Back before Hard Case Crime, back in the 80's a small publishing company called Black Lizard started re-printing old pulp novels in the original style. With lurid cover art and an affordable format, these books leapt off the bookstore shelves at a teenaged Skipper Bartlett. This was when I first read Jim Thompson, Charles Willeford, David Goodis, to name only a few. Over the years Black Lizard has consistently released great noir titles with attractive cover art. Black lizard was acquired early on by Random House Vintage Crime and over their output has slowed somewhat in recent years and turned a bit away from the more vintage noir with the excepti
on of several Ross MacDonald titles and maybe a few others. Luckily, on ebay, you can still track down some of the earlier books, like this one.
I couldn't even find mention of Violent Saturday on the Black Lizard website any more but I believe it's one of the best novels they re-printed. Set in the small southern town of Morgan, Alabama. This story is more about the townsfolk than the short brutal crime that happens and touches all their lives. Rich and poor, black and white. The entire story focuses on a slice of life in a small town in the 50's. Really not your typical noir, this is one of those goldmine instances where pulp meets "respectable" literature. Full of interesting characters whose mundane everyday routines meet in an explosive ending and leaves them all re-evaluating their lives. Just an engrossing read in general. I had trouble putting it down. I recently watched the film they made of this with Victor Mature and Lee Marvin. What a disapointment. Read the book, shun the film.
Up next,
maybe the film as well.
2 comments:
The first three Jim Thompson releases had glossy coated covers:
Pop. 1280, The Getaway, A Hell Of A Woman, and sported some gossamer Marilyn Monroe-type floozie on them.
I loved those Black Lizard books, too, and they served as my introduction as well to a host of authors whose work I've collected since, and the noir style in general. Besides the original line (around 82 titles), I'd recommend, as a companion to the series, "The Devil Thumbs A Ride" by BL editor Barry Gifford. The book has cover art by Kirwan, who did the BL design/art, and fits stylistically with the rest of the books, even though it was published by Grove Press. It covers film noir, classic and beyond, and introduced me to many "lost" films in the same style as the Black Lizard books
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