Review of 'Blood on the Mink'

Blood on the Mink by Robert Silverberg

blood_on_the_mink.jpg “Blood on the Mink” consists of three stories: “Blood on the Mink” and two smaller stories, “Dangerous Doll”, and “One Night of Violence”.

In “Blood on the Mink” an undercover agent takes the identity of a crime lord's right-hand man to infiltrate a Philadelphia crime syndicate forging American currency using high quality printing plates. As the Vic Lowney impersonator toughly negotiates with the crime lord as he attempts to arrange their capture his operation is threatened when a thug arrives that knows the REAL Vic Lowney…In “Dangerous Doll” a crime syndicate courier is double-crossed by a femme fatale while in “One Night of Violence” a travelling salesman unwittingly finds himself in the middle of a gang war.

Robert Silverberg is a famous writer associated more famously with his Science Fiction but here some of his early crime fiction is presented having originally been published in “pulp” magazines of the 60s. The stories are easy to read and full of the clichés readers will expect from “Hard Case Crime” – Sexism, violence (an extreme amount here) and corny, though entertaining, stories. It takes us back to a style of writing largely forgotten in today's world (perhaps for good reason).

Entertaining…and well written…fluff that should not be taken in any way seriously though this still might a bit too much “retro” thinking for modern readers.

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2021-12-11


Genre: Crime/Mystery

Publisher: Hard Case Crime

Publication Date: 2012

ISBN: 9780857687685


Other reviewed books by Robert Silverberg: