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Miami Blues Paperback – August 10, 2004

by Charles Willeford (Author)

50 customer reviews

Book 1 of 4 in the Hoke Moseley Series

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After a brutal day investigating a quadruple homicide, Detective Hoke Moseley settles into his room at the un-illustrious El Dorado Hotel and nurses a glass of brandy. With his guard down, he doesn’t think twice when he hears a knock on the door. The next day, he finds himself in the hospital, badly bruised and with his jaw wired shut. He thinks back over ten years of cases wondering who would want to beat him into unconsciousness, steal his gun and badge, and most importantly, make off with his prized dentures. But the pieces never quite add up to revenge, and the few clues he has keep connecting to a dimwitted hooker, and her ex-con boyfriend and the bizarre murder of a Hare Krishna pimp.

Chronically depressed, constantly strapped for money, always willing to bend the rules a bit, Hoke Moseley is hardly what you think of as the perfect cop, but he is one of the the greatest detective creations of all time.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“If you are looking for a master’s insight into the humid decadence of South Florida and its polygot tribes, nobody does it better than Mr. Willeford.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Extraordinarily winning. . . . Pure pleasure. . . . Mr. Willeford never puts a foot wrong.” —The New Yorker

“No one write a better crime novel than Charles Willeford.” —Elmore Leonard

“A tempo so relentless, words practically fly off the page.” —The Village Voice

“The prose is clean and tough and flows easily.” --The New York Times Book Review

“A Graham Greene-like entertainment, but tougher and funnier, softened by neither simile nor sentiment. This is probably as close to the real now Miami as any thriller is likely to come.” --Donald Justice

“Terse, scary, and evocative, Miami Blues is a thriller with cold blood. . . . Snap up Miami Blues.” --The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Nobody writes like Charles Willeford . . . he is an original–funny and weird and wonderful.” --James Crumley

“A nasty crime-comedy that’s full of casual violence, outrageous coincidences, and hilariously rude dialogue. . . . Willeford has a marvelously deadpan way with losers on both sides of the law.” --Kirkus Reviews

“Absolutely brilliant in every regard–the definitive Miami novel.” --Stanley Ellin

“Bone-deep satire . . . terrific.” --Publishers Weekly

“A marvelous read. Do yourself a favor and go buy Miami Blues immediately.” --Harry Crews

“A top notch crime novel . . . both tough and funny.” —The Washington Post (refers to New Hope)

“Hoke Moseley is a magnificently battered hero. Willeford brings him to us lean and hard and brand-new.” --Donald E. Westlake

From the Inside Flap

Beware of the cop.  He bites.

Hoke Moseley never saw him coming: the person who crashed into his squalid little hidey-hole in the Eldorado Hotel.  When his assailant was was done, Hoke's pride and joy, his dentures, were gone.  So were his gun and his badge.

Recovering from the brutal beating, Hoke tried to figure out who had administered it. The one place he didn't look was at a pair of ill-suited lovers: an ex-con from California and a simpleminded whore was was studying business management at Miami-Dade college.

What the two had in common was a demented interest in haiku, a Hare Krishna who died of a broken finger at a Miami airport, and the acquaintance of a cop without any teeth: the very cop who, as soon as he remembers, will hunt them down.  All the way down.

From the Paperback edition.

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Product details

Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard (August 10, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9781400032464
ISBN-13: 978-1400032464
ASIN: 1400032466
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 50 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #688,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4291 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery > Hard-Boiled
- #13785 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Crime > Murder
- #82704 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States

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Sort of underwhelming

December 30, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

What do broken fingers, Miami, an airhead, a haiku, missing dentures, stolen credit cards, a pawn shop, a Ritz cracker box and a guy nicknamed Junior all have in common? They are all part of Miami Blues, Charles Willeford's first in the series of Hoke Moseley crime novels.

When thug Junior (aka Freddy Frenger) accidentally kills a man an airport by breaking his finger, the mystery of who did this is afoot, and the authorities are on it. Junior meets up with an airhead prostitute named Susan, and the two soon develop a "platonic" marriage. Susan is unaware of most of Junior's past crimes. Junior soon devises his street smarts in hopes of staying ahead of authorities and possibly making a big score. Detective Hoke Moseley gets wind of this "airport incident", an investigation ensues, and soon Moseley realizes that Junior has a lot more on his plate than this one incident. Things really get rolling once Detective Moseley gets attacked and winds up in the hospital with his mouth wired shut, his gun, badge and dentures all stolen. Moseley knows he has made plenty of enemies over the years, but what kind of psycho steals a man's dentures?

Miami Blues was a mixed bag for me. I was wavering between 2 or 3 stars but ultimately gave it 3 stars because, by novel's end, I could appreciate Moseley as a very flawed, but definitely gritty kind of detective. The cat and mouse game between Junior and Moseley in the second half was also engaging, especially as we head towards the conclusion through the seedy parts of Miami. Still, there were some aspects I didn't really care for. Some of the details and dialogue were a bit mundane and didn't give much in the way of building or moving the plot forward. Also, I thought the brand of odd humor and gritty viciousness was a strange mix and sort of distracting. Two of the lead characters, Susan and Junior (Freddy), were a bit underwhelming, and the novel focuses mainly on them, as they are on the run. Susan is sort of an airhead who latches onto Freddy even though it is clear he is one bad dude. Freddy was an underwhelming villain. The plot wavers between action-packed, bumbling and ridiculous, and the story is a bit dated, sometimes not in a necessarily good way.

Still, I can see how others liked this, and maybe it gets better in the next installment of the series, but I don't think I'll be moving on to see what is in store for old Hoke. Maybe someone can recommend something outside this series.

In ending, I liked to offer a little haiku especially inspired by this novel:

Beware false badges
Junior causing havoc now
Moseley: game is on!

There is also a 1990 film with Alec Baldwin. I haven't check it out yet, but it seems to have been given some favorable reviews from those who read this novel.

4 people found this helpful5 people found this helpful

Fred ForbesTop Contributor: Photography

South Florida time warp.

June 16, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Note sure I appreciate a vicious psychopath carrying the name Freddy, but he does and, as the girl he never got around to killing notes "He does have his good points." Book is an interesting time warp, seeing Miami in the 80s with reference on one page to Woolworths, Burdines, and Eckerd Drugs which no longer grace the Florida retail scene, constant smoking anywhere and everywhere by most of the characters, police officers needing to borrow a phone on scene to report in, etc. The story is interesting, if unusual. Short and not so sweet with a most unusual "hero", a cop living in a broken down flophouse style hotel, deeply in debt due to a divorce and unable to make much headway as the daughters need braces, and he needing to get his dentures replaced,etc. (Note those dentures play an interesting role in the narrative.) Not sure why the author needed to keep mentioning prices unless it was to tie it to the time period. Still, one of my more interesting reads lately.

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

January 2, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I was a fan of the George Artimage film (1990) based on Charles Willeford's Hoke Moseley novel Miami Blues (1984) before reading it. This edition has an introduction written by Elmore Leonard. And, indeed, I see similarities between the two authors-they are both masters of the literary crime novel. I really enjoyed inhabiting the seedy 80s Miami in Willeford's novel. I like how Willeford uses Junior's introduction to Miami as a way to introduce the city to those of us who are also not familiar with it: the dimensions of the city with the Everglades, the distinctions of Miami proper with Miami Beach, Colombian murder squads, how Carter's offer of refugee status for Cubans in opposition to Castro destroyed the city when Castro emptied his prisons in Marioelito (referred by Moseley as Marielitos), and other aspects specific to Miami. Hoke Mosley is also a original crime fighting protagonist-like Kurosawa's Murakami in Stray Dog he loses his gun. However, that's not the worst of it, because he also is savagely beaten within an inch of his life and loses his badge in the bargain as well. He also has dentures that are a constant source of worry, but these do not detract from the fact that he is a first rate detective and completely devoted to his job. The perpetrator of this offense is one of the more memorable psychopaths in recent history as well-the musclebound Frederick J. Frenger, Jr.-known as Junior. A man who never even considered going straight once released from prison. Instead he mugs three men and flies to his fate in Miami. He accidentally kills a Hare Krishna upon arrival at the airport after breaking his finger and coincidentally ends up in a relationship with the man's dim-witted sister. The movie follows the book very closely, but there is great pleasure in the details. I will definitely be reading more Willeford in the future.

5 people found this helpful6 people found this helpful

An excellent, quirky crime novel

August 8, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Charles Willeford is an underrated crime writer from the 1950s through the 1980s. This book was something of a breakthrough novel for him. With good reason. The book is smoothly written, well plotted and has some wonderful touches of absurdist humor. Like Elmore Leonard, Willeford's best characters are the bad guys and the bad guy in this book is really something. I would highly recommend this book to any fan of modern crime fiction. Good book.

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

VERY DISSAPOINTED

September 11, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I was looking for another author like John Sanford or James Lee Burke. Those writers have their Lucas Davenport and Dave Robicheaux. Who wants the star of the novel to be living and dressing like a bum, have his teeth pulled and replaced with a set of dentures, get his ass kicked and pistol/shield stolen without even throwing a punch ? Sorry I bought three of his books...yukky

One person found this helpful

August 29, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Very different sort of writing--quite enjoyable and a very refreshing "change of pace" for me. The main character is certainly "one of a kind", and a really interesting fellow.
I highly recommend this book and the other Hoke Mosely novels by this author.

One person found this helpful

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