Two weeks until Elmore Leonard Day. For anyone who has a review but no blog, please send your review to me. SIDESWIPE, Charles Willeford
Following MIAMI BLUES and NEW HOPE FOR THE DEAD, Miami homicide detective Hoke Moseley abandons his pregnant partner and housemate, Ellita Sanchez, and his two daughters to manage his father's apartment complex in Riviera Beach, Florida.
When the book begins he cannot even get himself out of bed.
Stanley Sinliewicz, a Ford retiree spending a night in jail, does a favor for a killer named Louden, which results in his release from jail. The two then embark on an odyssey which can only lead to disaster.
Hoke soon finds the simple life is easier to envision than envelop. Coping with a job offer from the local police, a string of local burglaries, and a daughter with an eating disorder puts him back on the path home. Playing the disinterested father can only go so far.
Like others in the series, SIDESWIPE is packed with action and humor. Elmore Leonard says no one writes a better crime novel than Willeford. Who am I to argue with that? Walter Mosley claims he reads Willeford for a break for the monotony of endless grimness. There is a real art to telling a hard-boiled crime story with this much humor.
This is my favorite of the Hoke novels although I am saving the final one.
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Curt Evans, STUDIES IN MURDER, Edmund Lester Pearson
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George Kelley, DEAD LOW TIDE and ONE MORE SUNDAY, John D. Macdonald
Margot Kinberg, THE LODGER, Maria Belloc Lowndes
B.V. Lawson, DR. NICHOLA RETURNS, Guy Boothby
Evan Lewis, MORE LONE RANGER, Big Little Books
Steve Lewis , IT TAKES A THIEF #3, APPOINTMENT IN CAIRO, Gil Brewer
Todd Mason, THE MEN IN MY LIFE by Vivian Gornick; BENCHMARKS CONTINUED by Algis Budrys...books about books and writers...
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J.F. Norris, MURDER IN A NUNNERY, Eric Shepherd
J. Kingston Pierce, THE BIG FIX, Roger Simon
James Reasoner, TO THE HEART OF THE STORM, Will Eisner
Gerard Saylor, ON THE WRONG TRACK, Steve Hockensmith
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Kerrie Smith, THE MAKEOVER MURDERS, Jennifer Rowe
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9 comments:
I really like the Moseley books and I'm sorry he didn't live long enough to continue them. I ought to reread them someday.
What did you think of the movie version of MIAMI BLUES with Fred Ward and Alec Baldwin?
Jeff M.
I've been meaning to go back to this series for quite a while. It's one of the best
I broke down and ordered the last book!
The movie was not great, was it!
No but it had some moments. I always like Fred Ward.
Jeff M.
I liked the MIAMI BLUES movie adaptation. I have no clue what the book is like, but watching two lowlife criminals trying to create a happy domestic life together was an unsual idea for a crime movie. I enjoyed watching Jennifer Jason Leigh and Baldwin play off ech other in their tempestuous acting styles.
Gonna have to check these out. I wonder if there are any available on bookmooch.
Another vote for MIAMI BLUES the film...not superb, but solid (even if Moseley is a bit more of a fool than I believe the books have him).
I'm finally up and dashing by with capsule reviews: THE MEN IN MY LIFE by Vivian Gornick; BENCHMARKS CONTINUED by Algis Budrys...books about books and writers...
Patti - I'm so glad you included my post - Thanks!
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