Kill Now, Pay Later

This is the first Robert Terrall novel I've read. Assuming Hard Case reprises his other titles, it certainly won't be the last. I really liked this book. What's to like? First, some very sharp turns of phrase. There must be at least a couple dozen in the book you just want to read to whomever is within listening distance. Sardonic for sure, but Terrall has a great ear for incisive social observation in a few sentences. Two, a well thought out plot that twists throughout the book, in not implausible but unexpected ways. A book in which all the clues are dangled and still surprises is rare. Kill Now is such a book. Finally, the protagonist seems like a real character. He makes mistakes, gets sucked into things which not are as they seem, but comes out ahead in the end. He is a flesh and blood character who earns the readers respect, even though in his introduction, he thoroughly blows his assignment. Highly recommended!

The name Robert Terrall may not mean much to you. But how about Robert Kyle (the name under which Kill Now, Pay Later was originally published)? Or Jose Gonzalez? If those names don't ring a bell, another one might. Terrall was also one of two men who wrote Mike Shayne novels under the pseudonym Brett Halliday (the other was Davis Dresser, Shayne's creator). Shayne's name will undoubtedly be familiar to most crime fans, being a character who was not only featured in those novels and a popular radio series (later TV), but who also loaned his name to a magazine (Mike Shayne's Mystery Magazine) that published stories by many of crime fiction's biggest names. "Halliday" (presumably Dresser) was also the host (after John Dickson Carr) of Murder by Experts, one of the best crime anthology radio shows of its day. As Kyle, this prolific writer's claim to fame was a series of novels featuring P.I. Ben Gates. Kill Now, Pay Later is the third in that series of five, and Hard Case Crime has released it under Terrall's own name for the first time. Hired by an insurance company to guard wedding presents, Gates is subsequently drugged and wakes up to a missing diamond bracelet and two dead bodies. Passing out on the job is not likely to bring new referrals, so Gates takes it upon himself to solve the mystery (against the wishes of Lieutenant Minturn of the state police, who is pretty much satisfied that Gates had something to do with the crime) before he becomes corpse number three. Unlike most of the other books put out by Hard Case Crime, this one is a pretty straightforward private eye tale. Gates has an eye for the ladies (and, more importantly, they for him), which makes question and answer sessions interesting, but the actual solution -- thought it takes place in the midst of a conflagration -- is rather anticlimactic. And the tidy, tie-up-all-the-loose-ends conclusion, while satisfying in its own way, is certainly not what Hard Case Crime readers will be expecting. Still, Ben Gates and his friend/colleague are charming characters I would follow to another book, and Terrall's style is smooth enough to make Kill Now, Pay Later a light, easygoing read that would probably appeal to fans of Erle Stanley Gardner's novels under the name A.A. Fair (Top of the Heap, for example).

I only bought the book for the brand new Robert McGinnis cover. And that is reason enough.

I would like to have a bad day like Ben Gates. It starts off very bad for Ben as he guards some wedding gifts for a wealthy family. The morning after he is recovering from the "mickey" someone slips him and finding out all heck broke loose. He runs into one devious babe after another as he puts the pieces of this complicated puzzle together. I own every book in the Hard Case series and this was one of the best. One of the best covers too.

You have to love the "Hard Case Crime" imprint. Well, you don't,really but will if you know what's good for you! This is the first novel I've read by "Robert Terrall" and it's nice to read his axe-grinding ode to White Plains, New York and surrounding region. I've never been there but figure if I don't wear a 53 & 7/8" hat then I'm probably in the wrong neighborhood. Okay, I'm usually in the wrong neighborhood anyway. The people in the novel are all venal and devious and licentious, well, one out of three isn't bad! About the only line not uttered by any of the local denizens is "We have a nice town here, mister, and aim to keep it that way!" But who cares? The dialogue is snappy, the women are luscious, pliable and wanton and the protagonist, one Ben Gates is Heroic and a tiger where the frails are concerned. The second best thing I've done this year is join the dedicated bookclub, now I'll be there with each release, one could do worse. This was an enjoyable way to pass a couple of afternoons and definately made me the smartest lowlife waiting in line at the post office. Read it now, thank me later.