A Tribute to James Crumley
I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.
~ James Crumley, The Last Good Kiss
This summer, TNY editor Kris Collins visited me in Providence, RI, and I took him to every bookstore in town. He lingered in each shop, memorizing its stock, touching spines, finding finds. He brought books to my attention, selling me on James Salter’s Light Years, and handing me a copy of The Last Good Kiss. “Have you read this?” he asked.
Last may, I visited friends in the fine city of Pittsburgh. Most of them are involved with TNY, and several among them were in the thrall of James Crumley’s The Last Good Kiss. I had first heard mention of the book and its author during one of Scott Silsbe’s always-informative late-night phone calls. He described it with several-beer emphasis as a crime novel in which the writing is incredible. I loved the title, and was impressed by its author’s perfect crime-novelist name: Crumley. Sounds rumpled and tough, convincing; the name of a guy who could step into the dark, compromised world of his story, tell it from a corner, pointing with a bottle and speaking over a cigarette.
The TNY contingent’s enthusiasm for this book was catchy. They were passing around a single copy; even though most of them worked at Caliban Bookshop (or its warehouse/practice space), copies were scarce. I put The Last Good Kiss on my list, and looked for it at every used bookstore I visited in the next year. I’d check fiction and mystery aisles, keeping an eye out for crime sections. No luck.
Now, finally, I’ve read it, thanks to Scott and Chris, and to Cellar Stories in Downcity Providence. Next time I find it anywhere but the fiction section, I’m putting it back where it belongs. If you don’t find it there, you can borrow my copy.
Jeff T. Johnson was a founding editor of *Kitchen Sink* magazine. He is the author of numerous poetry chapbooks, including *The Record Room*, and he is a co-creator of the zine *I Think We Should See Other People*