2 BY CHARLES WILLEFORD - PART 2

A couple this week from Charles Willeford.

Actually he's featured before back in August, 2014!

2 BY CHARLES WILLEFORD

I’m a sucker for Willeford. I enjoyed a couple of his Hoke Moseley novels and then starting digging into his back catalogue…..High Priest of California, Pick Up, Wild Wives, Cockfighter.

I even went as far as getting a copy of the 1974 film of the aforementioned starring Warren Oates. A bit like a lot of my unread books – I haven’t watched it yet! Charles Willeford actually has a small part in the film, as well as writing the screenplay for it.

I've enjoyed all his books that I've read so far, but the Moseley series remains my favourite.

They were his most commercially successful books, but he tried to sabotage his own series before it had nearly begun.

"Grimhaven" is the manuscript for a unpublished book by hard-boiled crime writer Charles Willeford. Originally intended as Willeford's sequel to Miami Blues, the novel was deemed too dark for publication, and his agent refused to send it on to the publisher. The novel New Hope for the Dead was later written and published as the second book in the Hoke Moseley series.

Hoke Moseley

1. Miami Blues (1984)

2. New Hope for the Dead (1985)

3. Sideswipe (1987)

4. The Way We Die Now (1988) 

Charles Willeford passed in 1988, just as I was getting into crime fiction!

The Woman Chaser (1960)

'No one writes a better crime novel than Charles Willeford' Elmore Leonard

By day, Richard Hudson, woman-chaser and used-car salesman, works his crooked car lot with much success. By night, he returns home to a family of misfits. One day, seized by a feeling of terror and revulsion, he realises he's wasting his life in the meaningless pursuit of money. His only hope, he decides, is to pursue his dream of making a movie.

Richard completes his cherished project, but forces beyond his control swiftly reject and destroy it. As a result, enraged and humiliated, he goes on a bender of epic proportions, drinking his way through the underbelly of Los Angeles and exacting a monstrous revenge on all who have crossed him.

The Machine in Ward Eleven (1963)

A collection of stories by Charles Willeford

The re-issue of Willeford's 1963 pulp classic features six incisive tales as fresh as the day they were first published. These stories are a timely reminder that madness is truly at the heart of 21st century politics.

Writing at a time when we still had some faith in our elected leaders, Willeford laid bare the American Dream. Events over the last 30-odd years have stripped away the hype and pomp but Willeford was there first. There is an almost Chekhovian wistfulness in the treatment of his stories which belies their considerable impact. Don't make the mistake of consigning this to some sort of historical context: Willeford is as chilling and relevant as ever.