Book Description

Harry Fabian has a dream to become the top wrestling promoter in London, but he has a problem: he needs money. Not too much -- only one hundred quid -- but it might as well be a million because he needs the money by the end of the week. What's more, it is the height of the 1930s Depression, he lives in London's Soho, he makes money from selling his girlfriend to men, and the police are arresting pimps like him to clean up the streets for the imminent Coronation of George The Sixth.

Hunting for victims to blackmail and con out of money, Fabian moves through the clip joints, jazz clubs, wrestling gyms, bottle bars, and all-night cafés of 1930s London, spiraling further and further into the depths of immorality and depravity. And by the time his quest is over, Harry Fabian will have entered the tenth circle of the Inferno, dragging everybody he knows down with him... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Too tough for some.
He's a guy who'd blackmail a man with a dying wife; sacrifice an aging wrestler in a fight for a meagre profit; sell his prostitute girlfriend, whom he lives off, to white-slavers. He's Harry Fabian, one of London town's low-life, with a humble, street-trader brother that loves him all the same. ... Read more

Book Description
In London under the fog of war, a 10-year-old Jewish girl is murdered.The police have no clues and little interest, so crusader Asta Thundesley takes up the challenge, sifting through clues and gathering up suspects for a dinner party where... nothing is learned.Detective Turpin goes by the book, and finds himself with a stunning set... of dead ends.Fascinating example of life's perils by author Kersh (Night and the City), who reminds for every winner, there can be a ton of losers.First published 1947. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Even deeper into the inferno
Night and the City, Kersh's best known novel, is indeed a trip through hell -- but only an upper ring, compared to the depths he enters in Prelude to a Certain Midnight. This book anticipates writers such as Hubert Selby in the examination of evil; its characters are very well drawn, the crime itself is hideous but mostly kept off the page, the society that allows it is dissected with unflinching attention. Kersh does spin incredibly strong sentences, and often touches the bottom of his characters' souls. But no picnics or fairy tales here. Tough stuff. ... Read more

Book Description
Word count: 2872. ... Read more

Product Description
Venture into this alarmingly convincing world, meet the horse whose stubbornness changed history, or the man damned to everlasting love, or the murderer who confessed...and confessed...and confessed. Learn, too, the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile, or what really happened to Ambrose Bierce. And ponder, if you can the case of Simple Simon, who lost the only important thing he had--and never even missed it. ... Read more

Book Description
Venture into this alarmingly convincing world, meet the horse whose stubbornness changed history, or the man damned to everlasting love, or the murderer who confessed... and confessed... and confessed.Learn, too the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile, or what really happened to Ambrose Bierce. And ponder, if you can, the case of Simple Simon, who lost the only important thing he had--and never even missed it.Lean back, relax, take a long look at the world of Kersh.You may never recover. ... Read more

Product Description
This book contains Gerald Kersh's short stories:The Queen of Pig IslandFrozen BeautyThe Brighton MonsterMen Without Bones"Busto Is A Ghost Too Mean To Give Us A Fright!"The Spe and the MysteryThe King Who Collected ClocksBone for DebunkersA Lucky Day For the BoarVoices in th Dust of AnnanWhatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo?Preceded by an introducted titled "Kersh, the Demon Prince" by Harlan Ellison. ... Read more

Book Description
Brilliant Suspense Novel--About a few Men who Wanted the World for Themselves!

Kersh's classic about unlikely investigators into the diabolical schemes of men beyond the law. First published 1953. ... Read more

Book Description
THIEF EXTRAORDINAIRE?Gerald Kersh (1912-1957) wrote amazing novels and hundreds of short stories about the weird and wonderful people he met during his lifetime.The most intriguing was Karmesin, a master thief and self-confessed genius.His robberies, cons and double-crosses involve split-second timing, almost supernatural foresight, and spine-tingling nerve.But is he telling Kersh the truth?For the first time all 17 short stories are collected in a single volume so that you can decide for yourself.This collection is edited and introduced by Paul Duncan, who has been researching Gerald Kersh for over 10 years in preparation for a biography.The cover painting is by Carol Heyer, and the design by Deborah Miller. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Genius At Work
Gerald Kersh was a prolific author during the 1930s through until the 1960s, particularly when it came to short stories. Like so many authors of his era, he produced an enormous number of short stories that were published in newspapers and magazines of the day and then later picked up by pulp magazines such as Black Mask, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Argosy.

One publisher is now performing the wonderful task of gathering together many authors' short stories and compiling books containing a single author's works. That publisher is Crippen and Landru. Although Kersh's Karmesin stories have been reprinted individually over the years in various publications, they have never been put together in the one book...until now.

As all of the Crippen and Landru books do, Karmesin begins with a very informative introduction providing tremendous insight into the author. An explanation is given into how the stories came about including anecdotes from Kersh himself, as well as the real life person upon whom Karmesin is based. I found the introduction in this book to be a wonderful lead in to the stories themselves, and then found myself referring back to it as I finished each story.

The book contains 17 short stories and they range in length from 5 to 13 pages; just ideal to finish a single story if you have 10 minutes to spare or for settling in and reading the lot in one sitting.

Each story unfolds in much the same way. They open with Karmesin admonishing Kersh (who acts as Karmesin's disbelieving audience) for doubting his stories. At the same time he scoffs at the crimes that are committed nowadays, claiming that not only could he pull off a better burglary, blackmail or robbery but that he already has. He then proceeds to tell a tale of fantastic achievement that is hugely entertaining and brilliant in its simplicity and success. For, as Karmesin keeps reminding Kersh, he is a genius and a master-criminal.

The contradiction to Karmesin, and the reason for the title to the book, is that, while he claims to be the most successful criminal the world has ever seen, and while he claims to have easily pulled off crimes that have netted him hundreds of thousands of dollars, pounds and francs, he invariably finishes his story by cadging a cigarette or the money for a cup of tea off Kersh. As he explains when questioned as to where the money went, he can't remember every penny he ever spent.

Karmesin is a curmudgeonly old cuss, but an entertaining character who I would best describe as a lovable old rogue. Many of his stories rely on perfect timing and as he explains in The Conscience of Karmesin: "mediocrity chooses an hour where genius picks its instant!" No story is too tall to be passed off as an exploit. And how tall are the tales that he tells? Among the 17 stories, he uses a ghost named Henry as an accomplice (twice) and in another describes how he stole the crown jewels. Of course, not all of the stories are this fantastic, but in each Karmesin highlights the brilliance of his plan and the success in which he carried it out.

At the end of the book, a Karmesin bibliography is included detailing where and when each of the stories was published. To finish the book off, a reading list that details Kersh's novels and a couple websites containing more information about the author are added. ... Read more

Product Description
His fourth book. ... Read more