Pulp Fiction

[Karen from AustCrime]

Happily my copy of "Murder is Never Pretty ... Even When the Corpse is a Blonde" by "Joe Blake" arrived this morning - so that's it for any chance of getting any housework done tonight!

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/index.php/Blake%2C_Joe if anyone else is interested in his books.

Australia had a huge pulp fiction industry years ago with the likes of Carter Brown, Larry Kent, etc etc etc

So - are there any other pulp fans out there - who do you recommend?

[Helen]

I haven't read much pulp fiction, but these sound like a lot fun - I'll have to look out for them. Particularly as it didn't escape my notice that Joe Blake is rhyming slang for snake. :)

[JackBludis]

I wouldn't call it pulp, but an American publisher Hard Case Crime is doing reprints as well as new noir novels.

Mr. Ardai, who has had a full page photo in America's "Time Magazine" is here on crimespace at: http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/hardcasecrime

[Karen from AustCrime]

Helen - he sent me a lovely bumper sticker in the book as well - it's got a very lovely snake logo on it..

The book's hilarious - current day pulp with some marvellous lines

[Brian Thornton]

Dashiell Hammett (especial the "Continental Op" short stories).

[Christa Faust]

You can't get much pulpier than Michael Avallone. Totally over the top and often unintentionally hilarious, with titles like LUST IS NO LADY, KILL HER, YOU'LL LIKE IT, or the amazing I'D RATHER FIGHT THAN SWISH (!!!) Avallone was the lord high master of bad metaphors and cheesy dialog. Highly entertaining.

Also, I absolutely love Richard S. Prather's Shell Scott novels. I can actually recommend them without my tongue planted firmly in my cheek. Start with DIG THAT CRAZY GRAVE. "She had a shape that could make corpses kick open caskets, and she was dead set on giving me rigor mortis!"

I second the Continental Op and The Spider too. I'll have to check out this Joe Blake guy.