During the Fifties, following the huge success of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer novels, everybody was looking for more books in the same vein, including Spillane’s own publisher. Mike Roscoe contributed to the cause by writing five novels featuring tough Kansas City private eye Johnny April. One difference is that “Mike Roscoe” is actually a pseudonym for two real-life private investigators, John Roscoe and Mike Russo. And to me, “his” work seems to be influenced not so much by Spillane, but by the author some people consider an influence on Spillane as well: Carroll John Daly.
SLICE OF HELL is the first Mike Roscoe book I’ve read, although it’s the middle book in the series. In this one, Johnny April is hired to leave his usual Kansas City stomping grounds and go to San Francisco to investigate a crooked trucking company executive who’s rumored to be on the verge of expanding his operation to Kansas City. Since he’s going to San Francisco anyway, Johnny takes on another case that has come his way, a low-paying job for an elderly woman who wants him to arrange a funeral for a friend of hers who has just passed away.
Well, you don’t have to have read many of these books to know that those two cases are going to wind up being connected. The predictability of the plot is one of this book’s failings. So is the overall thinness of the story. And a lot of the tough guy dialogue doesn’t really resemble anything that might actually come out of a human mouth. “Mike Roscoe” has the same sort of tin ear for dialogue that could be found in much of Carroll John Daly’s work.
So why am I recommending this novel? Well, it’s written in an odd, punchy style that takes some getting used to but is very effective once you do. Even the stiff dialogue didn’t bother me as much after a while. And I wound up liking big, dumb Johnny April. (But, Lord, he really is dumb.) The authors keep the pace moving nicely. April has a touch of the same vigilante mentality as Race Williams, and there’s a scene that seems like a direct homage to one of Daly’s stories. Really, that’s a good yardstick. If you enjoy Carroll John Daly’s work, which I certainly do, then you’ll probably enjoy the Mike Roscoe novels, too.
(I'm a little surprised I haven't read any more of the Mike Roscoe books since this post first appeared in somewhat different form on February 6, 2009. Despite my quibbles about the plot, I seem to have liked it pretty well, and overall, I enjoy books with a distinctive voice. I'm pretty sure I own at least some of the other books in the Johnny April series, so maybe I'll dig out one of them. I'm kind of surprised they haven't been reprinted as e-books. By the way, that's a Robert Maguire cover on the Signet edition pictured above. Maguire did some great covers, and this one is very dramatic and eye-catching.)
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