Mystery In Spiderville by John Hartley Williams
Alongside the names of James Hadley Chase and Erle Stanley Gardner we must now add that of John Hartley Williams - though Mystery in Spiderville is no run-of-the-mill hard-boiled thriller. The décor is by Dali, the plot is a mixture of Breton and Burroughs, and the main character - the protean and unkillable Spider Rembrandt - has six toes, sleeps in a grave and dreams of congress with the pert and playful Reedy Buttons. Sucked into the vortex of Spider's philandering mind is a narrator - sometimes Spider's adversary, sometimes his victim - who lies upon a bed brooding on the absence of a nameless, brown-haired woman. He, too, is protean: full of passionate longings and homicidal tendencies. A surrealist film-noir that blends the forensic with the erotic, the seedy penny-dreadful and the lyric prose-poem, Mystery in Spiderville is one of the strangest, strongest and most arresting fictional debuts in years.
Surrealist film noir that blends the forensic with the erotic * Laura Wilson *
If there's been something missing in your life ever since William Burroughs went to the great needle exchange in the sky, then perhaps John Hartley Williams is the author for you * Sunday Herald *
Nodding as much to William Burroughs as to Raymond Chandler * Scotsman *
Probably the first crime novel to ally forensic procedures with lyrical poetry * Guardian *
This is the evil twin of the novel: a form locked in the literary basement that deserves to see the light of day * The Times *
If there's been something missing in your life ever since William Burroughs went to the great needle exchange in the sky, then perhaps John Hartley Williams is the author for you * Sunday Herald *
Nodding as much to William Burroughs as to Raymond Chandler * Scotsman *
Probably the first crime novel to ally forensic procedures with lyrical poetry * Guardian *
This is the evil twin of the novel: a form locked in the literary basement that deserves to see the light of day * The Times *
John Hartley Williams has published nine poetry collections, including Spending Time with Walter and, most recently, Blues (2004). He co-edited Teach Yourself Writing Poetry and won the Arvon International Poetry Competition in 1983. He teaches English at the Free University of Berlin, where he has been since 1976.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780099426936 |
| ISBN 10 | 0099426935 |
| Title | Mystery In Spiderville |
| Author | John Hartley Williams |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2003-02-06 |
| Number of pages | 192 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |