“Donald Ray Pollack: A Grit-Lit Trailblazer” by William Blick

NONFICTION: “Bizarre, absurdist, and disturbing, Pollack offers striking revelations…. He attempts to conjure the literary ghosts of a forgotten America.”

“Noir with a Social Conscience: Ride the Pink Horse (1946)” by William Blick

BOOK REVIEW: “Using a distinct setting, a complex anti-hero, a series of unsavory, as well as empathetic characters, and most notably, a social heartbeat, Dorothy B. Hughes’ Ride the Pink Horse offers an extremely compelling journey.”

“No stupid moves: Frank Oz’s The Score” By Anees Aref

REVIEW ESSAY: “Thieves should respect their elders, too.”

“Jonathan Latimer, Skilled Artisan of the Crime Genre: Headed for a Hearse (1935)” By WIlliam Blick

BOOK REVIEW: “Demonstrates a degree of mastery of plot, character, and structure as the mystery is solved with all twists and turns readers have come to expect from the genre….”

“Jim Thompson’s Cropper’s Cabin” by Jay A. Gertzman

NONFICTION: “There are three outstanding features of Thompson’s novel: (1) the Shakespearean intensity of love and hate depicted in closely bound men and women; (2) the simmering resentment, shame, and fear existing between Oklahomans and Native American descendants of the Five civilized Tribes; and (3) Thompson‘s and Caldwell’s versions of Southern Gothic melodrama.”

“Lawrence Tierney: Poverty Row” by Burt Kearns

BIOGRAPHY: “Lawrence Tierney was at loose ends when he learned about the Dillinger picture. Caught in the middle of RKO’s indecision and rejection elsewhere, living in a furnished room with little money, he was considering a way out….”

“Walking the Fine Line: Leonardo Padura and ‘Havana Noir’” By William Blick

NONFICTION: “Padura has had to walk a fine line in his writing as he faces restrictive elements from the Cuban government, while being realistic about the state of his society….”

“Hard Case Crime, April 2022: It’s Westlake!” by Matthew Sorrento

NONFICTION: “As the renown imprint presents the last unpublished novel by the author, it delivers one of his most unique and rewarding….”

“Dead at the Center: Enigmatic Noir Femmes and Psychopaths” by Ken Hall

NONFICTION: “Such characters differ in their affect from another class of noir figures, those who seem ‘dead at the center,’ displaying little or no genuine emotion as they proceed through the narrative. Perhaps these characters might be classified popularly as ‘psychopaths,’ although the definition of the term according to psychological theory and practice is complex….”

“Literary Mixtape: Coming Through in Waves – Crime Fiction Inspired by Pink Floyd” by John Talbird

REVIEW ESSAY: “Pink Floyd were so cerebral. Dark, but in a post-apocalyptic-cum-dystopian sci-fi kind of way, not a crime story way. However, the anthology, edited by crime writer and memoirist T. Fox Dunham, makes a certain kind of twisted sense.”