Whip Hand is one of Charles Willeford’s early crime-pulp novels, originally published in 1961 under the pen name W. Franklin Sanders. Bill Brown is a savvy, mostly honest L. A. cop who flees to Dallas after an investigation into corruption targets some of his off-duty organized crime gambling buddies. Bill is accused of “keeping the wrong company” and perhaps worse. When his life is threatened to keep him quiet Bill buys a bus ticket.

He stumbles onto a kidnapping/murder plot of a young girl in Dallas and offers his services to the victim’s wealthy family as they seek revenge on the bumbling kidnappers. He’s most effective in this scheme as he circumvents the Dallas Police and outsmarts the gang.

Best known for his later novels (Miami Blues, Cockfighter), Willeford describes brutality and violence in a neutral, unembellished style that makes it even more effective in this vintage crime novel. ( )

Brutal but enjoyable tale of three ne'er do wells down from Oklahoma who kidnap a litte girl at the State Fair in Dallas. After that, things spiral way out of control. In the meantime, a cop who was run out of LA is on their trail. Of the three bad guys, it's the murderous one who has a few brains, naturally. This contains most of the hardboiled noir cliches, but is very well written and packs a very dry sense of humor underneath all the pain and suffering.

Turns out this books was solely or almost solely written by the great Charles Willeford. It has a lot more of a conventional plot than most of his other early novels, however. Almost too much plot at times - this book is quite a bit longer than the usual pulp fiction novel. ( )