Wed 17 Mar 2021
JAMES McKIMMEY – Blue Mascara Tears. Ballantine, paperback original, 1965.
In Sam Spade, as everyone knows, we had the detective as conniving con-man; in Philip Marlowe and Lew Archer, the detective as Sir Galahad. In Mike Hammer, of course, we had the detective as one-man jury. Today we have Spenser in the role of detective as social worker, and Bill Pronzini’s nameless private eye as the winner of detective fiction’s hard-luck award of the year.
As the hero of this rather obscure paperback original, Jack Cummings is a cop, not a private eye, but a cop of the lone-wolf variety. As such, not only is he definitely part of the multi-faceted PI tradition above, but he also extends it into directions never quite followed by any of the others in the field.
In Jack Cummings, meet the detective as Christ figure.
The similarity is in more than the initials, and no, it is not entirely coincidental, On page 42, for example, Cummings ponders what it is that he believes in, swimming as he does “through the sea, always working never to become a part of it, because the contamination would be fatal…. Was he only fooling himself, “being Christ-like within his own mind and heart, but deceiving himself…?”
Or take this conversation on page 138: “The fix is cancer. Somebody’s got to cure it. Who else will, if I don’t?†“They’ll crucify you.” “It’s happened to others,”
It’s a tough story. the terseness of the opening chapters is reminiscent of none other than Dashiell Hammett himself, and if the dialogue and the rest of the story tails off a bit in comparison – to the level of Erle Stanley Gardner, say (which is no great disparagement, to my mind, but it had to be said) – why, that’s no great surprise either. In spite of all the writers who’ve tried it, Hammett has seldom been equaled, and certainly not for longer stretches.
Otherwise, here’s a book filled with good, viscerally involving scenes, and plotting that’s far more than merely adequate. It also features the most beautiful hooker in the world (briefly), and yet another victim (the girl with the tears) who did absolutely nothing to deserve her death.
If you’re a lover of hard-boiled fiction. try to find this one if you can.
Rating: A
March 17th, 2021 at 8:35 pm
I have enjoyed almost every McKimmey book I have ever read, so I agree with any rave reviews of his work. It’s been a long time since I read this one, but I remember it favorably.
March 18th, 2021 at 12:25 am
I honestly don’t remember much about this one, but based on the rating I gave it, the next time I come across my copy, right on top of the TBR pile it’s going to go.
And BTW, Stark House Press has reprinted a few of McKimmey’s other books, and I’ve already suggested that this might be a prime candidate for revival as well. I hope it happens!
March 18th, 2021 at 8:51 am
Definitely a writer worth reading, Steve, and you evoked his talent perfectly.
March 18th, 2021 at 2:54 pm
McKimmey mentioned in an interview that he wrote some of the Ki-Gor novels in the pulp JUNGLE STORIES. I’d love to know which ones.
March 18th, 2021 at 3:54 pm
Now that’s an interesting suggestion. I hadn’t heard that before. According to the FictionMags Index, his first truly professional sale was “Last Run on Venus,” which appeared in Planet Stories, May 1953, when he was 29 or 30. JUNGLE STORIES lasted until Spring 1954, so it’s sure possible.
March 18th, 2021 at 5:54 pm
I can’t find the interview where McKimmey talks about that. It may be in one of the Stark House double volumes of his books.
March 18th, 2021 at 6:41 pm
That’s probably where it was. I Googled “McKimmey Ka-zar” and he keeps coming up in the same list of authors who it is “known” wrote the stories. No specific original source, though.
March 19th, 2021 at 8:36 pm
Nice review, makes me want to read the books.
Internet Archive has a copy of the interview copy.
And copyright records turn up one renewal in 1982 by McKimmey for a Jungle Stories contribution: White Cannibal in the final issue.
March 20th, 2021 at 12:50 am
Thanks, Sai. That pretty much nails it down. Greatly appreciated!