George V. Higgins

These are the friends of Eddie Coyle: Jackie Brown, the gun leader; Dillon, part-time contract killer; Jimmy Scalisi, gang leader. All the hoods, gunmen, drivers, thieves and executioners wheeling, dealing, and stealing in the world of Eddie Coyle, a small time punk with a big time problem.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

A gritty novel of the Boston underworld traces the life and crimes of Jackie Cogan, a mob enforcer who has his hands full carrying out the mafia's dirty work. Reprint.

Cogan's Trade

Vincent Higgins

The classic novel from "America's best crime novelist" ("Time"), with a new introduction by Elmore Leonard Eddie Coyle works for Jimmy Scalisi, supplying him with guns for a couple of bank jobs. But a cop named Foley is on to Eddie and he's leaning on him to finger Scalisi, a gang leader with a lot to hide. And then there's Dillon-a full-time bartender and part-time contract killer--pretending to be Eddie's friend. Wheeling, dealing, chasing, and stealing--that's Eddie, and he's got lots of friends.

Dennis Lehane

En el Boston de finales de los sesenta las actividades de la mafia y los Panteras Negras son dos de las cuestiones que más preocupan a la policía. Eddie Coyle, un delincuente de poca monta con buenas conexiones, se enfrenta a una condena de tres años por contrabando y su única oportunidad para evitar la cárcel es entregarle a la policía un pez gordo. ¿A quién de los pistoleros, matones y ladrones que conoce delatará? Pero Eddie también tiene que comer y, mientras se lo piensa, se convertirá en proveedor de armas para una banda de atracadores. Considerada por muchos como una de las mejores novelas negras del pasado siglo, la publicación de Los amigos de Eddie Coyle en 1970 revolucionó el género en EE. UU. Fruto de sus experiencias como fiscal y periodista, Higgins introdujo en la novela el ambiente criminal con el que estaba familiarizado y consiguió dar a sus personajes la voz que verdaderamente tenían en la realidad. Sus diálogos, sus tramas y sus personajes se alejan de los estereotipos que hasta entonces imperaban en el género, dejando atrás las maniqueas distinciones entre buenos y malos para adentrarse en los auténticos y complejos grises de los que está hecha la vida.

Los Amigos de Eddie Coyle

Jackie Cogan, mob enforcer, is called in to handle the problem when a high-stakes card game is heisted by hoodlums.

A Novel

Killing Them Softly

It sometimes seems like a good idea to put a match to the problem you'd most like to be without. When it's a slum full of blacks who don't pay the rent, and your buildings are all insured, then it's the best idea of all. But if you pay Jimmy and Leo to do it for you, you may find you've got another problem. One of the best loved titles from this American master of literary low life.

Rat on Fire

Outlaws

Trust

The Judgment of Deke Hunter

The Digger's Game

A former AP correspondent writes the guidebook for new writers.

Advice for Those who Write to Publish (or Would Like To)

On Writing

Mark Baldwin, a wealthy newspaper owner, hires Connie Gates to pretend to be an investigative reporter in order to get close to Joe Logan, and determine what information he will reveal at his trial about Baldwin

Impostors

The Patriot Game

A Choice of Enemies

Jerry "Digger" Doherty is an ex-con and proprietor of a workingman's Boston bar, who supplements his income with the occasional "odd job," like stealing live checks and picking up hot goods. His brother’s a priest, his wife’s a nag, and he’s got a deadly appetite for martinis and gambling. But when the Digger looses eighteen grand in borrowed money on a trip to Vegas, he quickly finds himself in the sights of mob loneshark “the Greek,” who will have to make the Digger pay up one way or another. Luckily—if you call it luck—the Digger has been let in on a little job that can turn his gambling debt into a profit, as long as he can pull it off without getting killed.

A crime masterpiece brought back into print - and transformed into the major film, Killing Them Softly, starring Brad Pitt. Jackie Cogan doesn't advertise what he does. But when the New England mob have a mess they need cleared up, they know who to call. Markie Trattman runs a high-stakes card-game under their protection. When the game gets raided by a couple of no-name hoodlums, Jackie's out of pocket. Unless of course he set up the heist himself. Either way the mob's got a problem. To restore credibility and keep things running smooth, they need to find out who's behind the heist - and then justice must be seen to be done. Which is where Jackie comes in. The trouble is, this is one game with a lot of players, including an out-of-town hitman, a sleazy attorney, a professional dog-stealer, and enough hoods, hangers-on and high-rollers to really make Jackie earn his dough. Filmed as Killing Them Softly.

« - L'ho saputo, - disse Cogan. - Ne hanno rubati sui cinquantatremila o sbaglio? - Be', - disse l'uomo, - forse un po' meno. Sono stati due ragazzi. - Capisco, - disse Cogan. - Avete sentito niente, tu e Dillon, di due ragazzi? - disse l'uomo al volante. - Se ne sentono tante, - disse Cogan. - Ho saputo che erano a viso coperto, tra l'altro. - Esatto, - disse l'uomo. - Per cui, - disse Cogan, - forse non sono dei ragazzi. - Avevano i capelli lunghi, - disse l'uomo. - Spuntavano dal passamontagna. - Senti, - disse Cogan, - mia suocera è malata e domenica c'è toccato andare a trovarla, e ovviamente c'è toccato pure andare in chiesa, se no quella vecchia strega chissà che andava a pensare. E il prete, dio santo, aveva i capelli lunghi. Magari portavano la parrucca. Va' a sapere». George V. Higgins, Cogan

Cogan

A riveting, blistering novel about the shady side of the law and the business side of the Boston underworld by the one and only George V. Higgins. Jerry Fein is a small-time lawyer, occasional booking agent, and full-time slumlord. But he’s nobody’s fool. So when the tenants of his dilapidated buildings refuse to pay rent because of rats, Jerry knows just the man to help him—Leo Proctor, a professional arsonist, who can make a fire marshal look the other way for a little cash. But the heat is on over at the police station as well, and a couple of cops are suddenly feeling pressure from their superiors to produce tangible results, and something has got to give. Full of showboating politicians, hardnosed cops, and lawyers a little too familiar with both sides of the law, The Rat on Fire is another Higgins masterpiece and an unflinching portrait of the Boston crime world.

The Rat on Fire

The Mandeville Talent

Gripping and entertaining, George V. Higgins delivers a compelling and uncomfortably realistic account of the way society and the law really function. It’s been a decade since the turbulent 60s and policeman John Richards still has to deal with a handful of leftover student radicals who continue to terrorize the Boston streets. In an effort to convict them once and for all, he liaises with ambitious lawyer Terry Gleason. Matters culminate one crisp Sunday morning when the students decide to rob the Friary, a pub in downtown Boston well-established as a site of drug-trafficking. Seven civilians are left dead in what comes to be called the Friary massacre. The trial proves nightmarish and unpredictable, not unlike the decade it took Richards and Gleason to apprehend the culprits in the first place. In a heart-stopping rendition of cops and robbers, Outlaws proves that in the Boston demimonde nothing is as it seems.

George V. Higgins

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