What do you think?
Rate this book
Shoot it Again
There was only one way out of the Syndicate - in a coffin.
- GenresMystery
116 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1963
3 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Ed Lacy
102 books10 followersEd Lacy was the pseudonymn of Leonard (Len) S Zinberg, who was born in New York City on 25 August 1925. After his mother and father had divorced and his mother remarried, he spent his early years living in relative affluence in the outskirts of Harlem.
During the late 1920s, he attended the College of the City of New York and then, in the 1930s he travelled throughout the United States where he had a variety of odd jobs, including working as a butcher, to support himself. In the early 1940s, he returned to New York, where he married and resided for the rest of his life.
Back in New York, he was a freelance writer and some of his early published work emerged in literary journals, such as a short story titled 'A Leaner' in 'Story Magazine' in November 1936. He was also a member of the League of American Writers, on whose committee, 'Keep America Out of War Committee', he served in January 1940 during the period of the Hitler-Stalin pact.
During World War II he was Private First Class Len Zinberg, serving with the Allies’ 1943 push into Fascist Italy. As PFC Zinberg he had a story titled 'Timing' in the men’s magazine, 'Sir!' in October 1942 and his early detective story 'Pay Telephone' appeared with James M. Cain in 'Popular Detective' in October 1943.
In addition, in the 25 October 1943 issue of 'The New Republic', he won a Soldiers' Prose competition and published a war sketch. His war sketches also appeared in 'Yank', whose motto was 'written by the men ... for men in the service'.
He was later promoted to Sergeant and as such he wrote the scathing satire 'Welcome Home' about a GI returning to his childhood home and a second 'Yank' article recorded the reception in Rome on VJ-Day where 'most people were merely smiling quietly.'
And it was probably the contributions he made to such as 'Yank' and 'The New Republic' that paved the way for his 18 New Yorker pieces, published between 1945 and 1947, which in turn were instrumental in promoting his professional writing career.
As a marketing ploy he adopted Steve April as a pseudonym and he was able to
sell more stories to markets such as 'Esquire' and 'Colliers'. As Steve April he also wrote text for comic strips such as Ranger Comics (1946) and Fight Comics (1951) and a novel, Exit 13 (1954).
The Ed Lacy pseudonymn came about when the original paperback (rather than historic reprints) boom hit America and this presented him with a more lucrative writing opportunity as he turned dedicatedly to detective fiction.
His first published crime and detective novel, 'The Woman Aroused', followed in 1951 and this began an output that totalled 28 novels as well as many short stories, his 'New York Times' obituary suggested 'many hundreds', until his early death in 1968. He also wrote on boxing, both in his novels and historically.
His early books often had lurid titles and he was known to remark, 'Yes, the title made me grit my teeth, too' and the often sexy cover art perhaps did not do these books the justice they deserved as professionally they were regarded as being well written and solidly plotted.
By the mid-1950s, however, he realised he had established a strong presence in the paperback original market so in 1955 he was able to sign with the more prestigious Harper to bring out his works in hardcover and 'The Best That Ever Did It' (1955) gave him his first solid recognition as the book went into a second printing.
Included in his novel output were three separate series of detective novels featuring Dave Wintino, Toussaint Moore and Lee Hayes. A white American himself, Lacy is credited with creating 'the first credible African-American PI' in American fiction, Toussaint "Touie" Marcus Moore. His first novel featuring Moore, 'Room to Swing' (1957) won the 1958 Edgar Award for Best Novel and this clearly marked the high point of his writing career.
His short stories continued to be reprinted in Ellery Queen's Magazine and in var
During the late 1920s, he attended the College of the City of New York and then, in the 1930s he travelled throughout the United States where he had a variety of odd jobs, including working as a butcher, to support himself. In the early 1940s, he returned to New York, where he married and resided for the rest of his life.
Back in New York, he was a freelance writer and some of his early published work emerged in literary journals, such as a short story titled 'A Leaner' in 'Story Magazine' in November 1936. He was also a member of the League of American Writers, on whose committee, 'Keep America Out of War Committee', he served in January 1940 during the period of the Hitler-Stalin pact.
During World War II he was Private First Class Len Zinberg, serving with the Allies’ 1943 push into Fascist Italy. As PFC Zinberg he had a story titled 'Timing' in the men’s magazine, 'Sir!' in October 1942 and his early detective story 'Pay Telephone' appeared with James M. Cain in 'Popular Detective' in October 1943.
In addition, in the 25 October 1943 issue of 'The New Republic', he won a Soldiers' Prose competition and published a war sketch. His war sketches also appeared in 'Yank', whose motto was 'written by the men ... for men in the service'.
He was later promoted to Sergeant and as such he wrote the scathing satire 'Welcome Home' about a GI returning to his childhood home and a second 'Yank' article recorded the reception in Rome on VJ-Day where 'most people were merely smiling quietly.'
And it was probably the contributions he made to such as 'Yank' and 'The New Republic' that paved the way for his 18 New Yorker pieces, published between 1945 and 1947, which in turn were instrumental in promoting his professional writing career.
As a marketing ploy he adopted Steve April as a pseudonym and he was able to
sell more stories to markets such as 'Esquire' and 'Colliers'. As Steve April he also wrote text for comic strips such as Ranger Comics (1946) and Fight Comics (1951) and a novel, Exit 13 (1954).
The Ed Lacy pseudonymn came about when the original paperback (rather than historic reprints) boom hit America and this presented him with a more lucrative writing opportunity as he turned dedicatedly to detective fiction.
His first published crime and detective novel, 'The Woman Aroused', followed in 1951 and this began an output that totalled 28 novels as well as many short stories, his 'New York Times' obituary suggested 'many hundreds', until his early death in 1968. He also wrote on boxing, both in his novels and historically.
His early books often had lurid titles and he was known to remark, 'Yes, the title made me grit my teeth, too' and the often sexy cover art perhaps did not do these books the justice they deserved as professionally they were regarded as being well written and solidly plotted.
By the mid-1950s, however, he realised he had established a strong presence in the paperback original market so in 1955 he was able to sign with the more prestigious Harper to bring out his works in hardcover and 'The Best That Ever Did It' (1955) gave him his first solid recognition as the book went into a second printing.
Included in his novel output were three separate series of detective novels featuring Dave Wintino, Toussaint Moore and Lee Hayes. A white American himself, Lacy is credited with creating 'the first credible African-American PI' in American fiction, Toussaint "Touie" Marcus Moore. His first novel featuring Moore, 'Room to Swing' (1957) won the 1958 Edgar Award for Best Novel and this clearly marked the high point of his writing career.
His short stories continued to be reprinted in Ellery Queen's Magazine and in var
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 23, 2021
Lacy's 1963 goofy noir thriller, "The Sex Castle," later released in 1968 or 1969 as "Shoot it Again," starts out with a down on his luck artist, Clayton Biner, who is a bit desolate, cynical, and despondent. He's living on the French Riviera from check to check, hoping some sketch will sell and has no plans. He wakes up after a good drunk to find he can't cash a check because someone switched passports with him. It's only that his world turns upside as he tries to track down his own passport through a stripper he'd been seen with the previous night. Of course, that only results in his being held prisoner. Once released, the French authorities are still not fond of him and he miraculously has a way home smuggling three million dollars worth of uncut heroin hidden in a glass cat figurine which he boldly carries with him aboard the plane. From there, things, of course, go awry for Clayton, who decides to rip off the drug syndicate by offering them an identical (but empty) cat figurine.
Lacy shows his comedic touch all over this one as Clayton is about a bumbling criminal as there ever has been. He decides to effect rescue after being kidnapped and held prisoner by firing a gun randomly at locals. He decides to rip off a drug dealing syndicate by bringing a fake glass cat figurine with him. He holds onto the giant cat figurine throughout an entire cross-Atlantic flight and through customs. He takes the three million dollars worth off heroin and throws it in a duffle bag and carries it through the New York City subways. He has no idea how to get money for the heroin so he engages a drug addicted hooker and is surprised when her pimp tries to pull a fast one on him. Though this is a sad, tragic noir story, it is filled to the brim with these comedic touches which seem almost geared for a movie treatment rather than a novel.
And Lacy has the tragic aspects of this story down well. Clayton starts the story barely surviving off a few odd Francs and a bare speck of hope. As the book opens, he awakens feeling "wrong" and restlessly depressed and only had a few bucks because he seduced a ditzy schoolteacher into buying one of his watercolors. He has a sort of girlfriend, Sydney, but thinks of her as "a rather scrawny Australian gal, the sort who's good fun for a few nights" and notes that her folks had given her a holiday on the Riviera as a graduation present and now he was "growing bored of her and all the other characters making like bit roles from a horrid movie." Clay can't go borrow money from his ex-wife because they had mother-in-law trouble when they were married, meaning Amy found him in the sack with her mother. He ends up with a fat junkie prostitute who wears filthy negligees and he isn't even interested in her, although she is fascinated by the lifetime supply of heroin he is carrying around the town loose in his duffel without a clue of what to do with it. Clayton is not a good guy, but he does not even know how to be a bad guy correctly. He ends it in a mess that only a reader of noir stories can truly appreciate. He sinks further and further into the gutter.
Ignore the titles that the publishers slapped on this one. There is no "Sex castle" and "shoot it again" makes little sense here. Ignore the publisher's blurb about how Clayton had everything and was extra-greedy. He had next to nothing and only wanted a little bit of green, not the whole kaboodle. But by all means, enjoy Lacy's odd assortment of down on their luck characters in this noir thriller.
Lacy shows his comedic touch all over this one as Clayton is about a bumbling criminal as there ever has been. He decides to effect rescue after being kidnapped and held prisoner by firing a gun randomly at locals. He decides to rip off a drug dealing syndicate by bringing a fake glass cat figurine with him. He holds onto the giant cat figurine throughout an entire cross-Atlantic flight and through customs. He takes the three million dollars worth off heroin and throws it in a duffle bag and carries it through the New York City subways. He has no idea how to get money for the heroin so he engages a drug addicted hooker and is surprised when her pimp tries to pull a fast one on him. Though this is a sad, tragic noir story, it is filled to the brim with these comedic touches which seem almost geared for a movie treatment rather than a novel.
And Lacy has the tragic aspects of this story down well. Clayton starts the story barely surviving off a few odd Francs and a bare speck of hope. As the book opens, he awakens feeling "wrong" and restlessly depressed and only had a few bucks because he seduced a ditzy schoolteacher into buying one of his watercolors. He has a sort of girlfriend, Sydney, but thinks of her as "a rather scrawny Australian gal, the sort who's good fun for a few nights" and notes that her folks had given her a holiday on the Riviera as a graduation present and now he was "growing bored of her and all the other characters making like bit roles from a horrid movie." Clay can't go borrow money from his ex-wife because they had mother-in-law trouble when they were married, meaning Amy found him in the sack with her mother. He ends up with a fat junkie prostitute who wears filthy negligees and he isn't even interested in her, although she is fascinated by the lifetime supply of heroin he is carrying around the town loose in his duffel without a clue of what to do with it. Clayton is not a good guy, but he does not even know how to be a bad guy correctly. He ends it in a mess that only a reader of noir stories can truly appreciate. He sinks further and further into the gutter.
Ignore the titles that the publishers slapped on this one. There is no "Sex castle" and "shoot it again" makes little sense here. Ignore the publisher's blurb about how Clayton had everything and was extra-greedy. He had next to nothing and only wanted a little bit of green, not the whole kaboodle. But by all means, enjoy Lacy's odd assortment of down on their luck characters in this noir thriller.
August 10, 2018
A noir type novel about a relatively successful guy who wants more, and so gets involved in the heroin trade with the mafia. Crime pays for a while, but all these things end about the same way.
Predictable, but worth reading.
Predictable, but worth reading.
December 11, 2023
Visit JetBlackDragonfly (The Man Who Read Too Much) at www.edenthompson.ca/blog
Shoot It Again is a terrific thriller that follows a man's descent into drugs and murder.
Ed Lacy is one of the pseudonyms for Harlem writer Len Zinberg, a versatile novelist who was a popular paperback writer, publishing two or three well received books a year which veered into the literary arena. Lacy cut his teeth writing for The New Yorker, Esquire and Colliers alongside Tennessee Williams and Carson McCullers, and didn't consider his work higher or lower than any other commercial novel from Faulkner, Spillane, or even Faith Baldwin. His 1940 novel Walk Hard, Talk Loud (about an African-American boxer) was also a hit play and film, and his 1958 Room To Swing (introducing the first African American private detective, Touie Moore) won him the Edgar Award for Best Novel.
Clayton Biner is an American artist relaxing in the Cote D'Azur with his Australian girlfriend. After a drunken night, he discovers the passport he holds is not his, some one has switched it. He tracks down the owner to find the man has been held captive, drugged and bled for his money. Clayton helps the police in his escape but they tell him to leave the country. Enter high class gallery owner and Clayton's art dealer who asks him a one time favour: carry a package back to New York when he goes for a $50,000 fee - a glass cat figurine filled with pure heroin. He agrees, but before the parcel is handed to the receiver, there is a bloody shoot out leaving Clayton holding the pound of heroin with no idea what to do with it. He hits up his ex-wife for pocket money, and seeks various people he figures were involved in the smuggling, or, could help him sell the junk. The trail of those involved all turn up dead.
The first part in France was witty with almost comical action, the smuggling to America a little darker - especially when the plan goes south - but the last third quickly turns sordid when he meets Lucille - a junkie whore he thinks can connect him with a dealer big enough to buy the lot. On the run in cheap lodgings, having become her pimp and a cold-blooded murderer, they flee a dragnet as both the police and the drug bosses close in like an inevitable noose. Told in flashback, bookended with brutal scenes of bloody death, you know from the first page no one is getting out alive.
This was everything I hoped it would be, including finding an author I will now seek out. Well written and lurid, Lacy takes Clayton on a ride into darkness - from his carefree days in France as an untalented artist, to a man stripped of everything.
For me, he is a writer to watch out for.
This was originally titled The Sex Castle, and although the lurid titles made him "grit his teeth, too", novels such as The Woman Aroused, Sin In Their Blood, and Strip For Violence were often well written and well plotted, the titles and covers not doing the books justice, as is the case here.
Shoot It Again is a terrific thriller that follows a man's descent into drugs and murder.
Ed Lacy is one of the pseudonyms for Harlem writer Len Zinberg, a versatile novelist who was a popular paperback writer, publishing two or three well received books a year which veered into the literary arena. Lacy cut his teeth writing for The New Yorker, Esquire and Colliers alongside Tennessee Williams and Carson McCullers, and didn't consider his work higher or lower than any other commercial novel from Faulkner, Spillane, or even Faith Baldwin. His 1940 novel Walk Hard, Talk Loud (about an African-American boxer) was also a hit play and film, and his 1958 Room To Swing (introducing the first African American private detective, Touie Moore) won him the Edgar Award for Best Novel.
Clayton Biner is an American artist relaxing in the Cote D'Azur with his Australian girlfriend. After a drunken night, he discovers the passport he holds is not his, some one has switched it. He tracks down the owner to find the man has been held captive, drugged and bled for his money. Clayton helps the police in his escape but they tell him to leave the country. Enter high class gallery owner and Clayton's art dealer who asks him a one time favour: carry a package back to New York when he goes for a $50,000 fee - a glass cat figurine filled with pure heroin. He agrees, but before the parcel is handed to the receiver, there is a bloody shoot out leaving Clayton holding the pound of heroin with no idea what to do with it. He hits up his ex-wife for pocket money, and seeks various people he figures were involved in the smuggling, or, could help him sell the junk. The trail of those involved all turn up dead.
The first part in France was witty with almost comical action, the smuggling to America a little darker - especially when the plan goes south - but the last third quickly turns sordid when he meets Lucille - a junkie whore he thinks can connect him with a dealer big enough to buy the lot. On the run in cheap lodgings, having become her pimp and a cold-blooded murderer, they flee a dragnet as both the police and the drug bosses close in like an inevitable noose. Told in flashback, bookended with brutal scenes of bloody death, you know from the first page no one is getting out alive.
This was everything I hoped it would be, including finding an author I will now seek out. Well written and lurid, Lacy takes Clayton on a ride into darkness - from his carefree days in France as an untalented artist, to a man stripped of everything.
For me, he is a writer to watch out for.
This was originally titled The Sex Castle, and although the lurid titles made him "grit his teeth, too", novels such as The Woman Aroused, Sin In Their Blood, and Strip For Violence were often well written and well plotted, the titles and covers not doing the books justice, as is the case here.
March 1, 2016
Another great noir
Tough ,atmospheric, a great feel for time and place lots of twists and turns lacey as the genre nailed. If you love old gangster movies you'll love this
Tough ,atmospheric, a great feel for time and place lots of twists and turns lacey as the genre nailed. If you love old gangster movies you'll love this
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews