Review: The Last Good Kiss (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

Two weeks ago Finn and I went up to Snoqualmie Pass for a little innertubing in the snow. We had so much fun we decided to stay the night. At the gas station they had a bin of old paperbacks. I picked up The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley for $1.60 (originally $3.50). I was just looking for something mindlessly entertaining to read after Finn fell asleep to save me from cable TV. Crumley delivers and more. I read about half of it that night and finished the rest the next night. Crumley’s Detective C.W. Sughrue comes from the hardboiled hard drinking don’t take money for your work but it for the girl line of detectives. My favorites. From the back of the book “When I finally caught up with Abraham Trehearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart our of a fine spring afternoon….”

While some may call it pulp and formulaic, I call it fun and entertaining. Lots of seedy bars are visited and some ghost of 60s San Francisco are dredged up as well. Large calibre guns, porno movie producers, beer drinking dogs, dive bars, washed up writers, and a road trip all rolled into one. What more could you ask for? I give this a 4 out of 5.