Friday's Forgotten Books, August 13, 2010

NEXT WEEK: What book did you love between 18-23ish? What did you speed through and turn to the beginning and start again?

Jen Forbus runs a sensational blog right here.

THE JAMES DEANS – Reed Farrel Coleman

FIRST LINE: “The reception was at the Lonesome Piper Country Club.”

Moe Prager, the reluctant detective, is bullied into taking a case connected to a state senator. The ambitious senator has his eyes on bigger prizes but as long as the disappearance of his former intern, Moira Heaton, remains unsolved, he’ll never have a realistic shot at those prizes. So, when the senator starts putting heat on the Prager wine stores, Moe concedes and takes the case only to find himself dealing with far more than a missing intern.

In the third outing with Moe Prager, Coleman brings all the strengths of the previous two novels and infuses them with a heightened sense of passion and a continued introspection in to Moe Prager, the man. While the case in and of itself is detached from Moe, aside from the threat on his wine shop if he doesn’t take it, Coleman shows most vividly the growth of Moe through his investigation. A man coming to terms with himself and the world around him can be the recipe for disaster or the recipe for an amazing story. Coleman found the recipe for the latter.

Moe Prager isn’t the typical private eye. He isn’t the typical Jew. And Reed Farrel Coleman isn’t the typical story teller. His unique approach and raw presentation of the world give the reader far more than he/she expects. Coleman takes Moe down dark alleys in his investigations and his introspection, but there are regular flashes of sarcastic humor to light the way. Readers will not only find their way out of those dark alleys with Moe, they’ll find places in themselves they didn’t know were there. I did.

I’ve found there are books that are enjoyable, fun. There are books that are enlightening. There are books that can artistically combine the two. But the most amazing of all books are the ones that leave ideas, characters, events reverberating in my mind and my soul. The ones I know I’ll go back to again and again because I’m certain there will be more for me to harvest each time I do. THE JAMES DEANS is one of those books.

THE JAMES DEANS was first released in 2005 by Plume and like me, Busted Flush Press didn’t want this book to be forgotten either. It was re-published in 2008. Moe Prager, Reed Farrel Coleman, THE JAMES DEANS. Don’t forget.

Jose Ignacio Escribano writes about books and stories here.
Man on Pink Corner, Jorge Luis Borges

is a short story by Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges (Buenos Aires, 24 of August of 1899 - Geneva, 14 of June of 1986). Borges was one of the greatest Spanish speaking writers of the last century. It was published several times before the final version appeared in a collection of short stories A Universal History of Infamy in 1935 and later published as A Universal History of Iniquity. Man on Pink Corner is dedicated to the Uruguayan writer, poet and journalist Enrique Amorim. The plot is simple and straightforward. The local bully is challenged by a stranger in a brothel. He rejects the fight and runs away. The stranger walks off with the woman but he is then mysteriously stabbed to death.

Caravana de Lecturas points out that the language employed by Borges in this short story is notable for its brothel-like vocabulary and insistent use of lunfardo (Buenos Aires slang)--an intent to reflect the speech of the porteños in the vernacular of the time. Follow his suggestion sit back and enjoy this story.

A Universal History of Infamy at Wikipedia

Jorge Luis Borges at Wikipedia

A Universal History of Iniquity (Penguin Modern Classics)

Ed Gorman can be found right here.

SATURDAY GAMES by Brown Meggs

Here's a golden oldie for you: SATURDAY GAMES by Brown Meggs. If I'm not mistaken (and I often am) I believe this was the novel that was first submitted to acclaimed mystery editor Babara Norville when she was editing the fine line of Bobbs-Merrill mysteries back in the early Seventies. She gave Meggs advice on how to make his manuscript marketable and he did just that. And then (or so the story goes) he promptly sold it for a better deal to Random House.

The novel was good enough to be nominated for a first novel Edgar and to go through a number of printings here and abroad. It's a dazzler. Three upper middle-class Southern California types have a little too much grass and booze fun with a gorgeous wild woman named Emjay (this was the early Seventies remember). A private pool, a lot of sex and...Emjay somehow gets herself murdered. Which of the three men is guilty? Or are all of them guilty? Or none of them guilty?

This is a real puzzler populated by real people. The hip cop Anson Freres spends the book getting to know a number of people he'd rather not brush up against but must in the line of duty. The SoCal background is wittily sketched. And the sex scenes are truly torrid. They're also proof that less is more. The novel is saturated with sexuality but there's not a hard core moment to be found.

Meggs went on to write several other novels. I've read Saturday three or four times since its original publication. It's the reading equivalent of watching a really good athlete on a really good day. The craft here is dazzling.

And Meggs' life was nearly as interesting as his book.

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