Hard Cold Whisper - Michael Hemmingson

According to the back cover copy on this book, Michael Hemmingson wrote it during last year's Labor Day weekend as part of the 2010 3 Day Novel Challenge, a competition I hadn't heard of until now. So it seems appropriate to be talking about it this Labor Day.

HARD COLD WHISPER is pure noir, a deliberate attempt by Hemmingson to capture the crazed magic of the sort of Gold Medal novel written by Gil Brewer, among others. The narrator is David Kellgren, a San Diego process server who in the course of his job meets a beautiful young woman in a bad situation, stuck taking care of her rich, dying aunt. If you don't have a pretty good idea what's going to happen from there, you haven't read very many books of this sort. The fun is in trying to anticipate, or even keep track of, all the dizzying twists in the plot, of which there are many. And just when you think there aren't any more surprises and that things couldn't get any worse for David, you'd be wrong.

This is a fine book with plenty of raw energy, a pace that never slows down, and an unrelenting noir tone. Even though you know things aren't going to work out well for the narrator, you can't help but root for him. Hemmingson has the Gold Medal voice down very well. If you think they don't write 'em like this anymore, well, they don't, not often enough for my taste anyway. I enjoyed HARD COLD WHISPER a lot, and fans of crime fiction should check it out.

Judas Payne - Michael Hemmingson

Judas Payne: A Weird Western / Webb's Weird Wild West: Western Tales of Horror (Wildside Double #11)

There’s a line in the author’s bio at the back of this book I really like: “Michael Hemmingson writes books in every possible genre he can.” That’s my kind of writer. I’ve read Hemmingson’s Orrie Hitt pastiche, THE TROUBLE WITH TRAMPS, but JUDAS PAYNE is the first Western by him I’ve read. It’s an unusual book, and it’s a fine example of taking a traditional plot and doing something new with it.


In JUDAS PAYNE, you’ve got homesteaders, a hellfire-and-brimstone preacher, Indians, a friendly sheriff, a wagon train, a gang of vicious outlaws and slavers led by a former cavalry colonel, a mysterious gunfighter, and a young hero trying to make his way in a world full of tragedy and strife. Sounds like a pretty traditional Western, doesn’t it? Oh, yeah, the young hero is the son of Satan. Literally. Satan takes on the form of a handsome, wounded Indian, and seduces the wife of the preacher. Lots of horrific things happen, to go along with shootouts and fistfights and assorted other Western plot elements.


Hemmingson writes in a somewhat formal style reminiscent of the TV show DEADWOOD, and it’s very effective given the Gothic overtones of this yarn. It’s a short, fast-moving novel, and spawn of Satan or not, Judas Payne winds up making a fine, likable hero. Everything is set up for sequels, and I hope we get them.


JUDAS PAYNE is half of Wildside Double #11, published by Wildside Press. On the other side of the book, continuing the Weird Western theme, is Don Webb’s short story collection, WEBB’S WEIRD WILD WEST. I’ve met Webb several times at conventions but haven’t read any of his work yet. These stories look good, and I plan to get to them soon. In the meantime, if you enjoy a definitely off-beat Western, check out Michael Hemmingson’s JUDAS PAYNE. Recommended.

The Trouble With Tramps - Michael Hemmingson

If you frequent this little corner of the blogosphere, you can’t have missed the resurgence of interest in the work of Orrie Hitt over the past couple of years. Probably nobody has read more of Hitt’s novels during that time than Michael Hemmingson, and certainly no one has written more about Hitt’s work than he has, having started an entire blog devoted to the subject. So there’s probably no one more qualified to write an Orrie Hitt pastiche novel than Hemmingson, which is exactly what he’s done in THE TROUBLE WITH TRAMPS, recently published by Black Mask Books.

Set during the Fifties, the era during which most of Hitt’s best books were published, THE TROUBLE WITH TRAMPS is narrated by Jack Card, the sort of working man/would-be writer/part-time heel that Hitt often used for his protagonists, right down to the six-foot-two, hundred-and-ninety-pound physical description. Jack is involved with three women: his wife Kay, with whom he’s trapped in a seemingly loveless marriage; teenage tramp Lucy, who’s pregnant by him; and Eve, the beautiful, amoral woman who’s married to a rich, much older husband. Jack really isn’t a bad guy, but he’s made some bad choices that keep getting him deeper and deeper in trouble.

If you’ve read even a few Orrie Hitt novels, you’ll recognize several of his favorite plot elements in the previous paragraph. Hemmingson doesn’t stop there, either. There’s also a peeping tom, a murder plot, a little social commentary, and some stuff about the publishing business. No lesbianism or hunting camps, though.

I think for a pastiche novel to work, it not only has to echo the work of the original author but also possess some strengths of its own. THE TROUBLE WITH TRAMPS succeeds on that score. The prose is lean and punchy, even more so than Hitt’s, and the story races along very effectively. Heel that he is at times, you can’t help but root for Jack, and while a familiarity with Hitt’s work certainly increased my appreciation of this book, I think most readers who enjoy Fifties-era hardboiled sleaze would enjoy it even if they’d never read anything by Hitt. THE TROUBLE WITH TRAMPS doesn’t quite have the same level of raw passion that Hitt brought to his work, but if you’re a fan there's a good chance you'll like it.