By the Balls: A Novel by Dashiell Loveless (Bowling Alley Murders) [Unabridged] [Mass Market Paperback]

Dashiell Loveless (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bowling Alley Murders | Publication Date: July 1, 1998

"By the Balls" is a bowling alley murder mystery set in the fictional town of Testacy City. The story follows the exploits of Ben Drake, a pulp-style detective with a passion for small cigars and Old Grand-Dad and a weakness for women in trouble. Drake is employed by the Always Reddy Detective Agency, and his latest assignment is to investigate the bizarre murder of Gentleman Joe Biggs, a well-loved local bowling hero. As he continues to unearth clues in the case, Drake is drawn deeper and deeper into a city-wide criminal conspiracy. Designed in the fashion of a 1940s pulp detective novel.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Packaged like a pulp detective novel from the '30s, this pocket-sized mystery is packed with the kind of dialogue that makes gumshoe fiction so ripe for parody: "One false step and it's curtains for the floozy!" "There's nothing like a mourning widow ... and Suzi Biggs was nothing like a mourning widow." "Consider this an advance on a beating to come." Every cup of coffee, sleazy witness, and see-through negligee is critiqued in hard-bitten style by detective Benjamin Drake in this doubly amusing book, which works as both straight whodunit fiction and a winking satire of all things Hammettesque. Not to be missed by fans of the genre, fans of genre, or any genre of fans. --James DiGiovanna

Review

Packaged in a vintage crime format modeled after the Dell "keyhole" mysteries of the 1940s, and cram-full of dime-novel derring-do, By the Balls bears proudly its ligatures to the hard-boiled genre. Its spotty dialogue and drunken plotting; its dubious heroics and jaundiced idealism; its "romantic realism," in Ellery Queen's phrase, and fantastically cold-blooded denouement -- By the Balls has it all, and suitably moody illustrations by the critically acclaimed Paul Pope thrown in for good measure. -- Alan Wieder, APB Online, 01/99

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Uglytown Productions; 1 edition (July 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966347307
• ISBN-13: 978-0966347302
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 4.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,654,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Irresistible package surrounds inadequate story., July 24, 2003

By 

Doghouse King "eddie_denman" (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: By the Balls: A Novel by Dashiell Loveless (Bowling Alley Murders) (Mass Market Paperback)

If only as much effort and thought had gone into the writing of this book as into the design, Ugly Town might really have had something. The covers and illustrations, the intro pages- heck, even the size and weight- are darn near perfect in exactly the retro way they intended. But the writers have a background which includes scripting comics for Dark Horse, and that's how this reads.

It's a meatless tribute to all things hard-boiled, featuring prose written in a spare (much too spare) style. Descriptions are sorely lacking, and the dialogue, while it talks "tough," is un-creative.

There is really only a couple of instances of good dialogue. Here is one: "There's nothing like a mourning widow. And [she] was nothing like a mourning widow. More like a morning window, and I could see right through her." Not classic stuff, but if the rest had at least attempted this style the book could have attained a kind of punny vitality. But no. It doesn't attempt real spoofery, and it certainly is not authentic.

It's like boys playing in sandbox much too vast for them. Descriptions of drinks and cigars give the impression that the authors just wanted to feel naughty, while a scene where the hero talks his way out of being killed by a thug is especially contrived, obvious and amateurish. Other aspects detract as well, but suffice it to say, Red Harvest this is not.

I really can't see true pulp fans being fooled by this, but give it a try... after you've read Chandler and Hammett and James Cain and Paul Cain and Whitfield and Burnett and Daly and Browne and Brown and Huggins and Brackett and Cave and Whittington and Fischer and Ballard and Bellem and Latimer and Martin and MacDonald and Gault and Spicer and Miller and Dewey and Woolrich and Nebel and Gardner and Adams and Davis and Spillane and Kane and Chase and Albert and Halliday and... you see?

There are much better out there. Lots of 'em. Then check back with the authors of this book after they've gotten some practice. Maybe they should check the above list, too.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grabs you so hard, it hurts, March 10, 2000

By 

demian parker - See all my reviews

This review is from: By the Balls: A Novel by Dashiell Loveless (Bowling Alley Murders) (Mass Market Paperback)

For men, this book literally grabs you by the balls from the first page and never lets go (for women, this book figurativly grabs you by the balls, etc.). The character of Ben Drake is the kind of hard drinking, hard talking, hard detecting detective you just don't see anymore but really should. The mystery is pure old school P.I. with a nice dash of modernism mixed in for a concoction that sure packs a wallop. Please, I beg of you, read this book.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TITTILATING AND THOROUGHLY ENGROSSING!, January 26, 2000

By 

Christian "Writer/Human" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: By the Balls: A Novel by Dashiell Loveless (Bowling Alley Murders) (Mass Market Paperback)

Tom Fassbender and Jim Pascoe (alias Dashiell Loveless), have invented the worlds first time-travel conveyance out of paper and ink, and heavily fueled by Ketel One Vodka! (read this books' "About the Authors" page to decode that statement) Would you like to know more? Grab "By The Balls", their first collaborative publication from UGLY TOWN PRESS. This short, tittilating, and thoroughly engrossing trip to the world of Testacy City will grab you by the you-know-whats, and squeeze until it hurts! The shady denizens of this crime-noir fiction evokes black and white images of Turner and Harlow, Cagney and Bogart, with a nice touch of 90's Pulp Fiction thrown in to sweeten the kitty! The dialogue sings, the imagery lurks, and the whole kit-and-kaboodle works magically to revive a genre not seen since the 1940's. By the time I finished it, I swear my clothes smelled like cigarettes, and my breath like cheap whiskey! Can't wait for more!