Screwed, Blued and Tattooed

Following Tuesday's post, here's another couple of books from my pulp fiction collection. The first one - THE CORPSE THAT REFUSED TO STAY DEAD by Hampton Stone - I picked up because of the blurb on the back: 'They lived in a city within a city, one of those hulking tenements of furnished rooms, shared kitchens, dismal studios...They were kids, some jazzy and some with hair down to their eyes, but all of them gone on the same Big Dream...One of them played the craziest violin east of Heifetz, another could make a clarinet weep...Another was the sour soprano whose morals were always off beat...Then one fine morning someone smothered the soprano and a red-headed old lady who was batty as a bird sang some fantastic lyrics for the cops...She called the tune on another killing - which happened to be her own...From then on - hot,cool or frozen stiff - the kids all had one little item in common...stark terror.' Hi-de-ho all you hep cats and hep kittens, doesn't that sound like the elephant's eyebrows?

And the second one is G G Fickling's THE CASE OF THE RADIOACTIVE REDHEAD. Here's the blurb: 'Two tapering legs waving straight up in the air, flaring downward into mesh-colored buttocks and a billow of gold cloth that played frantic peek-a-boo over the torrid torso of Frenchy Appleton. I'm Erik March, private investigator. The fee is a grand a day (plus expenses). Amigo, I knew all the angles...until I met The Radioactive Redhead. Settle back in your chair while I spell out this caper, it's a dilly.' Now, vomit on the table and tell me that ain't straight from the fridge, daddy-o. (by the way, Dad - that's just 50s slang, I didn't literally mean you should throw up on the dining table - Mum wouldn't be too chuffed. You know her roof is leaking (and I don't mean you should get the ladder out to check, I mean she's a little bit crazy).

An offer you can't refuse from the lovely Ray Banks. And here's an interview with him.

Sometimes, I think I should just give up blogging and just post reminders to go and check out Douglas Lindsay's blog. Especially when he puts up short stories like PLAN 16 FROM OUTER SPACE. Or this post on the media. Totally brilliant.

A review of Allan Guthrie's wonderful TWO-WAY SPLIT. And a most excellent post on BYE BYE BABY and narrative POV.

A biography of Stuart MacBride and his neatly trimmed beard.

An interview with Christopher Brookmyre.

A live web chat with Iain Banks tomorrow.

Fancy a crime novel written by 26 top authors?

Right-o, I'm splitting this crazy scene to get Screwed, Blued and Tattooed. Errrr, Dad, that just means I'm going to go out and have a good time, not literally...well, you know.