The Gutter and the Grave

I blogged about it recently, but as I finished it since then, I thought I could have it as today 's reading suggestion. I am talking of course about The Gutter and the Grave, by Ed McBain. Surprisingly it does not feature the detectives of the 87th Precinct, but ex private eye turned drunkard and bum Matt Cordell, who lost his license and everything else, including himself, when he beat up the lover of his wife. Narrated by Cordell himself, the story uses many tropes, some would say clichés, of hard-boiled crime fiction: an investigation on a minor crime (someone stealing from a cashier) quickly leads to one on a murder, then a second murder, there are femmes fatales a plenty and a good deal of shady characters, an oppressive heatwave, violence of all kinds. What makes the novel stand above other similar ones is the strength of McBain's writing: vivid imagery, sharp dialogues, genuine characters behind their archetypes. One cannot go wrong with Ed McBain.

Crimes on sale (at £1.99)

I decided to take a break from epic historical novels and I am now reading crime fiction again. Well, I say I have decided but it is not quite true. As I have a pile of books to read, I just showed the couples of novels I was considering to Blonde Tickler during her last visit and she said: "this one looks like the best of them all". So I followed her advice as I trust her instincts. The book she was referring to was The Gutter and the Grave by Ed McBain. I know McBain a lot, but this is a new reading experience for me as the novel is not from his 87th Precinct series. It features an ex private eye now drunkard homeless Matt Cordell, who lost his license after beating up his wife's lover, and a few femmes fatales. I bought it at £1.99 at the local Oxfam. That is a true bargain for quality crime fiction and one of the few times when Ed McBain ventured into proper hardboiled territory.