Walk the Dark Streets

by William Krasner

A would-be actress does dirty things to get her big break in show biz. When someone returns the favor in spades, it is up to homicide detective Sam Birge to find out who.

Genres: Noir, Mystery

197 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

Reviews

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad to say that this has just been reprinted (after many, many years out of print)— by Stark House — and it’s a real gem!

There is a modern Greek edition of this book — and the title is just perfect!

(2nd read, 10 years and many crime books later. Still a gem. Someone really should get this reprinted or out in a pdf.)

If it really IS 1949..., can it still be 'noir'? -- well, however one answers that question, this really is a little gem, and I can see why Chandler liked it so much. This is a book, and an author, that deserves to be rescued from obscurity -- i.e., reprinted (hint, hint...)...



This one was recommended by Raymond Chandler (Letter to Frederic Dannay. July 10, 1951 = Library of America, vol. II, p. 1048f.), who says "And it may also happen that a single book, such as The 31st of February by Julian Symons, or Walk the Dark Streets by William Krasner or...will immediately put the writer above and beyond a whole host of writers who have written twenty or thirty books and are extremely well known and successful, and from a literary point of view entirely negligible."

Scanning the Mystery books blogs lately shows that this genre is big business and full of hype and, therefore, full of mucho mediocrity. Finding the stuff that REALLY stands out will require more than simply nice cover art...

This book has 197 pages, and if any librarian around can correct the GR info on this, it would be appreciated.

[Ronald Morton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raymond Chandler himself praised this book in a letter:

“[I]t may also happen that single book, such as ... Walk the Dark Streets by William Krasner ... will immediately put the writer above and beyond a whole host of writers who have written twenty or thirty books and are extremely well known and successful”. (thanks wikipedia!)

so you know it’s going to be good.

And it is quite good. Krasner does the noir thing well – writing this book in the late 1940’s puts him towards the tail end of the movement – and bucks one of the main noir tropes by making his main character – Sam Birge – an actual cop as opposed to a private detective or investigator. He’s a “good cop” – Krasner describes him as such:

Birge did not consider himself a brilliant man. He seldom made rapid, inspired deductions; he seldom impressed or frightened his suspects. He was basically slow, methodical and conscientious to the point where he amused his colleagues; but that was the way he had risen to his present job, and that was the way he held it

He has a partner who cycles between loathing him, respecting him and being completely bewildered by him. And yet, Birge gets the job done, and he does it through patient investigation that physically wears him down throughout the book, until you basically sympathetically ache for him, exhausted by his weary trudge, by the end of the book. He is a well-constructed character, a weary everyman attempting to do what’s right in the face of the scorn of his co-workers and the contempt of those he has sworn to protect.

Krasner also allows you into the heads of other characters in the book – that of the victim and of one of the suspects – and they are surprisingly well formed as well, adding a great deal of depth to the dark and dirty world Krasner is describing. And it is dark – light is scarce, shadows abound, much is unseen – and it is dirty – the atmosphere hangs heavy, like the yellow fog that greats the reader in the opening line of the book, and everything – the buildings, the people, the everyday existences – is covered with a patina of grime and filth.

Through it all Birge maintains his weary trudge. Following leads, teasing out missed or omitted facts, and slowly, methodically, getting the job done, ensuring that justice is served.

There is a minor character in the book, trying to “lead a clean, Christian life” in the midst of all the squalor, and the junkies, and the rackets, and the come-on girls. And every time you see her she’s in the middle of cleaning, trying to wash it all away. But some grime goes deeper then we can scrub, and after you wallow in the dirt for long enough it’s goddamn hard to get clean again. This is a book that will stick to you; it will break your heart a small bit, and will cling despite your efforts to clean it off.

[Curt Jeffreys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam Birge is not good looking. He's not witty, urbane, cool, or sophisticated. What he is is a plodding, methodical investigator who will doggedly pursue a case until it's solved. Walk the Dark Streets is a short little book but wonderfully written. Sam Birge is not flashy or showy and neither is the writing in this book. Gritty and to the point, that's what makes this a great story.
I will definitely be on the look out for more Sam Birge mysteries.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic detective story.