The Stuart James Reader — Stuart James

Now, for the first time ever, three long-lost, relentlessly hard-boiled classics by noir master Stuart James are collected in one volume: Frisco Flat, Bucks County Report, and Judge Not My Sins.One way or another, all of his books are as strikingly memorable. Using words with manipulative skill, he paints portraits that are poignantly three-dimensional and compassionate. You're about to experience the essential Stuart James. David Spencer, from his extensive Afterword in this volume.FRISCO FLATWhen his father is beaten-to-death, Korean War vet and ex-prize fighter Frankie Cargo returns to his home in the small, northern California waterfront town of Frisco Flat. Cargo has inherited his father's fishing boat business and trouble from Sam Barlow, the vicious local cannery owner who rules the town with fear...and with the iron fist of the psychopathic and corrupt Sheriff. If that wasn't bad enough, Barlow gets involved with the Sheriff's lover, the voluptuous Tosca Sorrento, who wants more than any man can give. But Barlow won't be pushed...and never backs down from a fight.Pretty darned good. Frisco Flat moves along well. The book is a little better written, a little more literary in places, than many of the hard-boiled novels from that era, James Reasoner, Rough EdgesBUCKS COUNTY REPORTThe explosive, bestselling novel that lays bare the erotic frustrations of suburban couples in 1960s America with savage frankness and searing drama. In the wake of the Masters & Johnson studies, exposing the surprising sex lives of Americans, came this fictional bestseller that explores what happens when a famous sexologist visits a small town to interview the idle wives of the rich and famous... sparking passions that have been ignored or suppressed, dramatically changing the lives of the residents. JUDGE NOT MY SINSThe provocative story of a fierce, destructive affair... of a man who longs to love without restraint, to give up his wife and children to plunge himself into a consuming passion that threatens his world... and of a woman who is driven by desire, and tormented by the horrible knowledge that her voracious hungers will destroy the man she loves.