Redheads Die Quickly and Other Stories by Gil BrewerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Professor David Rachels, English professor and crime blogger has launched his career as a scholar of 1950s crime fiction with this collection of Gil Brewer's short stories he's put together. His well-written introduction is the most information on Brewer's life I've read since Bill Pronzini's sketch on Mystery File and only hints at his tortured life.
One aspect of Brewer's writing that comes into sharp focus with the reading of this collection is his misogyny. What an interesting case study this book would be for the student of psychoanalysis. Just about every one of the 25 stories collected here has as its focus a depraved, scheming, evil woman who brings the mail protagonist to his demise, be it physically, emotionally or spiritually.
Besides the informative introduction there is a complete bibliography of Brewer's short fiction. Suffice it to say there are enough uncollected Brewer stories to fill quite a few more volumes and, in fact, David has said that he's working on a volume of Brewer's unpublished stories.
If I could find any fault with this nearly perfect collection it would simply be with the title. I don't think the story, "Redheads Die Quickly" was very representative in plot or title of the rest of the stories contained therein. In fact, it was one of only three stories that didn't feature a femme fatale and actually one of the weaker stories. I think David probably chose it as the title story because its a good noir title. But I think the book would have been better titled My Lady is a Tramp and Other Stories, or better yet, Femme Fatales: Stories by Gil Brewer.
Bottom line: If you're a fan of noir fiction, especially if you're a fan of Gil Brewer's, this volume is a must.
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