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Blackmailer
Arriving in Hollywood, Dick Sherman, a New York publisher, will risk everything to get his hands on a Nobel Prize-winning author's unpublished manuscript, until he falls in love with a sexy starlet who has a dark side. Reprint.
202 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
July 2, 2011
Publisher Dick Sherman gets offered the last book of a dead prize winning author by a mysterious woman and gets drawn into a web of lies and murder. Who sent the thugs to his house looking for the book? Who killed the woman who first offered it to him? Who really owns the book? What does his old flame have to do with it? And does the book even really exist?
I really dug this entry in the Hard Case series. There were a lot of twists and turns and enough red herrings to make figuring out who did it pretty difficult. Dick's a good character and doesn't act like a super hero. In fact, he gets his ass handed to him more often than not. The whole plot around Charles Anstruthers's last manuscript is fairly engaging, as is the three way deal surrounding it.
Blackmailer is defintely worth the few hours it will take to breeze through it for any fan of detective fiction.
I really dug this entry in the Hard Case series. There were a lot of twists and turns and enough red herrings to make figuring out who did it pretty difficult. Dick's a good character and doesn't act like a super hero. In fact, he gets his ass handed to him more often than not. The whole plot around Charles Anstruthers's last manuscript is fairly engaging, as is the three way deal surrounding it.
Blackmailer is defintely worth the few hours it will take to breeze through it for any fan of detective fiction.
February 14, 2012
It's quite possible I got a defective copy of this book from the library. Other reviewers praise Axelrod's talent as a writer, and talk about dirty scenes that would have been scandalous in the 1950's. The copy of the book I had was chock full 'o bad dialogue, the wink-wink nudge nudge of just about every other pulp novel of the time period (although there is an anal-cavity search alluded to, but it's not like there were details about a gaping asshole, or anal prolapse (Best song title / Band name combo ever? I might go with "Decompression (anal prolapse) by Exploding Corpse Action, you can download their 1995 demo tape here, I'm sure Devon won't mind..... whoa hold on a second, I just realized that the page where I found the link to the demo tape, is a blog by Nate Wilson and it's chock full of links to downloads for almost impossible to find hardcore records, the kind of shit that never got digitized or put up on torrent websites, this is an amazing fucking find, and a treasure trove of DIY hardcore. There are pages and pages of stuff here, and I'm thinking maybe, just maybe there is a link to the demo tape for the punk band I was in? Maybe? The demo tape I've never heard, never owned and saw only once? It's possible, because we were friends with Nate and fuck I see the singer of the hardcore band I was in, Jay Krak in a picture on the first page of the blog, holy shit, this has just made my day, and you know what, I know no one reading this gives a fuck, but you also know what? This blog I just stumbled across all because I was looking to make sure that the song was really called "Decompression (Anal Prolapse)" is so much better than this stupid book).
Anyway, I should review the book instead of looking at that awesome blog. Because I didn't pay attention to the date the book was written, nor know when Hemingway ate lead, I thought the book was being sensational by making the plot about a fictional author who liked hunting, bullfights and Cuba kill himself but not before leaving behind one final novel that just might be the first good one he's written in quite awhile. Oh and he died by sticking the barrel of a rifle in his mouth and 'accidently' pulling the trigger. Sounds a lot like Hem, right? Funny thing is this novel was written almost a decade before Hemingway checked out. Prophetic? Is the author a Nostradamus? I have no idea, but it is a little creepy but not creepy enough to save this very short, but fairly uninteresting book. Did I mention the dialogue is terrible? It really is, the main character has 'snappy' cliche ridden monologues, the other characters don't even need to say anything while he just runs his mouth, sometimes for a couple of pages at a time, with all the awful pulp nonsense / garbage that passed for meaningful dialogue in American movies in the 1950's. He gets in a cab, and tells the driver, "Baby, step on it," and I almost thought that was the last straw for me and the book. Why would you call a cab driver baby? It's a stupid thing to call someone, and the cab driver was a guy.
There are some red herrings and shit like that but with the limited number of characters you could see them coming from a mile away and by very little deduction have a good idea of where the book was going by the time all the principle characters had been introduced.
But it's not really a terrible book. It's fast. I read most of it on a short bus ride across Queens. It's just the kind of book that maybe should have stayed lost, and if it weren't for the weird Hemingway prophecy sort of thing I'd probably have already forgotten I even read it a week ago.
Now, go to that blog where you can download the Devoid of Faith discography CD, if you like fast hardcore with a singer who sounds like Grover you can't go wrong. One of my favorite CD's of the mid-90's DIY scene? Quite possibly.*
*Ok, I've spent the last hour scrolling through every page of the blog. My old punk band Police Line's demo is nowhere to be found. That is ok though, I think I might try to email him and see if he would share it, but even if he doesn't it's no big loss, I've gone through almost sixteen years of never hearing or seeing the fucking thing once. There also isn't the Police Line Pushhead record (again I don't own it, but I was out of the band by then, but still I would have loved to own it), but the ultra-rare Devoid of Faith Pushead record is there! I would have paid a couple of hundred bucks for it at one point, I never did though but only because I never had a chance to buy it, or I was outbid when I tried to get it (But by coincident I'm wearing my Devoid of Faith T-Shirt right now, the one with the Pushead art that was on the record I never got to own). There is so much good stuff on there, and stuff I wish I had known existed years and years ago (how weird it is to think about being part of an 'underground' music scene at a time when there wasn't much of an internet and you had to learn of things by word of mouth and from zines and stuff like that and then you had to find some person who would sell the stuff, or try to mail a band directly, weird, huh?). A demo tape of a pre-Born Against band while they still lived in Albany? Yup, it's here. Obscure Japanese hardcore / thrash? Yep. Dis-bands you never heard of? Yup. Classics like the Slave LP by Infest, with the original mix and not like the bootleg nonsense that came out in the 1990's? Yep!! Most of Gloom Records discography? Well, duh. The Monster X / Spazz 7"? Uh-huh. The only things I was really hoping to find hidden in the pages upon pages of awesomeness (besides the Police Line Demo) were maybe the never released recordings the Paul Henry days of DOF, and the Exploding Corpse Action LP that never saw the light of day, oh, and a few things I've lost over the years like the Fit for Abuse Demo tape would have been nice and maybe the Homomilitia LP that I keep looking to find online with no luck, but I didn't actually think either of those would show up. (are you still reading this? Why? You can stop, this is just me dorking out in my own way). Better than Spotify, that is if you care about the sorts of music that hipster music douchbags and rock critics will never write books about.)
Anyway, I should review the book instead of looking at that awesome blog. Because I didn't pay attention to the date the book was written, nor know when Hemingway ate lead, I thought the book was being sensational by making the plot about a fictional author who liked hunting, bullfights and Cuba kill himself but not before leaving behind one final novel that just might be the first good one he's written in quite awhile. Oh and he died by sticking the barrel of a rifle in his mouth and 'accidently' pulling the trigger. Sounds a lot like Hem, right? Funny thing is this novel was written almost a decade before Hemingway checked out. Prophetic? Is the author a Nostradamus? I have no idea, but it is a little creepy but not creepy enough to save this very short, but fairly uninteresting book. Did I mention the dialogue is terrible? It really is, the main character has 'snappy' cliche ridden monologues, the other characters don't even need to say anything while he just runs his mouth, sometimes for a couple of pages at a time, with all the awful pulp nonsense / garbage that passed for meaningful dialogue in American movies in the 1950's. He gets in a cab, and tells the driver, "Baby, step on it," and I almost thought that was the last straw for me and the book. Why would you call a cab driver baby? It's a stupid thing to call someone, and the cab driver was a guy.
There are some red herrings and shit like that but with the limited number of characters you could see them coming from a mile away and by very little deduction have a good idea of where the book was going by the time all the principle characters had been introduced.
But it's not really a terrible book. It's fast. I read most of it on a short bus ride across Queens. It's just the kind of book that maybe should have stayed lost, and if it weren't for the weird Hemingway prophecy sort of thing I'd probably have already forgotten I even read it a week ago.
Now, go to that blog where you can download the Devoid of Faith discography CD, if you like fast hardcore with a singer who sounds like Grover you can't go wrong. One of my favorite CD's of the mid-90's DIY scene? Quite possibly.*
*Ok, I've spent the last hour scrolling through every page of the blog. My old punk band Police Line's demo is nowhere to be found. That is ok though, I think I might try to email him and see if he would share it, but even if he doesn't it's no big loss, I've gone through almost sixteen years of never hearing or seeing the fucking thing once. There also isn't the Police Line Pushhead record (again I don't own it, but I was out of the band by then, but still I would have loved to own it), but the ultra-rare Devoid of Faith Pushead record is there! I would have paid a couple of hundred bucks for it at one point, I never did though but only because I never had a chance to buy it, or I was outbid when I tried to get it (But by coincident I'm wearing my Devoid of Faith T-Shirt right now, the one with the Pushead art that was on the record I never got to own). There is so much good stuff on there, and stuff I wish I had known existed years and years ago (how weird it is to think about being part of an 'underground' music scene at a time when there wasn't much of an internet and you had to learn of things by word of mouth and from zines and stuff like that and then you had to find some person who would sell the stuff, or try to mail a band directly, weird, huh?). A demo tape of a pre-Born Against band while they still lived in Albany? Yup, it's here. Obscure Japanese hardcore / thrash? Yep. Dis-bands you never heard of? Yup. Classics like the Slave LP by Infest, with the original mix and not like the bootleg nonsense that came out in the 1990's? Yep!! Most of Gloom Records discography? Well, duh. The Monster X / Spazz 7"? Uh-huh. The only things I was really hoping to find hidden in the pages upon pages of awesomeness (besides the Police Line Demo) were maybe the never released recordings the Paul Henry days of DOF, and the Exploding Corpse Action LP that never saw the light of day, oh, and a few things I've lost over the years like the Fit for Abuse Demo tape would have been nice and maybe the Homomilitia LP that I keep looking to find online with no luck, but I didn't actually think either of those would show up. (are you still reading this? Why? You can stop, this is just me dorking out in my own way). Better than Spotify, that is if you care about the sorts of music that hipster music douchbags and rock critics will never write books about.)
November 4, 2020
Axlerod was mainly known as a screenwriter and this novel does have that “old movie” feel to it. I’m kind of surprised that it was never made into a film. It tells the story of a book publisher who gets involved way over his head with a couple of mysterious females, blackmail, mobsters, and movie stars. The main character, being a publisher rather than a private eye, didn’t really twist the perspective much since he was just as hard-boiled and determined as a typical PI of the era, although the novel doesn’t take itself quite so seriously. Reminded me a bit of the Ed Noon or Shell Scott books. Rapid fire dialog and pacing kept the book moving at a nice pace and was hard to put down. Four stars.
December 2, 2016
I’m not sure if it is somewhat negative of the time period, negative of now, or what exactly, but I’m sure that my comment, which I’ll make in a moment, is negative – just not sure how. That comment: This book has a rather modern feel to it – in that it feels as if it was written in, say, 2007 and set in the 1950s (there are things that link it to the 1950s – mention of films; the somewhat causal mention of how a beautiful actress looks plain and unsexy in Technicolor (a film actress is one of the characters in this book – a new musical of hers came out during the course of this book – another character casually mentions that she looks bad in it – that Technicolor makes everyone look fake and overly painted – that kind of sounds like something someone from the 1950s could put in a book and people then would immediately have a reaction (good or bad) about it – someone could have a reaction to that now, but I’m not sure an author would think to make that comment (I’m not going by myself on this, but I will say that yes you can see Technicolor films today – as in the films from the 1950s that used that colorization process, and you can see how the colors kind of look . . . off)).
Mostly, though, I wanted to say that I had this vague feeling that this book felt somewhat modern with some odd little things here and there that seemed . . . off. Not the Technicolor thing, no it was everyone calling each other baby and darling. For the most part, the only think that I’d want to check after I finished the book – if it actually been written in 2007 and set in 1952, is when microfilm came out – but I do not need to check, since the book isn’t an historical – but a contemporary – written in 1952, set in 1952 (Microfilm came out in 1935 (well, Kodak began using it to put the New York times on it in 1935, and it was endorsed in 1936 by the ALA; the first actual ‘microfilm’, or as it was called ‘microphotograph’ came out in 1839 – but it was a ‘personal hobby’).
For example of one of the ‘off things’, and I’ll need to create the scene: Jean Dahl (sp?), one of the two main women in the story, enters Dick Sherman’s office to offer him a book by a prize winning author – someone up there with Hemingway. The guy is dead now, so any new book by him – something he wrote but didn’t get published before his death, would be quite valuable to a publisher – regardless of the books quality. Throughout Dahl seemed to use baby in every sentence. Something like ‘Hello, baby, I’m not an author’s wife. Baby. I’ve got a book. You’ll want it. I’ll sell it to you, baby, for $50,000.’ And this comment was responded to by Sherman with something like ‘You are out of your mind, baby. Submit the book through the normal means and we might take a look at it, baby. But there’s no way we’d give you a $50,000 advance, baby.’ ‘Ah, but baby, I know you’ll give me that. This is the last work of a Nobel Prize winner. Who is dead, baby.’ (for those coming along behind me thinking of reading or not reading this book – yes, that is something that keeps up, though it tended to only pop up when Dick was talking with women; though he tended to use ‘baby’ with Dahl (both used it), and ‘darling’ with Janis Whitney (sp?) (the other main female character – the actress) – though he used baby with her as well. There might even be a sentence that went something like ‘Janis, baby, you know I love you darling, I always have. We don’t change, baby. That will never change, darling’. *shrugs* take it or leave it if that would annoy you too much to read the book).
Right, so – this book is about a book publisher who normally deals with ‘author’s wives’ who have complaints. A woman drops by demanding to see Dick Sherman. Sherman, thinking it’s an author’s wife, allows her in and immediately launches into several ‘canned’ responses to normal ‘author’s wives’ questions (by the way, the bestselling author for their company is a woman, so that ‘author’s wives’ thing . . . is vaguely confusing). That woman, though, notes that Dick is a moron – she isn’t an author’s wife. She has a book. No, idiot, not her own – the last book written by a prize winning author. And she has proof – the first page in its original form.
By a weird coincidence, Dick Sherman used to work for a different publisher, one who dealt with and published that author’s work – so he would recognize that guy’s work. And he does – it looks like the product of that dead dude. So he is both excited and confused. Excited to be able to get that work. Confused as to why it is being offered to him; and how he can be sure that there actually is more than that one ‘example’ page. The woman tells him that he has until that night for a response.
Fifteen minutes later, Dick receives a letter. From an agent. Offering up the same book. Two different people appear to be attempting to sell him the same book – a book he didn’t know existed (and while the author had boasted of being in the middle of writing a book for six years before his death, no book was found in his estate after his death). Naturally Dick is confused.
Before he can think too hard, one of the authors comes by – the top one – and he has to deal with her. Then he spots an old love - the love of his life. So he is now drunk (that author’s meetings consist of going on ‘lunches’ and drinking, like, 800 glasses of .. .um, rum or something), and distracted by sighting his old love – who left him to become a movie star (which she succeeded to do (that would be Janis Whitney (not sure I have her last name correct)). So, like I said, distracted.
It’s past the time to respond to the odd offer from the woman, but he’s in luck. She turns up at his apartment. They promptly go back to saying stuff like ‘baby’, he acts like a dick (she asks for something to drink, he says no, tell me what the fuck is going on, she gets herself a drink, he slaps it out of her hand – see, a dick), but before anyone gets anywhere, two thugs turn up and do stuff. Like tear apart the apartment, strip the girl, beat into unconsciousness the man (Dick), stuff.
Dick, naturally, hasn’t a clue what the fuck is going on. So he attempts to 1) get back his health; 2) continue with his life. But he gets pulled back into things. He spots Jean at a party, then spots Janis, and then people are rolling around naked and stuff. Then the lights go out and . . well, you get it. Stuff happens.
It’s an interesting book. Seemed somewhat more competently written for a guy who seems to have mostly written screenplays – not weird ass noir stuff. There were some downright stupid stuff done by the guy – but then I recalled this wasn’t some private dick but a book publisher. He may or may not be smart, but he hasn’t been trained to be smart in this particular type of situation.
Rating: 3.4
December 2 2016
Mostly, though, I wanted to say that I had this vague feeling that this book felt somewhat modern with some odd little things here and there that seemed . . . off. Not the Technicolor thing, no it was everyone calling each other baby and darling. For the most part, the only think that I’d want to check after I finished the book – if it actually been written in 2007 and set in 1952, is when microfilm came out – but I do not need to check, since the book isn’t an historical – but a contemporary – written in 1952, set in 1952 (Microfilm came out in 1935 (well, Kodak began using it to put the New York times on it in 1935, and it was endorsed in 1936 by the ALA; the first actual ‘microfilm’, or as it was called ‘microphotograph’ came out in 1839 – but it was a ‘personal hobby’).
For example of one of the ‘off things’, and I’ll need to create the scene: Jean Dahl (sp?), one of the two main women in the story, enters Dick Sherman’s office to offer him a book by a prize winning author – someone up there with Hemingway. The guy is dead now, so any new book by him – something he wrote but didn’t get published before his death, would be quite valuable to a publisher – regardless of the books quality. Throughout Dahl seemed to use baby in every sentence. Something like ‘Hello, baby, I’m not an author’s wife. Baby. I’ve got a book. You’ll want it. I’ll sell it to you, baby, for $50,000.’ And this comment was responded to by Sherman with something like ‘You are out of your mind, baby. Submit the book through the normal means and we might take a look at it, baby. But there’s no way we’d give you a $50,000 advance, baby.’ ‘Ah, but baby, I know you’ll give me that. This is the last work of a Nobel Prize winner. Who is dead, baby.’ (for those coming along behind me thinking of reading or not reading this book – yes, that is something that keeps up, though it tended to only pop up when Dick was talking with women; though he tended to use ‘baby’ with Dahl (both used it), and ‘darling’ with Janis Whitney (sp?) (the other main female character – the actress) – though he used baby with her as well. There might even be a sentence that went something like ‘Janis, baby, you know I love you darling, I always have. We don’t change, baby. That will never change, darling’. *shrugs* take it or leave it if that would annoy you too much to read the book).
Right, so – this book is about a book publisher who normally deals with ‘author’s wives’ who have complaints. A woman drops by demanding to see Dick Sherman. Sherman, thinking it’s an author’s wife, allows her in and immediately launches into several ‘canned’ responses to normal ‘author’s wives’ questions (by the way, the bestselling author for their company is a woman, so that ‘author’s wives’ thing . . . is vaguely confusing). That woman, though, notes that Dick is a moron – she isn’t an author’s wife. She has a book. No, idiot, not her own – the last book written by a prize winning author. And she has proof – the first page in its original form.
By a weird coincidence, Dick Sherman used to work for a different publisher, one who dealt with and published that author’s work – so he would recognize that guy’s work. And he does – it looks like the product of that dead dude. So he is both excited and confused. Excited to be able to get that work. Confused as to why it is being offered to him; and how he can be sure that there actually is more than that one ‘example’ page. The woman tells him that he has until that night for a response.
Fifteen minutes later, Dick receives a letter. From an agent. Offering up the same book. Two different people appear to be attempting to sell him the same book – a book he didn’t know existed (and while the author had boasted of being in the middle of writing a book for six years before his death, no book was found in his estate after his death). Naturally Dick is confused.
Before he can think too hard, one of the authors comes by – the top one – and he has to deal with her. Then he spots an old love - the love of his life. So he is now drunk (that author’s meetings consist of going on ‘lunches’ and drinking, like, 800 glasses of .. .um, rum or something), and distracted by sighting his old love – who left him to become a movie star (which she succeeded to do (that would be Janis Whitney (not sure I have her last name correct)). So, like I said, distracted.
It’s past the time to respond to the odd offer from the woman, but he’s in luck. She turns up at his apartment. They promptly go back to saying stuff like ‘baby’, he acts like a dick (she asks for something to drink, he says no, tell me what the fuck is going on, she gets herself a drink, he slaps it out of her hand – see, a dick), but before anyone gets anywhere, two thugs turn up and do stuff. Like tear apart the apartment, strip the girl, beat into unconsciousness the man (Dick), stuff.
Dick, naturally, hasn’t a clue what the fuck is going on. So he attempts to 1) get back his health; 2) continue with his life. But he gets pulled back into things. He spots Jean at a party, then spots Janis, and then people are rolling around naked and stuff. Then the lights go out and . . well, you get it. Stuff happens.
It’s an interesting book. Seemed somewhat more competently written for a guy who seems to have mostly written screenplays – not weird ass noir stuff. There were some downright stupid stuff done by the guy – but then I recalled this wasn’t some private dick but a book publisher. He may or may not be smart, but he hasn’t been trained to be smart in this particular type of situation.
Rating: 3.4
December 2 2016
January 26, 2008
George Axelrod is one of my favorite screenwriters: he wrote The Manchurian Candidate, Lord Love A Duck, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, and the screenplay for Breakfast At Tiffany's, so he has a "smidgin" of talent, haha.
Blackmailer is one of the few novels he wrote, a perverse noir novel about double-crossing dames, two-way mirrors and hidden microphones in bedrooms. The sex for its time is pretty up-front, which must have steamed up quite a few college boy glasses. There's a scene in the book I'll never forget involving a woman getting strip searched and a little flashlight being inserted in a very private place. What else would you expect from a man who put words in the mouths of Jayne Mansfield, Tuesday Weld, and Marilyn Monroe?
Blackmailer is one of the few novels he wrote, a perverse noir novel about double-crossing dames, two-way mirrors and hidden microphones in bedrooms. The sex for its time is pretty up-front, which must have steamed up quite a few college boy glasses. There's a scene in the book I'll never forget involving a woman getting strip searched and a little flashlight being inserted in a very private place. What else would you expect from a man who put words in the mouths of Jayne Mansfield, Tuesday Weld, and Marilyn Monroe?
May 21, 2018
Fun, fast-paced romp involving a missing manuscript and the publishing agent determined to track it down. Complete with femme fatale, backstabbing, and as the title states, blackmail galore.
April 25, 2024
A fun, enjoyable HCC read from a screenwriter who knew what he was doing. This tale is familiar but when it comes to the hard boiled tradition, familiar is often fun.
November 29, 2024
“Sick,” Max Shriber said. “Everybody is sick. The whole damn world is sick. She’s sick like everybody else, only more so.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 11, 2020
George Axelrod wrote the screenplays for Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Manchurian Candidate and The Seven Year Itch, which was based on his play. He also wrote the novel Blackmailer, which was a little gem. In a nice twist the plot pivots on a "lost" novel from a famous deceased author-art imitates life, since the publisher of Blackmailer (Hard Case Crime) usually actually seeks out just that kind of literary work. As for the story: I merrily let Axelrod lead me by the nose-even if I had figured the plot out going along for the ride was such a lot of fun. I also enjoyed the fact that our "hero" was not some lantern jawed tough guy. Lots of sordid twists and turns-good stuff.
June 27, 2017
An intelligent and intriguing noir set in the New York writing world. Highly recommended.
July 9, 2022
Had fun reading this book, it moves quickly and I finished it in a day.
The book is filled with amazing and convenient co-incidences, improbabilities, but they don't matter, it's good entertainment.
A final book from a now deceased author (seemingly based on Hemingway) is offered to a book publisher by a desperate dame (it's the 1950's) wanting to sell it and the publisher, dubious about the book and seller's authenticity is taken on a roller coaster ride of double crossings and misadventures from this day forward.
His meetings with a gangster and his thug goons, an old flame from way back who has made it big in Hollywood, and a dodgy host of lavish parties with dubious business ethics make a fun read.
Whether the book the publisher is supposed to accept is genuine or fake, or whether it even exists at all is something we get to learn as the story progresses.
There are so many double crossings, twists, I started to get a bit lost from time to time but had to keep reading on to see what happens next.
A typical pulp tale of its era, from a popular playwright/ screenplay writer of the time.
The book is filled with amazing and convenient co-incidences, improbabilities, but they don't matter, it's good entertainment.
A final book from a now deceased author (seemingly based on Hemingway) is offered to a book publisher by a desperate dame (it's the 1950's) wanting to sell it and the publisher, dubious about the book and seller's authenticity is taken on a roller coaster ride of double crossings and misadventures from this day forward.
His meetings with a gangster and his thug goons, an old flame from way back who has made it big in Hollywood, and a dodgy host of lavish parties with dubious business ethics make a fun read.
Whether the book the publisher is supposed to accept is genuine or fake, or whether it even exists at all is something we get to learn as the story progresses.
There are so many double crossings, twists, I started to get a bit lost from time to time but had to keep reading on to see what happens next.
A typical pulp tale of its era, from a popular playwright/ screenplay writer of the time.
December 31, 2008
Another of the Hard Case Crimes noir pulp fiction classics. Axelrod really wrote a compelling novel here. It's great to have it back, reprinted at last.
September 13, 2017
I wanted to give George Axelrod's "Blackmailer" a higher rating, but I just couldn't. A book from the screenwriter of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "The Manchurian Candidate" was kind of intriguing for me. And I was pleasantly surprised by how good "Blackmailer" was...at first.
And the writing (from 1952, with love) is pretty crisp and entertaining...and isn't too dated. But the overall plot is where things go wrong. The first two-thirds of the book is pretty darn good. The story centers on a minor publisher who is presented with the opportunity to publish a "lost" manuscript from one of the world's most famous authors. Said author--who is supposed to be similar to Hemingway--having just died under mysterious circumstances due to severe alcoholism and a loaded firearm. But the publisher receives two similar offers to publish the manuscript from two very different people in a short space of time. So he decides to investigate the situation.
There are two very different femmes fatales as well. One is the shady girl who approaches the publisher at the beginning with a verifiable manuscript page. The other is the publisher's long-lost love, who went off to Hollywood and became a mid-level movie star. Both women are deeply involved in the conspiracy surrounding the manuscript. Or is that manuscripts? There may be two different manuscripts. And they may not be the same story at all.
There is a lot of "doubling" and "mirrored" pairs (and one memorable one-way mirror) in this novel. As far as stylistic motifs go, it's one of the most overused.
One of the more interesting aspects of the story was how a shady party host fits into the scheme. He gives lavish parties at his well-appointed digs. But his motivations are far from altruistic. He brokers shady deals and makes sure that important people get what they need. He is one of the more interesting characters I've read in a while. And his palatial home is a monument to decadence and deceit.
One flaw in the early part of the book is how when the protagonist publisher is paired up with his long-lost movie star girlfriend at one of the lavish "salon" parties, she acts like she doesn't know him. And in that section, he doesn't seem to have the same relationship to her that he does in other parts of the book.
Unfortunately, the flaws in the last third of the book are numerous. Let's just say that having the whole plot hinge on two different characters being experts at mimicry is some pretty thin support for a plot that was on pretty solid footing earlier on. Also, the story falls into cliché noir pitfalls late in the book. It's like the author wasn't sure how to end the story and crammed all the different endings...happy!...sad!...happier!...into the book before he finally finished.
I enjoyed most of "Blackmailer." The writing is pretty good overall. But the major flaws in the plot wouldn't let me give it any higher rating than I did.
And the writing (from 1952, with love) is pretty crisp and entertaining...and isn't too dated. But the overall plot is where things go wrong. The first two-thirds of the book is pretty darn good. The story centers on a minor publisher who is presented with the opportunity to publish a "lost" manuscript from one of the world's most famous authors. Said author--who is supposed to be similar to Hemingway--having just died under mysterious circumstances due to severe alcoholism and a loaded firearm. But the publisher receives two similar offers to publish the manuscript from two very different people in a short space of time. So he decides to investigate the situation.
There are two very different femmes fatales as well. One is the shady girl who approaches the publisher at the beginning with a verifiable manuscript page. The other is the publisher's long-lost love, who went off to Hollywood and became a mid-level movie star. Both women are deeply involved in the conspiracy surrounding the manuscript. Or is that manuscripts? There may be two different manuscripts. And they may not be the same story at all.
There is a lot of "doubling" and "mirrored" pairs (and one memorable one-way mirror) in this novel. As far as stylistic motifs go, it's one of the most overused.
One of the more interesting aspects of the story was how a shady party host fits into the scheme. He gives lavish parties at his well-appointed digs. But his motivations are far from altruistic. He brokers shady deals and makes sure that important people get what they need. He is one of the more interesting characters I've read in a while. And his palatial home is a monument to decadence and deceit.
One flaw in the early part of the book is how when the protagonist publisher is paired up with his long-lost movie star girlfriend at one of the lavish "salon" parties, she acts like she doesn't know him. And in that section, he doesn't seem to have the same relationship to her that he does in other parts of the book.
Unfortunately, the flaws in the last third of the book are numerous. Let's just say that having the whole plot hinge on two different characters being experts at mimicry is some pretty thin support for a plot that was on pretty solid footing earlier on. Also, the story falls into cliché noir pitfalls late in the book. It's like the author wasn't sure how to end the story and crammed all the different endings...happy!...sad!...happier!...into the book before he finally finished.
I enjoyed most of "Blackmailer." The writing is pretty good overall. But the major flaws in the plot wouldn't let me give it any higher rating than I did.
December 15, 2016
Dick Sherman is a partner in a small book publishing house so when he is offered the chance to publish the final work of a literary giant, written just prior to his accidental death, he has to wonder why, especially when he is told he needs to make an immediate decision on whether or not to buy it. And then to add to the mystery, he is approached only hours later by another party with the same offer: to buy the only remaining copy of that same manuscript.
What follows is a nice mix of 1950’s era Hollywood weirdness, tough guys, dangerous dames, murder, blackmailing, and double crossing shenanigans. The story is told in first person POV and Sherman is a nice guy and perhaps a little naive, especially when it comes to incriminating himself but he makes a nice foil for the reader. He is perceptive however, and learns quickly from his mistakes. The ending was a pretty convoluted solution to many a red herring dropped previously but satisfying nonetheless.
The author, George Axelrod, was the script writer for some well-known movies such as “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “The Manchurian Candidate” so methinks he knows a bit about Hollywood personalities, a theme that runs strongly through this novel.
What follows is a nice mix of 1950’s era Hollywood weirdness, tough guys, dangerous dames, murder, blackmailing, and double crossing shenanigans. The story is told in first person POV and Sherman is a nice guy and perhaps a little naive, especially when it comes to incriminating himself but he makes a nice foil for the reader. He is perceptive however, and learns quickly from his mistakes. The ending was a pretty convoluted solution to many a red herring dropped previously but satisfying nonetheless.
The author, George Axelrod, was the script writer for some well-known movies such as “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “The Manchurian Candidate” so methinks he knows a bit about Hollywood personalities, a theme that runs strongly through this novel.
July 11, 2017
What a fun, quick read! I'm a slow reader, but I breezed through this one easily in two sittings. The story was highly entertaining.
The characters were sketched more than they were deeply developed, but it really worked in the context of this book. The paragraphs and chapters are short and kept me flipping pages for hours. I really appreciated the humor with which Axelrod describes a bad movie and laughed out loud at a great Gatsby reference (which was a first for me!)
As a little side note, I LOVE Hardcase Crime! I first got into this publisher when I read "Somebody Owes Me Money" by Donald E. Westlake (fantastic!) a few years back. I've read several others and have yet to be disappointed. This book is no exception!
The characters were sketched more than they were deeply developed, but it really worked in the context of this book. The paragraphs and chapters are short and kept me flipping pages for hours. I really appreciated the humor with which Axelrod describes a bad movie and laughed out loud at a great Gatsby reference (which was a first for me!)
As a little side note, I LOVE Hardcase Crime! I first got into this publisher when I read "Somebody Owes Me Money" by Donald E. Westlake (fantastic!) a few years back. I've read several others and have yet to be disappointed. This book is no exception!
September 2, 2020
An Ernest Hemingway type of author has died accidentally “while cleaning his gun”. The rumor was — he was written out. His only inspiration was the bottle — he had not written a word in five years. So when our hero gets contacted by two separate people wanting to sell him a previously unknown final novel, he is surprised and wary. Good thing too, because in the many 50s mysteries set in the dog eat dog world of publishing, there’s always a murder and usually two.
Despite the creepily prescient premise (this book was written ten years before Hemingway’s suicide), this is pretty ordinary and very confusing. The gorgeous bad girl cover on my Hard Case Crime paperback promises a much better book.
Despite the creepily prescient premise (this book was written ten years before Hemingway’s suicide), this is pretty ordinary and very confusing. The gorgeous bad girl cover on my Hard Case Crime paperback promises a much better book.
October 20, 2020
This was a close call because I enjoyed this while I was reading it but had to drag myself back to read it every time. I'm writing this malaise off as simple distraction--can't imagine why with the world being so awesome right now. After coming down so hard on Die A Little, it was refreshing to see some hard boiled noir that was to the manner born. Axelrod has written some movies I love most notably The Manchurian Candidate, which again gave this tons of street cred. The plot was often convoluted and absurd but that charmed me this time. Plus, I like how our hero was a publisher not a PI but still was pretty hard ass. So, this was fun when I felt like it and grading on a slight curve, I say check it out.
May 14, 2022
Blackmailer by George Axelrod
When Dick Sherman is approached by a lovely woman to publish a manuscript by a recently deceased Author, he is not impressed. Shortly after another offer comes in, so he takes up the offer. Soon he is in over his head but will stop at nothing to find out the truth.
A fast paced case crime (story) originally written in 1950, true to the era with all the feels of vintage crime/drama. Likable characters, if a bit flawed, with plot twists and mystery. A great blend to hold your attention until the end. I recommend Blackmailer to those who enjoy hard-case crime.
When Dick Sherman is approached by a lovely woman to publish a manuscript by a recently deceased Author, he is not impressed. Shortly after another offer comes in, so he takes up the offer. Soon he is in over his head but will stop at nothing to find out the truth.
A fast paced case crime (story) originally written in 1950, true to the era with all the feels of vintage crime/drama. Likable characters, if a bit flawed, with plot twists and mystery. A great blend to hold your attention until the end. I recommend Blackmailer to those who enjoy hard-case crime.
November 13, 2022
This book starts strong and ends strong. A little doughy in the middle though, with what felt like a lot of details that were not necessary to the story. And overall, the whole book gave me a sense of deja vu, as though I'd read it before. But I hadn't. Weird.
The story is that of a publisher being offered the posthumous, last ever book by a world-famous author. And he gets that offer twice in the matter of 24 hours! But which offer is real, and is there an actual book written by that actual author at all? It's a muddle of a situation that Dick Sherman, the publisher, gets tangled in, and the untangling may very well be his undoing!
The story is that of a publisher being offered the posthumous, last ever book by a world-famous author. And he gets that offer twice in the matter of 24 hours! But which offer is real, and is there an actual book written by that actual author at all? It's a muddle of a situation that Dick Sherman, the publisher, gets tangled in, and the untangling may very well be his undoing!
July 21, 2025
There's a good book in here, it's just lost in bad dialogue and character reactions and thought processes that don't make sense.
Particularly the main character, how the hell did he get a job as a publisher being as actively and unendingly stupid as he is. Also how is he so bad with a gun when he also served time in the army, sure he could have done a non-combat role, but in WW2 they were all trained in how to use a firearm.
There are stacks of little niggles like that with the story that stop it being more enjoyable than a 2.5, which is quite sad considering the general plot idea could have been quite a nice fun crime story.
Particularly the main character, how the hell did he get a job as a publisher being as actively and unendingly stupid as he is. Also how is he so bad with a gun when he also served time in the army, sure he could have done a non-combat role, but in WW2 they were all trained in how to use a firearm.
There are stacks of little niggles like that with the story that stop it being more enjoyable than a 2.5, which is quite sad considering the general plot idea could have been quite a nice fun crime story.
November 20, 2018
This is written by a screenwriter, and on pg. 100 he reviews his own book, maybe accidentally, but most likely truthfully in the way he hoped it would be seen.
"It's a dreadful book. I mean artistically. [He] needed money. He wrote it with an eye toward a movie sale. And it will make an excellent picture. But as a serious work if literature, it is nonsense."
With the right actors, there are several parts that could work well, but in book form the main conceit of the mystery is too silly for its own good.
"It's a dreadful book. I mean artistically. [He] needed money. He wrote it with an eye toward a movie sale. And it will make an excellent picture. But as a serious work if literature, it is nonsense."
With the right actors, there are several parts that could work well, but in book form the main conceit of the mystery is too silly for its own good.
June 12, 2021
This book is 202 pages but I read it in a couple of hours - really more of a novella than a full-length story. It's a decently written mid-century pulp crime novel that includes murder, blackmail, fraud, and numerous double-crosses. I saw many - but not all - of the twists coming well in advance. Nothing too scandalous here but everyone is a complete alcoholic in the timing and degree of their drinking. It's a quick, fun read that fits right in as part of the excellent Hard Case Crime series.
July 30, 2016
George Axelrod, Blackmailer (Hard Case Crime, 1952)
Ah, the dime novel. You may have never read one—the dime novel was going out of style before the majority of people now walking the planet were born—but if you read modern novels, you owe a great deal of your reading experience to the dime novel. Grab yourself a few novels written before World War II—not necessarily rarefied tomes, but the popular novels of the day. Then, right on their heels, preferably the same day, grab a few novels written in, or since, 1960, and notice the change. Not anything specific as much as the overall tone and atmosphere. Today's books are, for lack of a better word, punchier. They're less languid, faster-paced. Their word choice has been boiled down (and let's not dwell too long on the 1984-ish implications of that, shall we?). All of this you owe to the dime novel. It was one of those “just a fad” things that the major leagues turned up their noses at, leaving them to be printed by small upstart presses who used leftover newsprint (one of the sources of the term “pulp novel”) to produce almost unbearably cheap books...that sold by the millions and made those young upstarts very rich people indeed. The majors were right in that it was a fad, and dime novels, which were basically printed with an expiration date (you will never find one today still in readable condition that has not been in an airtight plastic bag for the past half-century), did indeed fade out over time—though that publishing model switch over in the seventies to what we now euphemistically term “adult books” (read: porn)—but the style in which those writers worked enchanted an entire generation of young writers, and those who were still too young to be writers yet. They all wanted to be Chandler, but they all wrote like Spillane.
Enter Hard Case Crime, whose stated goal as a publisher is to present a mix of new work written in the pulp tradition and revivals of some of the pulp novels that were on the verge of being lost because no one had ever bothered reprinting them. They have become very well-known for the former pursuit, having published delicious new noir work from Stephen King, Christa Faust, Max Allan Collins, and a handful of others working in the field today. But their real legacy is in those reprints. And they don't just stick to noir—Roger Zelazny, Harlan Ellison, Robert Bloch, and Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, you read that right) can be found sprinkled in amongst the wonderful old books from Donald E. Westlake and James M. Cain and Lawrence Block and john Lange (whom these days you know better as Michael Crichton). And, of course, Spillane. George Axelrod, too, falls into the latter camp. Axelrod was, first and foremost, a stage- and screenwriter (among his many credits you know are The Seven Year Itch, the adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Lord Love a Duck), but he tried his hand at novelis a few times. Blackmailer was his first. I get the feeling it was originally inteded as straight noir, but the chances of the guy who wrote The Seven Year Itch coming up with a James M. Cain novel were about as good as, in the immortal words of Mad magazine, the chances of Truman Capote scoring at the Vogue Christmas party. Thus, the book is both deftly-plotted and funny, but those two pieces didn't quite mesh well enough to let Axelrod quit his day job. Rightly so, but that doesn't mean you don't want to check this out.
Plot: Dick Sherman, a down-on-his-luck publisher (ain't they all?), is offered what seems on the surface the chance of a lifetime: a book he doesn't have to beat out of its author. More so, a book he doesn't have to beat out of its author penned by a recently-deceased writer of best-selling potboilers that's pretty much guaranteed to make a whack of cold, hard cash. Pretty sweet deal for a guy who normally publishes puzzle books, especially when it's coming from a woman as hot as, well, the woman offering him the deal. He's thinking about it—but not too hard—when he gets another call...offering him a sweet deal on the exact same book. That should set alarm bells off in anyone's head, no?
The book's strong points should be obvious, but just in case you're not a fan of noir: beautiful babes, gunplay, allusions to perversity that are enough to titillate but just shy of enough to get the book banned at the local drugstore's rack (there's a great bit with a two-way mirror that would totally have gotten the book yanked if the protagonist had not shown the, ahem, “proper moral fiber”), a lot of admittedly silly twists and turns. It's a potboiler, and it plays like one, but Axelrod and/or his editor missed a chance to turn this into a classic when he/they didn't whip the second half of the novel into as good a shape as they whipped the first. Characters start being, how shall I say, less motivated to keep their secrets?. That is not necessarily a bad thing if they have a compelling reason, but all too often it feels like a plot device rather than an organic development from the story. That knocks it down a notch in my head, though I still have to balance that with Axelrod's sense of pace, which has two speeds, “breakneck” and “Katy bar the door”. You rush past those bits so fast you may not even notice them if you're not looking. And the way it's all wrapped up, well, remember what I said about wanting to be Chandler and actually ending up like Spillane? ***
Ah, the dime novel. You may have never read one—the dime novel was going out of style before the majority of people now walking the planet were born—but if you read modern novels, you owe a great deal of your reading experience to the dime novel. Grab yourself a few novels written before World War II—not necessarily rarefied tomes, but the popular novels of the day. Then, right on their heels, preferably the same day, grab a few novels written in, or since, 1960, and notice the change. Not anything specific as much as the overall tone and atmosphere. Today's books are, for lack of a better word, punchier. They're less languid, faster-paced. Their word choice has been boiled down (and let's not dwell too long on the 1984-ish implications of that, shall we?). All of this you owe to the dime novel. It was one of those “just a fad” things that the major leagues turned up their noses at, leaving them to be printed by small upstart presses who used leftover newsprint (one of the sources of the term “pulp novel”) to produce almost unbearably cheap books...that sold by the millions and made those young upstarts very rich people indeed. The majors were right in that it was a fad, and dime novels, which were basically printed with an expiration date (you will never find one today still in readable condition that has not been in an airtight plastic bag for the past half-century), did indeed fade out over time—though that publishing model switch over in the seventies to what we now euphemistically term “adult books” (read: porn)—but the style in which those writers worked enchanted an entire generation of young writers, and those who were still too young to be writers yet. They all wanted to be Chandler, but they all wrote like Spillane.
Enter Hard Case Crime, whose stated goal as a publisher is to present a mix of new work written in the pulp tradition and revivals of some of the pulp novels that were on the verge of being lost because no one had ever bothered reprinting them. They have become very well-known for the former pursuit, having published delicious new noir work from Stephen King, Christa Faust, Max Allan Collins, and a handful of others working in the field today. But their real legacy is in those reprints. And they don't just stick to noir—Roger Zelazny, Harlan Ellison, Robert Bloch, and Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, you read that right) can be found sprinkled in amongst the wonderful old books from Donald E. Westlake and James M. Cain and Lawrence Block and john Lange (whom these days you know better as Michael Crichton). And, of course, Spillane. George Axelrod, too, falls into the latter camp. Axelrod was, first and foremost, a stage- and screenwriter (among his many credits you know are The Seven Year Itch, the adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Lord Love a Duck), but he tried his hand at novelis a few times. Blackmailer was his first. I get the feeling it was originally inteded as straight noir, but the chances of the guy who wrote The Seven Year Itch coming up with a James M. Cain novel were about as good as, in the immortal words of Mad magazine, the chances of Truman Capote scoring at the Vogue Christmas party. Thus, the book is both deftly-plotted and funny, but those two pieces didn't quite mesh well enough to let Axelrod quit his day job. Rightly so, but that doesn't mean you don't want to check this out.
Plot: Dick Sherman, a down-on-his-luck publisher (ain't they all?), is offered what seems on the surface the chance of a lifetime: a book he doesn't have to beat out of its author. More so, a book he doesn't have to beat out of its author penned by a recently-deceased writer of best-selling potboilers that's pretty much guaranteed to make a whack of cold, hard cash. Pretty sweet deal for a guy who normally publishes puzzle books, especially when it's coming from a woman as hot as, well, the woman offering him the deal. He's thinking about it—but not too hard—when he gets another call...offering him a sweet deal on the exact same book. That should set alarm bells off in anyone's head, no?
The book's strong points should be obvious, but just in case you're not a fan of noir: beautiful babes, gunplay, allusions to perversity that are enough to titillate but just shy of enough to get the book banned at the local drugstore's rack (there's a great bit with a two-way mirror that would totally have gotten the book yanked if the protagonist had not shown the, ahem, “proper moral fiber”), a lot of admittedly silly twists and turns. It's a potboiler, and it plays like one, but Axelrod and/or his editor missed a chance to turn this into a classic when he/they didn't whip the second half of the novel into as good a shape as they whipped the first. Characters start being, how shall I say, less motivated to keep their secrets?. That is not necessarily a bad thing if they have a compelling reason, but all too often it feels like a plot device rather than an organic development from the story. That knocks it down a notch in my head, though I still have to balance that with Axelrod's sense of pace, which has two speeds, “breakneck” and “Katy bar the door”. You rush past those bits so fast you may not even notice them if you're not looking. And the way it's all wrapped up, well, remember what I said about wanting to be Chandler and actually ending up like Spillane? ***
May 24, 2018
Not impressed with the almost amateurish, rough-draftish style of Axelrod here. His murder mystery/treasure hunt is filled with lame sentences, strangely forced character behaviors that are wholly irrational, and a first person narration style where virtually every sentence starts with “I” did this and “I” did that. Probably the weakest Hard Case Crime rediscovery in the entire lot.
January 2, 2022
Fun read...
Further adventures of publisher Dick Sherman whom many will remember from The Seven Year Itch. Hardboiled action and shady characters galore in a twisted plot revolving around the publication of the posthumous novel by a Hemingwayesque author... Very entertaining novel by late George Axelrod; kudos to Hard Case Crime for making it available...
Further adventures of publisher Dick Sherman whom many will remember from The Seven Year Itch. Hardboiled action and shady characters galore in a twisted plot revolving around the publication of the posthumous novel by a Hemingwayesque author... Very entertaining novel by late George Axelrod; kudos to Hard Case Crime for making it available...
September 20, 2025
I personally loved every second of it. Quickly paced, easy to read, full of entertainment that never leaves you bored. Might have some parts that seemed a little obvious but it was still a great story with a great ending. Needs to be a movie honestly. With a few things changed possibly this could be an amazing movie.
September 25, 2019
Great breezy fun from Glen Orbik's beautiful cover to the final sentence. It's certainly campy (deliberately?), frightened of women, and reasonably predictable, but I loved the fact that the protagonist was a book publisher and I look forward eagerly to the film adaptation.
May 21, 2017
Good old time noir. The Hard Case Crime series remains one of my favorite collections, they continue to impress.
June 17, 2017
A Hollywood/bibliophile mystery and a good one. Thanks again, Hard Case Crime.
October 5, 2017
The plot mechanics get a little too contrived towards the end, but I'm a fan of the minimalist writing style and quick pace.
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