MIAMI BLUES

The half-accidental war between a "blithe psychopath" and a decrepit Miami cop—in a nasty crime-comedy that's full of casual violence, outrageous coincidences, and hilariously rude dialogue. Freddy Frenger—28, body-built, fresh out of San Quentin—arrives in Miami with some stolen credit cards, he immediately breaks the finger of an annoying Hare Krishna beggar at the airport; and, installed at a posh hotel, he promptly teams up with air-headed amateur hooker Susan Waggoner (even though she's slow to oblige Freddy's taste for anal sex). Meanwhile, Hoke Mosely of homicide—42, divorced, living in hotel seediness—is investigating the death of that Hare Krishna beggar, who died of shock (!) . . . and who just happened to have been Susan Waggoner's incestuous brother Marty (!!). So the curious cop and the paranoid psycho are soon crossing paths: when Hoke gets too curious, Freddy beats him up, destroys his false teeth, steals his badge (which comes in handy for assorted robberies), frames him as a bribe-taker. And eventually, if only to protect himself, the much-battered Hoke must track this cheerful monster down—but not before Freddy has bought a house in the suburbs, been run over by a car, and killed any number of innocent bystanders. A bit too silly for full-grit verisimilitude, a bit too ugly for Westlake-level fun—but Willeford (Cockfighter, The Burnt Orange Heresy) has a marvelously deadpan way with losers on both sides of the law. . . and Susan is one of fiction's most appalling/endearing space-cadets.