13 French Street and the Red Scarf

The thing I like best about the hardboiled noir books from the 1950's is that they focus on telling one story. No sub plots. No detours. Just a compelling story that comes at you like a rifle shot. The Red Scarf exemplifies this perfectly. Gil Brewer's first person writing style is direct, no flowery language, no cute similes or witty metaphors. Just a guy telling what happened and sharing his thoughts. The Red Scarf is the tale of Roy Nichols, a guy in desperate need of money to save the motel that he and his wife Bess own in Florida. A big highway was supposed to come through, but construction has stopped and might detour around them. We hook up with Roy on his way back home from an unsuccessful trip up north to talk his brother into loaning him some money. At a diner, Roy hitches a ride with a surly guy and Vivian, a good-looking woman (of course). They'd been drinking and continue to do so as they head south into Georgia. That's when Roy learns about the money. A brief case full of it. Mob money. The rest of the story is about Roy and the money and him trying to keep it. Excerpt: Vivian was breathing down my neck, trying to read it again over my shoulder, trying to thoroughly digest the bad news. Then she stepped away, flopping that thick black hair around. "You've got to get me out of here, Nichols." "Relax a minute, will you? Let me think." "There isn't time to think. Noel's after that money, now. He's out to find me. He'll be here. You know he'll be here!" "Quiet." I remembered Bess. I had to get out of the apartment. "We can't talk here. You just stay inside. There's nothing to worry about. If he comes, I'll talk with him. He may not even come." "Stop it!" she said, "Will you please stop it!" "Well, we can't talk now. If my wife spots us together and thinks anything at all, she'll have me boot you out of here --- and quick." She had her hands folded the way she did, praying again. "If I didn't move you out, she'd call the cops." She shook her head. "Oh, no, Nichols. I'd tell her you slept with me night before last. In that hotel. How would she like that?" "You think she'll believe you?" "Nichols, we've got to hide the money. At lease you can do that much?" Brewer does a good job of sharing Roy's thoughts, and through them we learn more about Roy's character. Consider this passage: The big thing I kept figuring was that it was crooked money to begin with. Somehow that made me feel better. I kept coming back to that, trying to figure some way. And then I remembered that was how Vivian had talked in the hotel room. It wasn't money that really belonged to anybody, she'd said. Or to that effect. And she was right. But there was no way. Not unless I went over there and took it and got out of here. I thought about that. How I could grab the money and run. Then I could mail Bess enough to pay off the motel, and ... only it wasn't any good. It didn't have that part I wanted --- the peace of

Just to clarify--I have not read 13 French Street-- yet. Red Scarf is, however, perhaps my favorite roman noir. It would have made, I believe, a wonderful Technicolor noir with maybe Bob Mitchum and Lizabeth Scott. Maybe let Phil Karlson direct from an adaptation by A. I. Bezzerides. Too damn cool. The book itself is dark and pungent. Swift and cinematic in the manner of a contemporary thriller.It's absolutely unforgettable. The best book by a fantastic forgotten crime writer. And if you like this kind of thing read also They Don't Dance Much by James Ross, Shake Him Till He Rattles by Malcolm Braly and Name of the Game Is Death by Dan Marlowe. Small slices of noir heaven all.