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Miami Blues (Penguin Modern Classics) [Paperback]

Charles Willeford (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 2 Aug 2012 | Series: Penguin Modern Classics

'No one writes a better crime novel than Charles Willeford' Elmore Leonard

Ex-con Freddy 'Junior' Frenger lands in Miami with three stolen wallets and plans for a new life of crime, and leaves the airport with a snatched suitcase and the corpse of a Hare Krishna behind him. Homicide detective Hoke Moseley is soon on his case, chasing the utterly immoral Junior and his hooker girlfriend through the Cuban ghettoes, luxury hotels and seedy suburban sprawl of Miami in a game of hide and seek that will leave Hoke beaten, robbed - but determined to get his man.

A brutal, thrilling ride, Miami Blues is a classic of Florida crime fiction, revealing the sordid side of the Sunshine State.

'Pure pleasure... Mr. Willeford never puts a foot wrong' The New Yorker

This is the first in the Hoke Mosely series; other titles in Penguin Modern Classics include New Hope for the Dead, Sideswipe and The Way We Die Now, while fans of the books include Quentin Tarantino, Elmore Leonard and James Lee Burke.

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Miami Blues (Penguin Modern Classics) + New Hope for the Dead (Penguin Modern Classics) + Sideswipe (Penguin Modern Classics)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics (2 Aug 2012)
  • Language: Unknown
  • ISBN-10: 0141199016
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141199016
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 1.5 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 421,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Extraordinarily winning ... Pure pleasure ... Mr. Willeford never puts a foot wrong (The New Yorker )

A Graham Greene-like entertainment, but tougher and funnier, softened by neither simile nor sentiment. This is probably as close to the real now Miami as any thriller is likely to come (Donald Justice )

Hoke Moseley is a magnificently battered hero. Willeford brings him to us lean and hard and brand-new (Donald E. Westlake )

Pure pleasure... Mr. Willeford never puts a foot wrong (The New Yorker )

About the Author

Charles Willeford was a highly decorated tank commander (Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Luxembourg Croix de Guerre) with the Third Army in World War II. He was also a professional horse trainer, boxer, radio announcer, and painter. Willeford, the author of twenty novels, created the Miami detective series featuring Hoke Moseley, which includes Miami Blues, Sideswipe, The Way We Die Now, and New Hope for the Dead. He died in 1988.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A blithe psychopath, a toothless cop and a terrific thriller 14 May 2013
By Trevor Willsmer HALL OF FAME TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
Charles Willeford's influential Miami Blues might just be a pulp thriller, but it's a terrific pulp thriller that's a joy to read: lean without being trimmed to the bone, perfectly paced and with a distinctive voice you want to listen to. It takes a deceptively simple approach, with a classic alternating chapter structure moving back and forth between criminal and cop and a clear, clean use of language with no room for purple prose that manages to get right inside his two protagonists' heads as they alternate between being hunter and prey. The story may hinge on one huge coincidence, but Willeford makes it play so beautifully - and makes its blithe psychopath so casually aware of the unlikeliness of that coincidence - that it works like a dream.

Freddy Fenger Jr. is a career criminal smart enough to serve out his sentence in full rather than risk an extra ten years on his next sentence when he'd inevitably get caught breaking parole and to take the prison warden's advice to move to another state so he'll be a first time offender there when he does get caught. All he wants is to have some fun before he gets caught. If that means killing to do it, it's not a problem since Freddy is the kind of sociopath who can fake emotions well enough for someone as simple minded as the young hooker he drifts into a `platonic marriage' with but not well enough to fake out the cop investigating her brother's bizarre murder. What neither knows is that Freddy was the one who killed her brother - not that he intended to, the man dying of shock after Freddy broke his finger for putting a pinhole in the new jacket he'd just bought with money he'd stolen from another man he unwittingly left dead. Not that that bothers him when he does find out.... Read more ›
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughy enjoyed this Miami based crime thriller - superb. 23 Feb 2013
By It's Only Me TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
My first experience of reading Charles Willeford. Won't be my last. I have nothing but praise for Miami Blues. First published for the UK market by Penquin in 1996 this edition is the 2012 reprint. Not a long book, it's more novella than novel, approx. 245 total pages of large, well spaced print and the plot spins so quickly I had no problem reading Miami Blues in just two sittings.

The novel features two lead characters; Freddy 'Junior' Frenger, psychopath, and his nemesis Hoke Moseley, homicide detective. They're both substantial, fleshed out, believable characters at complete opposite ends of the scale. Frenger is cold, hard, violent and has little feeling for the people he rips off and harms in his quest for cash, cars and sex. Moseley is crumpled, world weary, human and knows he's fighting a losing battle within the criminal system. Wonderful characterisations. As the two men are inevitably pitted against one another it becomes obvious, for different reasons, neither will give up. What's fascinating is Fenger doesn't have a 'master plan' he's interested in little other than 'right here right now' and he's far from being a criminal mastermind. Fenger is like a fox. Moseley, on the other hand, is like a weary old hound with the scent of prey in his nose. Fenger has no choice but to run and Moseley has no choice but to chase.

I thoroughly enjoyed being taken on a whistle-stop tour of Miami during the 1980s though it's far from a pleasant experience on more than one occasion. Charles Willeford had a gift for contrast. His prose is smooth yet his humour is blacker than black and the two together are an absolute delight. The whole spirit of this novel isn't so much about good v bad.... Read more ›
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Passing the Psychopath Test 13 Feb 2013
By Sam
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
What makes a psychopath? Jon Ronson explored this in his 2012 `The Psychopath Test', but Charles Willeford was doing the same back in the 80s with `Miami Blues', because Freddy 'Junior' Frenger is one cold psychopath. Junior is just out of a Californian jail and he heads over to Florida. He knows that one day he will go back to jail again, because that is what he does, but did he really need to snap the finger of that Hari Krishna? Who can capture this sociopath? Old Blue Teeth, Detective Hoke Moseley, will have a go, but this is a time before his teeth went blue and may just explain why it happened.

`Miami Blues' is a disturbing and sinister book that is brilliantly written. It has a lizard like ease, painting a picture of a grubby 80s Miami that is as inviting as a sleeping bag made out of razor blades. Hoke is a great hero, all slobbish and down on his looks (luck); just a homicide cop trying to get by. He is treated to one of the most chilling foes I have read in noir fiction. Freddy is plainly a psychopath with no understanding of emotion; he goes about doing things to better his own life no matter the cost to others. Willeford does not try to sex Junior up, he keeps him plain and almost business-like in his criminal activities, this makes the character far more fearsome.

The fact that Hoke is either unaware of any threat or scared of it makes the book even more compelling. Throw in the fact that Willeford makes the book seem just like one small story in a cesspit of crime and the entire book has a compelling and daunting feel. Willeford was a master of description, like Robert B Parker, but no need for the humour.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars over rated
I didn't buy this through Amazon - I bought it on impulse in a bookshop. But, I came here to see what others thought about it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Barry B
3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad but no classic either
I've found the Penguin Modern Classics a bit of a mixed bag recently. In my view, a series like this ought to be a reliable way to pick up a thoroughly enjoyable book without... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Max
3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not brilliant.
Immediately engaging story that seemed to fly by. Spare to-the-point writing that contributes to a fast-paced crime novel with the dogged detective hunting a thoroughly unlikeable,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Lily
4.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable eighties crime
"Miami Blues" opens with ex-con Freddy Frenger heading to Florida to re-start his life as a career criminal. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Eleanor
4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky noir
A very entertaining crime novel that is a bit different from the usual.

The storyline itself is a little basic but there is some great dialogue and some interesting and... Read more
Published 5 months ago by The Emperor
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant read!
I first heard about 'Miami Blues' mainly from the Alec Baldwin movie from 1990. Alec played the character from this book, a Freddie 'Junior' Frenger. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr. J. W. Mc Evoy
3.0 out of 5 stars Hard boiled but a bit undercooked
A classic styled crime caper, it's of the cat-and-mouse variety, where homicide cop Hoke Mosely pursues sociopathic career criminal Freddy 'Junior' Frenger across the underbelly of... Read more
Published 5 months ago by D. Salmon
3.0 out of 5 stars Not Elmore Leonard!
Two things attracted me to this book viz. the puff on the cover by Elmore Leonard and the fact it is published by Penguin. Read more
Published 6 months ago by James I. Wilson
4.0 out of 5 stars A good reminder from Penguin
Penguin can be thanked for adding Miami Blies to their Modern Classics catalogue. The late Charles Willeford had enough exprience of life to qualify him to write about its darker... Read more
Published 7 months ago by G. M. Sinstadt
4.0 out of 5 stars Crime spree in Miami
I really enjoyed this. It was violent, brutal, and extremely funny as well. Any sneaking sympathy I had initially with Freddie Frengler Junior was quickly extinguished, but he is a... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Penny Waugh
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