Fusilli - Crime plus music: the sounds of noir

Crime Plus Music

TWENTY STORIES OF
MUSIC-THEMED NOIR

EDITED BY

Jim Fusilli

THREE ROOMS PRESS

New York, NY

Crime Plus Music: Twenty Stories of Music-Themed Noir

EDITED BY

Jim Fusilli

2016 by Three Rooms Press

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. For permissions, please write to address below or email . Any members of education institutions wishing to photocopy or electronically reproduce part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Three Rooms Press, 561 Hudson Street, #33,

New York, NY 10014.

ISBN 978-1-941110-45-4(trade paperback)

ISBN 978-1-941110-46-1 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016936895

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Long Black Veil 2006 by Val McDermid, first included in the anthology A Very Merry Band of Murderers published by Poisoned Pen Press 2006. Used by permission.

Unbalanced 2012, 2104 by Craig Johnson, from Wait for Signs: Twelve Longmire Stories by Craig Johnson; used by permission of Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents, Inc and Penguin Random House LLC.

COVER AND BOOK DESIGN:

KG Design International

www.katgeorges.com

DISTRIBUTED BY:

PGW/Ingram

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Three Rooms Press

New York, NY

www.threeroomspress.com

FOREWORD

BY JIM FUSILLI

I DONT SUPPOSE IT WOULD be much of a surprise to discover that theres a dark and deadly side to the world of popular music.

Fraud, embezzlement, and larceny. Institutional stupidity. Rampant deceit. Money vanishes, backs are stabbed, careers are crushed. Art? Er, no. The album is a product to be commercialized; the concert a chance to move drinks and merch. Better you should have gone to Wharton than Berklee. The promise of a fabulous meal at sunset on a gorgeous island turns into a bologna sandwich to eat in the back of the bus. As Hunter S. Thompson said, The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. Theres also a negative side. Whats surprising is that musicians in droves havent taken up the simple art of murder. Yet.

Welcome to Crime Plus Music, the anthology that offers exactly what it claims: crime stories that are inspired by music, in particular rock and pop. (Though I should tell you that The Long Lament by the modern master of the short story, Brendan DuBois, avoids rock and pop altogether by making bagpipesyes, bagpipesessential to his wonderful tale.) If, as the ancient maxim goes, music hath charms to soothe the savage beast, in Crime Plus Music it stirs in the souls of men and women the savage beast that will awaken with murderously foul intent. You are warned: Songs familiar and not so will be brought to mind, yes, but there will be blood.

IM BLESSED TO LIVE A bifurcated life: Im the author of eight mystery and crime novels; and the rock and pop critic of the Wall Street Journal, as well as editor and founder of ReNewMusic.net. My worlds collide when I meet other authors of crime, mystery, and suspense novels and short stories at writers conferences, luncheons, bookstores, and social events including, but not limited to, weddings, funerals, and card games. Inevitably, the conversation turns to music. As you may have noticed, most people not only like music, they also like to talk about the kind of music they like. Given that most writers think creatively and understand the artists mindset, they have insight into music that makes the conversations a pleasure. Youd never know that, while youre talking to them, they are scheming up ways to kill and maim characters in the stories theyre working on. The spark for the idea for Crime Plus Music came out of these conversations with many of the writers who appear in this anthology.

Id written a few short stories that were set in the music world and I found them a pleasure to do: As noted, bad guys abound; and you can give your tale a soundtrack. After proposing the idea for the anthology to the publishers, I set out to invite as participants many of the best crime and mystery short story writers of our time. It is our great luckyours and minethat so many agreed. The crime and mystery community, comprising fans, authors, editors, publishers, critics, and bloggers, is about the most welcoming and supportive that youll ever find. But even knowing that, I was thrilled at the response. I hope you will be too.

Some of the names in this book are stars in that community: Craig Johnson is the gifted writer who gave us Walt Longmire, the Wyoming sheriff you know not only from Craigs deeply satisfying books, but from the TV series, Longmire; Val McDermid, whose intense novels featuring the psychologist Tony Hill were the source for the TV series, Wire in the Blood; and Peter Robinson, whose tales featuring Inspector Alan Banks are as delightful (and occasionally terrifying) as the TV series DCI Banks that emerged from them. With Val and Peter, our relationship has as much to do with music as books: on several occasions, I played guitar as Val sang, ominously, the song that inspired her short story in this collection, The Long Black Veil. I once traveled to a gig in Ontario without my guitar and Peter allowed me to use his. As I said, a welcoming and supportive community.

The other writers in this anthology deserve better billing than the other writers in this book. Ill leave it at this: their stories will tell you why they are so admired by readers and authors alike. If youve yet to read some of them, youre in for a treatand you may find that youll be seeking their books in order to continue your flight with their excellence.

I want to draw your attention to two writers who havent been associated with the crime and mystery community until now: Galadrielle Allman and Willy Vlautin. Galadrielle is the author of Please Be with Me: A Song for My Father, Duane Allman, which is a miraculous combination of memoir and biography of one of rocks great musicians. As for Willy, as his work with his band Richmond Fontaine shows, he is a master storyteller, a skill that is amply evident in his novels of the hardscrabble life in the American West. Their contributions raise the level of quality in our collection.

With that, welcome again to Crime Plus Music. Enjoy not only the wonderful tales told by some of our best writers, but also how, every now and then, the clenched fist of fate gives some of the music worlds bad guys the cosmic beating they deserve.

Jim Fusilli

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF FRANKIE LYMON

BY PETER BLAUNER

HE WALKED INTO THE BAR wearing the jacket that Sam bought for the Ebony photo shoot last year. A mostly wool blazer with two rows of brass buttons, that must have costwhat?like forty to fifty dollars at Blumsteins. He felt bad because Sam was living on about two hundred a week as food inspector in the Bronx, while trying to manage the comeback for him. But what could you do? All the star clothes he used to have in his grandmothers closet were either child-sized and long ago outgrown or had holes in them because hed nodded off with a cigarette in his mouth.

So now the jacket felt heavy as a burden on his shoulders as he eyed his surroundings and tried to get comfortable. The bar was around the corner from his grandmothers and he half recognized some of the people from the neighborhood, where he hadnt lived since back in the day. There were mailmen and bus drivers wearing turtlenecks or open-collared shirts with jeans. Doormen and janitors in T-shirts and growing out their hair into bushy naturals as they rapped effortlessly to short-skirted former double Dutch girls from the block with sleepy eyes and soft mouths, who kept going uh-huh, uh-huh, right on as that Gladys Knight Grapevine song played on the jukebox.