You can’t
pigeon-hole Wayne D. Dundee! He writes westerns (winning a Peacemaker award),
mysteries (nominated for numerous awards), crime novels, a novel about
vampires, a boxing-meets-the-underworld novel…
Many of
his books feature P. I. JOE HANNIBAL. Wayne tells me AND FLESH AND BLOOD SO CHEAP is probably his favourite Hannibal
novel: ‘It came closest to getting down exactly what I set out to do.’
When Joe
investigates a murder in a small Wisconsin summer resort, he encounters the
hostile-community-hiding-a-guilty-secret syndrome of BAD DAY AT BLACK
ROCK.
Robert
Ryan, Spencer Tracy and (definitely having a bad day) Ernest Borgnine in ‘Bad Day at Black Rock’ (1954)
Wayne
acknowledges a debt to Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, but the lakeside resort
location reminded me of my favourite Raymond Chandler novel THE LADY IN THE
LAKE.
Cloris
Leachman and Ralph Meeker (as Mike Hammer) in ‘Kiss Me Deadly’ (1955)
Mickey
Spillane
Robert
Montgomery as P. I. Philip Marlowe in ‘Lady
in the Lake’ (1946)
Raymond
Chandler
Reviews
of AND FLESH AND BLOOD SO CHEAP:
‘This is
Joe Hannibal at his best. Prime crime fiction.’
‘Superb.’
‘The
Hannibal tales have a sort of wild, rough energy and two-fisted swagger to them
that just hits the spot.’
Great post. I've read Mickey Spillane's books and enjoyed them all and Wayne Dundee writes a terrific western, too.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the post, Oscar. Thanks for stopping by.
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