From the Bookshelf of Around the Year in 52 Books …

You see why I had to kill her, I reckon. Or do you?

You see why I had to kill her, I reckon. Or do you?

[Sept 27] It's the birthday of hardboiled crime novelist Jim Thompson, born in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He's best known for his novel The Killer Inside Me (1952) about a friendly, beloved sheriff who is also a serial killer.

Thompson grew up in a town full of cattle thieves, gunfighters, and bank robbers. His family lived in an apartment above the county jail, where his father worked as the local sheriff. As a young man, Jim was fascinated by the ways people disguised who they really were. He noticed that his father always acted stupid around strangers. He was shocked when his father was later charged with embezzling thousands of dollars from the state government. When Jim got a job as a hotel bellboy to support his mother and sisters, he had to look nice and act polite and carry bags, but he also helped the hotel guests find illegal liquor, drugs, and prostitutes.

He tried for seven years to get a high school diploma, working all night and going to school all day, but he finally dropped out and wandered around Texas, living as a hobo and working in the oil fields. One of his hobo friends encouraged him to write about his experiences, so he did. A year later he saw the article published in Texas Monthly magazine, and the editor encouraged him to submit more.

Thompson went on to publish crime novels like The Killer Inside Me (1952) and After Dark, My Sweet (1955). When he died in 1977, most of his books were out of print, but he told his wife to keep his manuscripts. He said, "Just you wait, I'll become famous after I'm dead about 10 years." About 10 years later, in the mid-1980s, all of his crime novels were republished. They are now considered classics of the crime genre.