
managed to make a good movie
in a dark theatre, I haven’t
out of, at least the crime
got the faintest fucking idea
novels.
where I am. As soon as the
His
westerns
were
64
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
screen’s lit and I’m close
if it’s about ballet or opera
enough to see it and I’ve got
I turn it off and if it’s about
my hearing aids in, I’m fine.
theatre or film or writing I
I even saw The Great Gatsby
might listen. Then about ten
the other day and I thought
thirty, I pour a big glass of
it was pretty good. I think
wine, a bloody sight bigger
Baz Luhrman should have been
than this (pointing to the
taken out and shot after doing
glass of wine in front of him),
Moulin Rouge and Australia,
then I’ll go in and write for
but this was not bad at all,
an hour, always knowing from
and
the
Strictly
Ballroom
was
fabulous.
previous
day’s
session
where I’m going to start. Gets me to about twelve, listen to
So we already know that you
the midday news, have a sleep
can’t go many days without
from one till two.
writing… Very Spanish of you Absolutely
not,
a
week
is
hell!
Very 71 years old of me. Then I’ll go for a walk, do some
So, how do you structure your
shopping, piss around, on some
writing day?
days do my AFL tips, fill in the time. And then I work again
I get up in the morning and
from five till six, another
listen
on
glass of wine. Occasionally,
about
I might cook once or twice a
nine o’clock. I piss around
week, watch a film at night
for a while, not doing too
and then read. Read, read,
much, then I turn on Michael
read. That’s a day. We’ve got
Cathcart Books and Arts and
grandchildren who come around
to
breakfast
Fran radio
Kelly till
65
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
and I’ll play with them, I’ve
for getting published – Jesus,
got
some
putting
weights,
machine,
a
golf
that’s hard now. You have to
I’ll
play
get an agent. And that’s not
with those with the grandkids,
easy,
bit of cricket in the back
are
yard. That’s a day; bit of
My agent, Gabby Naylor, who
writing,
reading,
is terrific, isn’t taking on
drinking. It’s a good life,
anyone new unless something
I’m very lucky.
comes her way that absolutely
family,
not
a
taking
lot on
of
new
agents talent.
twists her knickers and that So if you had one piece of
doesn’t
advice for a budding writer,
much.
if they came to you and said,
Peter, I don’t know how to get
be
started, not sure what to do
it some other way; through
to get published, what would
journalism,
you tell them?
profiles
really
My to
happen
suggestion try
stories,
and
would
break
maybe
into
getting
published, maybe
very
short
something
Those are two different things.
online, something like that,
One is how to get published
to build up a bit of a CV and
and one is how to write, which
then hope you can attract the
are we talking about?
attention of an agent. I mean, I was so lucky, it was much
Can you do both?
easier back in the late 1970s because that wave of interest
Both? OK, imitate the manner,
in
Australian
writing
was
the style and the form of the
just starting to build and the
writer you most admire but
few agents that were around
using your own imagination and
were just getting going and
material. See if that works. As
were eager to take people on
66
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
and work like fucking knaves
anticipate some of the things
to promote us. And that was
that might happen between now
good because like a lot of
and then. The retrospective
writers I was bored shitless
is called That Empty Feeling.
by contracts and money and
I’ll leave that for when I’m
royalties and the like. Just
dead and Jean can publish it
tell me where to sign and I’ll
posthumously
write the book.
money.
So
there’s
another
Hardy
coming out soon?
and
make
some
Did you imagine back in 1980 when
The
Dying
Trade
was
published that you’d hit 40 Yes, Silent Kill comes out in
Cliff Hardy books?
January (2014), that’s number 39 and they’re planning to
Oh, shit no. I just did it as
make a fuss about number 40.
something to try and see if I could get a novel published
As they should.
before I was forty. And I made it by two years. And I’ve been
Well, you know, it makes some
blessed
sense.
written
I’m an atheist and atheists
it’s
can’t be blessed.
Now,
another
I’ve
one,
but
a
ever
since,
except
retrospective, set back in the 80s, and I’m pretty sure they don’t
want
a
retrospective
for number 40, they want a contemporary one, so that’s what
I’m
writing
now.
And
it can’t come out till 2015 so the trick is to try and
67
“At 16 I pretended to fall in love with Alyssa. She tried hard to make me feel anything.� -Forsman
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
TEMP WORK SHORT STORIES
The PeachStreaked Blouse
remember to separate whites and colours?
By Kevin Burton Smith
Men. They never listen…
he does one load. One load.
I
mean,
really,
they
just don’t have a clue.
happens?
A
houseful of dirty clothes, and And that’s after me nagging him for three days. And so naturally my new ivory blouse,
called man of the house. Give
the really nice one, dressy
him simple instructions, he
but professional-looking, the
can’t even get them straight.
one I saved up for from that
Like laundry, for crying out
little boutique on St. Denis,
loud.
the one I really wanted to I
Bill,
what
so-
Like
So
must
the
have
told
him
wear today,
just about the
about a million times, Honey,
only clean thing I have left
if you’re going to
in the whole damn house that
laundry,
The
fits since I lost that weight,
brightly coloured things go
is a streaky, stomach-churning
here, the whites go there,
shade of pale peach.
these are done in hot water,
these are done separately, in
but I’ve told him and told
cold. Like that.
him and told him not to try
do
The
roster
it
do the
man
memorized
every
the
to
And Robbie? I love him,
pour
the
milk
over
his
Montreal
Shreddies by himself. So what
Canadiens team since before
happens this morning? Yep. A
he
milk flood. The whole bag on
was
of
right.
born,
but
he
can’t
71
CRIME FACTORY the floor.
So
ISSUE FOURTEEN hah.
he’s
crying,
and
So I turn to him and say,
there’s milk everywhere and
like, (well I didn’t actually
Bill’s all pissy because I
say
dared to point out he ruined
thinking it) Hey, like thanks
my blouse, and now I have to
for the fashion critique, Mr.
clean
I’m
Polyester Tweed from Sears.
the one running late, and of
Now could you pry your eyes
course, Bill’s car is blocking
off my breasts and run off that
mine, despite the fact I’ve
Henderson report like you were
only told him about a million
supposed to do last Friday?
times or so to park it on the
street when I’m on the day
do actually ask him about the
shift, and then I’m late for
report, it turns out he didn’t
work and, yeah, because my
run it off because, gosh, he
other clean blouse is now full
just had so many other things
of milk and breakfast cereal,
to do.
I have to wear my brand new
blotchy pink blouse, and hope
him two or three memos, and
nobody
reminded him in person about
up
the
at
mess
work
and
notices
it
under my blazer.
Fat
it,
but
Of
course
Pierre does right away,
But of course, when I
After all, I only left
the
many languages do I have to speak before it sinks into
moment I walk in, and then
his brain?
starts
condescending
definitely
a hundred times. Like, how
chance.
with
I’m
his crap
typical
So now I have to do it,
about
plus all our other paperwork,
how Anglos don’t know how to
because he’s off in court or
dress.
to the dentist or something,
Of course he instantly
and that takes up most of my
tells me he’s joking. Hah hah
morning. And the last thing I
72
CRIME FACTORY ISSUE FOURTEEN need is more grief from guys
Al
with butt plugs in their ears.
Day Afternoon, and yammering
And that might have been the
in French that it’s a stick-
highlight of the day. It goes
up and everybody stay calm
downhill from there.
and nobody will get hurt and
And then it’s lunch, but
mouthing off about all us rich
that’s no escape -- I have to
maudit Westmount Anglos and
go to the bank to cash a cheque
all that tired old nationalist
(because Bill forgot to get out
crap.
some money, of course), and
naturally they’re renovating
Really? What year is this?
all the damn ATMs again or
1976?
something at the Alexis Nihon
mall (“renovating” them for
I pull my piece, and politely
our “convenience” of course)
identify myself to the little
so I have to wait in line
creep,
for an actual teller and I’m
just in case he thinks I’m
stuck behind some old geezer
some
who smells like an old ashtray
to pull a fast one or some
and
crazy
keeps
turning
around
Friggin’
Pacino
Like,
in
Dog
Supertramp?
Well, get hurt, my ass.
flash
stupid
him
my
citizen
American
badge trying
tourist
who
and trying to peer down my
thinks he’s Dirty Harry and
blouse.
tell him calmly but firmly,
And then, just make my
just the way we’re supposed
day
complete,
greasy
to, one hundred percent by
little twerp with the junkie
the book, to please put down
sweats and a Supertramp Crime
the weapon.
of the Century T-shirt breaks
Sir.
out of the line and whips out
Or I’ll shoot him in the
a bloody old .38 and starts
damn kneecap.
waving it around like he’s
some
But
you
think
Jesse
73
CRIME FACTORY ISSUE FOURTEEN James there listens? No, of course not! He’s a man.
So
then
his
gun
goes
flying and people are screaming in all the usual languages, and he’s spinning around and around on the floor like an old 45, yelling and crying and there’s an awful lot of blood around the crotch of his jeans and he’s yelling at me, “Why’d you fucking do that for, maudit Christ de chienne?”
Okay, so I missed his
knee
by
a
few
inches,
but
Christ, what does he mean, why did I do it?
I swear, men, they never
listen….
126 74
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN piles
Hobo Race
By DeLeon DeMicoli
by
of
junk
contractors
left
behind
and
evicted
tenants.
White Man had wads of
Waz Mane’s elbow grinded into
Scotch tape holding up his
Cap’s jawline. Face pressed up
plastic
against the fence. Warm blood
up
trickled down onto onlookers
recognize one letter from the
fingers curled into the chain
next last time he visited the
links.
DMV, resulting in his driver’s
Cap
remembered
how
frames.
lenses
made
it
hard
license
felt when the ruby eyes cut
his sight still good enough
into his flesh. He wore a beard
to
back
garbage when Cap looked to
peppered
white
with
a
whiskers few
revoked.
to
Mane’s gold lion’s head ring
then,
being
Scratched
identify
vintage
But from
dark
hock treasures, hoping to buy
strands. Wads of cracked flesh
a plate of tacos or a part
sagged under his eyes. Toasted
for the rusted 60s Triumph
complexion caked with grime
motorbike frame hung on the
and dirt. Was a different man
back of his RV.
then. Too clean cut for Mane
to recognize now. Spent a year
syrup
living out of a tan Chevy 30
a telephone line the length
motorhome. White Man fine with
of the corner lot. Empty Cup
Cap parking it in front of
Noodles
his dilapidated Victorian as
tall grass. Feet crunched down
long as he picked up after
onto empty liquor bottles as
himself. Freed up afternoons
Cap pushed off the fence. Freed
to ride his restored Schwinn
up space for him to circle
Panther
around
away. Bloodied up Mane’s nose
Bottoms,
scavenging
the
Lower through
with
Prescription bottles
a
cough
dangled
from
styrofoam caught in
jab.
But
his
right
75
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
hook cut through the night
ran down the side of his face.
air, giving Mane time to duck
Wore a blue hoodie and jeans.
and counter, crashing Cap’s
A
organs into one another. A knee
G-Shock
slammed up into his groin. He
to his wrist. Pitched Mane a
dropped to the ground. Chunks
brown vial over the fence post.
of
Mane poured a bump of white
glass
stabbed
into
his
forearms.
black
and
gold
timepiece
iced
out
attached
girl on the side of his hand. him.
Snorted it. Placed the vial
dangled
into his pocket and rapped,
from muscles carved into his
“Ain’t no turnin’ back when
torso. Baggy jeans hung below
I’s put a molly whoppin’ on
his backside. Chunks of Hanes
you.”
boxer shorts collected over
his
Rapped,
street stated no parking first
“Stay down if you know what’s
Wednesday’s of each month due
good for you.”
to street cleaning. Cap parked
Cap spit snot and blood
his RV along the service drive
into a patch of weeds. Khaki
leading to an abandoned train
trousers
dirt.
station to avoid a ticket.
Joints sounded like crackling
Woke up in the early hours
ice dropped into tap as he
with
shifted his weight onto his
his head, hands knotted up in
knees. Said, “Not even close
front of him. He sat on his
to being done with you yet.”
knees.
He rose to his feet. Blood
down
dripped off his elbows.
once his imagination got away
Cutty stood on the other
from him. He knew there were
side of the fence among the
places in the Lower Bottoms
locals. A large jagged scar
folks weren’t welcome. Heard
Gold
Mane
stood
Franco
belly
over
chain
button.
soiled
with
Sign
a
on
White
pillowcase
Warm
the
covering
drizzle
side
of
Man’s
poured
his
leg
76
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
stories of what happened when
cold cement ground.
keaks
got
a
hold
of
you,
Mane rapped, “First one
but always thought they was
make it to the pail and put
folklore.
out their fire lives. Other
two cook. Them’s the rules,
Waz Mane wore a black
leather jacket, baggy jeans
yo.”
and white on white Air Force
One’s. A thirty-three set to
Birdy, dressed in a yellow
his
Puma
lips.
Pulled
the
damp
A large, robust man named tracksuit,
threw
the
pillowcase from Cap’s head.
empty canister of gasoline,
he poured over the three men,
First thing Cap focused
on were flames dancing inside a
into
rusted steel drum. Crackling
another
light illuminated the exposed
steel column. Poured a line
wood beams in the ceiling and
of gasoline from each man’s
brick interior.
post to twenty feet back. Had
Mane passed the broccoli
all three lines converge by
to Cutty. Exhaled. Took a swig
his feet. Then, pulled out a
from
match.
a
bottle
of
eighteen
the
darkness. canister
Grabbed
set
by
a
dummy juice wrapped in brown
paper.
taught him when there was a
Pointed
over
Cap’s
Waz Mane moved like Coach
head and rapped, “Hit ‘em.”
string dangling the length of
A wave of cool liquid
the room, bopping and weaving
soaked into Cap’s clothing.
from one end to the other.
Dripped
beard.
Cap too old to keep up with
Both men on either side of
the young man’s pace. Got off
him
The
first with a jab. Mane leaned
intoxicating fumes stung eyes,
back, raised his shoulder to
burned nostrils and made the
cover
men cough and spit onto the
with a cross, pivoting off his
from
drenched
his as
well.
his
chin.
Countered
77
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
right foot with enough force
his head as he tried whacking
to snap a wood plank in half.
away flames that ate at his
Cap back-footed like he was
clothes
blotto. Mane smirked. Turned
like a hyena. Boils formed
to Cutty and rapped, “Dude
over his skin. Vertigo kicked
ain’t got nothin’ left.”
in causing him to drop to the
A
Kool
Cutty’s
lips.
dangled Rapped,
and
hair.
Screamed
from
ground, curl up into the fetal
“Let
position and cook.
him know what happens when he
go ‘round tha ‘hood calling
Got his first taste for the
you out, yo.”
needle
war. Returned to the Lower
Flames ate up gasoline,
rapidly
overseas
during
the
the
Bottoms with an appetite he
three-seated men. Cap lunged
couldn’t shake. Swept floors
forward,
the
inside Leo’s Custom Auto Shop
pail of water while excess
on 15th Street. Found peace
gasoline,
his
under the entrance of a UAW
clothing, dripped underneath
office. He struck Cap in the
him. Other two men followed
back of the head. Waves of
suite.
chasing
yellow and orange crawled up
them down like guard dogs let
Cap’s leg. Whacked at them
loose on trespassers.
with open hand strikes. Feet
approached
Other hobo went by Bear.
ran
soaked
Orange
Syd
towards
spent
into
heat
the
sixties
felt
nestled
in
lukewarm
fighting the establishment and
bath water. He kicked off his
to end war. Disability checks
boots. Peeled off his sweater
paid for protest fliers and
and yanked down his pants.
canned food. Lived in a tent
Crawled away from his burning
on
pile of clothes in his socks
a
putting
green
across
from the neighborhood sports
and underwear.
field. His arms flailed over
Other
end
of
the
78
CRIME FACTORY ISSUE FOURTEEN building,
a
water
drenched
the room once she felt his
Bear felt his jaw shift over to
fingers curl into her hand.
his ear. Arm dangled against
His
his
released
over him. Face red and puffy.
from his grip once Cutty’s
Damp Kleenex enclosed in her
baseball
fist. Said, “Doctor’s coming.
ribcage,
pail
bat
pelted
his
wife,
Lorraine,
stood
elbow. Second swing knocked
Take it easy.”
his legs out from under him.
Cutty and Birdy hammered away
responding by his Christian
until Bear lay in a pool of
name for the year he’d been
warm juice.
away.
family
Mane left impressions of
Cap
wasn’t
Doctors, members
used
police asked
to
and what
his ring onto Cap’s bare skin.
happened to him? Why abandon
Cap protected his head. Arms
your family after being laid
took damage from foot stomps.
off from your job?
Waited
until
Mane
took
a
A molar felt like hard
breather. Lunged forward and
candy as it swirled around the
ran. Jumped out of a window
inside of his mouth. Spit it
opening.
he
onto the ground. Hugged Waz
was on the third floor until
Mane’s pant leg while hammer
he counted the seconds during
fists struck the side of his
free-fall.
head. Mane turned around and
kicked out, freeing himself
later
Didn’t
realize
He woke up several days on
bed.
from Cap’s grip. A push-kick
face.
followed, causing the bridge
Right arm wrapped in a cast,
of Cap’s nose to snap. Eyes
same for his left leg. Felt
swollen. Back hit the dirt.
pressure against his chest.
Stared
Wheezed when he inhaled. His
sky as he fell in and out of
daughter, Hildy, ran out of
consciousness.
Bandages
a
hospital
covered
his
up
into
the
night
79
CRIME FACTORY ISSUE ISSUE FOURTEEN EIGHT Mane grinned. Turned around
Mane’s finger and pulled it off.
and rapped, “Let’s get a taco.
Leaned into his ear and read
Hungry
aloud graffiti written on the
his
as
shirt
fuck.” hung
on
Grabbed a
post.
far brick wall, “Raised by a
Wiped off the blood and spit
fist, but shot with a gun.”
collected on his gold lion’s
He turned around and walked
head ring.
away.
Fired shots muted a police siren
heard
a
few
blocks
down Peralta Street. Chunks of
Mane’s
insides
dangled
from the chain link fence. Blood spatter covered most of Cutty’s face. The area quickly cleared of witnesses. Mane had trouble keeping his balance. Clenched the fence for support. Knees shaken.
Air
Force
One’s
stained from liquids heaved out of his mouth. It took a moment for Cap to get to his feet. The .38 Smith & Wesson 15-4 pressed against his
knee
as
he
caught
his
breath. Made sure his legs were steady. Then stammered towards
the
fence.
Ripped
Mane’s hand free. Gripped the chunk of gold wrapped around
140 80
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN in an untamable cowlick and
Evil Streak
dark brown eyes Kate had once
By Michael M. B. Galvin
referred to as mocha. He was solid, with broad shoulders and
big
hands,
and
just
a
They were getting along fine
little bit top-heavy. He didn’t
until Freddy went and said
smile easily. He had a scar
the thing about Kate.
on his chin from a childhood
Gregorio’s hadn’t been
accident. He was shaved close
remodeled since the 80’s. The
and was wearing a tight gray
Coke was flat, the floor was
zip-up sweatshirt.
sticky, the pizza was bad and
the garlic knots were as hard
physical
as math. It was dark, though,
didn’t
and the booths were private,
Reagan watched him shove slice
and
eating
after slice into his face and
anyway. You didn’t maintain
wondered how the guy stayed
peak
by
thin. Then again, he wasn’t
eating crap, and maintaining
thin, not really. He didn’t
peak physical condition was
weigh much, but what there
important to him. You never
was was all fat. Reagan was
knew when you might have to
aware of such things. Freddy
run, or kick something really
was maybe thirty. Reagan was
hard, or lift something really
thirty-two.
heavy,
Reagan
wasn’t
physical
or
condition
break
somebody’s
Freddy was not in peak condition,
mind
the
and
bad
he
food.
The crack about Kate came
arm at the elbow. Life was
up early in the conversation,
unpredictable.
and, at the time, Reagan had
let it pass. He hadn’t dated
six
He was one inch shy of feet,
with
brown
hair
Kate for almost two years,
that came over his forehead
and he hadn’t even seen her
81
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
for about ten months. He still
never
thought
though,
Freddy pushed his plate away
and to Reagan, that counted
and started to pick at the
for something.
back of his front teeth, like
about
“Yeah,
her,
she
looks
said
anything.
Then
like
there was a clump of tartar he
shit,” Freddy said. “You on
couldn’t dislodge. First he
Facebook? Look at her pictures.
used his fingernail, and then
She’s out every night of the
he grabbed a plastic coffee
week, she’s always fucked up.
stirrer, broke it in half, and
She’s all over anything that
started
moves.
Plus,
After a few minutes, Reagan
about
twenty
she’s
gained
pounds.
You
digging
couldn’t
with
that.
concentrate
on
ask me, you got out just in
anything the guy was saying.
time.”
He began to believe he could
that
hear Freddy scraping away at
Freddy meant it as a kind of
his teeth. It gave Reagan a
male bonding, the girl dumped
headache.
you, let’s rag on her together,
you and me, women, Christ,
the coffee stirrer onto the
who needs them? Solidarity,
floor and asked him what he
brother.
thought, Reagan weighed the
It’s
Freddy
flipped
Reagan took it. He felt that
of the job. Then he picked up
tingle in his head. He wiped
a glass shaker filled with red
his palms on his jeans.
pepper flakes and bashed the
subject
and
moved went
the
when
dig at Kate against the merits
Freddy
not
So
way
That’s
possible
off
the
asshole in the mouth with it
into
the
as hard as he could.
details of the heist, slurping down free refills and blowing
Reagan waited in a line of
his nose into napkins. Reagan
cars outside the pre-school.
82
CRIME FACTORY
There
was
to
hospital for stitches, and he
jam a car seat into his own
was terrified of Reagan after
car, a blue and silver 1981
that. Reagan wound up in a
Datsun 280 Z, so he was in his
therapist’s
sister’s red Toyota Matrix.
sessions
There
What some professionals might
were
no
way
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Cheerios
ground
office,
didn’t
but
last
long.
into the upholstery and the
consider
car
issues’ most people recognize
smelled
a
little
like
‘impulse
the
sour milk. There were fading
instinctively
butterfly
streak.’
stickers
stuck
on
as
down
‘evil
An empty water bottle rolled
window and inched along until
around in the passenger side
he came to a harried teacher
footwell.
with a clipboard and a walkie-
It had been about a week
talkie. He gave her his name
since the thing at Gregorio’s.
and she checked the list. Then
Reagan had been careful not
she called into the school and
to lose his temper since. He
had Reagan drive up a hundred
was in control of his body,
feet or so to wait.
and he should be in control
of his mind. He remembered
the door, all bookbag and pink
when he was a kid, not too
boots. She hugged her uncle
much older than Clementine,
and showed him a drawing she
and he had gotten into a fight
had made of what she claimed
with his neighbor Chris, and
to be a volcano. He opened
Reagan got so angry he picked
the back door and scooped her
his bike up over his head and
into the child safety seat.
threw
it,
pedal
caught
Chris
rolled
an
the inside of the back window.
grinning
He
control
his
Clementine bopped out of
as
the
She hummed to herself as he
in
the
buckled her in.
shin. Chris had to go to the
Reagan
finished,
stood
83
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
up, and looked over the car
driving, too. They had worked
and across the street. That’s
together
when he saw the Ford Explorer.
Dockit Industries thing. He
It was too far away to know
was a good man, all business.
for sure, but his instincts
There was a third guy in the
had always been good, and his
back seat, but Reagan couldn’t
instincts
see him. They were arguing
what
telling
him
last
year
who was in the truck and what
about something.
was about to happen.
That sounds awful.”
He got in the driver’s
seat.
“The “Not
fresh meat,
“You all buckled in?”
Fresh Beat Band.”
“Yes,” said Clementine.
“Then let’s go!”
have here.”
Reagan pulled out onto
on
meat beat!
the
band? The
“Oh. Let me see what we He popped the CD into
the street.
the stereo. He doubted they
were out to kill him. Freddy
“You want to listen to
music?”
was pissed off, sure, but he
“Yes!”
wasn’t stupid, and the fact
“What kind? Opera?”
was
“No!
The
Fresh
Beat
Reagan
made
the
Greek
too much money for Freddy to
Band!”
take him out. Freddy would
Reagan checked his rear
want to teach him a lesson,
view. The Explorer was two
though, so he put together
car lengths back, between a
this little trio to give him
ricer Mitsubishi and a silver
a good beating. Reagan didn’t
Avalon. He could see Freddy in
think the other guys in the
the front seat with some kind
truck were Freddy’s buddies.
of a bandage over his nose.
That meant Freddy was paying
He recognized the black guy
them, and that meant that they
84
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
weren’t emotionally invested
hotter and he was just dumb
in
the
arguing
outcome.
They
were
enough to start firing out the
because
they
knew
window if he got frustrated.
there was a kid in Reagan’s
Reagan’s
car. The guys wanted to call it
him if anything happened to
off or postpone it, but Freddy
Clementine.
wanted it done. Or maybe it
was the other way around.
off home and then go to meet
Freddy.
The
Fresh
Beat
Band
sister
would
kill
He could drop the kid But
there
wasn’t
came on, multi-ethnic twenty-
anybody over there. Melanie
somethings cheerfully blasting
had to take Josh to a doctor’s
out
for
appointment for his foot. The
toddlers. “On your mark, get
guy had been hobbling around
set, let’s move! Hop aboard,
for months.
we’re leaving now, we’ve got
so much to do!”
if he was in his Z, but the
Matrix was a gutless wonder.
catchy
pop
music
“This music is terrible,”
He
could
outrun
them
Reagan said.
Good gas mileage, though.
“No, it isn’t!”
“It sounds like a washing
beating.
He could just take the
machine full of rocks.”
“You’re weird, anky!”
tail. He made his decision and
Clem called Reagan anky
took a left into the shopping
because when she was smaller
plaza. They followed him past
she couldn’t say Uncle. It
the Dick’s and the 24 Hour
stuck.
Fitness and the Staples.
He
ran
through
his
They were still on his
“Are
options. He could just keep
McDonald’s?”
driving, but you never know,
this might make Freddy even
McDonald’s?”
we
going
to
“Do you want to go to
85
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
“I want French fries!”
through Clem’s bookbag, but
“But little girls don’t
he knew it was a longshot.
like
to
fries.
Not even Melanie would send a
They like to eat worms and
three year-old to school with
dirt and bugs.”
something that could be used
“No, they don’t!”
as a weapon.
“Really?”
“They don’t!”
stack of books and a packet of
“I don’t know. I’m pretty
Go-Gurt. “Here. You can read
eat
French
He handed Clementine a
sure I read that somewhere.”
about Angelina Ballerina and
“I want McDonald’s!”
a cow that drives a boat.”
“Let
“That’s a dog!”
“I’m pretty sure it’s a
me
think
about
it.”
He
drove
around
and
cow.”
behind a TJ Maxx and parked
facing a wall. The Explorer
were waiting. Reagan cracked
pulled in after him and sat
the center console. Nothing
idling about a hundred feet
but
away, waiting to see what he
Splenda packets and CD cases.
would do.
He hit the glove compartment
“Listen. I have to get
and found the car’s manual,
out of the car for a minute.
some hand lotion, a packet
You just wait here, please.”
of
“Okay.”
Chipotle,
“I won’t be long.”
sunglasses.
“Okay.”
And a screwdriver.
He
Flat-head,
took
a
quick
The guys in the other car
empty
gum
tissues,
canisters,
napkins
and
a
from
pair
maybe
of
four
inventory of the Matrix. There
inches of metal sticking up
was nothing in plain sight
from a skinny plastic handle.
he
Cheap. Flimsy. Not a tool you
might
use.
He
searched
86
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
would use for a real job, but
He stood.
just the thing for prying a
The driver shut off the
stuck CD out of a stereo.
Explorer’s
engine.
He
and
Freddy
the
in
the
It
would
have
to
do.
and
He waited.
guy
Reagan stuck the screwdriver
back climbed out. Freddy had
into his sock and looked in
an automatic pointed at the
the
ground.
back
seat.
Clementine
handed him the Go-Gurt.
“You
have
Reagan
guessed
the
other two had guns somewhere
to
open
he couldn’t see them.
this.”
He tore the top off the
blared out of the Matrix. “Are
package and gave it back. Clem
you ready to roll? ‘Cause here
sucked
we go!”
away
as
she
flipped
The
Fresh
Beat
Band
through a book. The car seat
reached around on the sides,
the driver.
so even if she got bored and
“Reagan.”
wanted
she
“Looking good, Freddy.”
really couldn’t. Unless she
“Fuck you, you fucking
unbuckled
psycho,” said Freddy. Reagan
to
look
around
herself.
Could
“Glenn,” Reagan said to
she do that? He assumed she
could
could.
words. Freddy’s jaw was wired
shut.
He would have to be fast.
hardly
He turned up the music.
flowers?”
“Wait for me here, Clem.
“You
make
didn’t
out
get
the
the
Don’t get out.”
Glenn smiled and Freddy
She ignored him.
seethed. The tape on his face
Okay. Go time.
meant the nose was broken.
He got out of the Matrix
The left side of his face was
and walked with his hands out
bruised
to his sides.
was
a
and
swollen.
burst
blood
There vessel
87
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
that made his left eye almost
and only one of you.”
completely red.
until you get more guys?”
He mumbled through his
“You
want
me
to
wait
clenched teeth, “Real fucking
funny, dick.”
Glenn forward. “Move! What the
guy
Reagan from
nodded
the
to
back
the
seat,
a
Freddy waved Stussy and
fuck am I paying you for?”
The kid bounced on the
tough looking kid with acne
soles of his feet and shook out
scars,
twenty-one,
his fists while Glenn walked
in a Stussy baseball cap and
carefully to Reagan. He pulled
a striped hoody. Stussy just
a small length of pipe from
stared.
the back of his waistband and
“No guns,” said Reagan.
held it in his right hand.
“You
“Nothing personal, Reagan.”
twenty,
don’t
make
the
rules,” said Freddy.
“He’s
right,
no
guns.
Reagan nodded. “Nothing
personal.”
We don’t need to get carried
away.” Glenn turned to Freddy
three feet away, Reagan lunged
and the other guy. “Put them
for Glenn. Glenn was a known
in the truck.” When neither
quantity. He was older than
man
the kid and he had been in
moved,
himself.
Glenn
“Put
them
repeated in
the
truck.”
They
When
they
were
about
the business almost as long as Reagan. He worked for the
obeyed.
Reagan
Greek,
too,
supposed
running the show, he wasn’t
everybody probably worked for
really running the show.
the Greek. Glenn had him by
Freddy
smiled
at
in
Reagan
noted that even with Freddy
that
though
some
way
him.
two or three inches, but he
“You sure you want to do this,
was too deliberate to be a
Reagan? There’s three of us
good fighter. He lacked the
88
CRIME FACTORY killer
instinct.
He
just
wasn’t angry enough.
Glenn
Reagan’s wasn’t
“Come
on,
asshole,”
under but
When Stussy came at him
again, Reagan got him with a
Reagan leveled at his knee.
forehead to the face. Now the
It
and
kid had blood streaming out
bent his leg backward with a
of his nose to match the blood
sickening crack. Glenn went
from Reagan’s mouth. This made
down,
knee,
Stussy mad. He responded with
and the pipe clanked to the
a flurry of punches, some of
pavement.
which Reagan blocked and some
caught
Glenn
clutching
The
the
he
pussy.”
kick
expecting
Stussy said. “You’re a fucking
ducked
haymaker,
ISSUE FOURTEEN
flush
the
music
from
the
of which he didn’t. The kid
Matrix never stopped. “We got
was strong and fast. Reagan
a green light! We’re gonna
couldn’t quite seem to hit
take a ride! Come on, what
him and the constant blows
are you waiting for? ‘Cause
were starting to get to him.
here we go!”
He went down on one knee.
Freddy yelled “Fucking
kill
him!”
Before Stussy could even
react,
Reagan
was
on
him.
as
loud
as
He tackled him and brought
closed jaw would let him.
him
down,
but
the
kid
had
his
Reagan saw Stussy moving
something to prove. He kneed
toward the pipe on the ground.
Reagan
and
He couldn’t let the kid get
an
ahold of that, so he charged,
elbow that caught Reagan in
wrapping Stussy up and driving
the mouth. Reagan ducked to
him across the parking lot
the side just in front of a
and right into the side of
well-thrown left that could
the Matrix.
have done some real damage.
in
squirmed
the
away,
stomach swinging
The
Fresh
Beats
sang,
89
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
“It’s time to move it! It’s
wash over him. He tuned out
time to groove it! Are you
the pain. He tuned out the
ready? ‘Cause here we go!”
Fresh Beat Band. Stussy came
smashed
at him again and Reagan simply
into the window right next
reached out, grabbed the kid’s
to Clementine. She looked up
right ear, and ripped it off
with her big three-year-old’s
of his head.
eyes and Reagan pulled him
away. He winked at Clem and
manager from TJ Maxx came out
circled his finger around his
the back door with both hands
head in a this-guy’s-cuckoo
filled with garbage bags, he
gesture. Then he threw Stussy
saw a black man lying on the
as far across the parking lot
ground cradling his leg, a
as he could.
wailing kid on his knees in a
blood-soaked sweatshirt, and
Freddy’s
face
“Give it up, kid. He’s
When
the
assistant
not paying you enough to get
Reagan,
killed.”
than
and holding a severed ear.
“He’s paying me enough
bleeding
one
spot
on
from
more
his
face
to fuck you up.”
Reagan grinned at him with
He came again, and this
blood-stained teeth and the
time Reagan sidestepped him.
assistant manager dropped the
As Stussy went past, Reagan
bags and ran back inside the
grabbed his arm and spun him.
store.
The kid was ready, though,
and he caught Reagan with a
to reality. Time to go, he
brutal forearm to the eyes.
thought. Cops are incoming.
It hurt. It also woke up that
thing inside Reagan that he
back around, he felt Freddy
was
behind
always
trying
to
keep
under wraps. He felt the heat
Reagan
But
snapped
before
him.
He
he had
back
turned gotten
the gun from the truck and
90
CRIME FACTORY ISSUE FOURTEEN ISSUE EIGHT was pointing it at Reagan’s
and into Freddy’s left temple.
head.
It slid right inside Freddy’s
“You couldn’t just take
your
fucking
said.
beating,”
“Anybody
else
he
would
head and took a piece of skull with it when it poked out near Freddy’s forehead.
have just taken the fucking
beating.”
go. It stuck. Freddy dropped
Reagan
put
his
Reagan let the screwdriver
hands
the gun and reached his hands
on his knees and started to
up to his face. There was a
pant, calming himself, trying
lot of blood.
to get his heart rate down.
still on his feet.
“I have a kid in the
car.” I
“The
had
fuck
some
do
pussy
I
care?
lined
up
Somehow,
Freddy
was
“What did you do?” he
asked,
honestly
“Seriously.
What
confused. did
you
this weekend, and look at my
do?”
fucking face!”
“It’s not that bad.”
Freddy patted gently at his
“I’m
eating
through
a
fucking straw!”
Reagan
looked
Reagan
backed
away
own face. The rage in Reagan was fading fast. He wiped as
over
at
much blood off his own face as
the Matrix and went pale.
he could with his shirt.
“Clem! Get back in the
car!”
as
Freddy
felt
around
gingerly until he found the Freddy
swiveled
his
screwdriver’s
handle.
He
head to look, but no one was
asked, “What do I do? Do I
getting out of the car. He
pull it out?”
turned back just in time for
Reagan to pop out of his squat
to a hospital. Actually, you
and shove the screwdriver up
know what? Just stay here.
“I wouldn’t. Maybe get
169 91
CRIME FACTORY ISSUE ISSUE FOURTEEN EIGHT I’m sure somebody’s coming.”
right through him. As they
drove away, Reagan could feel
Reagan started for the
Matrix.
the kid’s head bounce against
“Wait! Don’t leave me!”
the undercarriage . He could
Reagan shrugged and got
have been okay, but Reagan
into the Toyota. He turned
knew he wasn’t.
the music down before he put
the car in reverse and backed
“Speedbumparoonies!”
up, careful not to hit Glenn,
or Stussy, or Freddy, who was
notice. When you’re a kid,
wandering in panicky little
lots of things happen that
circles with his hands on his
you can’t explain.
face.
“Who
was
that
man?”
“Whoa!” Clem
Reagan
didn’t
said.
seem
to
“Are we still going to
McDonald’s?” she asked.
asked Clem.
“What man, honey?”
get you a spider milkshake,”
“The
man
at
the
window.”
“Absolutely. We need to
said Reagan. “Right after we hit a car wash.”
“That was my friend. He
was just being silly.”
“He was all bleeding!”
“He was not. He was just
playing a game.”
He slammed the car into
drive and wrenched the wheel. That’s when he saw Stussy, red anger in his eyes, pointing a gun right at the windshield. Without even thinking, Reagan leaned on the gas and plowed
140 92
CRIME FACTORY
a mess of his sock. The pain
The House On North Cass
By
ISSUE FOURTEEN has almost all but vanished—
Robert James Russell
or, anyway, it’s subdued, not worth thinking about at a time like this.
And as he walks up the drive
of the small house on North
swollen
Cass with the snubnose tucked
things on his peripherals and
in his pocket, Jimmy tries
causing shapes to jump out
to discern where the uneasy
that aren’t actually there. On
feeling
account of a concussion, more
has
come
from.
It
He
lumps
forward,
eyes
his
distorting
isn’t on account of how easy
than
Rollo gave up the location
He stops near the broken-down
that bothers him…not really:
garage
he has absolutely no doubt in
calls above in the dark sky,
his mind it’s all a set-up.
thunder somewhere close, car
Really it’s that he’s going
honking, a dog. He can paint
along
with
a scene with the familiarity
Young
Jimmy,
it
anyway—that Smart
likely, door,
from
earlier.
listens:
bird
Jimmy,
of those sounds in a place
would never do such a thing.
like this, a neighborhood so
But here’s Old Jimmy, Unwise
far gone it had almost tripped
Jimmy,
on itself coming back around
walking
right
into
it.
again. The kind of place he Jimmy can’t be bothered
once felt comfortable in. The
with any of that now anyway.
kind of place he now feels
Instead he limps slowly up the
wary
driveway and can feel fresh
with. But that’s impossible
blood run down the inseam of
tonight.
his
left
leg
and
soak
the
insides of his boot, making
of,
ready
to
be
done
The dog he hears barking—
pretty consistent since his
93
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
arrival ten minutes earlier—
lot adjacent, gaping windows
it’s south, two houses down,
and
one street back. It was always
then back to this house, the
his job to find the escape route
curtains drawn and that faint
first, always first, so before
smell of vinegar in the air.
he shuffles any further up the
Places like this, when they
street and before he brazenly
go quiet, he knows no good
approaches
is
house—he
the
peers
house—the through
the
semi-collapsed
being
had.
roof,
This
is
no
exception.
backyards and makes an exit
strategy
been
sagging front stoop with the
taught making mule runs with
corners of the stone steps
Psycho and Little Bill back
all but chipped away and looks
during those initiation days.
through the front window best
“You just never know,” Little
he can, mapping in his mind
Bill would say. “Better always
how he thinks the interior
have a fucking get-away.”
might
ranch-style
like
he
had
So Jimmy plans before he
Jimmy
be
approaches
laid
out.
houses
the
These
are
all
takes one more step like it’s
built from the same goddamned
as natural as breathing: head
blueprint anyway: front door
one street over, in front of
opening to living room opening
the house with the barking
to dining/kitchen area, small
dog,
then
hall leading to bathrooms and
north on King half a mile,
bedrooms, stairs to basement
wash-up at the Texaco and he’s
near the garage. He takes a
clear. For a while, anyway.
step
street
burst of pain run through his
street
leg and to his back and even
lamps, burned-down shell of
though every bit of him is
a house that stands in the
screaming for him to stop and
down
He
again:
two
surveys
blocks
the
busted-out
up
and
feels
a
sharp
94
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
turn around, he ignores these
instincts and lurches further
and steps toward the couch,
up to the door, cracked open as
slow.
if he was an invited guest.
of old age, he thinks. The
Inside the living room—
impetuousness is gone even if
just
where
the
he wants it back. He hovers
be—the
over the man he recognizes
living
he
room
thought would
Jimmy takes out the gun The
only
grace
TV is blaring some sort of
through
infomercial,
the
spotted, booze-soaked skin as
a
Benji Queen, just a kid when
violent blue-white haze. It
Jimmy left so long ago. A damn
takes
kid.
otherwise
coating
dark
Jimmy
a
room
in
moment
for
thick
good
beard
and
his eyes to adjust, and as
they do the outline of a man
of this now, they all are.
comes into focus lying on the
Jimmy wipes his eyes clean,
couch, shirtless. Asleep. He
clear, thinks about how it’s
waits,
it
going to go down. Use the gun,
isn’t a trick, takes stock
everyone’s awake. And there’s
of
see:
no telling how many are holed
living room dirty, unkempt;
up in this shithole. So, what
plates of food and takeout
instead? Jimmy waits, thinks,
containers
watches Benji shift in place,
makes
damn
everything
he
sure can
staggered;
La-Z-
Doesn’t matter—he’s part
Boy type chair in the corner,
snore
cushions ripped out; kitchen
finally get comfortable, then
dark, empty; sliver of light
doze back off. Oblivious.
from
hall
wedged
on
the
loudly,
shift
again,
He pockets the gun and
dining room floor; man snoring
walks quietly to the kitchen
somewhere,
bedroom
looking first down the hall
maybe; TV on somewhere else,
to the left—all doors open
maybe basement. Not sure.
and dark inside but one, a
spare
95
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
bedroom at the end, open a
and finally lunges toward him
crack with some light coming
with a knife of his own, of
out. Where the second TV is,
the hunting variety: short but
he thinks. He passes through
fat, sturdy, the kind you’d use
the small dining room with
to dress a deer. Jimmy manages
the table covered in bottles
to
and more food containers and
thrust and they topple toward
sees, like he knew he would,
the sink together, making a
a door past the kitchen next
loud clanking noise when the
to a small bathroom leading
metal of the blade hits. He’s
to the basement: door shut,
behind Benji now and without
all quiet. He waits, listens,
even contemplating he puts him
hears the collective snoring
in a headlock, trying hard to
of the collective bodies fill
soothe the wild beast. Benji
the house, then goes back to
kicks
his
the
spills a nearby plate on the
first try in the first drawer
floor that cracks in pieces,
to the left of the sink, a
loud.
drawer of cutlery. He grabs
That’ll just about wake up
a steak knife—will do nicely,
everyone else, then.
slightly serrated, still has
some of its point to it—and
trying hard to break free from
turns back toward the living
the hold. He continues to kick
room to find Benji standing
his boots wildly along the
between him and it, staring
ground, leaving crooked black
straight back, all awake now,
skids on the cheap linoleum
his
and, finally, remembers he’s
task
and
muscled
finds,
body
on
ready
to
pounce.
Benji
deflect
and
Benji’s
bucks
Shit,
his
Jimmy
Meanwhile,
initial
legs,
thinks.
Benji’s
still holding the knife and doesn’t
say
a
reaches back with it, slicing
thing—Jimmy has no idea why—
open Jimmy’s neck just below
96
CRIME FACTORY ISSUE FOURTEEN ISSUE EIGHT the
collar.
Jimmy
releases
and
pant,
Benji, who falls, then scoots
spoken
back
a
toward
the
fridge
as
no
words
yet—must
dancing
being
sound
party
to
like
anyone
Jimmy grabs at the wound. At
downstairs—but
the ache.
thinking about any of that,
only this, right here, pitting
Benji breathes hard and
labored and it looks like he’s
everything
now ready to make the call
this
for
looks
his
compadres
to
come
he
great in
Jimmy
has
against
rhinoceros.
Benji’s
He
eyes—wide
back him up. But Jimmy, using
and
everything
rockets
sure how but finally gets his
meeting
opening and jacks the knife
throat—hard enough that Benji
into Benji’s neck along the
cannot speak—then elbows his
side, covering his mouth so
knife to the ground. Benji
any last minute sounds cannot
fights back again, more like
escape. Benji struggles for
wrestling—as all cornered and
a moment, reaches up as if
wounded
will—even
he wants to pull the blade
manages to punch Jimmy in the
out, but they are in a sort
leg near where he had gotten
of
shot earlier. But Jimmy keeps
keeps the blade firmly planted
at it: one hand on Benji’s
in, pushing harder until he
throat, the other fending off
can feel it hit bone, spine,
his tree-trunk arms fighting
until the great beast is limp
back, all while keeping the
in his arms.
knife in check, trying hard
to
the floor and collapses next
toward
find
he
him,
has, hand
animals
a
place
to
sheathe
wild,
isn’t
bear
tired—and
hug
now
and
isn’t
Jimmy
Jimmy sets the body on
it, Benji blocking him every
to
time.
notices the hole on his leg
The two of them grunt
it,
exhausted.
Then
he
more gaping now, blood pouring
169 97
CRIME FACTORY ISSUE ISSUE FOURTEEN EIGHT from it, another cut above his eye from the fight—somehow—but there’s no time to worry about any of that now: footsteps on the basement stairs, two sets. out
So and
he
takes
cocks
the
the
gun
hammer,
aiming best he can between shaking
hands,
his
vision
blurry, shaken up, too. And he waits.
140 98
CRIME FACTORY Scribbles From The Underworld By Ryan K. Lindsay
ISSUE FOURTEEN drugs
made
good
headlines,
but the little things that could fall through the cracks could and did. Until now.
With the aid of Victorian
On the stormy afternoon of
Police, we can present to you
Friday the 11th of June, 1982,
some of the stranger evidence
a
officers
collected on that day in the
raided the Downtown Bar and
Downtown. Below you can read
made a slew of arrests and
samples
acquisitions. A known hot spot
taken from the thugs’ pockets,
for the Melbourne underworld,
hidden cracks between tables,
thirty-five arrests were made
written on the bathroom walls,
with
successful
and crumpled in the bins. In
convictions stemming from the
their own words, we present to
day. History would dub this
you the men of the Melbourne
day ‘The Last Drink’ as the
underworld and their secret
Downtown would shut its doors
thoughts and musings.
squad
of
police
seventeen
of
the
paperwork
and never reopen. Those who scurried away from the long arm
of
the
law
found
Collected from the jacket of
new
Brandon ‘Legbreaker’ Murphy
places to imbibe and plan for
- lined A5 notepad paper
another rainy day.
The
names
and
photos
TO DO
from ‘The Last Drink’ went
Pick up milk
down in history but what was
Wash car
never revealed were many of
Burn clothes
the material items recovered
Bury shovel
from
Call Brad
the
raid.
Numbers
of
weapons and street value of
Fix back step
99
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Buy new shovel
Finished school
Floss
Laughs at my jokes
(Ed. A few of these items were
Drives a Holden
related to the recent execution of a police informant, name
Cons
withheld, and I am worried
Smarter than me
‘Floss’ might actually be a
Mother is a train wreck
part of that grouping)
Listens to The Undertones Born on Valentine’s Day
Collected from the back pocket of Billy Coogan - a Downtown napkin
Can’t deep throat (Ed. Billy would later marry Mandy
Fell.
Tanya
Windsor
would become his long standing TANYA
mistress until he found her
Pros
with
Can deep throat
Dandenong cottage he paid rent
Loves to deep throat
on. He beat both of them into
Drinks Melbourne Bitter
the ICU. She recovered and
another
man
in
the
moved in with her mother) Cons Chubby thighs
Collected from the bar in
Family in Geelong
front of Waz Atkins right
Red hair Can’t drive
next to his freshly poured schooner of Victoria Bitter - plain A4 paper
MANDY Pros
Free Datsun - Ideas
Green eyes
Give to Gary for his 16th
Long hair
Car bomb in Prahran
Reads books
Whack Joe, pop in the boot,
100
CRIME FACTORY ISSUE FOURTEEN ISSUE EIGHT launch
into
Sorrento
Back
list)
Beach surf Chadstone car park burn out
Collected behind the bar
club
tacked to the wall -
Hide drugs in doors, park in
cardboard
front of Joe’s, give Keene an
Books you need to read:
‘anonymous’ tip off
The Moon and Sixpence
(Ed. This note exposed the
And Then There Were None
previously unknown Chadstone
The Long Goodbye
Burnout Club and also sparked
Utopia
an IA inquiry into Detective
The Daughter of Time
Ralph Keene who was discovered
--Uncle Bang Bang
to
be
and
incredibly
would
be
corrupt
eventually
dishonourably discharged)
Collected from the wall to the left of the men’s urinal
Collected from Denis Paygen’s wallet - yellow Post-It
Ideas Don’t get caught Drink more Rob Zarn’s Jewellery
Wayne’s Birthday
Sleep with Zarn’s daughter
guitar
A urinal for shitting
shot gun
Have better ideas
bike
Blow my brains out
boots
Don’t carry more than $75
night at Palace Playmates
Read a book
bowie knife???
Write a book
Betamax player
Look up: book
(Ed. The Betamax was probably
Eat a whole chicken in one
the
sitting
most
dangerous
on
the
169 101
CRIME FACTORY ISSUE FOURTEEN ISSUE EIGHT Eat
a
whole
dog
in
one
sitting
I
only
Stop letting Ashuns in the
always want to leave. I need
bar
to leave.
Learn to spell
I will never leave. (Ed.
want
to
Clinically
leave.
I
depressed,
Collected from the mouth
Campbell would serve time for
of Charles Douglas as he
a
attempted to swallow it lined notepad paper
concealed
weapon
without
a permit. While in prison, Campbell
found
Jesus
and
confessed his sins. He had Recipe
killed over thirty criminals
Cardboard box
known
4 packets of nails
lead officers to every crime
Fresh dog shit
scene
Shit loads of sparklers
life sentences. He was the
A dozen gas bulbs
religious
Serve white hot
Pentridge until it closed. He
(Ed. This ‘recipe,’ or ‘cook
was released on good behaviour
sheet’
sometimes
and did finally leave Victoria
known, linked Douglas to a
and has never been in trouble
recent attack on a Vietnamese
with the law since.)
as
it’s
to and
the
police.
accrued figurehead
He
multiple within
restaurant - he was charged and sentenced to six years in Pentridge) Collected from Guy Campbell’s hand as he stared at it until placed into cuffs - lined index card
169 102
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
KEVIN BURTON SMITH is a Montreal crime writer, reviewer and Mystery Scene columnist, as well as editor and founder of The Thrilling Detective Web Site. He’s also a bookseller, graphic designer and musical booking agent for a local coffee house, and is currently living in California’s High Desert waiting for rain, respite from the heat and royalty cheques. He’ll sleep when he’s dead.
A man of many worlds, RYAN K. LINDSAY writes comics, about comics, and other prose. His credits include GHOST TOWN from Action Lab Entertainment, the FATHERHOOD one-shot from Challenger Comics, and a MY LITTLE PONY one-shot from IDW. He’s had short stories published by Image/ Shadowline, ComixTribe, Martian Lit, and Crime Factory. He’s also had essays published in CRIMINAL, GODZILLA, HORROR FACTORY, and has a book of them about Daredevil called THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS: EXAMINING MATT MURDOCK AND DAREDEVIL from Sequart. He is Australian. Hit him up @ryanklindsay for words daily
104
CRIME FACTORY
DeLEON DeMICOLI writes for the MMA Underground, a CBSSports.com partner. His free time is spent on the mats learning Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, boxing and Krav Maga in East Bay, CA.
ISSUE FOURTEEN
ROBERT JAMES RUSSELL is the Pushcart Prize nominated author of Sea of Trees (Winter Goose Publishing, 2012), and the co-founding editor of the literary journal Midwestern Gothic. His work haas appeared in Gris-Gris, The Collagist, Joyland,Thunderclap! Magazine, LITSNACK, and The Legendary, among others. Find him online at robertjamesrussell.com.
105
CRIME FACTORY
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MICHAEL M.B. GALVIN is a screenwriter living in Los Angeles. He is working on a graphic novel featuring a pissed-off Reagan out for revenge against his doublecrossing mother and is looking to publish LOUDER THAN BULLETS, his crime novel about a washed-up hair metal singer who becomes ensnared in a web of kidnapping and violence.
106
“I am damned” -Cave
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
The Mystery That Has No Physical Existence, But That Haunts In their groundbreaking essay “Broken Windows,” authors James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling articulate a rather interesting theory that seems to be at odds with popular conceptions of humanity. Ever heard that one about how people will do anything to avoid being hurt? More than likely, you’re familiar with the utilitarian belief in the happiness principle, a dictate and a philosophy that argues that humanity is at its most content when it is performing duties and engaging in activities that are bringing them the most pleasure. Both of these ideas are materially-based, and both utilitarians and those afraid of fists would agree that it’s all about the physical impact.
In “Broken Windows,” the thing emphasized is the threat of
violence. Actual violence matters less than the feeling that violence might happen. Instead of fearing the knife or the gun that we see
A Reflection on Georges Franju’s Nuits Rouges
by Benjamin Welton
108
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
in front of us, we are terrified by the stranger that we pass on the street. More importantly, we are afraid of what this mysterious person is capable of. Thus you not only have the unique character of urban paranoia, but you also have the original seeds of the detective
“Poe was more beloved and respected in foreign climes than on his own native shores...� and crime fiction narratives.
The first true example of this fear of the chaos lurking within
the heart of modern metropolises was written by an American. Edgar
109
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Allan Poe’s “The Man of the
a master of the macabre in
Crowd” (1840) is a bizarre
his own right, and plenty of
tale of an unknown narrator
the poems in his Les Fleurs
who
du mal (The Flowers Of Evil,
follows
looking
a
malevolent-
1857)
gleefully
London’s various ghettos of
Paris’s
debauchery
immorality. The final reveal
predilection
of this story (if indeed there
In
can be said to even be one)
“Le Vin de l’assassin,” which
is that the impromptu gumshoe
is often translated as “The
telling
Murderer’s
that
stranger
the
the
through
story
believes
mysterious
man
and
for
particular,
a
present violence.
Baudelaire’s
Wine,”
bloodied
its
presents
narrator
who
from London’s teeming crowd
has just dispatched of his
is the essential “genius of
wife in the most brutal way
deep crime.” In other words,
imaginable.
Poe’s haunting specter of the
schizophrenic
possibilities
Robert
of
the
urban
Recalling monologues
Browning’s
the of
“Madhouse
atmosphere is crime itself.
Cells,” “The Murderer’s Wine”
case
helped to inaugurate a new
American
narrative platform for social
As
with
has
been
many
other
the
masters (for instance Patricia
commentary
Highsmith, Raymond Chandler,
criminal
and Horace McCoy), Poe was
defiant anti-hero.
more
in
beloved
of
the
confessant
and
The French must have a
on
keen fondness for this type
shores.
In
of
thing,
particular, Poe developed a
the
nineteenth
following in France due to
the early twentieth, French
the translations of Charles
popular
Baudelaire.
a
own
climes
respected
as
that
than
his
foreign
and
-
native
Baudelaire
was
whole
for
throughout century
fiction of
host
and
presented of
amoral
110
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN gentleman
thief
Arsène Lupin, the criminal was all the rage in prewar France.
Still,
despite
France’s
long
infatuation
with fictional and real-life rouges, French
reading
audiences did
still
not
seem
prepared for what they received in 1911.
In
that
year, two rightwing Bonapartists and
journalists
unleashed on the world the literary embodiment
of
nihilistic
chaos
and
surreal
sadism. protagonists
along
the standard detectives and other figures of traditional authority. From Eugène Sue’s Les
Mystères
Maurice
de
Leblanc’s
Paris
with
to
debonair
M a r c e l
Allain and Pierre Souvestre’s
creation
-
Fantômas - is without question one
of
the
most
important
figures of twentieth century
111
CRIME FACTORY crime
fiction.
The
Fantômas
ISSUE FOURTEEN the
presence
character
novels and the subsequent films
of
directed by Louis Feuillade
discernible in Franju’s most
are some of the most unlikely
popular works. This isn’t mere
(and
of
speculation, for Franju’s two
European art. You could add
major crime thrillers - Judex
the prefix “high” to that last
(1963) and Nuits Rouges (1974)
sentence,
Fantômas,
- have direct connections to
the arch-criminal who is both
Feuillade’s World War I-era
nothing and everything, was a
film serials.
favorite of André Breton and
First of all, both films
the Surrealists who saw in the
were
co-written
character a demonic example
Champreux, “a habitué of the
of the Surrealistic project
Boulevard du Crime”
- the orchestrated desire to
grandson of Feuillade. Second,
elaborately display society’s
Franju’s Judex was a remake of
nonsensical,
Feuillade’s 1916 serial about
thrilling)
pieces
because
suicidal,
and
sadistic core.
Along
other
earlier
films
by
are
Jacques and the
a Corsican named Jacques de
with
members
radical
these
and
and
Breton of
and
Tremeuse who dresses up as
Paris’s
Judex, a black-clad avenger
left-wing
who
is
out
to
punish
the
intellectual class, Fantômas
banker Favraux for his hand
had a fan in Georges Franju,
in the elder de Tremeuse’s
an
suicide.
aspiring
filmmaker
from
Feuillade’s
serial
the small city of Fougères
is a melodramatic affair that
in the legend-haunted region
is throughly Manichean. While
of Brittany. Although Franju
it maintains the original’s
would later admit in interviews
quick
that the Feuillade films did
intertitles,
not
was consciously made as an art
directly
inspire
him,
cuts
and
use
Franju’s
of
Judex
112
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
film with noticeable touches
false
of Expressionism.
Franju’s sensibilities, this
Judex was no labor of
character needed more time on
love though, and from the very
the screen. Franju didn’t get
outset Franju made it clear
that chance with Judex, but he
that he would
finally did with Nuits Rouges,
rather remake
pretensions.
Fantômas, a film series and a
the
character he found far more
film.
intriguing. In a 1984 interview
translates to Red Nights) is
with the editors of L’Avant-
the very definition of pulp,
scène
picks
and its storyline is one part
apart the Judex character in
comic strip crime and one part
the most unflattering light:
fantastique. As a whole, Nuits
he’s
Rouges is far from Franju’s
a vampire; he’s a sadist. He
best film (that honor belongs
tortures
to the stunningly beautiful
cinéma,
“He’s
a
Franju
vulture;
Favraux,
he
keeps
maestro’s
For
Nuits
feature
Rouges
(which
him locked up, he sticks him
horror
in a hole, and he watches him
Face [Le yeux sans visage,
suffer...”
1960]), but it is certainly
his most decadent. It is this
Franju’s main point of
contention
Without
a
very decadence that ties Nuits
character was his own self-
Rouges back to the literary
appointed
a
traditions of France and what
that
Robin Walz has termed French
was
the
Eyes
Judex
moralist,
with
film
final
position a
based
position upon
transgression
as
of
his
own
certain
“pulp surrealism.”
With
Nuits
Rouges,
moral codes.
Champreux spun a sordid tale
of
Fantômas, on the other
secret
treasure,
hand, is openly a murderer
identities,
and
societies. In one corner, The
is
a
villain
with
no
and
secret secret
113
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Man Without a Face (who is
played by Champreux himself),
The Man Without a Face are the
a crimson-hooded criminal who
Knights Templar, that perennial
spends the entire film in a
group of rumor and suspicion
myriad of disguises, is driven
since the fourteenth century.
by a desire to attain a lost
In Nuits Rouges, the modern
treasure. The Man Without a
incarnation
Face, who is a clear homage
Templar
to
Fantômas,
is
between a religious cult and
in
his
by
quest
supported
of
seem
the
like
Knights a
cross
Woman
a gun-wielding street gang.
(played by the American Gayle
Considering that Franju’s film
Hunnicutt),
Le
came after Amando de Ossorio’s
docteur Dutreuil (played by
Tomb of the Blind Dead (La
a convincing Clément Harari)
Noche del terror ciego, 1971),
and his collection of mindless
it should come as no surprise
and emotionless zombies.
that Franju’s Templars are at
the
The
Standing in the way of
insane
114
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
times more menacing than even
prewar
The Man Without a Face.
Rouges is also deceptively a
middle
film of its own time - an era
are the police (including a
in European film history when
poet-detective named Séraphin
such
Beauminon), Paul de Borrego,
Mario Bava, and Jesús Franco
the son of the slain historian
were busy producing sleazy,
and Templar Maxime de Borrego,
semi-pornographic
Martine
also
Stuck
in
the
Leduc,
Paul’s
love
pulp
novels.
directors
dealt
as
Nuits
Ossorio,
films
that
all
the
with
interest, and Professor Pétri,
typical pulp subject matters.
a British historian with a
Similarly, it can be argued
speciality
that Champreux’s decision to
in
the
medieval
world.
use the Knights Templar in his
As
by
screenplay was influenced by a
Nuits
1967 book by Géraud de Sède
Rouges bears, on the surface,
entitled L’Or de Rennes. L’Or
more in common with one of
de
Feuillade’s film serials than
strike a chord with Anglophone
it does with any other film
audiences, but the books it
of
irony
directly inspired - The Holy
here is that Franju, while
Blood and the Holy Grail and
conducting an interview with
The Da Vinci Code - are. And
British film critic Tom Milne,
much
once again claimed that he was
conspiracy
more
Souvestre
Rouges (which is unabashedly
Feuillade.
a work of fiction) promotes
this
and
can
be
vague
its
own
outline,
era.
inspired Allain
guessed
by
than
The
Rennes
like
This claim seems true enough
an
in regards to
history.
Nuits Rouges,
probably
in
these
later
theories,
Nuits
alternative In
doesn’t
the
version
of
world
of
which contains all of the over-
The Man Without a Face, the
the-top sensationalism of the
Knights
Templars
discovered
115
CRIME FACTORY America
before
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Columbus,
that were clearly made for
and in doing so, they netted
the big screen, Nuits Rouges
themselves a fabulous horde
feels
of gold. It is this gold that
screen endeavor, and despite
The Man Without a Face seeks
Franju’s occasional touch of
to acquire and the Templars
overt filmmaking (an example
strive to protect.
is the long and uncut rooftop
scene with the Woman and the
But unlike the far more
more
like
small
popular The Da Vinci Code, the
police),
appeal of Nuits Rouges lies
easily be mistaken for a TV
not in its plot, but rather
film.
in its aesthetics. Although
This mistake isn’t too
it was mostly shot in Tito’s
far
off.
Yugoslavia (which, according
Champreux were unhappy with
to
Nuits
Franju,
was
a
terrible
Nuits
a
Since
Rouges,
Franju they
decided
have
streamlined
entitled L’homme sans visage.
quality and Bauhaus-inspired
Many of the characters from
sense
the
of
clean,
straight-
feature
TV
and
to
same
a
can
ordeal) the sets on Nuits Rouges the
make
Rouges
mini-series
film
return
in
line menace as either Fritz
this mini-series, and as the
Lang’s
title
Spione
example
of
a
(yet
another
European
art
clearly
states,
The
Man Without a Face is at the
film director who was in love
forefront
with the mastermind criminal
to
theme) or Edgar G. Ulmer’s The
shouldn’t he be? The theme
Black Cat. The one glaring
of
difference between these films
is
is the cinematography. While
recalls the very origins of
Lang
are
crime fiction. Franju’s red-
masterpieces
hooded criminal may be pale
and
sleek,
Ulmer’s
stylish
films
last the an
of
Franju’s
project. faceless
organic
one,
next
And
why
criminal and
it
116
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
in comparison to the older model,
but
nonetheless
The
Man Without a Face reminds viewers
why
such
films
as
Nuits Rouges can be regarded as “art” in Europe. For the French and the British, the faceless
urban
dweller
is
still terrifying, and since this fear has been with them ever
since
the
Industrial
Revolution and the coming of the uncontrollable city, it doesn’t look like it will be disappearing into the night anytime soon.
Benjamin Welton is a music critic, fiction writer, poet, and academic currently living in Burlington, Vermont. He has written for Seven Days, Crime Magazine, InYourSpeakers, Vantage Point, Schlock!, and Ravenous Monster. He can be contacted at benjaminwltn@ gmail.com
117
“By now he had a pretty good idea what was coming.” -Doolittle
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
THE HIP POCKET SLEAZE FILES Manson on the Rack by John Harrison In my 2011 book Hip Pocket Sleaze, I devoted a chapter to the plethora of, mostly, cheap and pulpy paperbacks published in the wake of the infamous 1969 Hollywood slayings puppeteered by Charles Manson and carried-out by his not-so-merry band of counterculture followers.
In this instalment of The Hip Pocket Sleaze Files, I’d like
to expand on the idea and take a closer look at some of the Mansonrelated magazines and tabloids that have populated the newsstand racks over the ensuing years.
Although the events unfolded nearly a half-century ago, it’s
still not uncommon to see Manson’s crazed eyes glaring out at you from some new supermarket tabloid or true crime magazine. Such is the impact of his crimes.
Naturally, this is by no means any kind of comprehensive listing
(to try and provide one would necessitate a book of its own), but it provides a decent introduction and overview of what I consider to be some of the more important and/or interesting appearances of Manson in published media.
Titles are listed alphabetically.
120
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN paid a visit to Spahn Ranch as a non-Family member in 1968, before quickly being seduced into their world and handing over
all
of
his
worldly
possessions to Charlie.
Freeman, however, paints
himself as being stronger than Manson and the majority of his followers, fleeing Spahn Ranch just as things were starting to get violent:
“So
Charles
Manson
took my possessions from me Argosy
by
destroying
my
will
and
May 1970 (USA)
taking charge of my mind. But
A highly sought after early
he wanted most: my identity.
Manson cover appearance, it features a blood-red tinted photograph of Manson throwing a
sideways
grin
at
the
camera, next to which is the
When I awoke, dazed, the next day, there was still a little voice inside that said, ‘I am Y. Lee Freeman’”.
Accompanied
by
photos
“Could
of Freeman revisiting Spahn
The interior article is
an important early document
foreboding
question:
this man control you?”
he did not get from me what
titled I Lived With Charlie Manson’s
‘Family’,
a
first
person account by philosophy graduate Y. L. Freeman, who
Ranch, this article remains of the pre-killing atmosphere and activities at the ranch, despite the fact that the tone of the piece has obviously
121
CRIME FACTORY been heightened for dramatic effect, and was written at the peak of public hysteria over Manson and his perceived Godlike powers and influence.
June 1970 (USA) was
a
low-rent
American skin rag. This issue features a rather generic three page article titled, Charles Manson: King of the Commune by
Larry
Leman,
alongside
such other lurid pieces as The Wild Pussycats of Voodoo Island, Five Mistresses Talk About
Their
Mattresses
culture,
with
emphasis
on
and
The Latest Rage In Wear and
Boys
movies
and
issue
features
article Manson:
Connection,
a
entitled The
Beach
in
which
relationship
between
Manson
and Beach Boy drummer Dennis Wilson, speculating on their recording sessions
and
songwriting
together,
before
claiming that “newcomers to Manson’s
music
have
found
some merit in his blending of Eastern-tinged with
the
folk
psychedelia troubadour
style”. Inside Detective
June 1989 (UK) Riding the crest of the 1960s boom
that
peaked
in the late-1980s, Idols was glossy
particular
writer Will Good recounts the
November 1969 (USA)
Idols, no. 16
a
This
Charles
Where.
nostalgia
a
music. two-page
Bachelor
Bachelor
ISSUE FOURTEEN
magazine
devoted
to various elements of pop
This
typically
sensationalistic
lurid true
and crime
pulp magazine features a cover photo of Sharon Tate (naked under
bedcovers)
with
the
headline Movie Queen Sharon Tate - Victim In The Blood
122
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Bath That Sent Hollywood Into
of Manson, and was reused in
Hiding.
the ensuing years on various other
magazine
covers
(as
well as the cover for Lie: The Love and Terror Cult, a 1970 LP which compiled music composed
and
recorded
by
Manson throughout 1967/68).
The interior twelve page
article on The Love and Terror Cult is a seminal piece of early reporting on the case, with
journalist
Paul O’Neil
pushing the hysteria of “the dark
edge
of
hippie
life”
while still giving us a good background
piece
on
Manson
and his early life, the sexual Life December 19, 1969 (USA)
and
psychological
wielded
over
followers,
his
power
he
female
and the Family’s
One of the few Manson cover
life in Death Valley and the
features that managed to make
infamous
it
the
The large, moody black & white
sixties had officially ended.
photos are absorbing to study
The iconic cover photo, with
and provide a great companion
Charlie peering at the reader
piece to the text.
with
into
hypnotic,
before
Sphan
movie ranch.
disturbed
eyes, became one of the most
Memories
enduring images ever captured
August/September 1989 (USA)
123
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN Miroir de l’Historie, no.
Magazine
291
of Then and Now’, this was
March 1976 (France)
Subtitled a
‘The
short-lived
publication
devoted primarily to American
A
nostalgia.
current
This
issue
smaller
format
affairs
publication,
featured a general round up
the
of
along
cover photo is reused to great
with a quarter page black and
effect here, sitting beneath
white cover photo of Charlie
a banner blaring “Satan is
(sharing the space with Grace
American,”
Kelly, Jimmy Hoffa and Judy
“Love, Death” written across
Garland).
the bottom of the photo.
the
Manson
case,
infamous
French
Life
and
magazine
the
words
Movie Mirror June 1970 (USA) American
movie/celebrity
magazine,
featuring
an
article on actress Elizabeth Taylor’s fear that her hippie sons,
living
in
a
shabby
lean-to in Hawaii, may end up becoming part of a murderous, Mansonesque cult. It’s a good example of the paranoia that swept
through
Hollywood
in
the wake of the killings.
124
CRIME FACTORY Murder Casebook no. 3 1990 (UK)
ISSUE FOURTEEN of his Family, the move to Death and
Valley,
the
conviction,
arrest
the
social
A weekly serial publication
climate in which the killings
from
took
Marshall
Cavendish,
a
place,
and
finally
a
subsidiary of Time Publishing
look at Manson’s visions and
Group, Murder Casebook built
preaching.
up into an encyclopaedia of
the
postscript that updates us on
world’s
crimes.
most
Aimed
curiosity
notorious
concludes
with
a
at
the
any relevant events that have
than
the
occurred in the years since
more
seeker
It
hardcore criminology student,
the
each thirty-eight page volume
Sidebars throughout the issue
of Murder Casebook focused on
profile the victims along with
a particular crime or criminal
any
(occasionally an issue would
or
be devoted to a particular
Polanski,
criminal theme).
commune life), while newspaper
reproductions give us a feel
Like all issues of Murder
crimes
other
were
committed.
relevant
places/events the
(such
Beatles
is broken up into sections
reported and perceived at the
detailing a particular aspect
time.
of the crime, its perpetrators
and victims, as well as the
Casebook
aftermath. Beginning with the
the assistance of noted crime
discovery of the victims at
author Colin Wilson. In 1997,
the Sharon Tate/Roman Polanski
the
house,
sections
reprinted as Murder In Mind,
devote themselves to Manson’s
with new volumes devoted to
upbringing,
more recent criminals such as
formation
Easy
crimes
and
for
the
the
as
Casebook, the Manson volume
subsequent
how
people
to was
series
read,
were
Murder
compiled
was
updated
with
and
125
CRIME FACTORY Fred and Rose West. The Manson issue
was
reprinted,
with
minor changes to the layout and some updates on Manson
ISSUE FOURTEEN which
they
stitched
own hair they had shorn in emulation of Manson.
and Family members, as issue
Quick, no. 6
number 9. Murder Casebook was
February 1970 (Germany)
also published in a number of foreign languages throughout Europe (such as France, where it
was
known
as
Affaires
Criminelles).
April 1971 (UK) British
magazine,
fashion/lifestyle this
featured
a
four page article by Peter Martin
titled
Charlie,
A
glossy
magazine
Waiting
about
the
For
trial, unshakeable in their their
leader
would be found not guilty and set free. It
also
to
be
six page colour cover feature on the Manson killings. It’s a scarce item and one that commands a fair price on the odd occasions when it surfaces for sale online.
female
courthouse during the Manson
first
War), this issue featured a
Rave September 1969 (UK)
on the sidewalk outside the
that
(the
lifestyle
published in that country since
followers who patiently waited
belief
German
the end of the Second World Nova
A
their
looks
at
the
famous vest the girls sewed for him whilst waiting, into
An English rock music magazine, this
issue
is
noted
for
containing the Dennis Wilson interview in which the Beach Boys drummer talks about his friend “The Wizard”, otherwise known as Charlie Manson. Just about every book on Manson
126
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
makes some reference to this
Haught, Joel Pugh, a former
interview.
Family member found murdered in London on 2 December 1969,
Real-Life Crimes No. 16
and lawyer Ronald Hughes).
1993 (UK) Published by Midsummer Books, Real-Life
Crimes
(subtitled
...and how they were solved) was
another
weekly
serial
publication, very similar in format to Murder Casebook and obviously
inspired
by
that
earlier magazine’s success.
With only eleven pages
devoted
to
Manson
(the
remainder of the issue covers several
unrelated
crimes),
the coverage is not as indepth as Murder Casebook, nor is the layout as eye-catching most
Rolling Stone, no 61
illustrating
June 1970 (USA)
or
user-friendly,
of
the
the
photos
piece
have
and been
seen
many times before. The most
“The incredible story of the
interesting part of the issue
most dangerous man alive. Our
is a sidebar that looks at
Continuing
the other potential victims
Apocalypse.”
of the Manson clan (including
Shorty
Manson
Shea,
John
Philip
Coverage
of
the
Another important early cover
appearance.
127
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Rolling Stone was still in its
August 1970 (USA)
relative infancy in 1970, and ended up winning a National Magazine Award for landing an exclusive
prison
interview
with Manson. David Dalton, the author of the piece, claimed Manson
agreed
to
speak
to
Rolling Stone because he was still looking to establish a musical career behind bars, and hoped the magazine would promote his recordings.
Scanlens was a counterculture publication
with
a
heavy
emphasis on politics, drugs and
bringing
down
institutions. a
Robert
illustration,
American Featuring
Crumb
cover
this
issue
contains an article entitled, An
Astrological
Portrait
of Charles Manson by Gavin Chester Arthur, in which the author draws up a horoscope of Manson, which trades on all the usual myths that were being perpetuated about the man at this point in time, such
his
potency
incredible and
sexual
mesmeric
power
which he wielded over men and women.
Arthur believed Manson
was
endowed
with
genuine
psychic powers and the ability to hypnotize people into doing his
bidding.
The
article
does at least point out the Scanlans, volume 1, Number 6
strong
connections
which
Manson’s horoscope has with
128
CRIME FACTORY the elements of fire, earth, air and water. After claiming that Manson had the potential to become another Houdini or Arthur
Ford,
Arthur
finally
came to the rather simplistic conclusion that he is ‘mad as a hatter’.
September 1994 (USA) A tabloid-sized monthly devoted to music and popular culture, this issue reuses the famous Life image on its cover, this time with a blood red tint to enhance its effect. Manson’s visage is also worked into a full-page colour illustration accompanying
an
article
on
the summer of 1969. In this, that
author the
The
article
rehashes
the usual sequence of events, grabs another standard quote from
Vincent
attorney
Bugliosi
who
(the
prosecuted
Manson for the Tate killing). It
finished
by
looking
at
Manson’s emergence as a cult Spin
the
ISSUE FOURTEEN
takes
number
the
celebrity
amongst
musicians
such as the Lemonheads (who covered Is
Manson’s
Where
You’re
Your Happy
Home on
their 1988 CD, Creator) and Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, who rented out 10050 Cielo Drive and used it to record parts of The Downward Spiral.
A
photo
of
Axl
Rose
performing in a Manson t-shirt accompanies the article.
tact
sixty-nine
visually represents the yinyang
symbol,
explaining
in
part the two extremes of love and hate which occurred that summer: Woodstock, followed a week later by Manson.
...........cont.
129
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN random nature of the killings could be repeated anywhere, anytime and to anyone.
“Perhaps
terrifying
the
thing
most
about
the
horrendous killings was the fact that they were committed without motive. The ghostly pack
of
“creepy
crawlers”
stepped out of the night like evil phantoms, announced that they had come “to do the devil’s work,” True Detective, volume 94, Number 6 April 1971 (USA) The issue of the US true crime tabloid magazine features an 11-page entitled
illustrated “Jesus”
article
Manson
and
methodically
went about the business of slashing, gouging, shooting, and clubbing in an orgy of blood-letting
so
frenzied
that it admittedly gave at least one of the killers a sexual orgasm.”
&
His Girls – Guilty of Murder! Authored
by
Chris
Edwards,
the article is written in the sensational style which was de rigor for these magazines, with the emphasis on shock tactics, sexual perversion and the underlying hint that the
130
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN titillation suggested by the article’s title ‘What conjugal visits
were
permitted
the
unmarried members of the jury has not been disclosed’.
Uncensored, volume 20, Number 4
A
August 1971 (USA)
FURTHER READING:
scandal/sleaze
Bad Mags, Volume 1: The
classic
issue
Strangest, Sleaziest and
featured a cover photograph of
Most Unusual Periodicals
Manson along with the caption
Ever Published,
publication,
this
Manson
Tom Brinkmann, Headpress
Jury.” The accompanying four
Publishing, 2008
“Sex
Capers
of
the
and a half page illustrated Jeanne
Hip Pocket Sleaze: The Lurid
Voyeur, is a strained attempt
World of Vintage Adult
to dig-up any dirt surrounding
Paperbacks,
the Manson jurors, but falls
John Harrison
far short of delivering on the
Headpress Publishing, 2011
article,
written
by
131
“These guys were all fucking idiots.” -Winslow
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
Performance Evaluation is a necessary and benefical process, which provides bi-monthly feedback to investors about job effectiveness and career guidance. The performance review is intended to be a fair and balanced assessment of a subject’s performance. To assist supervisors and department heads in conducting performance reviews, the Factory Office has introduced new Performance Review forms and procedures for use in this official periodical.
AMERICAN DEATH SONGS Featured Book
AMERICAN DEATH SONGS
strongly enough.
Jordon Harper
Available on Amazon
collection, ‘Midnight Rider’,
The first story in the
kicks it all off with a meth Before I an
writing
listen
to
any
music
appropriate
Jordan
review,
dealer on the rabbit-end of
to
set
a
For
right on his tail. And that
American
sets the tone for the whole
mood.
Harper’s
high-speed
book.
DC’s Hell’s Bells. This is
much.
not a book for those with a
fragile conscience or a heart
story in this collection has
condition.
something that will blow your
I
can’t
recommend
it
never
police
Death Songs, it had to be AC/
It
chase,
slows
down
One way or another, every
hair back and make you slap
134
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
your face in disbelief.
of a bank. Obviously, it’s what
Commonly featured in this
happens when plan A and plan
book are the Aryan Brotherhood
B fail. And it’s not pretty.
and
They
Harper excels at putting you
creep into nearly every story.
in the mind of a condemned
A lot of them take place in
criminal at the exact moment
the Ozarks, while some are
of understanding. That is to
in California. I guess you
say, you get to experience
could say the AB-meth culture
said
is just as much the setting
not just that he will die, but
as any real place. But the
how and when. The moment death
one uniting feature is death.
is
Just about every story has a
reality.
murder, hence the title.
In keeping with the run-
stories around the old theme
for-your-life pacing of the
of the hardboiled guy wanting
book, the story ‘Agua Dulce’
to do something decent, if
is about a man being hunted by
only just the once. ‘Beautiful
Aryan Steel, the faction of
Trash’ is about a fixer in LA.
white
featured
Time and again he makes the
several times in the book.
problems of the wealthy and
Much of the story is the main
privileged go away. He fakes
character
suicides
the
meth
plague.
supremacists
actually
running
a
criminal’s
realization
discernible,
concrete
Harper crafts some superb
and
overdoses.
He
through the desert, trying to
applies the right pressure to
beat his pursuers back to the
get cooperation. You wouldn’t
motel where he left his young
expect any part of his job
child. It’s as frantic and
eats away at him.
demonic as any story you’ll
find in the genre.
theme of redemption is ‘Red
Hair and Black Leather’. An
‘Plan C’ is the robbing
Also
exploring
this
135
CRIME FACTORY ex-biker bar
and
owner
woman
dealer
tries
who
is
to
turned help
the door.
I didn’t know what to
from
expect with this collection.
some people a lot like who
I was completely blown away.
he used to be. It’s a story
It’s the kind of storytelling
that
that
starts
running
a
ISSUE FOURTEEN
with
the
soft
you
come
away
from
underbelly, deceptively, and
nodding your head, whispering
gives that vicious bite you
to yourself, “Yeah, man, you
never expected.
said it.”
Implicit
Harper’s
throughout
collection
is
the
Harper’s now on my list
of authors to follow.
dog-eat-dog principle of The Life.
This
is
most
openly
- Frank Wheeler
expressed in the story, ‘I Wish
They
Never
Named
Him
Mad Dog’. This is my favorite story of the bunch. An older, experienced dealer witnesses the rise in the pack ranking of a young punk from struggling up to crazy, larger than life, alpha dog. The older man knows what happens when you get too much attention in The Life. To sum up, the bigger the man, the bigger the target. The story is told with the older man’s sense of inevitability. And the truth of the ending bites as hard as any wolf at
136
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
137
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN with his wife. Clifford’s prose
BOOKS
is tight and straightforward, making
readers
fully
understand what the man is
ALL DUE RESPECT: THE ANTHOLOGY (Volume 1)
going through and presenting him in a light that makes it easy to root for him. However,
Various authors
not everything is as it seems
Full Dark City Press
and while the man’s co-worker for the day, a pervert with
The best thing about crime as
a thing for children, keeps
a genre is that it can take an
his
inexhaustible array of shapes
character ultimately changes
and still retain its essence.
everything you think you knew
In All Due Respect, the new
with a single act.
anthology
Rhatigan’s
from
Christopher
the
main
While Clifford’s tale is
a superb opener, it’s not the
talented
only story in the collection
authors do exactly the same
that deserves attention. Here
thing the online crime fiction
are some more highlights:
journal All Due Respect has
been doing since 2012: show
is as close to a nightmare as
just how eclectic hardboiled
short fiction gets outside the
fiction can be.
horror genre. This dialogue-
The anthology kicks off
heavy, fast-paced tale of a
with a standout: Joe Clifford’s
man who accepts an easy job
‘Day Tripper’. The narrative
is also one of the most brutal
follows a day laborer out of
stories in an anthology that’s
jail and desperately trying to
packed with them. It starts
outrun his past and get back
out with a lot of humor and
29
very
Dark
clean,
City
Press,
Full
hands
Mike Toomey’s ‘Even Sven’
138
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
even a few paragraphs away
Plus, Sayles combines it with
from the end things are not
another American classic that
too bad, but the last action
has become a recurring theme
is the kind of thing that can
in crime writing: strippers.
make a criminal leave a house
and puke as soon as he steps
stories goes on and on. In
outside.
fact,
some
narratives
is one of those rare stories
an
indelible
that deserves to be called
while
cinematic
after a while, there are no
Erin Cole’s ‘7 Seconds’
because,
besides
The
list
of
although
others
great
there that
are leave
impression
are
forgotten
good writing, it delivers the
throwaways.
action using a style that’s
reminiscent of great editing
unexpected
paired with slow motion.
Richard Godwin’s ‘Donald Duck
and the Avian Snitch’, and
Alec
Cizak’s
‘Methamphetamine
is
strange
humor,
and
like
in
a
punchy first lines that pull
Shotgun’ is a cerebral treat
the reader in viciously, like
that clearly shows why meth
the one in Benedict J. Jones’
is such a constant element in
‘Habeus Corpus’: “By the time
noir. While the plot has to do
I got there, they’d already
with a meth-head trying to find
taken three of his fingers.”
his woman, Cizak’s feverish
writing
language
this anthology remarkable is
itself the real focus of the
that the classic elements one
narrative. On a related note,
would expect from a collection
Ryan
like this are all there, but
makes
Sayles’
and
There
‘Formula
and
However,
Meth’ is also a prime example
presented
of why meth is one of the best
unique ways.
drugs when it comes to noir.
Guns,
in bad
what
makes
diverse
and
decisions,
139
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
money, death, vengeance, sex,
Deji Olukotun’s Nigerians in
drugs,
Space, and it certainly fits
poverty,
jealousy,
violence, and pain are all
that description.
present
in
anthology,
this
hardboiled
but
the
The narrative starts in
voices
Houston, Texas, in 1993. Doctor
that bring them to the table
Wale Olufunmi is a respected
are all different and manage
lunar rock geologist who gets
to make even classic elements
an
feel new. That diversity and
steal a piece of the moon.
quality are what makes All
Wale is a successful immigrant
Due Respect a must-read for
with a good job and a life
fans of gritty literature.
that most Nigerian immigrants
outlandish
request,
to
would kill for. --Gabino Iglesias
However, he is also a
man full of ambition, and the consequences of him stealing NIGERIANS IN SPACE
that piece of moon are just
Deji Olukotun
too big to ignore. Instead
Ricochet Books
of denying the request and continuing on his professional
Ricochet
Books
was
founded
path, Wale decides to travel
in 2012 by people involved
back to Africa and do what
with Molossus, the Skylight
was
bookstore, Phoneme Media and
returning home is a dream of
the LA Review of Books. It
all immigrants, Wale’s trip
presents itself as a publisher
back will be more a nightmare
of
than a dream.
international
suspense,
asked
him.
classics.
later in present day South
Their
first
release
is
twenty
While
contemporary noir, and lost
Almost
for
years
Africa, Thursday Malaysius, a
140
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
kid brought up in the streets
length. By trying to write a
in a place where not being
crime story with a complex
smart enough can mean a very
plot but also mixing in long
quick
descriptive
gets
involved
South
African
South Africa and a few other
abalone, a type of sea snail.
countries, information about
Soon,
better
each character’s background,
life, Thursday finds himself on
Olukotun ended up with a story
the run from the law and the
that,
mob. How this youngster and
fiction, seems bogged down at
Wale end up being part of the
times.
same story is what occupies
the rest of the storyline.
solid
in
death,
smuggling
instead
of
Nigerians
read
Ricochet start
as
is with
crime
off
to
a
Nigerians
in Space. However, it falls
While
short of spectacular because
it’s definitely a crime story,
Olukotun’s prose, while far
the narrative also contains
from
some of the same elements as
sharp as it could be. Readers
books such as Loida Maritza
interested in South Africa or
Perez’s Geographies of Home
crime with an international
and
The
flavor and dealing with exile
issues
and identity should definitely
to
of
categorize.
Edwidge
Farming
on
exile,
identity
Space
when
about
is
hard
in
a
passages
Danticat’s Bones,
the
struggle in
pick
this
one
is
up.
not
Fans
as
of
a
fiction that comes at you at
foreign land, and the fact
breakneck speed and sticks to
that you can never go back
the essentials, like Ken Bruen,
home.
should look elsewhere.
construction
of
mediocre,
The mix is interesting
but it also contributes to
- Gabino Iglesias
one of the novel’s downfalls:
141
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN the murder of a young woman,
THE DEAD
seemingly just another random
Howard Linskey
sex crime, except this girl
No Exit Press
is the daughter of a local Detective
Inspector
who
is
Howard Linksey’s debut novel
in the process of trying to
The Drop landed with a bang
bring down David Blake and his
in
organisation and the police
2011,
introducing
Blake
to
the
world,
more
white-collar
than
straight
up
David a
man
believe they don’t need to
criminal
look much further than that
gangster,
to find her killer.
who rose through the ranks of
Newcastle’s
milieu
that if he doesn’t want to go
by a combination of brutality
down for the crime he’d better
and Machiavellian guile.
find the culprit. Fortunately
The
Damage,
criminal
follow-up, cemented
The
Linskey’s
It’s made clear to Blake
he has the resources to do just that.
reputation as an author with
solid skills and saw Blake
accountant on an old child
finally ensconced at the top
killing throws a spanner in
of the Geordie mafia.
the
But holding control can
the man is guilty and Blake
be even more perilous than
wants to hang him out to dry.
taking it and in the latest
Blake
installment, The Dead, Blake
but he has his principles.
finds himself assailed on all
Unfortunately, the accountant
sides, with long buried secrets
has other ideas. Knowing that
threatening to break lose and
the only way he’ll beat the
blow his life apart.
charge is with Blake’s help
The
Dead
opens
with
But the arrest of Blake’s
works.
might
Everyone
be
a
knows
gangster
he locks down his finances as
142
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
a safeguard.
the pace slacken and bringing
the
This money is vital to
plot
to
satisfyingly
the continued smooth running
neat denouement of the blood
of Blake’s empire and with
spattered,
Serbian
variety.
in
on
gangsters his
muscling
territory
and
a
A
nerve
large
shredding
part
Dead’s
trying to hijack his European
the
supply chain for some shadowy
Blake,
purpose
warm to against your better
can’t
afford
lies
The
megalomaniac Russian oligarch
Blake
success
of
character an
with
of
David
anti-hero
you’ll
to be put out of game even
judgement.
temporarily.
and a million miles away from
the usual gangster clichés.
At home things are just as
smart,
While
begins to ask questions about
of trusted lieutenants, foot
her father’s death, ones he
soldiers and suits, as well
can’t under any circumstances
as a particularly obnoxious
answer honestly, not if he
footballer,
wants to maintain the stable
and uniformly strong.
family life he has built on
the old man’s bones.
its finest, sharp, pacey and
As
you’ve
probably
surrounding
funny
complicated, as Blake’s missus
the
He
are
well
cast
drawn
The Dead is Brit Grit at
totally compelling.
already gathered there is a hell of a lot going on in this
- Eva Dolan
book and it takes a writer in full and firm control of his craft to bring all of these
WELCOME TO THE OCTAGON
elements
together.
Gerard
achieves
it
style,
never
with once
Linskey enviable letting
Brennan
(as
Jack
Tunney) Fight Card
143
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN though, a man with ambitions
The folks at Fight Card have
towards the big time who’s
attracted some great names to
been drawn into the dark side
the series since it kicked
of the game out of necessity.
off last year, Eric Beetner
Mickey is a widower with a
and Heath Lowrance being my
little girl to care for and
personal standouts. Now Gerard
since
Brennan,
Northern
bankable skill he’s forced to
Ireland’s leading noiristes,
keep going back. Much to the
has joined the stable with
chagrin of his trainer Eddie,
a Belfast based MMA offering
who understands the mechanics
which takes the old school
of the business better than
fight pulp and brings it into
Mickey and can see where these
the twenty first century.
bouts are taking him.
one
of
Mickey ‘The Rage’ Rafferty
fighting
Eddie
is
wants
his
only
him
to
is a journeyman MMA fighter
knuckle down, train harder,
scraping
around
be
patient,
fight
up
to
a
Belfast’s
living
underground
the
work big
his
cage
way fights
scene. It’s a brutal world,
legitimately. The bills have
unlicensed,
to be paid though and father
no
drug
unregulated,
tests,
divisions,
where
no
weight
huge
sums
figures at some point have to be defied.
are gambled on the performance
of brawlers who come into the
the shape of Swifty, a slick
ring drunk or high and often
and sharkish gym owner who
so
makes
out
of
condition
that
Opportunity
Mickey
an
arises
offer
in
that
they’ll resort to crippling
looks too good to be true.
moves to get the win.
Top facilities, top trainers
Mickey is a cut above
to fix the holes in his game,
the usual class of opponents
a shot at the elite fights.
144
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Mickey’s gut tells him ‘no’
loved for it to be longer.
but circumstances force him
to accept and soon he finds out
his way around the material
exactly what’s behind Swifty’s
and
dubious act of generosity.
point he’s going to produce
an
I’ve been a big fan of
Brennan I’m
clearly
convinced
outstanding,
knows
at
some
full-length
Gerard Brennan’s work since I
work on MMA. He’s one of the
read his debut The Point and
few
he keeps getting better with
now who’s qualified to do the
every book, bringing a grimy
job. Until then I’d strongly
authenticity
recommend
to
everything
writers
working
Welcome
right
to
the
he writes, but even at his
Octagon as an essential piece
darkest there is humour and
of top rank fighting pulp.
humanity and he has a knack of making you care about his
- Eva Dolan
characters.
For
me
the
real
joy
RECKONING
in this book comes from the
R Thomas Brown
fight scenes though. They are
Briarhill Press
written with precision, and solid knowledge gained from
This is not one of your usual
Brennan’s own experience in
crime novels.
the ring, and have a sweaty,
intense quality rarely found
supernatural
in fiction.
simply
friends
Welcome to the Octagon
No,
this
the who
is
not
thriller. story have
of
a
It’s some
committed
is only a slim novella but it
a heinous crime many years
throbs with vicious energy. My
ago in their small town of
sole criticism, and it’s not
Comal Creek, Texas. What was
really one, is that I’d have
the nature of their crime? It
145
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
wouldn’t be right for me to
their own selves - of their
say since it would take away
weaknesses, their obsessions
a lot of the mystery, as well
and
as the reading pleasure. What
them can’t or don’t want to
I can tell you though is that
see right from wrong. Others
it was a crime that haunted
don’t dare question the order
some of them for years.
of things even if it hurts
escape
them or they have no problem
their past? That’s the main
whatsoever selling their soul
question posed here. The truth
to the devil if that is going
is that sometimes you can -
to buy them their way to the
or you can pretend to.
top. The realities described
Can
a
They
person
say
that
time
their
vices.
Most
of
here are grim, but thanks to
heals all the wounds, that
Eric’s
it helps bad memories fade
stubbornness,
away, but what if both wounds
everything seems to go from
and memories come calling in
bad to worse, not all hope is
your sleep? That’s the case
lost.
with
of
The
the good guys in this novel,
a
great
who’s trying hard without any
characters that are not only
success to start life anew.
hard to forget but that also
If he wasn’t so weak, and if
give
he finally made up his mind
mostly conflicting feelings in
to talk to Sophia Marquez, a
the readers’ hearts. A couple
police detective who really
of them they’ll love, most
likes him, he could do that,
of them they’ll hate, while
but he is, and he can’t.
they’ll
others but just a little of
pages
Eric
The
Daniels,
people
are
one
in
prisoners
these of
ethics
and
even
author job
rise
to
feel
Sophia’s
in
when
has
done
creating
different
sympathy
and
for
it.
146
CRIME FACTORY
As for the story itself,
ISSUE FOURTEEN crime fiction. What makes this
it’s not so much driven by the
character
mystery but by the longing
his flaws. He’s dyslectic, an
of finding out how things are
orphan and someone who prefers
going to end. Will the bad
to work alone and undercover,
guys get what they deserve?
not because he’s misanthropic
Will
to
- but because he doesn’t want
salvation and a new life? Will
to see people he cares about
justice finally win the day?
get hurt.
To find the answers to these
questions all you have to do
along with many other cops
is read this somewhat strange
and agents from the Georgia
but very interesting book.
Bureau
Eric
find
his
way
In
so
this
of
different
story
are
Trent,
Investigation
(GBI), go after an invisible - Lakis Fourouklas
man, a big time drug dealer who’s
currently
moving
his
UNSEEN
operations
Karin Slaughter
Macon. The main barrier to
Delacorte Press
their efforts to find and arrest
from
Florida
to
him is that no one has ever I came to Karin Slaughter a
seen him. He runs his business
little late and perhaps that’s
in
one of the main reasons I like
in the shadows, and whoever
her tales so much.
comes
Her
writing
consistently are
her
good
plots,
and
the
darkness
close
to
and
moves
discovering
is
his identity doesn’t live to
and
so
tell it.
in
her
Perhaps the only chance
character of Will Trent I have
the cops have is to get lucky.
found one of the most likeable
But
and unforgettable heroes of
they be able to achieve their
even
if
they
do,
will
147
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
goal? Big Whitey, as the drug
one. But if you haven’t had
dealer is called, is some one
a chance yet to pick up any
who is not only very clever
of Slaughter’s work, starting
but also extremely careful.
here could be as good a point
Will hopes to get close to
as any. This is well-written,
him by going undercover. But
finely tuned crime fiction. If
what if the man you’re going
you are a fan of the genre,
up against knows your every
you’re bound to enjoy it.
move right from the start?
The author has created a
- Lakis Fourouklas
tight plot, with some twists and turns, but mostly with
DRIFT
lots of downs when it comes
Jon McGoran
to her heroes. Every single
Forge Books (2013)
one of the protagonists of this series of novels seems
Doyle Carrick is the kind of
to be struggling with their
cop who never gives a thought
lives.
as
hard-boiled kind of detective
Can these damaged souls
to
whether
other and do their jobs without
little busy losing his shit
getting
serious
at bad guys, punching out his
weaknesses
partners and refusing to deal
make them human, and their
with his grief at losing his
humanity brings them close,
mom
and as a result they have each
order.
other’s back no matter what.
chapter.
trouble?
If
Their
you’ve
enjoyed
the
and
step-dad
you’ll
concerned,
enjoy
this
He’s
in
a
short
And that’s just the first
previous novels in the series surely
books.
the
you
some
in
be
live together or around each into
find
he’d
Luckily
for
everyone
Carrick
gets
148
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
suspended and he returns to
his dead parents’ house in
hilarious in a low-key way,
rural
and the wisecracking banter
Pennsylvania
to
lick
Carrick
sweetly
his wounds and sort out his
with
man-pain. Now, you can take a
still on the force back in
cop off the beat but you can’t
Philadelphia, delivers on the
take the beat out of the cop.
smart-ass.
While
health-food-junkie sidekick is
his
ostensibly
neighbor
in
partner,
Moose,
Danny,
Carrick’s
the
the perfect foil for the newly
most adorably ‘I’m-not-into-
minted Corn Crimes Detective,
you-but-I-brought-you-these-
and the array of small-town
flowers-kay-bye’ way possible,
dealers and jack-asses pull
Carrick notices drug dealers,
their
crooked sheriffs and a whole
important characters.
host of suspicious behavior
connected with the big scary
shout-out
agricultural plant next door
Simpkins
to Nola’s one-woman organic
College,
farming op.
frustrated
And he investigates.
pitch-perfect
Now, you’re either gonna
oozes thwarted lust and arcane
be the type of person who fully
plant husbandry knowledge at
digs
Nola
corporate
Nola,
courting
his
is
conspiracies
weight
as
minor
but
And let’s have a special to
Professor
at
Pine
botany
while
Crest
specialist,
lothario academic.
Carrick
and He
ponders
involving genetically modified
whether to deck him now or
crops and shady dealings in
later. If you’ve ever been
rural areas or you’re not.
anywhere near an agricultural
If you fall into that latter
college, you nod wildly to
category, wise up and try this
yourself and likely picture
book, because it’s the bees’
the guy who didn’t ever make
knees.
chair of the department, no
149
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
matter hard he slithered or
Sorbonne with the Frankfurt
whose leg he humped.
intensity of Walter Benjamin
and
This book is just plain
the
youthful
anarchism
fun. McGoran’s grown himself
of Paris in the age of De
a winner (whatever; I’m fairly
Gaulle and rock and roll. He
sure I’m supposed to make that
not only presaged 1968, but
pun by law) and you can’t do
he
better than letting it take
to the absurdism of much of
root on your bookshelf.
modern American literature.
- Audrey Homan
unknowingly
If
we
contributed
take
Debord
to
be gospel, then it is easy to understand the appeal of detective
dramas
and
books
FISH BITES COP! STORIES TO
about cops. Law & Order is
BASH AUTHORITIES
all
David James Keaton
fictionalization of supposedly
Comet Press
real crimes. In Debord’s own
about
Republic, “In
societies
conditions
where
used
spectacular
Georges
his
Simenon
upstanding
solidly
of
life
Maigret as a turning point
presents itself as an immense
in the history of detective
accumulation of spectacles.”
fiction wherein the lonely and
independent private eye now
Guy
all
Debord,
the
had
of the French Left of the 1960s,
public’s
spoke these words in 1967.
whole precincts (as in the
His Society of the Spectacle
case of Ed McBain) and their
attempted to synthesize the
families.
academic
of
the
share
policeman
combative, snarky embodiment
Marxism
to
bourgeois
and
production
prevail,
of
modern
the
space
in
imagination
Maigret
in
the with
turn
150
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
inspired such quasi-fictional
language,
spectacles
and
stories are gleeful, wickedly
Adam-12. Since then, real-life
satirical send-ups of all those
police officers have been held
positions that are held in
to the standards of fiction,
the highest regard. Keaton’s
and thus the simulacra, or
intentions
more precisely the interplay
and if you are not the type
between reality and fictional
to read dust jackets, then
constructs, continues.
titles
Firemen’ and ‘Nine Cops Killed
as
Dragnet
In David James Keaton’s
world,
the
truth
are
such
short
transparent,
as
‘Castrating
more
For a Goldfish Cracker’ should
opaque, and there is seemingly
let you immediately that you
no
are not holding a follower
direct
between people
is
Keaton’s
correlation
how
society
should
act
thinks
and
how
of Mickey Spillane in your hands.
they actually act. In other
words, Fish Bites Cop is on
anti-authority,
an amoral, topsy-turvy plane
subversive
where the cops are the biggest
calling card (he’s a product
scumbags around. Why? Keaton
of America’s French theory-
and his subtitle would seem to
obsessed
argue that all authorities,
probably can’t help but to
from firefighters to soldiers,
be attracted to Herr Marx and
are
Monsieur
not
guilty their
only
of
inherently
sinfulness,
glamorization
While Keaton wants this writer-as-
mystique
academy,
as
his
so
Althusser),
he
it
is
but
this very feeling that mostly
in
hampers Fish Bites Cop. Short
popular culture only belies
stories
the
Acting’ and ‘Heck’ are less
sickness
of
cultural
reproductions.
Again,
in
such
as
‘Bad
Hand
about witty displays of an more
clear
intellectual’s
insurgency
151
CRIME FACTORY and more akin to an impudent
ISSUE FOURTEEN Available on Amazon
man screaming into a bucket. The sheer expanse of Keaton’s
The
disdain for cops only drags
is
the reader down.
American.
no longer entirely owned or
Still, despite Keaton’s
penchant
for
preaching,
private
detective
uniquely
and
And
yarn
distinctly
while
it
is
operated by Americans (some
certain stories in his latest
of
collection shine as dazzling
made
examples of modern American
these days), the core spirit
literature. From the morbid
still embraces individualism,
comedy of ‘Greenhorns’ to the
a distrust of authority and a
noteworthy
cynical worldview that pits
‘Either
Way
It
the
best
in
PI
Italy
and
are
France
Ends With a Shovel’, Keaton
the
proves that he is capable of
detective
real, honest literary power,
of
with or without the impulse
fatales,
to bash authorities.
men who consider conventional
morality
And by the time the reader
lone,
novels
typically against
crooks,
male
a
horde
scheming
femme
and
shifty
a
middle
laughable,
completes the final story, they
unfounded concept.
should feel like they have
just survived a meeting with
ambiguity
a true surrealist. We are the
for Nick Kepler, Jim Winter’s
better for it.
beer drinking and blues rock-
This
swarming is
the
pool
of
workplace
loving private eye. Set in - Benjamin Welton
among of
the
industrial
Cleveland,
Ohio,
wilds Kelper
is, to quote his own words, SECOND HAND GOODS
“an insurance guy with a PI
Jim Winter
ticket.”
152
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
In Second Hand Goods, the
imagine if Hammett hadn’t set
second novel in the series,
his books in San Francisco or
Kepler finds himself embroiled
if noir authors had avoided
in a local mob war. The story
Los
includes a former KGB agent
city
of
turned crime lord known to
been
typically
Cleveland authorities as “the
fiction.
Antichrist,” a double-dealing
Cleveland
Russian lieutenant who wants
industrial nightmare that is
both the Antichrist’s throne,
both seemingly on the road
a white limo with a special
to
prize in its trunk, a Jamaican
organized crime. Kepler is a
pimp, and, of course, a blonde
thoroughgoing Clevelander, and
temptress
the large cast of antagonists
who
plays
men
Angeles
entirely),
Cleveland In
has
not
fodder
for
Winter’s becomes
recovery
the
a
and
post-
awash
in
sexually for her own ends.
and
Goods,
gives the reader a sense of
Shakedown,
community, almost as if Second
novel,
is
Hand Goods could double as a
hardboiled
disturbing Baedeker for the
like the a
Second
Hand
Northcoast first
Kepler
traditional
supporting
hands
characters
narrative, and its devotion
city’s corruption.
to the classic formula should
easily appeal to the masses
stories are set among such
of readers all along crime
unexciting
fiction’s spectrum.
Cod and Wyoming, Second Hand
Much
of
the
distinct
In an age where detective locales
as
Cape
Goods is a good reminder of
flavor of Second Hand Goods
why
detective
is
an
urban
comes from its regionalism and
animal that relies on inner
its use of the city of Cleveland
city attitude. While not a
as a character. While this
great book, Second Hand Goods
is nothing new (just try and
is a decent novel with all
153
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
the trappings that most of us
rest any arguments about who
have come to know and love
is the best thriller writer
as
of our generation, especially
aficionados
of
literary
murder.
when
the movie, and no doubt casts
And while its plot is
Warner
Brothers
makes
fairly prosaic, in Winter’s
Tom Cruise in the lead role.
hands, Nick Kepler’s journey
through Cleveland’s underbelly
fable about that most enduring
is
and
of modern crime characters;
seeming
the guy who lives off the grid,
low-browed
plays by his own rules, is
both
titillating
captivating without
unnecessarily or
trashy.
There
is
Ghost
Man
is
another
real
notoriously hard to contact,
humanity in this novel, and
and is the man to turn to when
readers will certainly care
the shit hits the fan. If Jack
about the characters, whether
Reacher just popped into your
or not they are mob goons or
head,
a stoner informant.
track, although the blurb on
you’re
on
the
right
the back of the copy I read - Benjamin Welton
exhorted me to think of Ghost Man’s lead character as like Harvey Keitel’s Mister Wolf
GHOST MAN
from Pulp Fiction. See what I
Roger Hobbs
mean about hype?
Alfred A. Knopf
So
anyway,
our
Mister
Fix-It gets called upon to If you believe the hype machine
deal with the mess left after
surrounding him, Roger Hobbs
a casino heist in Atlantic
is the literary equivalent of
City
the second coming, and this,
up,
his first book, will put to
dead in the parking lot and
goes with
totally one
belly-
bandit
shot
154
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
another vanished and wounded,
recovering the lost cash from
presumably
Atlantic City.
along
with
$1.2
million dollars in cold hard
cash. Our eponymous fixer, who
with
calls himself Jack even though
order to have the characters
no-one knows his real name,
remain
flies
Hobbs
has
storm when he lands at the
them
“characterless”
airport, with the FBI already
that makes it hard to gain
waiting
(although
an affinity for any of them.
no-one’s supposed to know he
Secondly, Hobbs seems so hell
exists) and 48 hours to find
bent on displaying his obvious
the money before it explodes.
knowledge
Literally.
the
Jack is only doing this
transactions, bill engraving,
because he’s indebted to the
casino cash flows and security
person who organised the heist
measures that the book reads
and who couldn’t have foreseen
like a manual rather than a
a
story.
straight
rogue
for
into
him
sniper
a
shit
waiting
to
I had a number of problems the
book.
First,
“mysterious,” instead
and
rules
of
Roger
rendered
large
The
book
starts
takes
cracking
pace
though,
botched
flashback
bank
job
a
to
a
decade
on
money
on
and
expertise
gun down the robbers. This us
in
at
a
with
the spectacular shootout at
earlier in Kuala Lumpur and
the
serves as back-story to how
thriller lover in with real
Jack became involved in this
promise. However, a lot of
criminal nether world. While
time is spent on the technical
essentially meaningless, the
details that more important
plot
Kuala
aspects, like Jack being able
Lumpur heist is far cleverer
to transform into older or
than
younger
surrounding the
main
the
plot
around
casino,
and
sucks
characters
to
the
suit
155
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
the scenario he has to play
Head Shot and Blood Sunset. He
in, are glossed over to the
and his wife Ella move from the
point of disbelief.
grunge and crime of bohemian
There was a good story
St Kilda to the quieter life
waiting to be told here, but
of Jutt Rock, a small town on
the hype machine seems to have
Victoria’s south west coast.
swallowed it.
As is usually the case
for
a
- Andrew Prentice
big
city
homicide
cop, Rubens brings with him a
bad
case
addiction
of to
burnout,
an
prescription
PINK TIDE
medication, and the hope that
Jarad Henry
the spectacular sunsets which
Australian
Scholarly
Publishing
colour
the
shoreline
pink
move him one day closer to recovery.
Ever since the ABC TV series of
the same name, city-dwellers
pink tides of Jutt Rock are a
have always seemed fond of
metaphor for a darker malaise
the “sea change”, where they
that sweeps the town when the
escape the confines of the big
local surfing hero and a mate
town for something more laid-
of his are brutally bashed
back, a slower pace, a more
while
uncomplicated lifestyle.
party. The mate happens to
This
for
Jarad
is
especially
However,
walking
the
home
calming
from
a
so
be Rubens’ nephew and sales
serial
guy at the local surf shop,
character, Detective Sergeant
and the last time Rubens saw
Rubens McCauley, who was put
him conscious he was cracking
through the grinders in the
jokes about Rubens’ lack of
first two books of the series,
surfing ability.
Henry’s
156
CRIME FACTORY
The
surfing
and
it
becomes
champ a
dies
murder
ISSUE FOURTEEN marriage and his reputation in the town.
investigation and at least one
local gang is convinced that
themes, given a modern and
the murderer was a tourist.
skilled
Rich visitors from the city
Henry’s
background
may be helping Jutt Creek’s
Victoria’s
criminal
economy
not
system is put to good effect and
helping the local psyche. The
Pink Tide marks a new standard
heated clashes are not helping
in his McCauley series. The
the
either,
characters have a realism and
a case Rubens finds himself
vulnerability shaped as much
desperate to involve himself
by the system they work in
in, despite being warned to
as the hazards they face on
stay on the periphery by his
the job. This is a welcome
superior, District Inspector
addition to Australia’s modern
Wendy Kannasini, due to his
urban crime canon.
but
they’re
investigation
These
are
familiar
treatment.
Jarad in
justice
personal link to one of the - Andrew Prentice
victims.
As
the
case
unfolds,
it becomes clear there are
THE DUNBAR CASE
multiple
Peter Corris
was
not
reasons a
why
revenge
it
attack
Allen and Unwin
by a belittled tourist. His continued
involvement
makes
There are no greater comforts
him realise Jutt Rock might
than regular familiarity, even
not be the sea change he was
for crime fiction readers. This
looking for, and his reliance
being the case, Peter Corris
on pills threatens to spiral
has
out of control, as does his
to the reading community for
been
providing
comfort
157
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
more than 30 years, and The
from the wreck of the Dunbar,
Dunbar Case is his 38th Cliff
a luxury passenger liner that
Hardy novel.
was washed onto the South Head
By
any
stretch,
the
rocks when trying to enter
inkwell should be empty. How
Sydney Harbour in 1857.
can a serial character survive
for this long?
documented only one survivor
Well,
in
records
case,
of the sinking but Wakefield’s
we’re talking about a master
research uncovers a second,
at
to
William Dalgarno Twizzell. One
Cliff just as much as Peter.
of Twizzell’s last surviving
And
modern
work.
this
Official
That
beyond
any
refers
reasonable
day
relatives
is
convention, the Hardy series
serving a sentence in Bathurst
just keeps getting better.
jail for assault with a deadly
weapon and Wakefield wants Cliff
If you’re not clued in,
Cliff Hardy is a Sydney PI who
to interview him.
has been treading the mean
streets of the harbour city
Dalgarno Twizzell may well be
for more than two literary
safer in the clink, given he
decades.
assaulted
Dunbar
Tanner,
the daughter and sister of
with him sitting at Antons
a notorious Newcastle crime
On King, a French restaurant
family, who are itching to
favoured by the locals, and a
even the score. And so the
meeting place for his newest
case gets turned on its head
client,
Henry
Wakefield.
as
Wakefield
is
professor
from Bathurst to Newcastle.
private
In the process linking up with
university and he wants Cliff
an old flame who is writing a
to find a long-lost artifact
true crime investigation into
history
Case
Kristine
opens
of
The
It turns out that John
a at
a
Cliff
follows
the
trail
158
CRIME FACTORY the
life
and
times
of
ISSUE FOURTEEN
the
most enduring character and
Tanner family, and runs afoul
Peter Corris is the genre’s
of an undercover cop who may
undoubted master.
or may not have gone rogue as he investigates the Tanner’s
- Andrew Prentice
role in a huge robbery.
This
is
what
is
so
wonderful about Peter Corris’
LOST IN RANGOON
style. He manages to sneak
Christopher G Moore
the plot under your guard as
Heaven Lake Press
you revel in Cliff’s laments about the changing face of
For well over twenty years
his home city, his views on
Canadian lawyer turned crime
free
writer
university
education
Christopher
Moore
and Lionel Murphy’s no fault
has
divorce laws. Before you know
Thailand and the surrounding
it, the case has mushroomed
region through the character
from the recovery of an old
of
shipwrecked
private investigator, Vincent
journal
to
the
chronicled
G
Bangkok-based
feud between two families.
Calvino.
Cliff
too.
His
Hardy office
ages is
well
Moore
has
in
American
penned
at
thirteen Calvino books. Most
Pyrmont and he has to keep
of them are set in Thailand,
working to afford the rental
although Moore has also taken
on the place. He’s come out
his
the other side of a quadruple
and Cambodia. In the latest
bypass with a sense of his
installment, Lost in Rangoon,
own mortality, if not a sense
Calvino heads to Burma or, as
of self-preservation. He is
it is now officially known,
Australian
Myanmar.
crime
now
change
fiction’s
character
to
Vietnam
159
CRIME FACTORY
The
opening
pages
find
ISSUE FOURTEEN
There’s never any doubt
Calvino standing in the shell
Calvino will take the case,
of the Lonesome Hawk Bar, one
especially when his long time
of a number of establishments
off-sider
that
in
used
to
Washington
form
the
Thai
colonel
police
and
an
honest cop, announces he is
known and down at heel part
travelling to Rangoon. A keen
of
recently
jazz
enthusiast,
demolished to make way for yet
been
asked
another of the condominiums
capital to play his beloved
that mark the city’s skyline.
saxophone
Calvino suggests to the former
club. Off the books, he’s also
owner that he should consider
been asked by his superiors
starting over in Rangoon, a
to help cut off the supply of
city on the make and welcoming
cold pills from Burma used to
all comers, much like Bangkok
make
was decades ago.
trafficked to Thailand.
Bangkok,
Not
that
particularly the
journey
being
a
of
a
well
expat
Square,
part
Pratt,
Calvino
wants
to at
Pratt
the an
has
Burmese upmarket
methamphetamine,
then
Rangoon now is a lot like
to
make
Phnom Penh was like in the
himself.
He’s
nineties, a heady mixture of
travel
breakneck economic and social
pressured
to
to Burma by a disagreeable
change,
English
and
brothel
owner,
who
gangster
political
capitalism rumour
and
wants to hire him to find his
intimidation. Soon Pratt and
son. The son has disappeared
Calvino are enmeshed in its
in
brutal
country’s
capital
along
Darwinian
shadowed
underworld
with his Burmese girlfriend,
and
a real head turner and the
military intelligence.
lead singer in the band the
son plays in.
Calvino
I
read books
by the
Burmese fest
when
I
few was
160
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
living and working in Mekong
KL NOIR
region in the nineties, but
Various Authors
stopped getting them after I
Buku Fixi
left. I didn’t pick up another one until Lost In Rangoon.
If
there’s
Moore has lost none of
you
need no
further better
proof
vehicle
his ability to convey a sense
than noir fiction (and film)
of menace and intrigue. His
for shining a light onto the
descriptions of Rangoon are
crevices and cracks in society
excellent.
particular,
the powers that be do not want
he excels at describing the
you to see, check out a new
human and social fall out that
fiction called KL Noir.
occurs when a poor, isolated
country
Lumpur,
In
suddenly
opens
its
That’s KL as in Kuala the
borders to the world. There
Malaysia.
are
flashes
of
humour
particularly Calvino’s
too,
concerning
Lumpur
of
may
not
seem like the most obvious
with
place to set an anthology of
Burma’s self declared first PI
noir fiction. On the surface,
and astrologer.
at least, it has a reputation
Lost
satisfying
interactions
Kuala
capital
in
Rangoon
read,
a
is
a
mixture
for as an orderly, some would say, almost bland, city.
of hard-boiled crime fiction
But
and acute social observation
anything to go by, there’s
set in a little known part of
a
Asia. What’s not to like.
surface. KL is a city crawling
lot
with - Andrew Nette
if
going
this on
horrendously
migrant
workers
ghosts,
where
economic
book under
is the
exploited and
angry
breakneck
development
and
161
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
rampant consumerism has left
was probably my pick of the
many
with
bunch. It’s a taunt little
no other social outlet than
tale about a good Muslim girl
shopping
which
who thinks dealing drugs from
highly
her local Internet café is
party
the solution to her problems.
is
of
its
citizens
malls,
governed
by
authoritarian that’s
and
clung
a
ruling to
power
for
She is very wrong.
over half a century.
Murder
KL Noir is first of four
Marc de Faoite’s ‘Mamak Mystery’
the
side by independent publishing
migrant workforce. An Indian
company Buku Fix.
restaurant worker decides to
How
interpret
Asian
investigate the murder of a friend and co-worker, another
general, and noir narratives,
migrant, and unearths a much
in particular, fascinates me.
bigger
I
expected.
like
fiction
Malaysia’s
in
didn’t
crime
writers
of
with
volumes about the city’s dark
plight
deals
every
story
in this collection, par for
the
‘Chasing
course
in
the
case
of
case
Kris
than
he
ever
Williamson’s Butterflies
in
the
any anthology, and stories I
Night’ is a brutal tale of
couldn’t relate to. But there
a
are
and,
prostitutes who has very good
collectively, they’re a great
reason to be confident of his
insight into what noir means
impunity.
in this particular neck of
the woods.
courts are the focus for much
some
great
Briefly,
tales
my
favourites
were as follows:
‘The
Runner’
serial
killer
Shopping
targeting
mall
food
of the action in this book. The best of these is ‘Vanished’
by
Adib
by khairulnizam Bakeri, which
Zaini, was the first story and
deals with a busker with a
162
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
secret.
It
Last, ‘The Unbeliever’
landscape of statistics that
by Amir Hafizi is a fascinating
Hawken has his characters play
take on a modern Malay ghost
out their differing fortunes,
story, with a distinct Wicker
gang members and authorities
Man feel to it.
alike.
against
out
KL
is known, is out of jail but
Noir can by a hard copy from
still in with Barrio Azteca
Amazon.
gang. Watched over he returns
to
check
or
Flip
stark
want
Felipe
this
readers
who
International
is
as
he
to El Paso, moves in with his - Andrew Nette
mother, gets a job with his future stepfather and looks to keep his head down. But he’s
TEQUILA SUNSET
soon plugged into the Aztecas
Sam Hawken
local set-up and taken under
Serpent’s Tail
the
wing
of
Jose
the
gang
boss. Tequila Sunset is Sam Hawken’s
second
favour.
novel
brilliant
following
debut
The
his Dead
And
Jose
needs
a
Cristina Salas is an El
Women of Juarez. As in that
Paso cop on gang duty. Her
novel
and
to
Hawken
familiar
again
returns
territory:
cross-border
flux
the
between
her
partner,
Robinson,
go through the motions but are
relatively
the statistically safe, law-
in
abiding El Paso, Texas, and
Surveillance is as exciting
Ciudad
as it gets. They know Jose but
Juarez,
murderous
city
a
lawless,
where
7,500
people were killed in 2006.
pursuing
powerless the
gangs.
have little to pin on him.
Over the border Matias
163
CRIME FACTORY Segura, agent,
a
Mexican
is
up
to
in
gang-related
and
various
Corruption, and
federal his
murders
body
brutal
lawlessness
neck
parts. violence are
the
ISSUE FOURTEEN to
make
a
new
start,
the
exhausted Mexican fed are all finely
portrayed,
characters life time.
one
believable
getting shitty
The
through
day
at
juxtaposition
a of
watchwords as Segura moves from
the environs coupled with the
the aftermath of one murder to
intertwined
another. He knows the Azteca
storyline mark Hawken as a
and is not averse to adopting
mature, stylish writer with
more questionable methods to
hopefully many more books to
obtain information.
come.
The
FBI
complete
the
Tequila
three-pronged
Sunrise
is of
a
law enforcement triangle and
Wire-esque-depiction
a
bring together the El Paso
deplorable situation but one
cops and Segura. Between them
that is imbued with humanity
they plan to put a major hole
and spirit.
in Jose’s operation and dent the business of the Cartel.
- David Honeybone
To break the border economy of drugs for guns. But as their net begins to tighten tragedy
A HEALTHY FEAR OF MAN
strikes, Flip finds himself in
Aaron Philip Clark
a quandary and it all gets
Snubnose Press
very messy. And bloody.
What an ambitious book
A Healthy Fear of Man is the
and
testament
second novel in Aaron Philip
to
Hawken’s
skill that he pulls this off
Clark’s
Paul
Little
series
big time. The single mum US
following on from his debut
cop, the gang member looking
novel The Science of Paul.
164
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
Paul, an ex-con looking
of the novel are easily its
to get away from his old life
strongest with Paul trying to
in Philly, has moved onto his
survive on the land in self-
deceased
imposed
grandfather’s
farm
isolation.
sifts
he’d like to, Paul can’t seem
left by his senile grandfather
to stay out of trouble and
and contemplates the decisions
when a death on his property
that have brought him there. As
brings the local cops around
the plot became more and more
he decides he has to find out
elaborate in later chapters
what happened before he ends
I
up back in prison.
return to the quiet of the
Little farm and hear more of
found
the
he
in North Carolina. As much as
Set in a former tobacco
through
Here
myself
detritus
wanting
to
boom county, now fallen into a
Paul’s voice.
state of decay, Paul is forced
to
the story is overly convoluted
wade
deeper
and
deeper
This isn’t to say that
into the town’s underbelly.
or
poorly
A place made up of backwoods
Once
things
dive bars, poverty stricken
narrative barrels along at a
reservations
rapid pace and the action and
fuelled
and
thugs
the
and
meth
corrupt
dialogue
are
constructed. get
going
well
the
crafted.
officials who run them. Clark
The friendship between Paul
paints a vivid portrait of a
and his grandfather’s friend
place that is slowly dying.
Bo, a kindly good ol’ boy, and
His
with
a young girl called Gilly are
steady currents of anger and
both believable and touching.
resignation
either
And a slow romance with a local
accept their poor fortunes or
girl feels achingly real and
fight uselessly against them.
in no way contrived which,
sadly, is often the case with
characters
The
as
thrum they
opening
chapters
165
CRIME FACTORY many crime stories.
On
the
down
ISSUE FOURTEEN wasted his life and Rita, an
side
the
intense cleaning lady with a
ending felt out of place. In
shady past.
going for a brighter epilogue
Clark loses the hard, pragmatic
years mowing lawns, lives in
and brutal tone that serves
the house where he grew up
him through out the rest of
and is committed to the rut
the
he has carved out for himself.
novel
and
the
book
is
Ronnie has spent thirty
weaker for it.
Rita cleans floors, lives in
a
A Healthy Fear of Man
one-room
unit
and
has
a
is an exciting and impressive
landlord that knows her by a
novel. I’ll be tracking down
different name. After meeting
The Science of Paul and I’m
at
sure after reading it I’ll be
became romantically involved
looking forward to the third
and
their
Paul Little book.
while
initially
the
village
pair
relationship,
passionate, -Addam Duke
the
sweet
soon
takes
and an
obsessive turn.
The
moments
earlier between
tender
Ronnie
and
RONNIE AND RITA
Rita are touching and sad. You
Deborah Sheldon
can feel Ronnie’s loneliness
Dark Prints Press
and the desire to be loved that he has kept hidden even
Set in the outer suburbs of
from
Melbourne, Australia, Ronnie
seemingly
and Rita is a twisted love
nature obscures a dark and
story
broken
secret pain. It is these early
quiet
scenes that hold the story
middle-aged gardener who has
together and keep Ronnie and
people,
between Ronnie,
two a
himself open
while
Rita’s
and
honest
166
CRIME FACTORY Rita’s
actions
despite
the
believable
surreal
events
ISSUE FOURTEEN Rita. Having spent two years working as a gardener at a
that later take place. It also
retirement
makes it all the more painful
Eastern
when things start to fall to
a few people very much like
pieces.
Ronnie.
Ronnie
and
Rita
dream
Suburbs
Rita’s admission that she is
many
‘damaged
goods’
class
have
child.
a
notices
that
the known
perfectly
portrays the resignation to mediocrity
cannot
in
I’ve
Sheldon
of starting a family despite and
village
of
that
the
permeates
working/middle
neighbourhoods
where
When
she
I grew up and the desperate
Ronnie’s
next
things they’ll sometimes do
door
neighbour
is
pregnant
she
convinces
Ronnie
to break away.
the
baby could be theirs and from
-Addam Duke
there things rapidly spiral out of control. Ronnie and Rita’s love is not glamorous
HOME INVASION
and
Patti Abbott
their
dreams
aren’t
grand instead they’re small
Snubnose Press
and fractured. The narrative moves at a frantic pace and
A compilation of short stories
her tight prose adds a sense
that
of
Invasion
claustrophobic
panic
as
form
novel,
follows
the
dysfunctional
Home saga
the walls close in and then
of
start to crumble around the
Family over a period of fifty
duo.
years.
the
a
This
tale
Batch
certainly
I have to admit I had a
hits the spot when it comes
bit of a biased affection for
to appalling parenting, flawed
Deborah Sheldon’s Ronnie and
morals and the darker side of
167
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
early 20th century America.
longer be given at will. The
elated feeling of optimistic
Abbott’s
distressing
dark style
and depicts
anticipation
is
lost
after
this family with their tainted
the first few chapters.
trail of debased businesses,
impulsive escapes and illegal
years of her youngest son,
endeavors, with the expertise
Charlie,
of a psychoanalyst working in
plot begins to pick up when
child services.
he acts upon his fascination
with home invasion.
The book begins with the
Delving
into
the
the
teen
chronological
character of Billie Batch and
her incredibly self-absorbed
all of his confusing, candid,
mother, Kay.
peculiar adolescent glory that
Following
from
keeps you reading on. Even the
her jarring adolescence, the
progression from a small boy
story becomes irritably slow
to adulthood Charlie’s life
paced and a little frustrating
is
during her transition into a
behavior
and
tragic alcoholic mother with
obsessions
that
two boys and a con-man husband
land him in prison. On his
with
released he is confronted with
some
Billie
Charlie is the glue in
unyielding
anger
sparred
with
byzantine ambiguous ultimately
issues.
an intrinsic blend of lies, a
stolen child and unthinkable
Leaping from one hopeless
situation
to
the
next,
blackmail
from
this story is riddled with
lover, Melissa.
constant displays of pathetic
parenting
and
and
hardships
and
the bad
family’s fortune
Abbott’s
his
former
prose,
complex,
plot
desperate
characters satisfy a strange
are painfully continuous to
hunger
brought
on
by
this
a point where empathy can no
sad and potent narrative in
168
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
which her literary brilliance
the House of Blackley.
shines
through.
The
raw
The first chapter presents
nature of this story is both
the department store in all
dark and blunt and some will
its elegance and allure is
find
through
as a place of dreams to its
this tale heartbreaking and
customers but in other ways,
beholden while others may find
a form of imprisonment to its
themselves saying, “What the
employees. The aftermath of
hell just happened?”
Amélie’s death has its fare
share
being
hauled
I was the latter and yet
of
twists
and
turns
Home Invasion has become mind-
(including the bizarre detail
invading almost indefinitely.
of a fez-wearing monkey found in
- Elke Flint
the
dead
girl’s
room),
but it is the story’s main protagonist, Detective Silas Quinn
with
his
character
THE MANNEQUIN HOUSE
cocktail
of
R.N Morris
nerve
ambiguity,
Creme de la Crime
continuously coats this prose
and
audacity, that
with intrigue. Set
in
London
before
the
In
this
era
outbreak of the First World War
innocence,
in 1914, The Mannequin House
despair,
is the ultimate crime fiction
with abundant emotional and
and period drama piece. The
psychological
story centers on the murder
deeper Quinn delves into the
of
model
thwarted passions and secrets
called Amelie, working in the
of the mannequin house, the
prestigious department store
more the detective’s past is
and consumer paradise that is
divulged to us. Amongst these
a
young
fashion
Morris
of
pain
and
expels violence
depth.
The
169
CRIME FACTORY
ISSUE FOURTEEN
anomalies is Quinn’s tendency
absorbing historical mystery
to act “as judge, jury and
with
executioner”.
precision.
is
Quinn’s the
owner
sophistication The
novel
and reads
chief
suspect
with constitution but most of
department
store’s
all with feeling and though
Benjamin
multifaceted
Blackley,
character
a
and
the suspect list is short and guessing
the
culprit
isn’t
the clear ‘villain’ of the
exactly rocket science, there
piece. Rumored to keep the
is a nice twist at the end to
mannequins
satisfy all.
(as
the
store’s
models are referred to) under
tight
Blackley
Quinn himself “At this stage,
is a natural suspect but has
anything and everything could
connections that can put Quinn
turn
and his career at risk.
significance.
all”.
parameters,
But
between
Mister
In the words of Silas
out
to
have Or
a
vital
none
at
Blackley and the fez-wearing monkey is of course the house
- Elke Flint
of mannequins. Emotional yet tight lipped, the girls expel toxic levels of bitterness and jealously,
hindering
Quinn
from unveiling the truth of Amélie’s ghastly fate.
Character
dialogue
is
decisive and witty, leaving ones imagination to run wild within
Morris’s
discerning
elaborations. He is sharp yet eloquent
and
delivers
this
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171
“Nice try, asshole.” -Catlin