The Way We Die Now (Paperback)

by Charles Willeford (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Detective Hoke Mosely, the protagonist of Willeford's Miami Blues and other novels, returns in this latest mystery set in Miami and nearby Collier County. Hoke is a busy man: his teenage daughters and live-in ex-partner keep his head turning at home; his work on the cold-case file has at last yielded a clue in a physician's murder; and two men from the Caribbean isles have turned up dead in an apartment sprayed by an exterminator. Further, a killer Hoke nabbed 10 years earlier, unexpectedly paroled, has chosen to lease a home facing Hoke's own. That's not all. In the Everglades, Haitian migrant workers are missing and a particularly vicious redneck farmer is suspected of killing them. So Hoke is summoned for special assignment, and then police work really gets interesting. If ever there was a mystery writer who dismissed Alfred Hitchcock's disdain for the "plausibles," it is Willefordhe is meticulous about the details of Hoke's police and personal life. As if to balance his low-key approach and the amassing of mundane minutiae, Willeford draws a shockingly violent, ugly scene in which the redneck's hired man beats Hoke and attempts to rape him. And simmering beneath the surface is Hoke's nearly sociopathological obsession with the racial tensions between the ethnic groups who uneasily co-exist in southern Florida. As usual with Willeford's crime novels, this is an absorbing, often amusing and disturbing read.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
Episode #4 for Miami cop Hoke Moseley (Miami Blues, New Hope for the Dead, Sideswipe) doesn't have the taut, sly cross-plotting that made those earlier books so distinctive - sort of a cross between Elmore Leonard and Ruth Rendell. But it does have weirdly lovable Hoke himself, and Willeford's whiplash narration; so there's more than enough here to keep Hoke fans hooked as the story meanders along in a disjointed, picaresque way. Hoke wants to concentrate on one of his "cold cases": the never-solved murder of a rich Miami doctor - shot dead one early morning outside his house. But, instead, he's ordered to go on a dangerous undercover mission down in the Everglades region, where Haitian migrant workers are apparently being abused - even casually murdered - by a brutal tomato-grower. So, posing (without his dentures) as a quasi-hobo, Hoke gets himself hired as a foreman at the tomato farm - and is almost immediately fighting for his life in hand-to-hand combat with the monstrous grower and a fiendish henchman. Then it's back to Miami - where that M.D.-murder finally does get solved. But meanwhile Hoke has a strange domestic crisis: Ellita - the ex-cop and unwed mother who shares Hoke's house (platonically) and helps raise his two daughters - runs off with. . .rich ex-con Donald Hutton, a murderer nabbed some years back by Sgt. Hoke Moseley! Offbeat? Absolutely. Engaging? Entirely. And along the way there are sweatily vivid locales, leanly colorful characters, and a few violent encounters that make Elmore Leonard seem like Swan Lake. It will be easy, then, for readers to overlook the fact that this is the weakest entry in the series thus far - and it wouldn't be surprising if (as had happened with so many mystery writers) this under-par item gets the sort of attention that Willeford has deserved for years. (Kirkus Reviews)

Hoke Mosely is a grizzled old veteran, wanting nothing more than the easy pace of cold cases, chasing up old leads, getting the rare satisfaction of closing the occasional unsolved mystery, and ending the day watching re-run Kojak from his La-Z-Boy recliner. But he's taken from all that excitement and sent deep into South Florida to investigate a murder among migrant workers. That gets very messy, and things begin to unravel in unexpected ways. Willeford is ploughing a similar furrow to that of Elmore Leonard, but he operates in a much lower social strata. His characters are not so much losers as completely out of the game - a cynical bunch, playing off each other, and off the growing political correctness of the Miami police department. Willeford strikes an engaging tone with his vivid characters of lowlifes, whose morals are no better or worse than those of the police chasing them. The plot is cleverly devised, with what seems to be important falling by the wayside, and what seems to be a mere detail suddenly becoming pivotal. This was first published in 1988 and No Exit Press must be congratulated for rediscovering Willeford's work. Pulp fiction fans will find a new champion in him. (Kirkus UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (August 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400032504
• ISBN-13: 978-1400032501
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #586,320 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #18 in

  Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( W ) > Willeford, Charles

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Author and detective in top form, May 7, 2000

By	Keith Nichols (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Way We Die Now (Hardcover)

Charles Willeford's well-deserved reputation as a writer of crime novels is based largely on the exploits of Miami police detective Hoke Moseley. In this page-turner, we find the author at the top of his form, with Hoke fully engaged in his life as a cop and family man. While busily solving a "cold" murder case, Hoke is dispatched on a puzzling and hazardous undercover job in a neighboring county. At the same time, a parolee who some years earlier had promised to kill him moves in right across the street from Hoke's house (how this turns out is what separates Willeford from the pack). In the house, Hoke lives with his two teenage daughters and his former officemate Ellita Sanchez and her infant son. With everyone in his unconventional but harmonious family contributing their share, Hoke is free to spend some time in his bedroom, pondering his problems and watching TV cop shows. And how unusual it is to find a cop enjoying a satisfactory family life! In a few brief sentences, Willeford suggests how this is managed - a sort of primer for disfunctional households, perhaps. Throughout the story's beautifully detailed and ingenious turnings, Hoke manages by dint of his experience and common sense to save his skin and do the right thing in general, which in some instances consists in doing nothing. At the end of the novel, he finds himself being coerced by his superiors into accepting a promotion in grade and assignment as head of internal affairs - a position he comes to realize he is well suited for. But that intriguing eventuality would have been the subject of another book, wouldn't it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Willeford is the boss, June 11, 2005

By	Drummer (Fort Myers, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Way We Die Now (Hardcover)

The truth is, all of Florida crime writers after Willeford can type until their fingertips fall off, but Willeford will always remain the boss.

Willeford is the most deadpan writer imaginable. His Hoke Mosely books are totally without affectation or author intrusion, unlike certain other Florida crime writers whom I won't mention.

Willeford such a master, he can tug at your heartstrings without manipulating you like most writers do. _The Way We Die Now_ is no exception. For all of his cynicism, Hoke Moseley loves his kids as best he can, and he always goes out of his way to help the underdog. All of the Moseley novels leave us with a sense that life is worth living in spite of the pain and ugliness.

Also typical in this book is Willeford's refusal to cowtow to political correctness. I'm sure all the affirmative action types were retching with disgust when this book came out. Hilarious!

Willeford's prose style is so unapologetically straight-ahead that there's no point in trying to analyze it. I remember the first time I read a Hoke Moseley novel. I thought, "This guy either has no idea how to write, of he's one of the greatest writers of all time." It's because Willeford knows that the story and the characters rule. We're so accustomed to writers who can't resist showing the reader how clever they are. When a real storyteller comes along, we don't know how to take him.

There's simply nobody else like Willeford.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a decent yet forgettable last novel from the great Willeford, October 14, 2003

By	lazza (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Way We Die Now (Hardcover)

'The Way We Die Now' is perhaps a prophetic title to Charles Willeford's last novel, and of course the last also of his Hoke Mosley series; the author died not long after he wrote it. Sadly, it is far from his best material (my preference is 'The Woman Chaser'). Yet for those who have read 'Miami Blues', the first of the Hoke Mosely series, you'll undoubtedly want to read every one ... including 'The Way We Die Now'.

Hoke Mosely is a member of Miami's police force who is certainly a character. While a seemingly fine police investigator he is a mess (personally, physically, emotionally). He lives with his ex working partner and her baby, along with his two teenaged daughters. As in most of the other Hoke Mosely books the plot primarily involves Hoke's personal life rather than any sort of crime mystery. However in 'The Way We Die Now' the author takes Hoke to a migrant labor camp to sort out some rumoured atrocities, which I found to be very interesting reading, and Hoke also sorts out the mysterious death of a Miami doctor, a not-so-interesting subplot. On balance this book is generally above average for the Hoke Mosely series but, as I mentioned above, is much less enjoyable than his early (1950s/1960s) noir novels such as 'The Woman Chaser'.

Bottom line: a fine conclusion to the Hoke Mosely series and Charles Willeford's career. He is missed.