I dug out my copy of Faust's crime novel THE NIGHT FLOWER,
reprinted by IPL in 1987 with an introduction by William F.
Nolan. Here's some of what Nolan has to say:
"One is tempted to speculate that when Faust wrote this
novel, in the spring of 1933, he was influenced by Dashiell
Hammett's THE GLASS KEY, published two years earlier. Both
treat the basic theme of a strong and ultimately shattered
friendship between a big-city political boss and his
hanger-on. Like Hammett's Ned Beaumont, Faust's Charles
Pursivant is a product of the underworld, whose loyalty to
his corrupt mentor is deep and unquestioning, a loyalty which
leads both characters into a world of pain and personal
revelation. And while Faust's treatment of this theme is far
different than that of Hammett, both novels share this
fascinating conceptual base."
"*Did* Faust read Hammett? We'll never know."
Later on in the intro, Nolan says:
"Aside from a rather charming aura of period romance, this
book is as swift, hard-edged, and suspenseful as any crime
novel written in the 1980s."
I'm not sure I find the "aura of period romance" as charming
as Nolan does
(but hey, it's an introduction, he almost has to say good
things), but I do suspect this is a pretty good book, and
probably not that hard to find in the reprint edition. Also,
Pocket Books reprinted several of Faust's mysteries in the
Seventies, all under the Max Brand pseudonym. Worth searching
for, for those of you who like the older stuff.
James
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