Firstly, allow me to welcome a writer I've admired for a good while now...
Nigel Bird's Crime Fiction Choice is The Baby In The Icebox by James M. Cain.
The Baby In The Icebox.
What a title. It’s like an
irresistible newspaper headline. Imagine
seeing it in the rack if you were, say, stopping off at the services to fill
your car with fuel; I’d wager you’d buy yourself a copy or take a sneaky look
at the very least.
It’s also the way this story opens, our man about to tell us
the real story. The one behind the
newspaper articles.
Cain’s roots were in journalism, so maybe that should be no
surprise at either of these things.
For lovers of James M, the setting here is likely to be
familiar, though this story comes just before ‘Postman’, first published as it
was in 1933.
We’re just off a highway at a stop-off. There’s a diner and a gas station. A couple run it and a there’s our odd-job man
who both observes what happens and is also right in the middle of things.
Where we stray from
‘Postman’ is that Duke, owner of the place, has the idea of getting hold
of some wildcats to draw in custom. The
introduction of the characters to the wildcats tells us pretty much all we need
to know about them, though we’ll know far more before things close.
It’s not long before the menagerie has expanded to include
mountain lions and a tiger. Not that
it’s helping the business.
Duke sees himself as some kind of Tarzan, a fearless man
able to command ferocious animals with his eyes. Thing is, he’s the only pussy-cat in the
place and needs a gun on his back before he’ll go in with his pets.
His wife, Lura, on the other hand, is able to control them
with her presence. Cain describes Lura
as a tigress, the way her eyes are the same as the cat’s and the way she
scratches and wondering paws in the diner with a slash of her nails. The comparison is wonderfully drawn. Lura is powerful, sexy and has something of
the wanderlust of the feline. She also
has a heart.
It’s about the time that Duke takes to his own wanderings in
search of cats that Wild Bill Smith The Texas Tornado shows up. He’s a fake snake-doctor, but he’s not a bad
guy.
One thing leads to another.
Me, I’d have willingly swapped places with Bill, any day of the
week. So would our narrator, if given
half a chance.
The baby of the title comes along as a result of these
encounters and where the icebox fits in, you’ll just have to read it and find
out for yourself. All I’ll say is that
Duke isn’t too happy when he discovers the baby isn’t his and decides to use
Rajah the tiger as the ultimate murder weapon.
So, what have we got in the story that makes it essential
reading?
First of all, we have the title. Mind-blowing.
Next we have voice.
Cain slips into character like an actor.
He’s similar to later creations, but unique enough. The narrator is sharp. A bright guy.
Knows the ropes and probably his alphabet too. There’s something of the street and the
country about his language, but it’s only a little rough around the edges.
Our setting is vivid.
The isolation creates and intensity when required and makes the unusual
lives and goings on highly
plausible. The characters are as much
part of the fabric as the house and the cages and their interactions describe
place brilliantly. Everything’s vivid
even when not fully fleshed out. For me,
it’s visual and at the same time gives all my senses a work out along the way.
And the people, they’re as real as I am, so much so that
it’s like an actual event he’s describing.
There are many ‘how to write’ books out there. If you check out ‘The Baby In The Icebox and
other short fiction’, you might just save yourself a few bob on those.
You might also find yourself wanting to write something just
as great; that I’m afraid is something most of us can pretty much forget.
Read and weep.
Buy The Baby In The Icebox here.
Find out more about talented author, Nigel Bird at his popular blog, Sea Minor.
