Miami Blues by Charles Willeford

(pb; 1984: first book in the Hoke Moseley series. Introduction by Elmore Leonard)

From the back cover:

"After a brutal day investigating a quadruple homicide, Detective Hoke Moseley settles into his room at the un-illustrious El Dorado Hotel and nurses a glass of brandy. With his guard down, he doesn't think twice when he hears a knock at the door. The next day, he finds himself in the hospital, badly bruised, with his jaw wired shut. He thinks back over ten years of cases, wondering who would want to beat him into unconsciousness, steal his gun and badge, and most important, make off his with his prized dentures. But the pieces never quite add up to revenge, and the few clues he has keep connecting to a dim-witted hooker, her ex-con boyfriend, and the bizarre murder of a Hare Krishna pimp."


Review:

Darkly and brutally hilarious crime comedy that fans of Elmore Leonard will likely enjoy. It's all there: character quirkiness, effective violence and humor, and water-tight, character-centered plotting and pacing.

This is a wonderful neo-noir read, worth owning.

Followed by New Hope for the Dead.

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Miami Blues was released stateside as a theatrical film on April 20, 1990. George Armitage scripted and directed the film.

Alec Baldwin played Frederick J. Frenger Jr. (aka "Junior"). Fred Ward played Sgt. Hoke Moseley. Jennifer Jason Leigh played Susie Waggoner.

Charles Napier played Sgt. Bill Henderson. Nora Dunn played Ellita Sanchez. Paul Gleason played Sgt. Frank Lackley.

An uncredited Brent Armitage, son of the film's director, played "Carjacked Dealer".

In The Cut, by Susanna Moore

(hb; 1995)

From the inside flap:

"We hear the wry, brazenly honest voice of an intelligence, self-determined woman living alone in New York City. She's a teacher of writing and a scholar of language in all its eccentricities, its vagaries of meaning and effect. She likes her solitude, when she chooses it; her students, when they don't follow her home; men, when they don't expect her to belong to them. She's unblinking and acute in her observations about herself as she is about other people. Uncertainty interests her -- the wish to be surprised: 'I have a. . . certain incautious adaptability.' She has chosen a private, if unsheltered life, and she is utterly unprepared for the danger that awaits her.

"In the aftermath of a particularly gruesome murder in her neighborhood, she finds herself in the grip of an unfamiliar gripping terror. She propels herself into a risky sexual liaison, as if to test the limits of her own safety, her knowledge of the world, and her ability to interpret it -- both its language and its unspoken signs. But as her fears and passions grow, she is increasingly wary not only of this one man but of every man with whom she has contact. It becomes clear that her passion, once a way of gaining control over chaos, is, instead, chaos itself. And by the time a second murder occurs, her darkest suspicions already may have already been overwhelmed by the darker desires she has discovered in herself."

Review:

Edgy, raw head-rush of a novel, with surprising dialogue and events. Is the murderer Jimmy Malloy, a charming, blunt cop? Is it Cornelius, a cynical John Wayne Gacy-obsessed student? Or is the serial murderer another man, one of a few other men the female protagonist (her name is never uttered) finds herself in contact with?

In The Cut is gripping, sharp, original and almost perfect, until, near the end, the female protagonist has a Stupid Moment -- that moment when it's clear what's going on, and who's doing what badness to whom, and a key character acts uncharacteristically Stupid (yes, with a capital "S").

That Stupid Moment is a minor nit, though. The female protagonist's surprising clarity -- practically fatalistic detachment -- to the horrors taking place around her turns this into more than the run-of-the-mill serial killer novel, almost rendering the aformentioned nit moot.

Worth owning, this.

A film version of the novel hit stateside theater screens on October 31, 2003.

Meg Ryan played Frannie. Jennifer Jason Leigh played Pauline. Mark Ruffalo played Malloy. Nick Damici played Detective Rodriguez.

Jane Campion directed the film, from a script she co-wrote with author Susanna Moore and Stavros Kazantzidis.

Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison

(hb; 1992)

From the inside flap:

“Greenville County, South Carolina, is a wild, lush place of black walnut trees and weeping willows, of sweet tea served on shaded porches. It is also the home to the Boatwright family – rough-hewn men who drink hard and shoot up each other’s trucks, and indomitable women who marry young and age all too quickly. At the heart of this memorable family – and of this astonishing novel – is Ruth Anne Boatwright, called Bone by her family, a South Carolina bastard with an annotated birth certificate to tell the tale.

“Bone knows what Greenville County thinks of her family, and when she’s not defending them passionately, she has to agree: Boatwrights are drunks and thieves, and she’d like nothing more than to escape the life they would make for her. Observing everything with a mercilessly keen eye, Bone sees the legacy of poverty and futility that marks her family’s place in this small Southern town – the fierce pride that erupts in rage and violence; the women who ward off loneliness by having more children; the desperation of itinerant souls who scarcely dare to dream of a better life.

“Bone dreams. She dreams of becoming a gospel singer (despite the fact that she can barely carry a tune), or of living a life out of one of the books she steals from the local library. She dreams of a life not only beyond Greenville but also away from Daddy Glen, the stepfather whose tenderness quickly gives way to a sly, meanspirited jealousy that will test the loyalty of her mother, Anney. The edges of this family triangle are sharp enough to draw blood: Glen calls Bone ‘cold as death, mean as a snake, and twice as twisty,’ yet Anney needs Glen ‘like a strong woman needs meat between her teeth.’ At first gentle with Bone, Daddy Glen becomes steadily colder and more furious – until their final, harrowing encounter, from which there can be no turning back...”

Review:

Told from the first-person perspective of Ruth Anne (aka, “Bone”), this is a heartbreaking, vividly-rendered novel. Author Allison’s scenes are detailed and relatable, especially when the sadness, and later, rage, of the characters (particularly Bone’s) come to the surface, infusing the characters’ actions with a palpable brutality that made me forget that I was reading a book. I was so engrossed in this book that I cursed every time my reading of it was interrupted.

Bastard Out of Carolina isn’t all darkness, though. There’s plenty of love and strength, despite the pervasive poverty and gloom of the Boatwright households, and that’s a major reason why I kept reading this; that, and author Allison creates such actualized characters – even Daddy Glen is not completely evil – that ring true.

Not an easy read (there’s semi-explicit and horrifying depictions of molestation, depression, fury and violence), but highly recommended.

The resulting cable film aired on December 15, 1996.

Jena Malone played Ruth Anne. Jennifer Jason Leigh played Anney Boatwright. Ron Eldard played “Daddy Glen” Waddell. Lyle Lovett played Wade. Christina Ricci played Dee Dee. Michael Rooker played Uncle Earle.

Anjelica Huston directed the film, from a teleplay by Anne Meredith.