Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

Junior Jackson's Parable by James Hannah

Originally published 1988 in Desperate Measures (published by Southern Methodist University Press), this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

M

Not recommended for persons under 15 years of age, but no legal restrictions

(L, D, S, T, V)

Frequent Coarse Language {M}

Drug References {M} {Alcohol, tobacco, unspecified pills}

Sexual References {PG}

Themes {Crime, Drug Dependency}

Violence {M}

Representations

Gender:

Some women in background, most prominently as protagonist's mother and wife, who seems mainly a passive locus of trouble.

Sex:

Story centred on a heterosexual triangle. Prison rape a danger.

Race & Ethnicity:

Characters presumed white, on basis of protagonist's prejudiced upbringing about 'Arabs, Jews [and] nigras'.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

Protagonist suffered a chronic leg injury as a teen. Protagonist's employer also disabled. Backstory character suffered damage from acid of exploding battery. Protagonist's father disabled by workplace injury; protagonist's mother suffers from arthritis.

Awards

None found

Text

Dreary and depressing the whole way through. Poor kid gets injured working with cars in his teens, dishonourably discharged from the US navy, his wife does drugs and spends all her time with her convicted murderer ex-boyfriend and, when he goes to kill the guy, chickens out at the last moment and accidentally kills him with a ricochet anyway. Almost walks anyway, until a moment of hope is turned against him.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

To Florida by Robert Sampson

Originally published 1987 in {unstated, could not find}; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

MA15+

Considered unsuitable for persons under 15 years of age; legally restricted

(D, H, L, V)

Drug References {PG}

Supernatural References {No weight}

Coarse Language {M}

Violence {MA15+}

Themes {M} {Crime; Family Breakdown}

Representations

Gender:

One female character, mostly terrorised into going along with the protagonist.

Sex:

Unreferenced; the two leads may have been in a relationship, but implied at best.

Race & Ethnicity:

One black child passed by as a background detail.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

Protagonist is depicted as abruptly and excessively violent. I think we are supposed to believe he suffers from some sort of mental illness.

Awards

None found.

Notes

Did not enjoy this story. It is bleak and depressing and disturbingly violent. Like a shadow falling across one's soul.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

Graveyard Shift by James M. Reasoner

Originally published November 1978 in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine as by M. R. James; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

M

Not recommended for persons under 15 years of age, but no legal restrictions

(D, L, V, T)

Drug References {PG} {alcohol, tobacco}

Coarse Language {PG}

Violence {M}

Themes {crime, death, vengeance}

Representations

Gender:

The only specified woman is the protagonist's dead wife.

Sex:

Implicit heterosexuality in references to aforementioned dead wife and to couples buying late night infant supplies.

Race & Ethnicity:

Unmentioned; as usual characters presumed white US citizens.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

Unmentioned.

Awards

None found

Notes

Very short, sharp tale of undetected, vengeance-driven serial killing.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

The Old Pro by H. A. Derosso

Originally published December 1960 in Manhunt; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

MA15+

Considered unsuitable for persons under 15 years of age; legally restricted

(S, D, V, L)

Mild Sexual Activity {PG}

Drug Use {PG} {alcohol, tobacco}

Violence {MA15+}

Coarse Language {PG}

Representations

Gender:

One woman in story, a symbol of what is good in life and worth fighting for.

Sex:

Only a single heterosexual relationship.

Race & Ethnicity:

Unmentioned; characters presumed white US citizens.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

Disfigurement by acid as a threat.

Awards

None found. Was adapted as an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Notes

Despite being more a crime story than a detective one, I liked this. Retired contract killer discovers you can't get out.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

The Merry, Merry Christmas by Evan Hunter

Originally published 1957 in Manhunt; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

M

Not recommended for persons under 15 years of age, but no legal restrictions

(D, L, V)

Drug Use {PG} {alcohol}

Coarse Language {M} {homophobic and misogynistic slurs used as calculated taunts}

Violence {M}

Representations

Gender:

No women present. Stereotyped aggressive protectiveness of men toward the good name of their mothers used as a weapon.

Sex:

One character accuses another of being queer in a hostile, suspicious response unwanted generosity. Homophobia used as tool of provocation and to express dislike.

Race & Ethnicity:

No mention; characters apparently white + US citizens.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

Victim dismissed by witness, murderer, and officer on the scene as a nut.

Awards

None found.

Notes

Another story of the impersonal injustice of violence, found it more strikingly crafted than many of the others. An apparently perfect murder committed motivated by irritation with the victim, with speech used as the weapon as much as any physical violence.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

So Pale, So Cold, So Fair by Leigh Brackett

Originally published July 1957 in Argosy; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

M

(D, L, V)

Drug References {M} {Alcohol - getting drunk for grief, Tobacco}

Coarse Language {PG}

Violence {M}

Representations

Gender:

Women as people. Viewpoint character is male, but it is friendship between women that delivers the final impetus to get the story going. Although a woman is the victim of the piece, she was not a passive one.

Sex:

Heterosexuality only; development of chemistry under pressure.

Race & Ethnicity:

All characters US white so far as could tell.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

One character has strong facial scarring from an attempt to silence him.

Awards

None found.

Notes

I was relieved and excited to turn the page and see Leigh Brackett's name as she was a noted genre author (mainly of science fiction) , although I suspect these days she is mostly known for her work on the screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back. The story itself was a relieving return to the detective-style story I have been preferring, rather than crime fiction as depicting the grim darkness of humanity, crime without resolution or 'hero'. The puzzle, more than the grime in the soul.

Liked this one a lot, and the writing while rating I quoted parts to friends, delighting in the logical menace laid out so skilfully by Brackett.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

The Screen Test of Mike Hammer by Mickey Spillane

Originally published July 1955 in Male; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

M

(D, V)

Drug Use (M) {Tobacco}

Violence (PG)

Representations

Gender:

Women simultaneously as infantilised possessions and dangerous manipulators.

Sex:

Only heterosexuality represented (brief story, but suffused with it)

Race & Ethnicity:

All characters unmarked US, presumed white.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

'Crazy' people as murdering maniacs.

Awards

None found

Notes

This was very short and equally off-putting. Really brought to my attention the mistake I'd made in buying a Mike Hammer anthology - I'd got Mickey Spillane confused with Raymond Chandler. Only three pages long but oozing misogyny and one-dimensional macho heroics that would put an '80s action film to shame. Did not like, considering getting rid of the Mike Hammer collection unread.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

Guilt-Edged Blonde by Ross Macdonald

Originally published January 1954 in Manhunt; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

M

(L, V, D)

Coarse Language {PG}

Violence {M}

Drug Use {PG}

Representations

Gender:

Two female characters. Implication that women can trade on attractiveness for personal gain. Plot driven by maternal concern. Bechdel fail despite mutual presence in a scene.

Sex:

Heterosexuality only, suggestion of sex used as currency.

Race & Ethnicity:

The only mention of people of colour: "A gang of Negro boys at loose ends went by in the street, hooting and whistling purposelessly." Characters unmarked, presumed white USAian.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

No mention.

Awards

None found.

Notes

I was pleased to find this story in the collection, since I'd read a bit about Ross Macdonald's Archer stories and was looking forward to reading them, but this one was a bit disappointing. Still a pleasant change as the first detective-solving-a-crime story since 'Who Said I Was Dead?', which this collection helped solidify for me are what I prefer in crime fiction.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

The Bobby-Soxer by Jonathan Craig

Originally published 1953 in Manhunt (short story collection); this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

R18+

(V, L, S)

Violence {M}

Sexual Violence {R18+} {any depiction of sexual violence gets this rating automatically}

Coarse Language {M}

Sexual References {PG}

Representations

Gender:

Two women present in story. Viewpoint character is seventeen, and revealed in twist ending to be a sex worker (i.e. we are meant to have the shocked realisation she wasn't the 'innocent' victim of attempted rape she appeared to be (even though she actually was)), pretending to be naively unaware of the interest she attracts from men; the other is part of the crowd gathered to condemn the attempted rapist, urging his death; no communication between them. Attempted rapist depicted as wild-eyed weirdo, visually differentiable from 'safe' men, other men so enraged by rape they crowd together to beat and kick him while helpless.

Sex:

Heterosexual-only, framed entirely in terms of power, purity and commodity.

Race & Ethnicity:

No characters marked. Presuming all white US citizens.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

Apart from the from the would-be rapist looking "funny and wild-eyed", no mention.

Notes

This story reads like an MRA's paranoid fantasy. An apparently innocent girl, unaware of the lust she inspires, is assaulted by a stranger in an alley while out walking. Fortunately she screams, and an angry mob descends to begin beating the attempted rapist without a further word from her. The police request she come back with her parents to give a statement but - shock twist! - she continues on to her destination where we learn she is actually a sex worker. The editors even acknowledge the author's misogyny in the introduction as a running theme in his work (personally, I would have just not put the story in).

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

Dock Walloper by Benjamin Appel

Originally published 1953 in Dock Walloper (short story collection); this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

PG

(L, S, D, V)

Coarse Language {PG}

Sexual References {PG}

Drug Use {PG} {alcohol}

Violence {PG}

Representations

Gender:

Only a couple of female characters, story told from perspective of one man, albeit in a third-person semi-omniscient way. One female character described thus as flaunting her looks to punish men generally for not marrying her.

Sex:

Nothing but heterosexuality mentioned.

Race & Ethnicity:

Gang leader is of Irish ethnicity. One character in the hierarchy is referred to by an anti-Italian slur when people are unhappy.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

Some characters gain weight as a consequence of living a corrupt life of leisure. Otherwise no mention.

Notes

This one I have been putting off doing. I didn't like it, not because it is done badly (I don't think it is) but because it is upsetting. Guy gets out of prison, all he wants to do is go straight, work a job and not have trouble with anyone. But the connections that got him the job won't take no for an answer, so he gets pulled back in and, finally, trapped in a situation that just isn't going to end well.