Wed 10 Mar 2010
TMF Review: GARRITY – Kiss Off the Dead.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Reviews[7] Comments
GARRITY – Kiss Off the Dead. Gold Medal #948, pb original, 1960.
To get the unappealing taste of Brad Latham’s Hook book out of my head, I went to my collection of prime Gold Medal stock and more or less picked this one out at random.
I’ve read enough of these early paperback novels to be convinced that the booze-babes-and-bullets approach to detective/mystery fiction does not automatically have to mean that it’s a book that I found as disappointing as I did The Gilded Canary.
To tell you the truth, I was a little worried. Could it be that I was wrong, that my memory had gone bad? After reading this, though, my doubts were gone. I was completely reassured. They just don’t write ’em the way they used to, that’s all there is to it.
This is the story of Max Carey, an ex-cop who’s gone bad, on the trail of a woman — his wife, as it happens — who’s to blame. She’s a tramp, although he refuses to admit it, even to himself. Just as he finds her — in a smoke-filled bar on the way to Florida — she disappears again, and the very next day (naturally!) her body turns up in the ocean.
Small-town police officers being what they are, Carey is blamed, and he spends the rest of the book one step ahead of the law — and the mob– desperately trying to find the killer before either one of them finds him. A hat-check girl named Sherry is the only person who’s on his side.
Not a terrifically original plot, I have to admit, but Garrity’s roughly-hewed writing style saves the day, even to the point of being nearly poetically effective in papering over the cliches. The non-stop action includes the prerequisite bedroom scene, but here at least the camera pulls away before the X-rated warning lights go flashing on.
The book is filled with as much action as the Warner book, if not more, but what Garrity does that Latham doesn’t is to make you feel it — as nearly a participant as reading a book can do, not as a voyeur.
(considerably revised)
[UPDATE] 03-10-10. The revisions I just mentioned were designed to make the review stand more on its own, though I think it’s fairly clear that you might want to read the preceding review anyway, just to make the context clearer. I’ve made no changes in what you read now from what my opinion was then.
Bibliographic Data: [Taken from the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin.]
GARRITY. Pseudonym of David J. Gerrity, 1923-1984.
Kiss Off the Dead (n.) Gold Medal 1960
Cry Me a Killer (n.) Gold Medal 1961
Dragon Hunt (n.) Signet 1967, as by Dave J. Garrity. (PI Peter Braid)
The Hot Mods (n.) Signet 1969, as by Dave J. Garrity.
GERRITY, DAVID J(ames). Series character: Mafia hit man Frank Cardolini in all.
The Never Contract (n.) Signet 1975
The Plastic Man (n.) Signet 1976
The Numbers Man (n.) Signet 1977
NOTE: Some of Garrity/Gerrity’s books were either dedicated to Mickey Spillane or had a blurb by the latter on the cover (“I wish I had written it!”). They were friends, I believe, or Spillane acted in some way as a sponsor or mentor, but I haven’t tracked down any more specific information than this.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:50 am
Spillane was enough involved with Garrity that he loaned him the plot for THE DRAGON HUNT and Mike Hammer makes an appearance in the book helping private eye Peter Braid.
I don’t know how close they were, but I think you could call Spillane Garrity’s mentor without stretching too much.
As for the Hook, I liked the books better than you, but you can’t compare them to a Gold Medal original like this. It’s like comparing an issue of PHANTOM DETECTIVE to BLACK MASK. They were both pulps, but …
March 11th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
You’re right about Hammer showing up in the Garrity’s Peter Braid book. I think Pat Chambers does also, am I right?
March 11th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
I think Pat does make a token appearance in DRAGON HUNT, which is based on a story Spillane wrote for the comic strip version of Mike Hammer and which I think also showed up as an episode of the series 77 SUNSET STRIP.
Michael Shayne shows up similarly in one of Robert Kyle’s Ben Gates book, and Carter Brown allowed a crossover between Al Wheeler and Mavis Seidlitz.
Generally crossovers are rare —- even in series by the same writer. Guess that’s why DOUBLE TROUBLE the teaming of Shell Scott and Chet Drum was such a treat, and Ellery Queen teams with Sherlock Holmes more or less in the novelization of the film A STUDY IN TERROR.
I know Ian Fleming wanted to team James Bond with Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin (Stout said Bond would get all the girls and just depress Archie), but in general I suppose it’s just too much trouble for everyone involved unless like John Buchan, Sapper, Clive Cussler, or Preston and Childs you create a complex closed universe.
May 2nd, 2014 at 10:39 pm
Chambers doesn’t appear in “Dragon Hunt”, he’s only mentioned. I’ve just finished reading it and, were not the author’s name mentioned on the cover, you’d think this is pure Spillane. Sure, the plot is way too much absurd, but a page-turner nonetheless.
May 3rd, 2014 at 1:35 am
The definitive answer. Thanks, Gabriel!
May 16th, 2018 at 7:45 am
I am David J. Gerritys son. I can shed some light on his relationship with Mick. They were lifelong friends, to the point that I grew up in Micks house in Newburgh, NY. Later, Pop moved to Garden City, SC just a few miles form Micks house in Murrells Inlet. They remained best friends until Pops death in 1984. In fact, Mick was at his bedside with my brother Mike, his friend Eddie Hawkins and myself. At times, their relationship could be a pain in the ass to my brothers and I and I’m sure Micks kids felt the same way, but their love and commitment to each other was total. Time has taught me what a rare thing that is in this world. I miss them both.
May 16th, 2018 at 12:14 pm
Thanks for sharing this with us, Jonathan — very much appreciated! I’m glad you found this old review of mine online.