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The Trailer Park Girls
They plan the perfect heist—until the trailer park girls get involved.Burt, Al and Jack are fresh out of the army, living in a trailer park on the cheap. Jack sells insurance, Al races cars and Burt tends bar. But they’re all restless for something else, particularly Burt, who was planning to be a doctor until his brother stole the inheritance that was going to put him through medical school. Then Burt hears about a department store that can easily be robbed, and he and Al and Jack start to make plans.That’s when they meet Sally, Fran and Marianne, who live in the trailer nearby. Al invites Sally to a party at their trailer, and the next they know, the six of them have paired up. Then Al lets slip to Sally about the heist, and the secret is out. Now each one of them has to decide what’s more important—love… or money.
- GenresCrime
172 pages, Paperback
Published December 3, 2023
2 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 13, 2024
Originally published as Monarch # 248 in 1962, Canary’s Trailer Park Girls is a well-written caper story (or caper gone wrong story as so many of them are) combined with a sleaze-era nod toward the easy women of trailer parks (a popular theme of the era). There are six characters in the story and no one else matters at all. The three men are Burt Stone, Al Leeds, and Jack Cannon, all of who are sharing a trailer. The three women, Sally Talent, Marianne Nirvell, and Fran Novak also share a nearby trailer. Canary does an excellent job though of painting well-developed portraits of all six characters.
Stone, once was on his way to medical school, saving his inheritance, leaving cheaply so that the money would be there — until his brother nonchalantly stole his $10,000 inheritance and laughed and said go get a job. Having no choice, two weeks later, Stone enlisted and they re-enlisted again. On his very first leave, he went back to New York and clubbed his brother right in the mouth. Stone met Cannon and Leeds in the army. Stone now works as a bartender and is bitter. He figures he has ten thousand dollars coming to him and decided that, with his two buddies, he is going to rob a department store in Columbus, Ohio.
Cannon sold insurance “designed specifically to fit your personal needs now and in the future.” He was a big, overpowering man, proud of his body and his physical condition. He was one of the fortunate type who always seem to get just what they want by simply asking for it. His calendar started when he was fourteen an her name was Alice Rankin. He always got whoever he wanted by being direct and never treating the ones who said yes any differently than the ones who said no. Cannon was in on the robbery because it sounded like fun.
Leeds liked to race stock cars, rode a motorcycle, and reminded you of a tougher version of James Dean. “The only thing that kept Leeds from being strikingly handsome was that there was no compensating softness about him. He looked as if he ought to carry a gun and talk out of the side of his mouth.” Girls came easily to Leeds and he learned that girls came easily to hoods and therefore he thought he always knew the score. When his draft notice came, he didn’t want to go and listened when someone told him to eat soap before his physical so that the x-ray would show spots on his lungs, but that didn’t work. Stone and Cannon didn’t strike him as the type to pull a robbery. He thought of Cannon as a good-natured big cluck and Stone as someone who had something on his mind the whole time. One thing though he wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life selling televisions to middle-aged jerks.
They all viewed the trailer park as temporary, but did not like being looked down on as riff-raff.
The women too were all fully drawn in this novel. Sally was a junior at Ohio State and believed in love, but not in marriage. “Marriage was her mother and father. Love was naked woman, sitting up in bed, her hair around her shoulders.” He parents had both tramped around town and were not shy about it. Sally was bold and the first in her crowd to skinny-dip, sent to reformatory school, etc. “She didn’t bother much with men simply because she didn’t find many who excited her. She just wanted crowds and music and lights.”
Marianne was a nurse, a dedicated nurse, but as a teenager, a girl so beautiful that none of the guys would have the guts to ask her out. She would have liked to date them, but they never asked her.” She fell in love with an older man when she was seventeen. He was a college junior, planning to be a lawyer and a politician, blonde, and crew-cut, and they made love all summer till the usual happened and he forced her to get an abortion.
Each of these men ended up paired with one of these women as they are planning the heist of the local department store. The story is primarily about the men facing off against each other as they plan and the women getting involved. Canary writes well and the story flows well, perfectly paced, and full steam ahead toward its inevitable conclusion.
Stone, once was on his way to medical school, saving his inheritance, leaving cheaply so that the money would be there — until his brother nonchalantly stole his $10,000 inheritance and laughed and said go get a job. Having no choice, two weeks later, Stone enlisted and they re-enlisted again. On his very first leave, he went back to New York and clubbed his brother right in the mouth. Stone met Cannon and Leeds in the army. Stone now works as a bartender and is bitter. He figures he has ten thousand dollars coming to him and decided that, with his two buddies, he is going to rob a department store in Columbus, Ohio.
Cannon sold insurance “designed specifically to fit your personal needs now and in the future.” He was a big, overpowering man, proud of his body and his physical condition. He was one of the fortunate type who always seem to get just what they want by simply asking for it. His calendar started when he was fourteen an her name was Alice Rankin. He always got whoever he wanted by being direct and never treating the ones who said yes any differently than the ones who said no. Cannon was in on the robbery because it sounded like fun.
Leeds liked to race stock cars, rode a motorcycle, and reminded you of a tougher version of James Dean. “The only thing that kept Leeds from being strikingly handsome was that there was no compensating softness about him. He looked as if he ought to carry a gun and talk out of the side of his mouth.” Girls came easily to Leeds and he learned that girls came easily to hoods and therefore he thought he always knew the score. When his draft notice came, he didn’t want to go and listened when someone told him to eat soap before his physical so that the x-ray would show spots on his lungs, but that didn’t work. Stone and Cannon didn’t strike him as the type to pull a robbery. He thought of Cannon as a good-natured big cluck and Stone as someone who had something on his mind the whole time. One thing though he wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life selling televisions to middle-aged jerks.
They all viewed the trailer park as temporary, but did not like being looked down on as riff-raff.
The women too were all fully drawn in this novel. Sally was a junior at Ohio State and believed in love, but not in marriage. “Marriage was her mother and father. Love was naked woman, sitting up in bed, her hair around her shoulders.” He parents had both tramped around town and were not shy about it. Sally was bold and the first in her crowd to skinny-dip, sent to reformatory school, etc. “She didn’t bother much with men simply because she didn’t find many who excited her. She just wanted crowds and music and lights.”
Marianne was a nurse, a dedicated nurse, but as a teenager, a girl so beautiful that none of the guys would have the guts to ask her out. She would have liked to date them, but they never asked her.” She fell in love with an older man when she was seventeen. He was a college junior, planning to be a lawyer and a politician, blonde, and crew-cut, and they made love all summer till the usual happened and he forced her to get an abortion.
Each of these men ended up paired with one of these women as they are planning the heist of the local department store. The story is primarily about the men facing off against each other as they plan and the women getting involved. Canary writes well and the story flows well, perfectly paced, and full steam ahead toward its inevitable conclusion.
November 17, 2023
Army veterans Burt, Al, and Jack find themselves sharing a trailer and working temporary jobs until something more interesting comes along. If the trio have a leader, it’s Burt who aspires to attend medical school and become a doctor. Unfortunately, his ten grand inheritance earmarked to pay for his education was pilfered away by his brother, while Burt was in service. Burt’s bro promises to make it up, but seemingly has no means of fulfilling his debt.
Now what? In the wisdom of classic paperback logic, Burt decides he’ll knock over a department store and reclaim his next egg in one easy haul. He reveals this stunt to his army pals—who figure what the hell—and all the ducks align. As the three fledgling felons scrutinize their target and noodle every nuance, Al—the bad boy of the trio—chances upon the Black Gat cover girl—and invites her and her two roommates over for a little soiree.
When Burt finds out, he’s furious. He knows full well that one thing will lead to another and soon his criminal caper will be compromised or undermined all together. Despite his protests, the soiree ensues and his predictions of leakage begin trickling out. What he doesn’t expect is that he himself will fall for one of the trailer park babes, a nurse, and the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen.
Canary seeds his crime caper with plenty of softcore scenes of connubial bliss with each of the three couples until their flesh is spent and the escalating tension between the would-be crooks explodes in a frenzy of ego over intelligence. Despite its predictable elements, Canary weaves a compelling web and balances what could have been pure sleaze with an actual plot and some action to deliver an entertaining, quick-reading crime novel.
Due out in Dec. 2023 from Black Gat Books, an imprint of Stark House Press.
Now what? In the wisdom of classic paperback logic, Burt decides he’ll knock over a department store and reclaim his next egg in one easy haul. He reveals this stunt to his army pals—who figure what the hell—and all the ducks align. As the three fledgling felons scrutinize their target and noodle every nuance, Al—the bad boy of the trio—chances upon the Black Gat cover girl—and invites her and her two roommates over for a little soiree.
When Burt finds out, he’s furious. He knows full well that one thing will lead to another and soon his criminal caper will be compromised or undermined all together. Despite his protests, the soiree ensues and his predictions of leakage begin trickling out. What he doesn’t expect is that he himself will fall for one of the trailer park babes, a nurse, and the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen.
Canary seeds his crime caper with plenty of softcore scenes of connubial bliss with each of the three couples until their flesh is spent and the escalating tension between the would-be crooks explodes in a frenzy of ego over intelligence. Despite its predictable elements, Canary weaves a compelling web and balances what could have been pure sleaze with an actual plot and some action to deliver an entertaining, quick-reading crime novel.
Due out in Dec. 2023 from Black Gat Books, an imprint of Stark House Press.
December 18, 2023
Excellent Pulp
Classic paperback pulp fiction. Sexy loose women living in a trailer park meet up with three guys living in a trailer park planning a robbery. Lots of mid,century sex ensues, along with fights, robberies and car chases. Great quick escapist reading and thanks once again to Stark House Press for bringing these great short novels back in print c
Classic paperback pulp fiction. Sexy loose women living in a trailer park meet up with three guys living in a trailer park planning a robbery. Lots of mid,century sex ensues, along with fights, robberies and car chases. Great quick escapist reading and thanks once again to Stark House Press for bringing these great short novels back in print c
February 20, 2023
Not at all what you would expect from a book titled The Trailer Park Girls. The three “Girls” are incidental to the plot, which is essentially the planning and execution of a robbery of a department store. A lot of psychological tension and action. An overall great read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews