Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Fight Card: Bluff City Brawler - Jack Tunney (Heath Lowrance)

 The Fight Card series just keeps rolling along in spectacular fashion. The latest entry is BLUFF CITY BRAWLER, by Heath Lowrance writing under the house-name Jack Tunney. It's the story of boxer Tom Riley, who gets in trouble with the mob in Detroit and is forced to run for his life, winding up in Memphis. Tom settles in to his new life there, makes friends, meets a nice girl he falls for . . . but you just know that old trouble from Detroit is going to catch up to him sooner or later.

Since Heath Lowrance is one of my favorite newer authors (he's not brand-new with two novels, several novellas, and a bunch of short stories out there, all of them fine work), I expected a rousing good yarn and BLUFF CITY BRAWLER doesn't disappoint. Lowrance captures the 1950s era quite well. I especially liked the mention of Jo Stafford, a long-time favorite of mine. And the action hardly ever lets up, as well, with a number of gritty, well-done fight scenes. I read this one in a single evening, which is extremely rare for me these days. If you're a fight fan or just a fan of top-notch hardboiled fiction, BLUFF CITY BRAWLER gets a high recommendation from me.

Speaking of Jo Stafford, why not close with the iconic song Heath mentions in the story:

2 comments:

Peter Brandvold said...

These are killer! I gobble 'em up like jelly beans! I really like the novella format when I just don't feel like wading through one of the fat, bloated tomes most full-length novels are today. I haven't read this one yet but I'm going to very soon!

Mean Pete

Charles Gramlich said...

I gotta get into these. So much good stuff to read!