This is a novel about a con, and I’m inordinately fond of that crime sub-genre. It isn’t easy to pull off really well - the author has to come up with some variation on one of the classic cons and convince the reader that it would actually work. In this instance the con is pretty clever. The con depends not just on exploiting the greed of the mark but on exploiting his shrewdness. As the conman narrator John Hayden explains, this is a con that would never work on a stupid man.
John Hayden served seven years in San Quentin after a grift went sour and for a year he has been strictly a law-abiding citizen. He has no intention of going back inside. He has a poorly paid job as assistant manager in a bowling alley. He has a dream. There’s a roadhouse in Colorado that is being badly mismanaged. It could and should be a gold mine. Hayden could make it a very profitable proposition. He could be a strictly legal businessman. All he needs is thirty thousand dollars to buy the place. It’s just a dream. He’s forty-two and it would take ten years to save thirty grand. By that time he’d be too old to make a fresh start. It will stay a dream.
Then Doug Rance looks him up. Hayden and Rance had worked cons before when Rance was just a fresh-faced kid. Now Rance claims to have come up with what every conman dreams of - a totally fresh variation on one of the classic long cons. Hayden isn’t interested, until Rance tells him his cut would amount to around - thirty thousand dollars.
A few years earlier a small-town real estate tycoon named Wallace Gunderman got taken by a bunch of Canadian grifters and ended up with thousands of acres of worthless land. Rance’s idea is beautiful. Gunderman will get conned a second time over the same land while thinking he’s outsmarted everyone. The first time he got taken for twenty-five thousand dollars but this time he’s going to be bled for a lot more.
Of course it would be better for Hayden not to get involved with Evvie but every man has his weakness. Hayden’s weakness is women.
Fortunately the plan really is fool-proof. Everything goes off like clockwork. When it comes to the final stretch, taking Gunderman’s money, it will be smooth sailing. They hope.
When fictional criminals have a plan for a perfect crime you just know something is going to go wrong. And of course it does. For our two grifters it then it becomes a question of trying to at least stay out of prison. They improvise another plan. Whether it will work or not is another matter.
Block describes the grift in great detail and it’s a delight to read. The intricate process of laying out the bait for Gunderman and then playing him along just right is fascinating.
This is definitely noir fiction, or at least fiction with noirish tinges, although the noirness isn’t entirely obvious in the early stages.
Hayden is a professional and he’s an artist when it comes to a con. He’s also a man with a dream. He’s a perfect noir protagonist. He’s a rogue but he’s totally non-violent and he’s likeable and he’s just trying to pull off one last big score and we can’t help wanting him to succeed.
Evvie might be an amateur but seeing her in action is a joy. She’s an astonishingly gifted amateur and she knows all the tricks when it comes to stringing along a man like Gunderman.
I’m not going to tell you anything about the ending except that I liked it a lot.
The Girl with the Long Green Heart is wildly enjoyable and is highly recommended. It's been reprinted by Hard Case Crime.
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