tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537120063567683385.post2657369795061799522..comments2024-03-18T03:21:25.059-04:00Comments on Vintage Hardboiled Reads: The Last Kill by Charlie WellsAugust Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11797743144228505958noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537120063567683385.post-30384474336170654622008-01-08T15:30:00.000-05:002008-01-08T15:30:00.000-05:00I've had both The Last Kill and Let the Night Cry ...I've had both The Last Kill and Let the Night Cry sitting on my shelf for years. Maybe now I'll finally read them.<BR/><BR/>Also have two by Earle Basinsky, Death is a Cold, Keen Edge and The Big Steal. Both of these feature prominent blurbs from Spillane.<BR/><BR/>Another author ushered into print by Spillane was Dave J. Garrity, who gave us Kiss Off the Dead (one of Gold Medal's Best Covers Ever), Cry Me a Killer, and Dragon Hunt.<BR/>The first two are so hardboiled that the author's name is simply given as Garrity. How tough is that? Dragon Hunt is as by Dave J. Garrity, but makes up for it with a big photo on the back cover of the author, loose tie and cigarette stub in his teeth, going over manuscript pages with Mickey Spillane. I understand that the detective protagonist of this book has a tough time figuring the angles of the case and actually gives Mike Hammer a phone call to ask for advice. Obviously, Mickey and his creation were very good friends to have. <BR/><BR/>John HockingAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537120063567683385.post-33709040116225842062008-01-08T14:23:00.000-05:002008-01-08T14:23:00.000-05:00Steve: Thanks for the info. You got me thinking-I...Steve: Thanks for the info. You got me thinking-I wonder if Signet paid Spillane to work with writers to help churn out hard-nosed novels in the 1950s. It's obvious that his name on these paperbacks couldn't of hurt sales. The combination of Spillane and Maguire to promote new authors....probably worked.August Westhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11797743144228505958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537120063567683385.post-8956931850574214732008-01-08T12:23:00.000-05:002008-01-08T12:23:00.000-05:00AugustFrom http://hermes.lib.olemiss.edu/mystery/e...August<BR/><BR/>From http://hermes.lib.olemiss.edu/mystery/exhibit.asp?display=10§ion=2<BR/><BR/>an online archive which I discovered while looking up a contemporary of Wells, Earle Basinksky. Both worked with Spillane, by the way.<BR/><BR/>Born in Greenwood, Mississippi in 1923, Charlie Wells worked as a draftsman, a bank messenger, and a drummer in a dance band. During World War II, he served in an anti-aircraft battalion and a field artillery unit in Europe. Wells worked with Spillane for a year before Abelard Press published Let the Night Cry (1953), in which a New Orleans ex-con becomes entangled in a web of vengeance. The Last Kill (1955) finds a Memphis private eye tracking the murderer of a friend who knew too much about a million-dollar heist. Robert Maguire, one of the great cover artists of the period, provided the illustrations for both The Last Kill and Death is a Cold, Keen Edge.<BR/><BR/> Something else. When I think of librarians I immediately conjure up sweet, gentle, grey-haired, low-voiced old ladies, anxious to please you if they can only find their spectacles and locate you.<BR/> That led to my first shock.<BR/> Behind the desk sat a sweet, gentle, sultry-voiced brunette. She found me with deep brown eyes, smiled at me with full, soft lips and woke my long-dead, deeply buried thirst for knowledge with a suggestive, “May I help you?”<BR/> -- Charlie Wells, The Last Kill, p. 20.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com