Pulp Poem of the Week

Smelling

a cork

made her

amorous.

Gil Brewer

Love Me—and Die!

1951

Pulp Poem of the Week

My head ached and

I needed a shave and

I was in a dead man’s clothes.

It’s real great, the things that

happen to you.

You don't even have to

look for it hard.

Gil Brewer

The Red Scarf

1958

Book Review: Richard Stark, Butcher's Moon (1974)

  
The Hunter + The Score = Butcher’s Moon. For more than two decades, it seemed that Butcher’s Moon would be the last Parker novel, and I have to admit that some small part of me wishes that it were, as it makes a perfect coda to original series of novels (and is even richer still if you have read the Grofield novels, too). Having said that, however, I will relish reading Comeback, and I will not feel obligated to wait 23 years before I do it.  Grade: A-

Pulp Poem of the Week

All she knew was

Get in bed with me,

I love you.

Kill.

And money.

Gil Brewer

13 French Street

1951

Pulp Poem of the Week

He wanted to go to some bar and get drunk:

stupid,

blind,

maggoty,

stumbling,

rotten,

lurching,

passed-out,

knocked-cold,

egg-eyed,

what’s-my-name?

drunk.

Gil Brewer

Play It Hard

1960

Book Review: Day Keene and Gil Brewer, Love Me--and Die! (1951)

  
A sort of apprentice novel in which Gil Brewer turns a longish Day Keene story (“Marry the Sixth for Murder!,” Detective Tales, May 1948) into something even longer. The original story didn’t make a great deal of sense to begin with, and Brewer stayed true to his source material. He adds a femme fatale and makes his protagonist a bit more hardboiled, but the substance of the plot is the same. If you’re interested, you should stick to the Keene story (which is reprinted in The League of the Grateful Dead: Day Keene in the Detective Pulps, Volume #1) and save your time to read a better novel. Grade: C-