Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Killing Mum

Killing Mum -- Allan Guthrie

Whenever I feel that life has cheated me I don't need to pick up a Prozac. I just read something by Alan Guthrie. Compared to the lives of his people, my life has been a breeze.

In the entrepreneurial spirit we all admire so much, Carlos Morales has found himself a fine little niche that keeps him in cookies. He's the guy who'll find you a killer for whatever job you need done. All he needs are your wishes and some serious cash and pretty darn soon the guy Morales chooses for the job eliminates the man or woman you want vanished.

But now somebody's screwing with Morales' head. He gets ten grand to kill his own mother. And the client doesn't want just anybody to off her. He wants Morales to do the job himself.

I suppose this is a novelette by pulp magazine standards. It comes in a handsome little booklet that you can slide into your jacket pocket along with your dope and your shiv. Guthrie packs his prose with real suspense, his usual droll take on human venality and enough surprises to keep you turning the pages quickly. A really nice piece of crime writing.

1 comment:

Ross Bradshaw said...

Thanks for this - I''m the UK based publisher of this and others in the Crime Express series. Killing Mum might be hard to find in the US, so the best way to get it there is via www.bookdepository.co.uk as they don't charge postage to the US of A (or most other places apart from Denmark (don't ask me, ask them).
Can't help if you need some dope or a shiv though.