crime novelist Jim Nisbet

Dennis McMillan specialized in noir and hard-boiled literature since 1983 until about 2009.  He published limited editions of best-selling authors like Michael Connelly, the creator of Harry Bosch novels, Tony Hillerman, and George Pelecanos, screenplay writer for Treme and The Wire. He published cult favorites like Howard Browne, Charles Willeford, Arthur Upfield and Cornell Woolrich.  His brand of literature were the books that most excited me.  I discovered a few writers first through books he published – Bob Truluck, Gary Phillips and Scott Phillips, who’s Ice Harvest translated into a fun noir film starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton. 

My favorite of the writers that I discovered first through Dennis McMillan Publications was Jim Nisbet. The first title I read of his was The Syracuse Codex, set in San Francisco, a city I knew well, but he described the unfamiliar world of the underground antique trade. Frame maker Danny Kestral is the primary suspect in a murder he didn’t commit, the death of a patron of the arts he’d just hooked up with.  Nisbet’s vocabulary is big, but it never impedes in telling a fast-paced story.  Nisbet has found a lane all by himself “translating esoteric arcana through the speech of colorfully eccentric characters can make the stuffiest details entertaining.” (Publisher’s Weekly Review)

I’ve read several of his books and have much of his published work for sale. When he passed, he didn’t even have a Wikipedia entry. I told a friend that and wondering aloud must have conjured one the next week. It is spare on details. He worked as a carpenter and furniture maker, specializing in cabinets for audio equipment. He wrote twelve novels, several books of poetry and his obituary suggest he’s written plays and short stories.  In my estimation, his novels are first rate.

PM Press has published two of his later books and Overlook kicked off a reinterest in Nisbet by publishing nine of his books. His Black Lizard titles had been out of print for too long. I don't see his books in shops enough. He is precisely the kind of writer whose work I want to curate and share with a wider audience. 

I’m going to agree with the blurb Overlook being used to hype this neglected author.  It should be illegal to ignore this writer.  Lethal Injection, originally published by Black Lizard of Berkely, California has been a noir gem for those in the know.  

Lethal Injection:
https://theoverlookpress.blogspot.com/2011/08/irony-of-humanity-jim-nisbets-lethal.html

Or check out his later writing. 

Winward Passage:
https://theoverlookpress.blogspot.com/2010/08/jim-nisbet-at-his-wildest-and-weirdest.html