LOSERS LIVE LONGER (Hard Case Crime Book 59) and millions of other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Losers Live Longer (Hard Case Crime) Mass Market Paperback – March 29, A former managing editor of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Russell Atwood published his first.
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With his wisecracking humor and his all too mortal fighting ability, Sherwood is more like a modernized version of Ed Noon if he could be compared to anyone. Not one to be too suspicious, Sherwood searches the body as the sirens approach. Thinking someone like a retro skateboarder might have observed him, Sherwood takes off over trash and decay and things sticky and disgusting on the New York sidewalks in his bare feet.
It is quite amusing as he searches in vain for a pair of shoes to don, finally finding a pair in the trash. From there, Sherwood literally stumbles onto one clue after another to wrap up a mystery. On the way, he is accosted by Russian mobsters, struck on the head with a briefcase, dodging bullets about the East River, and variously beat up and made a complete fool of. The plot meanders quite a bit and, by the end, the plot is a little too disjointed to be compelling.
It may just be that the book is way too long for what it tries to do. There are a lot of positive things about Atwood's writing, including his inane, humorous descriptions of people and places. This is a detective who makes fun of himself and doesn't take himself too seriously.
Losers Live Longer
Indeed, Sherwood is about as down on his luck as one could possibly be, having only four paying clients in the past year and having already sold most of his possessions on Ebay. Sherwood thinks that someone out there was a billable client and he is going to stumble on that person. But, Sherwood is so sure no one will drop by that he is lounging around barefoot, drinking coffee, and when the buzzer rings, he figures it was just some drunk leaning against the doorframe and getting his bearings.
When his buddy the older detective stops by Owl , Sherwood describes him as "ancient and not too steady on his pins. As he walks down a corridor, he thinks of it as an "anonymous corridor" "about as lively as a sun-shrunken condom. When Sherwood sees a gorgeous woman, he thinks there is something irrestible about her, "something that made you think of Pavlov and dogs and bells, of maybe moths and flames.
Some are dumpy with "copper-orange hair and harlequin glasses. Aug 21, Randy rated it it was amazing. The glamor of being a PI had never materialized for Payton Sherwood. Out on his own for five years, he'd been reduced to living in his office with the bare minimum of furniture. Few cases, the morning the downstairs buzzer rang, he didn't answer it. Couldn't be a new client.
A minute later when the phone started ringing, he let it go to answering machine. But the voice that spoke made him lunge for the receiver, the legendary PI, George Rowell, a man who had to be in his eighties, a man Payton ha The glamor of being a PI had never materialized for Payton Sherwood. But the voice that spoke made him lunge for the receiver, the legendary PI, George Rowell, a man who had to be in his eighties, a man Payton hadn't seen in years. Payton invited him up to talk about it. It was just starting to dawn on him that "Owl," even for a man in his eighties, was taking too long to get there when he heard the screech of brakes and a thump outside.
He raced outside to find a crumpled body, Owl's, lying in the gutter. A quick frisk of the body finds only a few papers and a hotel key card. This sets off a case that involves Russian mobsters, pedophiles, a missing financier in one of those ponzi schemes, an old "friend" out of the past that had taught him to be a detective, then fired him after a falling out.
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Bodies start to pile up, a smart aleck kid on a skateboard keeps showing up to much to be coincidence, a murder attempt on Sherwood's life, he hasn't had this much going on all year. Private Detective Payton Sherwood takes off where legendary and recently deceased PI George 'Owl' Rowell left off in search of the truth surrounding a movie stars overdose which leads to a multitude of other seemingly linked revaluations uncovered along the way including an intercontinental child pornography ring and a runaway investment scam artist.
It felt as though Atwood tried a little too hard to give Sherwood a voice that was both hip and laced with street slang resulting in the dialogue c Private Detective Payton Sherwood takes off where legendary and recently deceased PI George 'Owl' Rowell left off in search of the truth surrounding a movie stars overdose which leads to a multitude of other seemingly linked revaluations uncovered along the way including an intercontinental child pornography ring and a runaway investment scam artist. It felt as though Atwood tried a little too hard to give Sherwood a voice that was both hip and laced with street slang resulting in the dialogue coming off as corny and dated only to waste a decent foundation for Sherwood's impoverished and good hearted nature.
New York City played hoast to the core story and you could say it was the central character as Atwood described numerous streets and buildings to create a distinct urbane experience which complemented the cast well. Corny lines aside, the premise was solid, the ending very good and extremely well written although I'm not sure I like the unveiling , and the characters enjoyable - overall an entertaining read that took a little while to get into - 2.
Jun 07, Chris rated it really liked it. This book was a notch above the rest of the Hard Case books that I have read in my opinion because the tone of the novel is not mocking. It's a crime novel with a gritty, serious feel to it. Several of the others in the series, while enjoyable, are basically humorizing hideously depraved crimes, but this book keeps the serious tone and the noir-ish pun making in sort of separate spheres. The plot is well made and not predictable. The characters are interesting and not as stereotypical as they can This book was a notch above the rest of the Hard Case books that I have read in my opinion because the tone of the novel is not mocking.
The characters are interesting and not as stereotypical as they can tend towards in the genre, including the narrator, who often thinks in terms that are far more human than the usual crime-novel detective. Overall a great read. May 24, Matthew M. Allen rated it it was amazing.
Really love this one. It follows private dick Peyton Sherwood all around New York City to solve the mystery of a dead friend. And the roads get twistier and twistier as he moves along. Dead bodies, dangerous dames, street junkies and a big surprise meet him in his travels. Atwood gives his tale a classic feel with his snarky neo-Marlow, Sherwood.
He colors his prose in striking realism that blows me away. Jan 17, Nathan rated it really liked it.
About pete
And then a win for Hard Case Crime. Generally unsuccessful PI gets a case and solves it in a day. Sure, there are a lot of coincidences, and the entire case seems to fit into a single NY suburb, but the storyline is engaging, the main character is fun and the writing is cool and breezy. Oh, and there is a sex scene of some quality, which is always good. Rated MA for violence, language and a strong sex scene.
Aug 28, Gregory Gallagher rated it it was amazing. One of the few pieces of non-period detective fiction I've read that still feels like a classic pulp story without having to compromise the tone or feel.
Losers Live Longer by Russell Atwood - FictionDB
The geography is used incredibly effectively, as someone who knows the location the book is set in it was incredibly interesting being able to place the story in the world I knew. Very fun pulp stuff. Sep 02, Glenn rated it really liked it. Laugh out loud funny but slightly complicated plotting makes this a little bumpy in the second half. Nevertheless, private eye Peyton Sherwood is the everyman gumshoe that takes his bad luck in stride and his punches to the gut with smile. New York City is becoming gentrified.
Payton cannot afford a cell phone, and his only connection to the internet is dial-up. He is surprised when George Rowely, a legendary retired PI, asks him to help in a case. Losers Live Longer is a fast, easy beach read, but it is best not to think about it too much. It suffers from more than one fatal flaw. This includes a socialite who is famous for being famous ala Paris Hilton.
There is a banker who ripped off billions from A-list celebrities in a ponzi scheme Bernie Madoff. Payton lacks any supporting cast that makes him a memorable anti-hero. While I acknowledge the tough-guy loner is an accepted trope of the genre, he fits the bill a little too perfectly. He has no family; he has no network of informants on the police force or the criminal underworld. His professional peers dismiss him.
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He only has one friend, and her purpose to the story seems to be only to provide him with high speed internet. The plot relies on at least three very implausible coincidences. Also, since Payton lacks the tools or connections to be a good investigator, it seems overly fortuitous that every scene in the story yields either a Very Useful Clue or a Dead Body. He tramples over crime scenes indiscriminately, and the police are never anywhere to be seen. Mass Market Paperback Verified Purchase. This is not a Mike Hammer type private eye or even a Phillip Marlowe type. With his wisecracking humor and his all too mortal fighting ability, Sherwood is more like a modernized version of Ed Noon if he could be compared to anyone.
Not one to be too suspicious, Sherwood searches the body as the sirens approach. Thinking someone like a retro skateboarder might have observed him, Sherwood takes off over trash and decay and things sticky and disgusting on the New York sidewalks in his bare feet. It is quite amusing as he searches in vain for a pair of shoes to don, finally finding a pair in the trash. From there, Sherwood literally stumbles onto one clue after another to wrap up a mystery.
On the way, he is accosted by Russian mobsters, struck on the head with a briefcase, dodging bullets about the East River, and variously beat up and made a complete fool of. The plot meanders quite a bit and, by the end, the plot is a little too disjointed to be compelling. It may just be that the book is way too long for what it tries to do.
There are a lot of positive things about Atwood's writing, including his inane, humorous descriptions of people and places. This is a detective who makes fun of himself and doesn't take himself too seriously. Indeed, Sherwood is about as down on his luck as one could possibly be, having only four paying clients in the past year and having already sold most of his possessions on Ebay. Sherwood thinks that someone out there was a billable client and he is going to stumble on that person. But, Sherwood is so sure no one will drop by that he is lounging around barefoot, drinking coffee, and when the buzzer rings, he figures it was just some drunk leaning against the doorframe and getting his bearings.
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When his buddy the older detective stops by Owl , Sherwood describes him as "ancient and not too steady on his pins. As he walks down a corridor, he thinks of it as an "anonymous corridor" "about as lively as a sun-shrunken condom. When Sherwood sees a gorgeous woman, he thinks there is something irrestible about her, "something that made you think of Pavlov and dogs and bells, of maybe moths and flames.
Some are dumpy with "copper-orange hair and harlequin glasses. One person found this helpful. Having finished reading several of Donald Westlake's comic crime series featuring John Dortmunder, the bad luck loser among thieves, was I ready for a private eye loser? Well, ready or not, Atwood's Payton Sherwood was a winner! Sherwood is an underemployed private eye who in the investigation of the death of an elderly famous P.
But Sherwood, like Dortmunder, is persistent. At one near-fatal point in his life, Sherwood says "I hung on. It's what I do. HCC books are either reprints of long out-of-print works by vintage crime authors, original publications by contemporary writers, or first-time printings of previously lost manuscripts. While I would not put the HCC novels so far on the level of quality of the LoA anthologies, they all have been entertaining page turners. Losers Live Longer , by Russell Atwood is an original story done in the style of vintage sleuth paperbacks.
A down-on-his-luck private eye inherits a case from his retirement-age mentor, a minor legend who gets run down to open the story. Maybe it kept too faithfully to the traditions of the genre for my taste, but it ended up being a good read: Shooting Star , by Robert Bloch is a Hollywood murder story with a femme fatale and some vintage reefer madness paranoia. We follow a private eye who needs the income to investigate, but seems in continual doubt about whether he should drop out, until of course we finds himself too far involved with one of the women. Spiderweb , by Robert Bloch was published with Shooting Star as a double volume, and is the better novel.
It is a noir story about a radio personality Eddie who poses as a psychologist in order to con the rich and famous of Hollywood. He does this under the guidance of a mysterious immigrant Dr. Otto who seems to be two steps ahead of everyone else until the very end. Eddie has no medical knowledge behind his artifice, but struggles with his moral core, while Dr.
Otto has knowledge and intelligence but no discernible soul. The ensuing tension between them comes to a head when Eddie refuses to completely destroy someone they had been scamming. Also, there is a woman whom Eddie falls for and tries to protect from the machinations of Dr. My favorite scene is where Dr. This is made clear when he discovers Joyce who graces the Pyle cover , a woman with a criminal past and an eye for opportunity. A Walk Among the Tombstones , by Lawrence Block is the tenth book in the Matthew Scudder series, which follows an unlicensed private eye as he tracks murders through a very gritty New York City.
HCC reissued this one with a generic-looking movie tie-in cover. Scudder is hired by an illicit drug distributor, whose wife was first abducted on a shopping trip, held for ransom, and then returned as a cut-up corpse in the trunk of a car.