Title: a Willeford novella deserving of more attention
Product review: Charles Willeford certainly wrote an interesting mix of novels during his long career. His early works, such as 'Wild Wives', written in the 1950s is very much like the works of James Cain, David Goodis and Jim Thompson. Greed, desperation, and violence of the poor and forgotten (, alcoholics, druggies, psychotics) provide the backdrop of psychological dramas/crime stories.In 'Wild Wives' we have a San Francisco rarely employed private eye who is hired by a rich socialite. Of course he finds this woman irresistable who, unsurprisingly, puts him on a course of "misadventure". The woman we discover possesses many secrets (..no spoilers here), and Willeford treats us with a terrific ending. The book is very enjoyable and wonderfully lean (packs a punch in only 100 pages).Bottom line: an unjustly forgetten classic.
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