THX TO MYSTERY WRITER AND MEMBER OF THE ELITE HARDBOILED COLLECTIVE, CHRIS KNOPF, FOR THIS GREAT REVIEW OF FELONY FISTS POSTED OVER AT HIS KNOPF NOTES BLOG ...
Welcome to the new Fight Card series by a group of skillful hardboiled artists writing under the name Jack Tunney. In the episode “Felony Fists,” Paul Bishop presents Pat “Felony” Flynn, an orphan raised in the school of hard knocks.
Literally, fighting his way through childhood and the neighborhood, and then during WWII as a ferocious pug who liked nothing better than boxing above his weight. Now back stateside trying to adjust to civvie life, he’s a cop whose honor is more important than his life, and whose loyalty to a family-run boxing gym is more important than anything else.
The story is a period piece, with all the gritty reality that entails, though Flynn is a man who anyone – black, white, hooker or priest – wants to have by their side.
“Felony Fists” is a classic pulp novella that rings true both as an exemplar of the sub-genre (the tone is dead on, though never over-the-top cornball, as these things can go) and a look inside the surprisingly complex experience of big strong men doing everything they can to beat the crap out of each other. If you’re into either or both, it’s a very satisfying read.
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