Nick Belane
Created by Charles Bukowski

Alcoholic, rheumy-eyed, with all the charm of dried vomit and on a downhill slide towards the Big Sleep, much like his creator himself, obnoxious Los Angeles private eye NICK BELANE is the hero of Charles Bukowski's last book, published post-humously.

It's a twisted tale Bukowski spewing here, and definitely not for everyone. The author, like his hero, is often deliberately obnoxious. Which is often, so help me, hilarious. and sometimes just, well, offensive.

Belane, down and out, without a case in months, is hired by a mysterious client called Lady Death to track down a dead French writer who may still be alive. When Belane discovers the writer was born over a hundred years ago, he thinks, "No wonder Lady Death was looking for him!" And then another client pops up, asking him to look for someone or something called the Red Sparrow. Two clients in one day! and then there's the client who wants Belane does what any messed-up gumshoe would do--he goes on a extened drinking and gambling toot. Too bad he forgot it's not nice to fuck around with Lady Death.

The Montreal Gazette called it "a delicious spoof on genre fiction in the tradition of Ray Chandler and Dashiell Hammett," and "a twisted gem." Bukowski, with a serious amount of tongue jammed in his cheek, dedicated the book to "bad writing."

NOVEL

• Pulp (1994)...Buy this book

RELATED LINKS

• Pulp by Charles Bukowski
  The Thrilling Detective Web Site review by Christopher Friesen.

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.