Blood Red Blues

From Plastic Tub

Cover of the rare first printing by Dell, thought to have been illustrated by Raymond Unger.

Stimes Addisson's second Dutch Forkes novel. Dutch is in a self-defeating spiral after his last misadventure. In the end, we don't know if he dies or flees to Honduras. Some have speculated that this novel reveals the true story behind Stimes' father's strange adventures. His father, Hyram Solomon Addisson, disappeared, never be heard of again, when Stimes was 12.

The plot revolves around a complicated scheme in which one Wilma Wiggins seeks revenge for the murder of her father, a sausage tycoon. Although the vicious thug Bumbles Thatchett is killed by Wilma, his boss, nemesis Dr. Jules Sarkozy, kills her, and puts the screws to Forkes so bad he disappears.

Excerpted

It's not that I'm a good shot at all it's just that in my business missing is an occupational hazard I tend to avoid.

He was Hungarian, but that's not what bothered me.

Non-Canonical Text

Her gams ate my mom's meatloaf -- who knows what would happen if we shacked up.

See Also

• Stimes Addisson's Blues