Three 6 Mafia was right: It really is hard out here for a pimp. And so discovers Tony Romero, the antihero protagonist of Richard S. Prather’s THE PEDDLER, a 1952 novel rescued from virtual obscurity by Hard Case Crime.

Romero is a young, San Franciscan hothead who happens upon a long-ago lay turning tricks and sees that thar’s gold in them in them thar hills (and valleys), so the dollar-sniffer in him decides instantly to become a pimp. One party and one meeting later, he is. A bit of an entrepreneur when it comes to hustling female flesh, he quickly builds and grows his client base, reaping profits that put his fellow pimps to shame.

Of course, such a meteoric rise means a downfall is inevitable, and that’s when the book’s second half starts acquiring a body count. One has to wonder if Oliver Stone had read THE PEDDLER before scripting Brian De Palma’s SCARFACE, because really – even similar names and demeanors of their lead characters aside – it’s merely about substituting one vice for another: cocaine for Stone, pussy for Prather.

With its characters’ rather rough treatment of women, THE PEDDLER had to be shocking for its time if Romero’s behavior still grates today. He’s thoroughly unlikable – a total sleaze. We keep reading not because we want to follow him, but can’t wait to see his comeuppance.

While I didn’t buy the out-of-nowhere relationship that emerges between Romero and a frigid blonde late in the story, Prather has rapid-fire patter and witty dialogue down pat. (Of the aforementioned prudish woman who resists his slimy charms, Romero says, “Nah, she’s a plain Jane. Looks like if you patted her fanny she’d think she needed an abortion.”) And though there’s nothing extraordinary about THE PEDDLER to explain Prather’s 40 million books in print, it’s an entertaining, down-and-dirty crime number that goes by as quickly as Romero ascends from nobody to somebody. –Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF RECENT HARD CASE CRIME:
• THE LAST MATCH by David Dodge
• THE GUNS OF HEAVEN by Pete Hamill
• GRAVE DESCEND by John Lange