Today I remind you of Never Kill A Cat And Other Stories by Miles Archer.
This short story collection by Miles Archer opens
with the signature story “Never Kill A Cat.” Dolores Sorrento is elderly, very
lonely, and spends much of her time reading mystery books. When she isn’t
reading, she is talking to her many feline companions. That is when she is not
dealing with Tommy Cooper and his parents who live across the street. Tommy
Cooper is the terror of the neighborhood. Now, he has gone too far and has to
pay for this crime.
Renn is supposed to be focused on the live fire
exercise at the training grounds. That is a bit difficult since he and Becky
had a major fight in the hours preceding. In “Murder In Uniform” Renn does what
he needs to do to get through the day.
It is October of 1973 in San Francisco in “Nobody
Gets Outa Here Alive.” Freddy Jones has a job he despises, but at least he has
one. A routine trip for smokes on his way home turns into the most intense
experience of his life. It changes the whole way he considers the world.
Fortunately, his job has the tools needs to take the first steps along his new
path.
Brian Donovan has lost yet another job as “Eternal
Love” begins. He is a good worker, but annoys his coworkers with his attitude.
His day is going to get way worse when he gets home.
The next several stories feature Doug Mc Cool over
the years. As time passes, Doug McCool gets more and more into the private
investigator line of work. That process
starts with “For What It’s Worth” where it is 1972 and McCool has returned from
Vietnam. He is in San Francisco spending a lot of time in the VA rehab. While
there he spends a lot of time with a guy Johnny White. The same Johnny White
who, after discharge from rehab, became heavily involved with the Black
Panthers and changed his name to Karim Africanus.
After about a year or so, McCool got a call from an
attorney representing Johnny/Karim. There had been an FBI raid and Jonny/Karim
was under arrest for the murder of an informer named Perkins. The attorney
thinks that maybe McCool could help as some of those involved in the case might
be more willing to talk to a white guy instead of the African American lawyer.
Move forward in time a few years and McCool’s latest
client is Mrs. Washington in “Hell Hath No Fury.” Her daughter, Noorleen, has
been arrested for murder. A criminal defense attorney McCool knows by the name
of Peter Tallent told Mrs. Washington to hire McCool to do some leg work,
create a report, and he might take the case pro bono. Mr. Tallent is one of the
good guys and the case in interesting enough that McCool agrees to do a little
digging. It quickly is clear that Norleen is in a bind because of
circumstantial evidence. Once they had their suspect in the local jail they
quit working the case.
His next client is also in a bind, but not with the
cops. In fact, it is because of the San
Francisco cops, specifically one by the name of inspector Harry Stanton, that
Mr. Mori is in McCool’s office looking for help. Mr. Mori owns a waste hauling
company known as “South Metro Waste.” It operates in the south side of San
Francisco in the area formerly known as “Butchertown.” The meat packers the area is known for are no
longer around, but South Metro Waste that was started in 1901 is going strong.
So strong that the mob is trying to take over his
business unless he sells out to an outfit known as “United Haulers” based out
of Cleveland, bad things will start happening to his family. McCool likes the
guy and agrees to poke a little and see if he can figure out a way to get Mori
and his family clear of the problem in “The Art of War.”
The beautiful Monica Grant appears in his office
doorway in “Il Beso Di Morta.” Married to an investment banker of some type,
her husband is apparently in some sort of business deal with a guy known as
Dominic Abbruzio. Good old Dominic is deep in the mob and is known by his
nickname “Razor.” Mrs. Grant wants McCool to get her husband out of the mess he
has gotten himself in to and to do it with our husband having a clue about
it. Good thing she can pay as that hat
will be easier said than done.
Author Miles Archer shifts narrator gender with his
next story titled “The Miller’s Wife’s Tale.”
Told from the perspective of Barbara Brown, McCool’s everything; she has
been left behind to hold the fort while McCool cavorts in Mexico with a certain
lady. She is not happy as her hair needs
a touch up, she has a headache and feels bloated, and is about to have her time
of the month as well as deal with clients.
One of those clients is Tammy Wingate who wants them
to investigate the string of prostitute murders in the city thanks to a serial
killer. She is the executive director of COYOTE, a prostitute support
organization. She also has connections to the important people in the city of
San Francisco. The cops aren’t getting anywhere in their case so Inspector Dave Toshi sent her their way.
The good Inspector had no idea McCool was in Mexico,
but considering Barbara is the real brains of the outfit it should not be a
problem. It is one of two cases that she will handle in this story.
The final McCool tale is one of pain titled “The
Black Hole.” McCool now lives in a trailer contemplating suicide by bottle or
gun. It has been months since he had a client and is not in the shape for one.
But, a woman by the name of Susan Sharpe is nothing if not persistent.
She is divorced and very glad to be rid of her
ex-husband. While packing up some stuff across she came across a computer disk.
Her ex works for a petroleum company and apparently didn’t take it with him.
Somebody is making threats over the disk, Susan is scared, and needs McCool’s
help. The first thing to do, after he learns what is on it, is return the damn
disk. How to do that is a problem not easily solved.
The nine tales that make up Never Kill A Cat And Other Stories are all highly atmospheric and very complicated tales featuring fully developed characters. The McCool tales make up two thirds of the book while providing some very good reading. Those stories frequently play with the classic private detective stereotypes while going off in unconventional tangents. The result is a read recently published by Untreed Reads that is highly entertaining and well worth your time.
Never Kill A Cat And Other Stories
Miles Archer
Untreed Reads
November 2015
ASIN: B017QGLDGU
E-book
181 Pages
$2.99
Material supplied by the publisher in exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015, 2021
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4 comments:
Nice review, Kevin. What a lot of work.
Thank you.
I like the idea of several stories with one protagonist. Also like the title a lot. I purchased a copy so I can try it out.
Hope you enjoy the read. I did.
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