Ultimate Pulp: The Fifth Grave/Night Squad

by Jonathan Latimer, Jonathan Latimer

TWO CLASSIC PULP NOVELS, COMPLETE AND UNABRIDGED - THE FIFTH GRAVE - Karl Craven is a private eye who likes playing it the hard way-but before he can rescue Penelope Grayson from a cult running the vice-ridden temple of Solomon, he has to tangle with trigger happy thugs, a redhead with an attitude and the queen of all blonde dames from hell. NIGHT SQUAD - The Night Squad wanted Corey on its team, and the racket boys wanted him, too. The trouble was that Corey wanted them both. But the cops had offered only Corey a badge, while Walter Grogan had bribed him with big money. Both sides were brutal, both knew as much about the slum as the rats infesting it. And Corey Bradford walked a tightrope between them, not knowing whether the man who smiled at him one day would be aiming a bullet at his head the next.

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2005

About the author

Jonathan Latimer was born in Chicago on 23rd October 1906. His main series character was the private investigator Bill Crane. An important character in the development of the hard boiled genre. A notable title is Solomon's Vineyard, the controversy over the content saw the US publication delayed by nine years. The author later concentrated on screen plays and also worked for five years on the Perry Mason television series.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Night Squad (1961) This is an outstanding David Goodis novel, one I can’t believe I’ve never heard of. Corey Bradford is a ex-cop in “the swamp,” a ghetto area of an unknown urban city, probably Philadelphia if Wikipedia is right about which city was most influential on his writing. Bradford has lost his badge shaking down gamblers, and his father was a cop in “the swamp” who was killed years ago. Bradford was raised by an alcoholic mother and remembers, as a young child, being attacked by rats. Whenever trouble is afoot, the scar on his thigh from that bite aches. Oh yeah, and whenever he carries a badge, it talks to him. The plot is convoluted, with an old gangster named Grogan, his hot pants wife Lita, her lover who is married to Bradford’s ex-wife, an enigmatic little drunk named Craft, and McDermott, the chief of the morally ambiguous Night Squad. This is as noir as it gets, in some ways, but has an optimistic (sort of) ending. Hard to describe, and at moments hallucinogenetic, but wonderful to read.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jonathan Latimer is on my list of 50 crime writers to read before you die with 5th Grave the suggested read. Hard-boiled crime fiction from 1941 featuring tough-guy private detective Karl Craven, who likes fast living and playing rough. Hammett's and Chandler's influence is obvious. The stacatto prose and fast moving action make it a very fast read.