It's a fast read, with a quirky cast of characters set in San Francisco. However, there are some odd similarities to a 1950 film noir starring Robert Mitchum, Claude Rains, and Faith Domergue. Both the movie and Willeford's novella dealt with a (comparatively) young man who fell for a beautiful "wild" (mentally imbalanced) woman who lied about being controlled by her "father" (he turned out to be her rich and much older husband). In the resulting confrontation, the femme fatale smothered the husband without letting the protagonist know, and they tried to flee to Mexico where supposedly the woman had stashed away cash she had been secretly skimming from her old man. I have always wondered whether Willeford had worked uncredited on the film, which predated his novella by some 6-7 years, or whether this was a case of "inadvertent" plagiarism (or at least "creative borrowing"). There are of course sufficient differences between the film and the book to distinguish them as works of art, but the similarities nevertheless are pretty striking.

Worth reading for the cover art alone! I really dig Willeford's stuff, and this one's another brief gem.

Furious pace. Towards the end it reaches almost comical intensity and the Las Vegas wedding scene with a gin soaked witness sleeping in the chapel (one page) and the one in which Jake wins $1400 on a dice game (two paragraphs) are unforgettable. It says on the cover "A Novel" but with less than 100 pages I think it qualifies more as a novella. Either way, it's impossible to put it down once you start reading it.

More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2015/01/w...

This fast-paced novella is an unconventional private eye tale populated with seedy, greedy characters. Willeford, having written it under a pseudonym in 1956, rehashes the usual private-eye-falls-for-a-femme-fatale formula. But he throws in enough curveballs to keep the reader off-balance, starting with the first scene where a beautiful young lady struts into the private eye's office. Our lovers eventually make their way to no-holds-bar Las Vegas where the action grows even weirder. I'd say WILD WIVES is great fun to read on a rainy or snowy day.

Hard bitten, Computer written

I love these nasty old pulps. I have an idea some credit should go to the Firesign Theater for the office opening in Ch. 1... Software generated? What a revoltin' development!

Generally, I like the work of Charles Willeford, but Wild Wives is not one of his best works. Its main character, private detective Jake Blake, is a man who does not make good decisions. When he runs off with the flighty tramp Florence Weintraub, thinking he had killed her husband, Jake just gets in deeper and deeper. If you want really top-flight Willeford, read the Hoke Moseley novels.

Willeford satirizes the private detective genre while simultaneously writing a private detective classic.

3 1/2

Δεύτερο βιβλίο του Τσαρλς Ουίλφορντ που διαβάζω, μετά το καταπληκτικό Miami Blues, το οποίο φυσικά είναι ένα σκαλί πάνω από το Wild Wives, αν και πρέπει να λάβουμε υπόψιν ότι το Wild Wives γράφηκε τριάντα ολόκληρα χρόνια πριν το Miami Blues. Αποτελεί τον ορισμό του καλού παλπ αστυνομικού μυθιστορήματος, στο ίδιο στιλ με τα βιβλία των Τζιμ Τόμσον και Τζέιμς Κέιν. Μικρό σε μέγεθος που όμως με την πλοκή του ικανοποιεί τον αναγνώστη.

Ο Τζέικ Μπλέικ είναι ένας ιδιωτικός ντετέκτιβ που μόλις έχει αφήσει τον στρατό όπου υπηρέτησε για πολλά χρόνια. Και ψάχνει για ρευστό. Μια μέρα μπαίνει στο γραφείο του μια πλούσια, νέα και όμορφη γυναίκα, η Φλόρενς Γουέιντρομπ (ή όπως αλλιώς προφέρεται το Weintraub) η οποία του λέει ότι δυο τύποι την ακολουθούσαν συνέχεια και την κρατούσαν μακριά από "φασαρίες". Αυτοί οι τύποι υποτίθεται ότι είχαν προσληφθεί από τον πατέρα της. Έτσι πλήρωσε τον Μπλέικ για να τους ξεφορτωθεί για λίγο.

Όμως η Φλόρενς είπε κάποια ψεματάκια, αυτός που πλήρωνε τους δυο τύπους δεν ήταν ο πατέρας της, αλλά ο ζηλιάρης σύζυγός της. Και τώρα ο Μπλέικ μπλέκει σε μια ιστορία με μυστικά και φόνους, αφού στο μεταξύ ερωτεύεται την Φλόρενς, για την οποία δεν ήξερε και πολλά πράγματα για τον χαρακτήρα της... Αν και τελικά μεγάλο ρόλο στην ιστορία παίζει μια ανήλικη κοπέλα, η Μπάρμπαρα Αν Άλεν, η οποία ήθελε να δουλέψει σαν βοηθός του Μπλέικ, έστω και χωρίς πληρωμή, με τον Μπλέικ όμως να της κάνει μια χοντρή πλάκα, κάτι που στο τέλος θα το πλήρωνε πολύ ακριβά...

Αυτά σε γενικές γραμμές. Ωραία νουάρ ατμόσφαιρα και με σενάριο που θυμίζει ένα καλό b-movie. Η γραφή πολύ καλή και με αρκετό μαύρο χιούμορ. Οι σκηνές δράσης, βίας και σεξ μπόλικες και ενδιαφέρουσες. Το κατέβασα σε pdf στα αγγλικά τσάμπα και το διάβασα στο laptop. Βρήκα αρκετές άγνωστες λέξεις, αλλά τις καταλάβαινα από τα συμφραζόμενα. Ό,τι πρέπει για να εξασκήσω και λίγο τα αγγλικά μου.

I'm not sure why this was called Wild Wives. There's only a single "wild wife" in the book. Also a somewhat wild teenager. Whatever, this is pure pulp, so don't expect things to make too much sense.

Jacob Blake is a P.I. Florence Weintraub comes to see him to get help in escaping, for a time, from her "father", who is overly controlling. It's not easy, as there are a couple of body guards to avoid. Eventually, there is some success and they go off drinking and stuff together a time or two. Eventually, Jacob learns that Florence is a wife, not a daughter.

Then, there's Barbara Ann Allen (Bobby) who wants to be a P.I. herself, so she tries to get Jacob to give her a job. He gives her a fake one, and she retaliates, calling the police in on him and so forth.

Just pulp, something to while away the time between naps, but actually, half decent pulp.

"I crawled along the length of the sign toward the ditch. I squirmed along on my belly. A baby creeps and a snake crawls. I crawled, my head low to the ground. In a way, it was like being on a patrol. I was excited. There was a taste of copper in my mouth and every sense was alive and tingling. This is why there is war. Men like this highly exalted feeling. Hunting animals is a poor substitute for the real thing. The only time a man is really alive is when he is close to death."

I can only add to what others have written here. It's a nice variation on classic noir elements with enough left turns to keep you surprised and one he'll of an ending. Willeford, like the relatively unheralded Bruno Fischer, turns the old private detective tradition, very subtly, on its ear. It's a quick, perfect read.