The Gutter And the Grave (Hard Case Crime) (edition 2005)

“The Gutter and the Grave” by Ed McBain is book 15 in the excellent “Hard Case Crime” series and tells the story of down-and-out, alcoholic ex-private investigator Matt Cordell, who has been seriously hitting the booze since he caught his beautiful wife Toni in bed with one of his operatives. When Johnny Bridges, a former friend from his old neighbourhood who he hasn’t seen in ten years, turns up begging for help, Matt decides to lend a helping hand just to get rid of the guy. Unfortunately what starts of as a quick scan of Bridges’ shop to figure out who’s stealing from the till suddenly turns into a multiple murder mystery with Cordell at its centre. Matt finds himself fighting for his life and caught between a couple of deadly femmes fatales, a set of mobsters and a violent police force. “The Gutter and the Grave” is actually a reprint of “I’m Cannon – For Hire”, published in 1958 by Gold Medal, with McBain writing under the by-line of "Curt Cannon". “The Gutter and the Grace” is McBain’s preferred version and it’s a prime slab of dark, dirty, violent noir fiction. The mystery is well handled and the writing is raw and razor sharp, with brilliantly descriptive passages and powerful, punchy dialogue, as well as a heady smattering of cool-daddy-o hipster speak. Cordell makes for an interesting anti-hero, a drunken bum and a two-fisted battler, full of caught-in-the-past self-loathing, but one who maintains his own strict code of ethics. Despite his bum status he’s still (a highly improbable) hit with the ladies, with a sexy blonde singer, a full figured brunette model, a fiery redheaded nurse and a frumpy mature widow all falling under his dishevelled spell. Although this probably isn’t amongst Ed McBain's very best, it is still a rattling good read and a vintage slice of lean, no nonsense hard-boiled noir fiction. ( )

Effective pulp noir in the hands of one of the best crime writers ever. ( )

Definitely 3 stars. I might have given it higher marks if I didn't have it all figured out so early. It was just a little to simple & obvious. Well done, though. Likable characters, believable motives & setting. Very well setup & played out. ( )

Sister act.

An ex-private detective is now literally a bowery bum, living mostly for the pursuit of cheap booze and bad memories of the wife that cheated on him with an employee. Beating the hell out of the latter, pistol whipping style lost him his PI licence and led to his current state.

This changes when a man he grew up with comes to him asking for help with money going missing out of his tailoring business cash register.

Investigating against his better judgement gets him involved with the cops, a lowlife PI with a grudge against him, the wives of the business partners, musos, and more.

There's the odd past life with wife flashback, but mostly this is involved with working out what the hell is going on, especially with the multiple women now wanting to be nice to him.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/09/gutter-and-grave-ed-mcbain.html ( )

http://uvula-fr-b4.livejournal.com/73142.html#cutid1 ( )