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Backwoods Tramp
"She stood in the doorway of the shack and I saw how different she was from the other people I'd met in the swamp. She was looking for something; she wanted something and she would kill to get it. I shivered a little but I couldn't pull my gaze away from her. She looked as though she'd just gotten out of a warm bed and wanted to go back to it with me. But her sleepy eyes, her full mouth and her lush body were lying. In a cold and calculating way she was already planning how she could use me to help her escape from the poverty and filth of her backwoods life."
125 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
2 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Harry Whittington
179 books42 followersHe also wrote under the names Ashley Carter, Harriet Kathryn Myers, and Blaine Stevens, Curt Colman, John Dexter, Tabor Evans, Whit Harrison, Kel Holland, Suzanne Stephens, Clay Stuart, Hondo Wells, Harry White, Hallam Whitney, Henri Whittier, J.X. Williams.
Harry Whittington (February 4, 1915–June 11, 1989) was an American mystery novelist and one of the original founders of the paperback novel. Born in Ocala, Florida, he worked in government jobs before becoming a writer.
His reputation as a prolific writer of pulp fiction novels is supported by his writing of 85 novels in a span of twelve years (as many as seven in a single month) mostly in the crime, suspense, and noir fiction genres. In total, he published over 200 novels. Seven of his writings were produced for the screen, including the television series Lawman. His reputation for being known as 'The King of the Pulps' is shared with author H. Bedford-Jones. Only a handful of Whittington's novels are in print today.
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Harry Whittington (February 4, 1915–June 11, 1989) was an American mystery novelist and one of the original founders of the paperback novel. Born in Ocala, Florida, he worked in government jobs before becoming a writer.
His reputation as a prolific writer of pulp fiction novels is supported by his writing of 85 novels in a span of twelve years (as many as seven in a single month) mostly in the crime, suspense, and noir fiction genres. In total, he published over 200 novels. Seven of his writings were produced for the screen, including the television series Lawman. His reputation for being known as 'The King of the Pulps' is shared with author H. Bedford-Jones. Only a handful of Whittington's novels are in print today.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 21, 2023
Swamp pulp was a thing in the late fifties/early Sixties. There were endless titles such as Swamp Girl, Swamp Babe, Backwoods Teaser, and more. All of them featured a buxom head-turning Swamp-wise woman who was immune to the humidity, the mosquitoes, the heat rashes. She was generally covered with mud, dressed in rags, hit on by every no-good man who took a look at them, and half-betrothed to whoever was the meanest slickest dirtiest backwoods redneck ever imagined. But of course, she’s the key to a suitcase full of money, the real killer, the crooked backwoods sheriff. Pick any version. There were lots of them.
Originally published as Backwoods Tramp, later re-released as A Moment to Prey, Whittington can write in this genre better than anyone. Don’t dismiss this as another cheap tawdry Swamp fetish even though it’s got all the elements of the genre. Jake, out erstwhile hero, is a former washed up ball player who kicked around for years and now is the patsy for a $100,000 robbery. They left him to take the blame and it cost him everything. He’s got nothing left to live for but red hot vengeance and he’s going to chase down whoever left him out to dry if it’s the last thing he ever does.
And where it takes him is deep in the Backwoods Florida Swamp where no one will give him the time of day. Not even the mud covered Swamp siren named Lily who won’t give him a smile, not after he fails to come to his defense when some drunken gent paws her. But there’s a bundle of money at stake and she wants out of the Swamp real bad.
This novel is red hot steamy pulp with the tension building and building as the players all square off against each other. This one packs a terrific punch right to the end.
Originally published as Backwoods Tramp, later re-released as A Moment to Prey, Whittington can write in this genre better than anyone. Don’t dismiss this as another cheap tawdry Swamp fetish even though it’s got all the elements of the genre. Jake, out erstwhile hero, is a former washed up ball player who kicked around for years and now is the patsy for a $100,000 robbery. They left him to take the blame and it cost him everything. He’s got nothing left to live for but red hot vengeance and he’s going to chase down whoever left him out to dry if it’s the last thing he ever does.
And where it takes him is deep in the Backwoods Florida Swamp where no one will give him the time of day. Not even the mud covered Swamp siren named Lily who won’t give him a smile, not after he fails to come to his defense when some drunken gent paws her. But there’s a bundle of money at stake and she wants out of the Swamp real bad.
This novel is red hot steamy pulp with the tension building and building as the players all square off against each other. This one packs a terrific punch right to the end.
February 14, 2022
"She was barefooted and her feet were muddy, streaked and caked between the toes. Her legs were briar-marked, but you knew she was beautiful under that careless hair and mud streak and cheap dress, and you knew again how badly she wanted something. It was something she couldn't have and all you really saw when you looked at her was the anger."
Frankly, Whittington is not much of a writer. But the guy lays out two unique thrills- one involving a snake inside a suitcase which Tarantino lifted for Kill Bill 2. Another thrill involved a bank robbery in which the main robber misdirects the police by acting like he knew one of the bank employees. He also provides an amazing setting - a swamp. Throws in a femme fatale with muddy feet. Two men tangle in the depths of a swamp over the femme fatale and a suitcase containing $100,000. I liked this. It's not genius or anything. But Whittington knows what a male reader wants. There is a bit of a degenerate in all of us. This book is degenerate heaven.
"A bottle fly buzzed around her head but she didn't bother to brush at it. I heard it muzz-muzzing from where I stood in the bare sand yard. The sun was bearing down on me hotter than the fires of Hell."
Frankly, Whittington is not much of a writer. But the guy lays out two unique thrills- one involving a snake inside a suitcase which Tarantino lifted for Kill Bill 2. Another thrill involved a bank robbery in which the main robber misdirects the police by acting like he knew one of the bank employees. He also provides an amazing setting - a swamp. Throws in a femme fatale with muddy feet. Two men tangle in the depths of a swamp over the femme fatale and a suitcase containing $100,000. I liked this. It's not genius or anything. But Whittington knows what a male reader wants. There is a bit of a degenerate in all of us. This book is degenerate heaven.
"A bottle fly buzzed around her head but she didn't bother to brush at it. I heard it muzz-muzzing from where I stood in the bare sand yard. The sun was bearing down on me hotter than the fires of Hell."
July 15, 2024
From 1959
Spellbinding, like most work by the amazing Harry Whittington…..while this doesn’t have “Swamp” in the title it is one of the many books from this era taking place there. Above all, this “Swamp Noir” centers on a sexy girl in a too small dress.
Spellbinding, like most work by the amazing Harry Whittington…..while this doesn’t have “Swamp” in the title it is one of the many books from this era taking place there. Above all, this “Swamp Noir” centers on a sexy girl in a too small dress.
October 26, 2016
"Backwoods Tramp" is an exciting and very fast paced short novel with a great cast of characters, guns, boobs, alligators, and snakes all rolled into an insanely plotted swamp noir. Never knowing what's coming next, the novel is a real blast to read.
August 6, 2020
Slam-dunk, top-tier, classic that needs to be on your crime-noir reading list. Whittington's prose style is literary in the best sense: character-driven, nuanced, with lush concrete descriptions and absent cliche's and short-cuts. And yet he gives up none of the genre's plotting and pacing. The narrator is conflicted and driven. The villain is sublime. The femme-fatale, despite the title, is no tramp. So many of the scenes are riveting page-turners, especially the scenes with the three of them together. Was this never made into a movie? How is that possible? Loved everything about this one.
September 6, 2016
When books like "Tobacco Road" were at their peak every Tom, Dick and Dime Novel Hack scribbled their own filthy Hillbilly novel. "A Moment To Prey" by superhack Harry Whittington is one of the better ones.
An insurance investigator from the big city (well, the local town with them cee-ment streets) dukes it out with swamp thing Marve Pooser over a lazy throw pillow named Lily. That's basically all that happens in this classic. This book was 120 pages too long.
An insurance investigator from the big city (well, the local town with them cee-ment streets) dukes it out with swamp thing Marve Pooser over a lazy throw pillow named Lily. That's basically all that happens in this classic. This book was 120 pages too long.
November 26, 2024
Excellent noir story. There are only three characters in this book and all three are rotten in their own way.
September 1, 2019
I learned about the Florida Scrub country ("Florida sand pine scrub is an endangered subtropical forest ecoregion found throughout Florida in the United States. It is found on coastal and inland sand ridges and is characterized by an evergreen xeromorphic plant community dominated by shrubs and dwarf oaks." -Wikipedia) and of course there was a gorgeous but hostile nymphomaniac. Not one of Whittington's best but entertaining enough and a quick read.
December 27, 2012
Swamp noir, read this one in the 90's
March 6, 2019
This is definitely my cup of sleaze. A story told with sweaty intensity, to borrow a phrase from James Reasoner. I'd call A Moment to Prey, aka Backwoods Tramp, one of the best books that Harry Whittington ever wrote but then I haven't read all 170(!) of them so I can't give a fair assessment. To date, I have devoured Drawn to Evil, The Woman Is Mine, A Ticket to Hell, Brute in Brass aka Forgive Me, Killer; Any Woman He Wanted, Trouble Rides Tall, Hell Can Wait, A Night for Screaming, Strip The Town Naked(writing as Whit Harrison), and Desert Stake-Out. The only stinker in the bunch was The Woman Is Mine. Not a bad track record. The man sure could tell a story.
May 8, 2023
A Moment to Prey by Harry Whittington (1959) is an entertaining read in the '50's pulp style. A washed-up baseball pitcher tracks down the thief who robbed his new employer of it's payroll. His investigation leads him to the scrub-forest of mid-Florida and into the arms of restless lass Lily...No great shakes here but it is a fun, quick read with lotsa violent action....A strong 3.0 outta 5.0....
July 15, 2023
As this A cracking good book of a Florida that still exists, but generally unknown to most and shut out by the realtor/builder/developer/Media crowd. Florida still has a larger population than is known living in the woods and swamp. For those that don't know, it's as dangerous now as this was written, some 70 years ago.
Whittington drops his plot into the wilds of Florida and cuts loose. Apparently Whittington was born and raised somewhere north of Ocala. Where exactly, I haven't been able to determine. His writing in this of Fort McCoy and Eureka Springs area, may answer the question.
The cuts loose i mention is to be discovered by the reader. Well worth the journey.
I love the mention of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings included. Thankfully, Whittington knows how to write and writes in low gear of natural Florida to get sharp focus of the plot.
His plot and writing are excellent. The suspense is very well written as Whittington drops in such scenes at just the right places.
I will note: The fate and conclusion of all is not as obvious as a reader might figure.
John D. MacDonald covered similar territory in some of his books a bit later, but without the working knowledge Whittington had.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. 10 out of 10 points.
Whittington drops his plot into the wilds of Florida and cuts loose. Apparently Whittington was born and raised somewhere north of Ocala. Where exactly, I haven't been able to determine. His writing in this of Fort McCoy and Eureka Springs area, may answer the question.
The cuts loose i mention is to be discovered by the reader. Well worth the journey.
I love the mention of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings included. Thankfully, Whittington knows how to write and writes in low gear of natural Florida to get sharp focus of the plot.
His plot and writing are excellent. The suspense is very well written as Whittington drops in such scenes at just the right places.
I will note: The fate and conclusion of all is not as obvious as a reader might figure.
John D. MacDonald covered similar territory in some of his books a bit later, but without the working knowledge Whittington had.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. 10 out of 10 points.
December 27, 2020
A former baseball player who washes out of the game from an injury becomes a banker. One day a trio of armed thieves knock over the bank where he works. One of the thieves mentions his name out loud during the robbery, and the insurance company does its level best to link him to the robbers. Eventually, they give up, but one insurance investigator harasses him enough that our resilient hero figures out who the thief was who uttered his name and incriminated him. Marv is the guy who exploited him as a fall guy. Our hero plunges into the backwoods where Marv is hiding out with the loot from the robbery. He winds up sweet-talking a swamp girl who can handle men to take him to Marv. Marv is an incredibly heartless hick with a shack in the swamp. He keeps a 12-foot alligator in a pen and feeds one of his three accomplices to the gator. Concise, entertaining with Whittington's sharp prose.
January 15, 2024
Hot swamp babes!
Deceit and murder!
Another win from the master!
Deceit and murder!
Another win from the master!
July 16, 2024
Going into the swamp with a vengeful beast of a man, who wants to even a score, make a score, and score, at the same time, is almost guaranteed to be a wild, worthwhile journey. Violence in the mire, but not mired down with subplots, puzzles, or layers of psychology to swim down through, hopefully before the first gator shows up (one gator in this tale - well-used).
I remember when I was at the public library, for some reason preoccupied with looking up reviews of the books in Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series, and before the internet and computers at the library…well, I forget the exact format, but I don’t think those reviews were on microfiche, I think reviews were collected in big hard-back journals, by the year. Anyway, you could track down old reviews. It was hard to read any bad reviews of books I loved, but many of the Ed McBain novels I worshipped also pleased many critics, so it is only the odd 87th Precinct novel that gets thoroughly lambasted by a full army of rabid book-reviewers. One such book is called So Long As You Both Shall Live from fairly far along in the series (though with an impressive amount of books in the series yet to come!), and among many unfavorable reviews, I distinctly remember one critic putting it something like this: “it’s to the point where the author is producing books in this series that feel knocked off between cocktails…”. Quickly conceived and executed material by an author in churn-it mode.
I’ve read more Whittington novels in the last several months than ever before, and it seems, here too, that he “churned out” many quick, fast-acting, even simplistic, plots that don’t take many pages and don’t make a reader ponder much. In fact, I’ve been reading well beyond Whittington over a few years, in terms of getting to know the noir/hardboiled sub-genre. And I like to think I’ve learned a few things. First, though I love a good whodunit (or howdunit, or whowasdunin), including a good puzzle blossoming out of a hardboiled novel, I have learned that the first thing one may have to kiss goodbye in a great noir/hardboiled tale (besides the first deserving bastard our wronged main character finds and points a gun at), is a puzzle. And if there is a mystery, it’s about where oh where is the money hidden, and how do you twist or drain the answer out of whomever knows if they talk they give up their reason to live.
Secondly, and harder to handle without taking a star off a potential five-star noir thriller, is that men in these stories often suffer a severe case of lust at first sight for the gorgeous woman of the story, and have to deal with any number of villains and creeps who live with the same affliction. Interestingly, the women stuck in these nightmare scenarios somehow find attractive a main character who is marginally less anger-driven and self-destructive, or sometimes psychopathic, than whatever Page-One Level Bad-News creep our main character is trying to steal her from/relieve her of. Sure, it’s often about a shitload of money for the grabbing, but it seems just as much about the obligatory “mad, bad love” angle - rotten apples attract. Still, I can’t help feeling that the “lust limitlessly on the loose, no matter what else is going on” aspect of books like this is the weakest, hardest thing to swallow with swamp-water.
Anyway, at least in this case the lady knows how to fend for herself against the most venomous human snakes, knows how to play with knives when someone repulsive tries to play “doctor”…and does hold out as long as possible against the attentions of the winner of The Least Creepy, But Y’Know, If You Get Out Of This Swamp, There Are Some Men That Can Actually Be Nice award.
Anyway, a real snake comes along, and is the worst snake of all…
Ah, but spoilers are slithering in. Let’s just say that Whittington, if he churned all these quick, nasty hardboiled novels out in between “cocktails” - if it was easy for him to do over and over again, without much challenge for him or me - well, he’s a master at it, so why not? If this is the essence of swamp noir, if this is the classic example, the valuable template, if that’s what any reviews I looked up in a big heavy library journal as teenager would have said…then all hail not adding any extra nonsense, all hail depicting primal, savage emotion erupting during a search for money, sex, and revenge.
I remember when I was at the public library, for some reason preoccupied with looking up reviews of the books in Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series, and before the internet and computers at the library…well, I forget the exact format, but I don’t think those reviews were on microfiche, I think reviews were collected in big hard-back journals, by the year. Anyway, you could track down old reviews. It was hard to read any bad reviews of books I loved, but many of the Ed McBain novels I worshipped also pleased many critics, so it is only the odd 87th Precinct novel that gets thoroughly lambasted by a full army of rabid book-reviewers. One such book is called So Long As You Both Shall Live from fairly far along in the series (though with an impressive amount of books in the series yet to come!), and among many unfavorable reviews, I distinctly remember one critic putting it something like this: “it’s to the point where the author is producing books in this series that feel knocked off between cocktails…”. Quickly conceived and executed material by an author in churn-it mode.
I’ve read more Whittington novels in the last several months than ever before, and it seems, here too, that he “churned out” many quick, fast-acting, even simplistic, plots that don’t take many pages and don’t make a reader ponder much. In fact, I’ve been reading well beyond Whittington over a few years, in terms of getting to know the noir/hardboiled sub-genre. And I like to think I’ve learned a few things. First, though I love a good whodunit (or howdunit, or whowasdunin), including a good puzzle blossoming out of a hardboiled novel, I have learned that the first thing one may have to kiss goodbye in a great noir/hardboiled tale (besides the first deserving bastard our wronged main character finds and points a gun at), is a puzzle. And if there is a mystery, it’s about where oh where is the money hidden, and how do you twist or drain the answer out of whomever knows if they talk they give up their reason to live.
Secondly, and harder to handle without taking a star off a potential five-star noir thriller, is that men in these stories often suffer a severe case of lust at first sight for the gorgeous woman of the story, and have to deal with any number of villains and creeps who live with the same affliction. Interestingly, the women stuck in these nightmare scenarios somehow find attractive a main character who is marginally less anger-driven and self-destructive, or sometimes psychopathic, than whatever Page-One Level Bad-News creep our main character is trying to steal her from/relieve her of. Sure, it’s often about a shitload of money for the grabbing, but it seems just as much about the obligatory “mad, bad love” angle - rotten apples attract. Still, I can’t help feeling that the “lust limitlessly on the loose, no matter what else is going on” aspect of books like this is the weakest, hardest thing to swallow with swamp-water.
Anyway, at least in this case the lady knows how to fend for herself against the most venomous human snakes, knows how to play with knives when someone repulsive tries to play “doctor”…and does hold out as long as possible against the attentions of the winner of The Least Creepy, But Y’Know, If You Get Out Of This Swamp, There Are Some Men That Can Actually Be Nice award.
Anyway, a real snake comes along, and is the worst snake of all…
Ah, but spoilers are slithering in. Let’s just say that Whittington, if he churned all these quick, nasty hardboiled novels out in between “cocktails” - if it was easy for him to do over and over again, without much challenge for him or me - well, he’s a master at it, so why not? If this is the essence of swamp noir, if this is the classic example, the valuable template, if that’s what any reviews I looked up in a big heavy library journal as teenager would have said…then all hail not adding any extra nonsense, all hail depicting primal, savage emotion erupting during a search for money, sex, and revenge.
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