(If Ian Fleming ever denied having cribbed from The Dragon Strikes Back when he wrote Dr. Pronzini discusses some works at great length, such as (in Chapter Seven) The Dragon Strikes Back (1936), an extravaganza that is so over the top that it leaves Pronzini wishing its author had produced more of the same. Gothic mysteries are examined in Chapter Ten, which begins with a famous Donald Westlake quote: 'A gothic is a story about a girl who gets a house' but the variations rung in on the Gothic theme can go far afield, as Pronzini demonstrates.Įd McBain feigns injury in the Introduction, wounded by Pronzini’s ignoring some of the bad writing McBain himself was guilty of, and produces examples of his own as proof that even the best writers can nod now and then over their typewriters-and what does this say about editors? Nevertheless, as Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) says of Pronzini in his Introduction, 'He has obviously read and digested everything ever written in the genre by anyone anywhere' so his judgment in these matters is to be respected. Wodehouse, with a dollop or two of Saki, or maybe John Collier, thrown in-and, like garlic and rutabagas, is an acquired taste.' Of course, Pronzini’s criticism is supported by only one example: The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop. Gun in Cheek is an amusing and pleasurable reading experience as well as an enlightening guide to hardboiled potboilers.'īut they’re not all hardboiled Gladys Mitchell is Pronzini’s target in Chapter Five: '.Mitchell’s prose is of the eccentric variety, to put it mildly-something of a cross between Christie and P.G. Within these categories, in what can only be called a labor of love, Bill Pronzini discusses, digests, and shares the best of the worst-adding a wonderfully comprehensive bibliography for advanced and dedicated devotees. Every category of mystery fiction is represented: the private eye, the stately home, the arch-villain, the gentleman sleuth, the amateur spy, and many others who have blossomed from the genre. ' Gun in Cheek is.a delightful exploration of what the author refers to as ‘alternative crime fiction.’ Less kindly put, it is a unique crash course in the worst English and American crime fiction of the twentieth century. Gun in Cheek (1982) is Bill Pronzini’s backhanded salute to the 'Best of the Worst', books and stories that pushed the envelope of language to the breaking point and beyond.

Six-gun in cheek by Bill Pronzini