- Paperback: 213 pages
- Publisher: No Exit Press; 18th Birthday ed edition (8 Jan 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 184243165X
- ISBN-13: 978-1842431658
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 491,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Freddy Frenger, fresh out of San Quentin, flies into Miami airport with a pocketful of stolen credit cards and disappears leaving behind the corpse of a Hare Krishna. Soon, homicide detective Hoke Moseley is pursuing the chameleonesque Frenger and his airhead hooker girlfriend through the smart hotels, Cyban ghettoes and seedy suburban malls of Miami in a deadly game of hide and seek.
From the Back Cover
Freddy "Junior" Frenger, psycho fresh out of San Quentin, flies into Miami airport with a pocketful of stolen credit cards and disappears leaving behind the corpse of a Hare Krishna. Soon homicide detective Hoke Moseley is pursuing the chameleon like Frenger and his airhead hooker girlfriend through the smart hotels, Cuban ghettoes and seedy suburban malls of Miami ina deadly game of hide and seek.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Charles Willeford was a `late developer' as a novelist. He was a decorated tank commander in World War 2, afterwards joining the Air Force, where he served until he was 37. Following this, he had a variety of jobs, including horse trainer, boxer and radio announcer. But it was not until the last four years of his life that he achieved success, with a series of thrillers based on the exploits of the Miami Detective `Hoke' Moseley. The first of these is `Miami Blues', and is set in Miami in the aftermath of the flux of Cubans, including many criminals, that had occurred in the 1970s.
The plot is straightforward. `Junior' Frenger, a psychopath and career criminal arrives in Florida fresh out of jail in California. He exists by robbery, often with extreme violence, and within a short time of arriving brutally robs a pickpocket for money and credit cards, and injures a young member of Hare Krishna called Martin, who is begging at the airport. Unfortunately, the latter dies of shock, a fact that rebounds on Junior's life later. He meets with a naïve young part-tine hooker called Susan, who is Martin's brother, and his path crosses that of Hoke because the detective is investigating the latter's death. Junior guesses that Hoke recognizes him as an ex-convict and to warn him off, violently attacks him in the seedy hotel where Hoke lives. He also steals Hoke's revolver and police badge and uses the latter in a series of robberies. This, as much as the beating, spurs Hoke to seek revenge. The opportunity for this occurs when Junior foolishly tells Susan it was he who killed her brother, leading her to let him down during a raid on a coin dealer's shop and enabling Hoke to corner Junior, with the inevitable outcome.
I enjoyed the book. It is a classic cop thriller; violent uncomplicated action written in a fast-moving, fairly sparse style, but not without humour. The lead cops are no-nonsense types who have seen pretty much everything there is to see and are shocked by nothing. But Hoke is more than a one-dimensional character and still keeps his basic humanity.
The plot is straightforward. `Junior' Frenger, a psychopath and career criminal arrives in Florida fresh out of jail in California. He exists by robbery, often with extreme violence, and within a short time of arriving brutally robs a pickpocket for money and credit cards, and injures a young member of Hare Krishna called Martin, who is begging at the airport. Unfortunately, the latter dies of shock, a fact that rebounds on Junior's life later. He meets with a naïve young part-tine hooker called Susan, who is Martin's brother, and his path crosses that of Hoke because the detective is investigating the latter's death. Junior guesses that Hoke recognizes him as an ex-convict and to warn him off, violently attacks him in the seedy hotel where Hoke lives. He also steals Hoke's revolver and police badge and uses the latter in a series of robberies. This, as much as the beating, spurs Hoke to seek revenge. The opportunity for this occurs when Junior foolishly tells Susan it was he who killed her brother, leading her to let him down during a raid on a coin dealer's shop and enabling Hoke to corner Junior, with the inevitable outcome.
I enjoyed the book. It is a classic cop thriller; violent uncomplicated action written in a fast-moving, fairly sparse style, but not without humour. The lead cops are no-nonsense types who have seen pretty much everything there is to see and are shocked by nothing. But Hoke is more than a one-dimensional character and still keeps his basic humanity.
Format:Paperback
Miami Blues is the first of four Hoke Moseley novels. It was made into a movie in 1990. In many ways, Willeford was the forerunner for the comic noir set of Sunshine State novels by the likes of Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, Tim Dorsey, Victor Gischler, Randy Wade White, James Hall, Laurence Shames. The novel was darkly amusing, without being laugh out loud funny and in many ways the novel kind of aimlessly unfolds, lacking in a strong narrative drive. The plot is rather straightforward, and I was expecting a few more twists and turns. Certainly much more could have been done with the resolution. The characterisation is good, with the relationship between Frengler and Susan nicely explored, though Hoke seemed a little underdeveloped. Overall, an enjoyable enough read. I've heard that it's the weakest of the Hoke novels, so I'll probably give the others a go at some point.
Format:Paperback
i picked up reference to this author in another novel. the character said that Willeford was as good as Chandler. this is not so but nevertheless he produces thoroughly human character driven
plots where the mundane suddenly escalates into the violent. no shocking denouements, no rogue cops, no serial killers, no almost supernaturally insightful psychologists, no coincidence. in fact- literature!
also it must be noted that No Exit Press is an excellent publisher of reliable hard boiled fiction.
plots where the mundane suddenly escalates into the violent. no shocking denouements, no rogue cops, no serial killers, no almost supernaturally insightful psychologists, no coincidence. in fact- literature!
also it must be noted that No Exit Press is an excellent publisher of reliable hard boiled fiction.
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