{"id":5406,"date":"2016-03-09T07:06:54","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T12:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=5406"},"modified":"2016-03-09T07:06:54","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T12:06:54","slug":"black-wings-has-my-angel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=5406","title":{"rendered":"*****Black Wings Has My Angel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(photo: pixelblume, creative commons license)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Elliott Chaze \u2013 A 2016 reissue, this noir crime novel by a Mississippi newspaperman, originally published in 1954, is a roller-coaster of a read\u2014lightning fast and a lot of fun. At the outset, an escaped prisoner using the name Tim Sunblade has just finished a stint working on an oil drilling rig.<\/p>\n

To rid himself of four months of grime, he takes a nice long bath at a cheap hotel. The comforts of the bath put him in mind of having a little female companionship, and with the bellman\u2019s aid he meets Virginia. They turn out to be quite a team. His plan is to head west (isn\u2019t that the classic American criminal\u2019s destination\u2014the wide open spaces?). Virginia\u2019s look and demeanor suggest she\u2019s not just a hotel tramp, and eventually he learns she\u2019s on the lam herself, fleeing the New York City cops.<\/p>\n

The book is full of sly dialog. When Tim discovers her call-girl past, Virginia tells him she used to \u201cgo with\u201d various Army officers, who were always talking about \u201cthe big picture.\u201d \u201cDo I make it clear, Tim? About what is the big picture?\u201d she asks. \u201cYou make it clear that your wartime activities were not on the enlisted level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Virginia is accustomed to rolling in dough, literally, and more than a bit money-mad, so she encourages Tim\u2019s plan to rob an armored car in Denver and dispose of it in an abandoned mine shaft they\u2019ve found in the Rockies. Flush with their cash, they hit the road again until a drive through a small town turns out to be a big mistake.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a first-person narrative, and Chaze has captured the voice of Sunblade terrifically well. A bit bemused by life\u2019s twists and turns, but resigned to them. Loving and hating Virginia in fairly equal amounts and never quite trusting her. Too much whiskey and too many cigarettes.<\/p>\n

In the introduction to this reissue. Barry Gifford calls Black Wings<\/em> a gem that still sparkles, and though author Chaze wrote several other novels, none of them stack up to it. A New Orleans native, Chaze worked for the Associated Press, served in the Second World War, then settled in Mississippi. He lived a time in Denver as well, which is perhaps why the book\u2019s locations are so well drawn.<\/p>\n

He working in various capacities for The Hattiesburg American<\/em>, for a decade as its city editor. His newspaper training shows in the economy and precision of his prose, and even when events are dire, the narrator\u2019s detached view allows his wry humor to surface. Though Sunblade doesn\u2019t often dwell on Life\u2019s Larger Questions, I was struck by this observation: \u201cLife is a rental proposition with no lease.\u201d That\u2019s exactly the kind of thing Tim Sunblade would<\/em> say.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t give very many books five stars, but in this one, every word is perfect. A longer version of this review appeared on the Crime Fiction Lover website<\/a>.
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