Seldom Disappointed by Tony Hillerman

I enjoyed reading this memoir although I confess to not having read very many Tony Hillerman books. (A quick database check reveals I've read three Leaphorn & Chee novels, one nonfiction anthology, and one fiction anthology that he edited). It's a true memoir, meaning it's based on his complete life, up until the age of 75 when he wrote it. That means there is a lot of material that does not directly relate to his books or writing process. Lots on his WW2 experiences where he earned recognition as well as some nasty wounds in battle. There is also quite a bit from his post-war journalism career followed by his his time in academia. 

I was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM and so I have many memories of Tony Hillerman's celebrity status for New Mexicans. While it's interesting to read of his life, I wish more of this memoir was devoted to his writing. He does make the point quite well, that all of his lifetime experiences did, in fact, feed his writing. Characters, even Joe Leaphorn, were based on people he'd encountered along the way. Probably more importantly were the plots and situations that his characters encounter which almost always grew from experiences in his own life. His insights on modern-day Indians (and yes, I deliberately use that term -- not "Native Americans" or "Indigenous Peoples" which many Indians consider derogatory) are especially interesting. Throughout the book, he is humble and isn't afraid to be self-deprecating. The book comes across as honest, even when he looks bad in hindsight from time to time. 

It's always fun for me to read autobiographies by authors and this one is a good one. And of course it served its purpose in that I now really feel the need to read more of his fiction.

The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards

This non-fiction book won all sorts of awards when it came out in 2016, including the prestigious Edgar and Agatha awards.  It’s easy to see why.  I’ve dabbled in reading a few golden age detective novels, mostly Agatha Christies but a few others here and there. But I’ve never felt like I had a good handle on that era and how and why this sub-genre came to be so popular.  I was also interested in learning more about the authors involved.

The Golden Age of murder mysteries or detective novels is usually considered to be those years between the two world wars.  Big name authors were Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K Chesterton (Father Brown mysteries), John Dickson Carr, John Road, Anthony Berkley, and many others. In the year 1930 a small group of these authors formed “The Detection Club”:

    an elite social network of writers whose work earned a reputation for literary excellence, and earned     a profound long-term influence on storytelling in fiction, film, and television.

This was a group of young writers from Britain (almost all living in London), whose impact continues to be felt even today.  This book focuses on their early years, from 1930 through 1949, which only involved a total of 39 members.   

The book does an excellent job of not only delving into their biographies and work, but also provides a solid understanding of how they influenced each other, criticized each other, and came to each other’s defense. I really felt like I got to know them, warts and all. Many of them got ideas from real-life murders, details to which we are also treated. But the real treasure here is in understanding how their work came to be so important and influential for later authors, whether in the mystery genre or beyond.  The author is, himself a crime writer as well as a noted authority on detective fiction which is very evident throughout the book.

Best of all, I feel like I absorbed all of the information that a textbook could offer and yet this doesn’t read like a textbook at all. In some ways, it is like reading a mystery story, especially considering all of the secrets these authors kept to themselves. Very entertaining to read.

The bad news is that I now have a whole list of authors I want/need to try and a much longer list of their books to get my hands on.

Highly recommended.

Fighting Crime One Dime at a Time by Ed Hulse (editor)

For several years I’ve been on a quest to learn more about the old pulp stories and heroes. I’ve read quite a few of them now, in several different series and plan to sample a lot more in the future. But I know I’ll never be able to read them all. And that’s where books like this come in.

Per the Murania Press Website, “In the summer of 2002, long-time friends Ed Hulse, Mark Trost and Rick Scheckman launched Blood ‘n’ Thunder, an amateur journal for aficionados of adventure, mystery, and melodrama in American popular culture of the early 20th century.” As a quarterly publication (with a few gaps), a treasure trove of material has been accumulated over the years. Occasionally, a “Blood ‘N’ Thunder Presents" collection comes along, of which this volume is the third.

As the title implies, this volume is devoted to the crime fighting heroes of the pulps, particularly the “single character” type of heroes such as The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Lone Ranger, Black Bat, The Phantom, etc. Ed Hulse provides a marvelous introduction and summarizes the history of these pulp crime fighters. Fourteen articles follow as well as an appendix which provides two early comics that heavily borrowed from pulp characters.

Knowledgeable authors contributed these articles, including Will Murray, Mark Trost, John Coryell, Joe Rainone, Larry Latham, and of course Ed Hulse. The only article I didn’t really care for was also among the longest, “Masked Rider of the (Pulp) Plains – A History of The Lone Ranger Magazine”. The first part was great, describing, in detail, the history of the magazine and its impact. But then we are presented with a whole host of individual plot summaries of the stories, including the endings for all of them. Spoilers abound!

I would be hard pressed to name my favorite article but certainly near the top would be “The 20 Most Underrated Shadow Novels” wherein various contributors state their case for favorite entries that are often overlooked.

The book itself is well-designed, and of very high quality. One might wish for full color pictures instead of the black and white ones here, but I imagine the resulting retail price would keep it out of the hands of most. As for me, I can honestly say I learned a great deal about these pulp characters as well as the history of their publication and their ultimate demise as comics, paperbacks and TV usurped their role.

Highly recommended.

The Last Gunfight - The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral by Jeff Guinn

The Gunfight at the OK Corral is easily the most famous gunfight in American history. It has long since ascended into the ranks of mythology. Its participants, particularly Wyatt Earp, have been similarly elevated into the upper echelons of human consciousness…so much so that separating fact from fiction is surely a daunting task.

While I have long been a fan of this historical event, it was not the subject itself that first drew me to this book. In fact, it was the author, Jeff Guinn. I had read his book, "Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde" about another great American myth, steeped in actual history. I was so impressed with the author’s ability to pierce the veil of the legend and tell the real story while simultaneously delivering an excellent, enjoyable read, that I knew I would be searching out more of his work.

This book presents the “facts” of the infamous gunfight in a fairly linear order. Jeff Guinn invests some time with the backgrounds of the major players, including the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, the Clantons, the McLaurys, Johhny Ringo, Curly Bill, and a number of important but much lesser-known people who had an impact on what occurred that fateful day in October, 1881. It is clear from early on that the Earps and Doc Holliday were no saints themselves. Interestingly, Guinn also depicts the history of Tombstone itself, treating it (by design, I think) as its own character. 

The issue of just how to separate the facts from the fiction is surely a formidable task for any chronicler of such an event, especially considering the official record (court documents, eyewitness statements, etc.) are hugely tainted with bias depending on which faction one supported. As the book progresses, the time scale slows as we get closer to the gunfight, going into an almost hour by hour and then minute by minute account. The aftermath is also thoroughly explored, including the various court cases that resulted, the back-and-forth opinion of the townspeople, the murder of Morgan Earp, and the infamous “Vendetta Ride” by Wyatt and friends. A final chapter, entitled “Legends” provides an interesting summation of what happened to each of the participants and where they ended up. This section also includes an examination of Wyatt’s later-in-life attempts to ensure his own legacy as well as how books, television, and movies have transformed the event into the near-myth that it is today. I was especially interested in how it became known as the “Gunfight at the OK Corral”, considering it didn’t actually happen there. But “The Shootout at the Vacant Lot Next to Fremont Street” just doesn’t have that same ring to it.

This is not simply another biography of Wyatt Earp. The author tries (and I think succeeds) to blend all the available information in order to provide a proper context to the entire event. Even today, historians argue the various circumstances of what exactly happened. Was Tom McLaury armed or not? Did Wyatt kill Curly Bill at the end of his Vendetta Ride or did he live? Where was the exact location of the Benson Stage Robbery which played so importantly in the growing rivalry? Where necessary, the author lets us know of the conflicting theories.

I really enjoyed this book. I chose to read it over a couple of weeks rather than just sit down and plow through from cover to cover. Somehow, that seemed appropriate for the subject matter and made the reading experience a little more epic. Mythological, you might say.

Highly recommended.

Go Down Together by Jeff Guinn

As an aficionado of crime fiction, I thought I would dip my toe into the non-fiction world of real life crime.  Like many people, I had heard bits and pieces about various criminal celebrities of the 1930s, like Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Ma Barker, and Bonnie and Clyde.  Part of my brain realized their real life stories were probably far from what has been depicted in the movies, TV, etc. so  at the recommendation of a good friend who studies this era of crime, I chose to read this book about Bonnie and Clyde.

What an eye opener!  Forget everything you may have heard or seen particularly if you have seen the movie starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  Jeff Guinn, the author of this book has meticulously researched this saga, and provides an extensive source listing.  It’s so complete that it seems almost every line in the text is sourced from a letter, an interview, police reports, etc.  Hats off to his comprehensive research efforts.

I was struck by the story of these two people, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker.  Growing up in the West Dallas slums and maturing only as the Great Depression hit obviously had a huge impact on them.  But plenty of other people lived through those exact same circumstances and did not make the same choices.  To see how a combination of their life situations, extremely bad luck, their self-image, and extremely good luck led them to their life paths is fascinating reading.

Some tidbits:

   1) Clyde Barrow was the absolute leader of the duo as well as of all the reincarnations of the Barrow Gang.  Bonnie was really just along for the ride.  In fact up until the Warren Beatty movie, they were known as “Clyde and Bonnie” or more often, “The Barrow Gang”, not “Bonnie and Clyde”

   2) It’s hard to believe how much the law enforcement community was shackled during that era.  Very little ability to communicate, very poor resources, no federal support (J Edgar Hoover was just getting started).  They couldn’t even pursue a criminal across state lines.  Difficult to believe they ever caught anybody!

   3) The overall time frame of Clyde and Bonnie’s time in the sun, so to speak, was really very short.  From their rise to national fame after the Joplin incident to their ultimate death by ambush was a mere 14 months.

   4) The Barrow Gang (as did Dillinger) continuously robbed National Guard armories to get their weapons.  Dozens of times.  Hard to believe but that seemed far easier for them than robbing a bank or even a supermarket.

   5) Up until 1934 when the duo died, there were no penalties for harboring fugitives.  Clyde and Bonnie (and other members of their gang) visited their home in Dallas many, many times during their rampage.  This was well known by the local police but they simply didn’t have the resources for a stake out.  And the family and friends never worried about the consequences of harboring.  But, as a result of Clyde and Bonnie’s saga, the laws were soon changed.

   6) The myth of Clyde, Bonnie, and the Barrow Gang arose largely due to the times.  Depression era Americans were usually desperate for entertainment to take their mind away from their troubles.  Journalists of the era were more like fiction writers and frequently printed headlines with no basis in fact.  Both Bonnie and Clyde loved reading about their larger-than-life selves in “True Detective” magazine and the newspapers and yet also complained when they were blamed for crimes with which they had no involvement.

Overall, this is a fascinating read.  I actually took my time reading it so as to absorb the impact of each chapter.  To be there at the scene of a getaway when the Barrow Gang is trapped with no way out…and yet they somehow manage to escape is incredible.   And it wasn’t due to mastermind-like intelligence either.  Neither Clyde nor Bonnie displayed much smarts in their lives but they sure did benefit from mother luck. Many times various members of the gang were wounded horribly but kept on going.  Bonnie herself was almost crippled after Clyde, a dangerously fast driver at all times, slid off the road and the resulting accident spilled battery acid down Bonnie’s leg.   After that, Clyde had to carry her wherever they went. Their lives were not glamorous in the least but rather lived day-to-day, mostly camping out and eating on blankets.  By the end of their lives they were both extremely thin and, due to various injuries, could hardly stand. 

I could go on and on about various scenarios but suffice it to say, real life can, indeed, be stranger, and more unbelievable than fiction.  Reading this book has made me yearn to learn more about other “celebrity criminals” of the era.