The folks at HardCase Crime – a small press devoted to bringing back the art and fun of pulp fiction in good old paperback – have been knocking ’em dead left and right with their various publications. Some of the novels have been originals, like Stephen King’s “The Colorado Kid,” “The Last Quarry,” by Max Allan Collins or Dominic Stansberry’s Edgar Award-winning “The Confession.”
Others have been reprints by the likes of Donald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block and Cornell Woolrich, writing icons all.
Even Time magazine did a piece spotlighting this impressive experiment in retro publishing. But they all can’t be dead-center shots, which isn’t to say “Robbie’s Wife,” by Russell Hill, is way off the mark. It is just a little low on the count back.
Plotting reminiscent of “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” by James M. Cain, and/or the film “Body Heat” is what sends this one afoul of the mark. Still, it’s a fun read, and Hill backs it all up with some genuinely solid writing.
Down on his luck and trying to make sense of a failed marriage and a stalled career as a screenwriter, Jack Stone leaves Los Angeles for cloudier climes that suit his mood: the remote English countryside. Once there, Jack hopes to gain inspiration for a new screenplay, one that his agent can sell and help him break out of his rut.
But Jack decides to stop at a pub full of obnoxious English hicks – the kind that say, “You’re a yank, are ye?” – and after getting suckered into drinking their strongest beer, Jack is left five sheets to the wind. Since the pub doesn’t rent rooms, Jack is directed to a farmhouse just outside the village where he is greeted by an amiable fellow named Robbie Barlow, who is married and the father of one.
When Robbie calls for his wife – whose name is Maggie, naturally – one can almost picture a young Maureen O’Hara (had she been prone to nude scenes) walking around the corner.
Oddly enough, formulaic scenes like that don’t distract from “Robbie’s Wife.” After all, formula is what these pulpy, noir thrillers are all about. It’s the sudden twist of a knife or a turn around an unexpected corner that sets one hard-boiled crime novel apart from another, taking the breath away.
“Robbie’s Wife” never quite comes up with either. Hill does, however, do right when immersing the reader in the strangeness of England where we Americans are concerned, re-creating speech patterns dead-on, or the strangeness of trying to drive on the left side of the road, etc. And slight interludes written in screenplay format, mirroring Jack’s thoughts or his plans, add a neat spin onto what would otherwise be a short, sharp, but slightly off-mark bit of fiction.
Dorman T. Shindler is a freelancer from Missouri.
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FICTION
Robbie’s Wife
By Russell Hill
$6.99
