Seven Slayers

by Paul Cain

This collection, holding some of Cain's finest work ever to appear in Black Mask, was first published in 1950. It opens, fittingly, with Black, an account of a mysterious stranger who winds up playing both sides following his macabre discovery in a nameless time. Also in the book is Parlor Trick, about beautiful Bella's fast-talking following the discovery of a corpse in her kitchen. Little is known about the life of writer George Carrol Sims, who used the pseudoynms Paul Cain for his pulp career, and Peter Ruric for his tasks as a screenwriter. Sims was that rarest of creatures-a succesful novelist and Hollywood scribe. He also dated the actress Gertrude Michael, and the character of Granquist in Fast One was based on her.

Genres: Crime, Short Stories, Fiction, Noir, Mystery

120 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1955

About the author

Paul Cain was the pen name of George Caryl Sims (1902–1966), a pulp fiction author and screenwriter. His sole novel, Fast One (1932), is considered a landmark of the hardboiled style.

Reviews

[Ralph · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Carol Sims wrote dark and violent short stories under the name Paul Cain for Black Mask Magazine in the 1930s, and we have seven examples in "Seven Slayers," all as well written as they are grim. Cain's world was The City, always wrapped in darkness, either late at night or in the neap hours of the morning, an eternal dark night of the soul for those who had either lost their faith, or never had any. His characters are detectives, gangsters, rum runners, newspapermen, stoolies, guns for hire, drunks, floozies, and society dames who don't know they're floozies. The police, when they appear, are always on the outside looking in, waiting for the cunning and hard-hitting private eyes to plug those who need plugging, to sort out the guilty from the not-quite-as-guilty from the just-plain-stupid before moving in with handcuffs and body bags. Other stories written eight decades back have not aged too well, but these amorality tales manage quite well, helped along by crisp dialogue and a narrative voice like the staccato chatter of a Tommy Gun. Cain was conversant with underworld slang and used it often, but most of it will be familiar to readers of period crime novels or easily derived from context. Fans of crime noir and pulp fiction in general will enjoy this collection.

[James Aston · Rating 3 out of 5]

#3.5

[Fraser Burnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first four pages of "Murder in Blue", incredible.

[Alex Budris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seven mean as nails noir tales. From Blood & Guts Press; signed and numbered.

[Bill FromPA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black
Red 71
Parlor Trick
One, Two, Three
Murder in Blue
Pigeon Blood
Pineapple

[Jerstyn Morehay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven of "the best" from 1930s Black Mask contributor Paul Cain AKA Peter Ruric AKA George Caryl Sims represents the hard-boiled genre at either its most uncompromisingly pure or its most eviscerated and unapproachable, reader's choice. These sprawling tales of tightly focused mayhem, making Dashiell Hammett seem prolix in comparison, are certainly not for those who require their stories and characters be in any way "relatable", but for readers willing and able to fill in the "----" lacunae of prose and plot, an undoubted septet of cut-to-the-bone, blood-soaked nightmare-noir.

[Bob Mackey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up Seven Slayers on a whim because I didn't bring a book along with me and needed something to read—and hey, Cain is synonymous with great crime fiction, right? (Yes, I'm aware Paul shares no relation to James M.)

That said, Cain does a great job of capturing the brutality and horror necessary for hard-boiled fiction, but his writing seems to work best when he limits his scope. The short stories in this collection that go for labyrinthine, Chandleresque plots don't do the best job of communicating the significant details, so I came to the end of these scratching my head and just shrugging at the wrap-up offered by Cain. The stories with a much smaller scope, like Parlor Trick and Pigeon Blood (especially Pigeon Blood), limit their characters to a total of three of four, and definitely rank up there with the best of short crime fiction. Don't feel bad if you neglect Paul Cain completely—but if you're curious, his stories don't always disappoint.

[David]

Paul Cain is one of the least known hard-boiled writers of the ‘30s. While Hammett, Chandler, and Burnett achieved great success in the pulps and Hollywood, Cain remained obscure though he produced memorable work in both fields.

http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2007...

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic set of violent short stories where the guilty don't always get punished. In fact, some times they get away with whatever murderous crime they committed, much to our surprise. Terse and unexpected. Highly recommended.

[Dan Lollis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book violent pulp fiction...which I usually love, but not so much with this one.

[Jim Pelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

strong noir short stories

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: seven short stories by Cain taken from the pages of the pulp Black Mask: Black, Parlor Trick, Fast One, and more.