Fools' Gold

by Dolores Hitchens

Two teenagers fresh out of stir set their sights on what looks like easy money in this classic thriller from 1958, only to get a painful education in how quickly and drastically a simple plan can spin out of control.

Dolores Hitchens wrote crime novels that were both tough and compassionate, with a sharp eye for the emotional scars that violence leaves. The basis for Jean-Luc Godard's film Band of Outsiders, Fools' Gold is a swift and unadorned tale of three young people—two boys just released after being incarcerated for a juvenile offense, and an orphaned girl living in a house full of secrets—whose lives are rapidly torn apart by what starts as a simple plan of robbery. It echoes other classic American narratives of youth astray and on the run, and with its headlong pace catches the rhythm of adolescent crisis, as Hitchens's protagonists find themselves caught up in a situation spiraling beyond their control.

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Fiction, Noir, Thriller, 20th Century, Mystery Thriller

187 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1958

About the author

Julia Clara Catharine Dolores Birk Olsen Hitchens, better known as Dolores Hitchens, was an American mystery novelist who wrote prolifically from 1938 until her death. She also wrote under the pseudonyms D.B. Olsen, Dolan Birkley and Noel Burke.

Hitchens collaborated on five railroad mysteries with her second husband, Bert Hitchens, a railroad detective, and also branched out into other genres in her writing, including Western stories. Many of her mystery novels centered around a spinster character named Rachel Murdock.

Hitchens wrote Fool's Gold, the 1958 novel adapted by Jean-Luc Godard for his film Bande à part (Band of Outsiders, 1964).

Reviews

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid thriller with lots of 50s angst. Skip and Eddie are teenage partners in crime. Skip plans the capers and loyal Eddie follows along, even though they've never once pulled off a successful robbery and both are in and out of juvenile detention. It doesn't take long to reveal Skip's psychopathy and Eddie's basic decency.

Skip uses and abuses everyone he encounters, be it family, friend or foe. Unfortunately, he meets and beguiles a young girl who tells him a secret about a great deal of money. It's the catalyst for a foul deed or two.

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dolores Hitchens' "Fools Gold"

Dolores Hitchens' 1958 novel "Fools' Gold" is the fourth and final book included in a new Library of America anthology, "Women Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1950s" edited by Sarah Weinman, an authority on crime fiction written by women. A companion LOA volume includes four suspense novels by four different women written during the 1940s. Of the eight novels included in the set, "Fools' Gold" may be the most obscure. Before its inclusion in the LOA anthology, the novel had long been out of print. It is a real discovery. I am pleased to see that it has been reissued as a kindle book in addition to the hardcover LOA anthology.

Hitchens' novel is set in the Los Angeles area in the mid-1950s. The book combines a story of adolescent rebellion and juvenile delinquency with hard crime. The major characters are two young men in their early 20s who have just been released from reform school, Skip and Eddie, and a slightly younger woman, Karen who lives as the ward of an old, eccentric widow, Mrs. Havermann, in a large deserted house. Brash and impetuous, Skip is the leader of the three, with a reluctant Eddie tagging along and an even more reluctant Karen assisting the two young men because of her feelings for Skip. Karen lets Skip know that a friend of Mrs. Havermann from Las Vegas keeps a large stash of money in the house. Skip, alert for the opportunity to escape a grinding, dull and poor life, plans a robbery. But he tells his uncle, an ex-con, and soon experienced hardened criminals move in to take the heist away from the "punks". The seasoned criminals include a sleazy defense lawyer and a tough ex-convict known as Big Tom who had sought to escape the allure of crime but returned through the appeal of a large sum of apparently easy money.The cons and the punks find themselves working against each other in their conflicting plans for the heist. The book traces the characters' stories through the byways of southern California, Las Vegas, and Reno. In its focus on juvenile delinquency, the book shows its 1950s themes and perhaps will remind the reader of the film, "Rebel without a Cause." But serious criminal actors get developed as well in this taut novel.

The author, Dolores Hitchens (1907 -- 1973) was a prolific writer of mysteries and other fiction from 1938 until her death. "Fools' Gold" is probably her most lasting work. In 1964, it was adopted into a film by Jean-Luc Godard, "Band of Outsiders.""Fools' Gold" is too good a book to be forgotten. Sarah Weinman and the LOA have done a service in finding and preserving this work so that it will be accessible to readers interested in American literature or in crime fiction. The LOA kindly provided me with a copy of the two-volume box set of Women Crime Writers for review. I have enjoyed working through the volumes and reviewing each title separately.

Robin Friedman

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

04/2017

Pretty entertaining crime book. The inept sinners (well one of them is inept) die bloodily, while the not fully evil find redemption. I've never seen the Godard movie based on this (Band a Part, 1964). I've also never encountered so many typos in a Library of America book as I noticed in this, the fourth novel in the Women Crime Writers of the 1950s.

[Anthony McGill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The very prolific Dolores Hitchens wrote this nifty little crime thriller back in 1958 and is a very worthwhile addition to the Library of America's Women Crime Writers of the 1950s omnibus.
Not a long novel but one that incorporates an exciting suspense story with an interesting set of characters.

The three instigators of the crime are well etched and whilst Skip fits the bill as a nasty little punk with no chance of competing with the real kingpins of crime, the other two are very sympathetic portraits of misguided youth getting caught up in a criminal act well beyond their commonsense. Credit to the author's fleshing out of her characters, you really root for these two "innocents" Eddie and Karen, caught up in a web of foolishness but by story's end, all in a few days, maturing significantly to discover respect and responsibility for themselves and love for each other - parts missing from their prior life experiences.

Any author who can include "cat" in twelve of her mystery novels, deserves a nod from me. And in this one, there is a bit of a linkage to her feline fascination via the sundry character Big Tom and his family of cats.

"Fools' Gold" was later adapted by Jean-Luc Godard into the 1964 French-language film "Band of Outsiders" ("Bande a Part") starring Anna Karina, Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur.

[Andy Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fast-paced and unostentatious tale of three young people, two boys just released from a juvenile detention, and an orphaned girl living with a seemingly wealthy foster parent. Steadily, they are torn apart by what starts as a simple plan of robbery.

It’s of the bracket of the classic American narrative of youth gone astray and on the run, but Hitchens excels in catching the rhythm of adolescent adversity. Her characters drive the plot and it isn’t long before things begin to spiral out of their control.

Published in 1958, this plot was original at the time and spawned much of what was to come after. Before, of course kids got into street rumbles with their greased hair and packs of cigarettes up their sleeve, but heists were for adults.
What starts as a run-of-the-mill juvenile delinquent story mushrooms with the introduction of Uncle Willy and his gang, into an escapade of model hardboiled crime.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fools’ Gold, originally published in 1958, is Hitchens’ dark brooding caper gone wrong story about a trio of youths out to grab a suitcase full of money before the professional hoods move in. Hitchens nails it right in her portrayals of Skip, Eddie, and Karen and the greed that propels them down that fateful path. At first, it seems like nothing more than another juvenile delinquency tale which were popular back in the day, but slowly but surely Hitchens carves this one into something deadlier and gone more wrong than any of the principals could ever imagine. And, in the end, nothing could have been planned less wisely or gone more sideways.

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two guys recently out of juvenile detention are looking at nothing but dead ends since they have prison records. Karen, an innocent orphan girl, hears about a stash of money being kept at her guardian's home by a big man from Vegas. The two inexperienced guys plan a heist, but things get complicated when some older thieves also get involved. Everything that could possibly go wrong happens in a series of twists and turns.

Even though the teenagers are planning a crime, the book is written in a way so the reader also has some empathy for them. You start thinking of them as clueless teenagers with the cards of life stacked against them. Eddie, a half-Mexican boy with an alcoholic father and an unhealthy mother, has a softer side even as he follows the lead of his friend Skip. Karen is confused and looking for love. Except for an ex-con uncle, Skip's family is no longer in his life.

This book is the inspiration for the 1964 French film by Jean-Luc Godard, "Band of Outsiders." I haven't seen the film, but the book, "Fools' Gold," is well written with interesting characters.

[Steve]

Seldom do I encounter a book that can’t be put down; Fools’ Gold was one. A pair of young men, Eddie and Skip, with histories of petty crime, plan a robbery when Eddie’s girlfriend, Karen, lets on to gobs of cash in a guest room in Mrs Havermann’s home, where Karen lives as a ward. Eddie’s uncle, Willy, gets wind of the job, calling in Big Tom, a professional operator who wants to control the action to Uncle Willy’s profit and Eddie’s expense. Let’s just say things don’t go as planned. “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I've never read a more hard-boiled crime novel by a woman author. This is as good as anything else written in the 1950s. It's also the only heist novel I've read by a woman. This book is extraordinarily well-written—a masterpiece of the genre.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a surprise. This is one of the most "noir" books I've ever read. Up there with Jim Thompson. A tale of losers who try to break out but only make things worse. No one comes out well in this book, but it's a fascinating story, with continual twists and surprises and very well written. Over the course of the book, I found myself both disliking and then empathizing with each of the main characters. I read this in the LOA's Women Crime Writers first because it was the basis of Godard's film "Band of Outsiders." Godard took the basic story of the heist, left out many of the twists, and turned it into a love story (which is also in the book, but it's not as cinematically romantic as Godard makes it). Both are worth checking out.

[Agnes DiPietrantonio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very 1950s. Very California noir. A most enjoyable read.

[tortoise dreams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A caper crime story that focuses more on the characters involved than on the heist itself. Maybe that's because the crime is simple, or because Dolores Hitchens wants us to know who we're rooting for and against, which provides the complexity. At the same time this is hard boiled enough to provide echoes of Jim Thompson. Enjoyable, compelling, and sympathetic while reading, afterwards it just seemed like a good story. Haven't seen it, but made into a film, Band of Outsiders by Jean-Luc Godard in 1964.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jean-Luc Goddard brought me here and I’m glad he did.

[Mark Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This dark tale of a pair of young men who've gotten into trouble together since their school days details the inner mind of a sociopath and an acolyte who's fallen completely under his sway. The two hood wannabes hatch a scheme to steal a large stash of cash of questionable provenance. At first, it seems like a solid plan, but then other people get involved, and the results aren't good for anyone. The action takes place in Southern California, Vegas and Reno, and Hitchens certainly knows her way around a casino. Her writing is tremendous, as illustrated in this description of a marginal yet important character: "Marvitch lived on rare steaks and bourbon whiskey and eighteen-year old brunettes".

This was the fourth and final novel in a volume called "Women Crime Writers; Four Suspense Novels of the 1950s" My nephew gave me a box set containing this volume and once with four novels from the 40s. Having just read eight suspense novels written by women in the middle of the previous century, I might be imagining it, but I get the impression that women authors may have focused a bit more on the psychology of their characters than many male writers of that generation did. Regardless of the gender of the authors, these eight books were a real treat, many of which I gave four stars to.

[David Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Great, fast-moving story but what got me is her prose--totally no-nonsense, spare and perfect.

[Rambling Raconteur · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/w7PVw1Dq388

[Diana]

I'd describe this as Rebel Without a Cause meets James M. Cain: three disaffected teenagers -- two juvenile delinquents and one orphan -- hear about a large sum of money stashed in the orphan's guardian's home. They hatch a plan to steal it, but you know what they say about the best-laid plans -- which these decidedly aren't.

This book is most famous for engendering Band of Outsiders, Godard's famous 1964 French New Wave film. The novel, however, is grittier and our trio more akin to Cain's impulsive, self-destructive, unthinking, working-class criminal couples than they are to the beatniks running through the Louvre. The narrative has a lot of moving parts (perhaps too many) as various hard-boiled detective fiction characters -- either criminals or living on the fringes of society -- insinuate themselves into the teenagers' plans. The fact that the crime does not end well for anyone depicts one of Ms. Hitchens' two major themes: crime does not pay.

The second and far more interesting theme was one popular in the 1950s: the first era to introduce the concept of the teenager. Troubled youths were everywhere (books, films, television shows) as adults threw up their hands at these confused young people and their wild behavior ("moral decay" gets mentioned quite a bit). Ms. Hitchens, however, has quite a bit of sympathy for them and, while she doesn't excuse their crimes, she does provide realistic socio-economic reasons for their actions. Karen, for example, is an orphan who has never known much love from her guardian (here, I think the author lets "Aunt Maud" off the hook); while Skip's family has turned their backs on him and his juvie record leaves him few options.

But the real revelation here is Eddie. The book jacket for Women Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1950s: Mischief / The Blunderer / Beast in View / Fools' Gold specifically mentions the novel's "nuanced portrait of a sheltered young woman" (I suppose because of the volume's emphasis on gender), but the only character who actually has any kind of arc and whose backstory is the most interesting is the half-Mexican Eddie, who endured racial slurs at school and domestic violence at home. Few books in the US before the 1970s featured ethnic characters and Ms. Hitchens is to be commended for adding much needed diversity to what was in its day a very non-diverse genre.

The ending leaves open the fate of two of the characters. As violent as the crime turns out to be, it's impossible not to have empathy for them -- and hope that their judges and juries do, too.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 3 out of 5]

No fool like an old fool. Or a young one.

Reading about teens Skip and Eddie and Karen, I thought about programs to expunge juvenile criminal records so young people have a chance to turn their lives around. Juvenile crimes (except for serious felonies) are "sealed" when the offender turns eighteen, but that doesn't mean they are forgiven OR forgotten.

No matter how hard you've worked to make amends, you must answer "yes" when the job application asks "Have you ever been arrested?" The job goes to someone else and you're left with two options: crime and a return to prison or working "under the table" for low pay and no benefits, always being taken advantage of. I believe in second chances, but only if there's been real change. If the anger or greed or arrogance or weaknesss or need to belong still exists, there's no straight path.

Skip's family background is nebulous, but he was born for crime. In his ex-con uncle he sees the "rewards" of an honest life and he wants none of it. He wants the big pay-off and nothing will stop him from seeking it. Eddie is sweet, but weak. Shunned for being half-Mexican, longing to help his pathetic mother, angry at his drunken father, he's a patsy for Skip's confidence and endless schemes.

Karen seems to be the lucky one. Orphaned at ten, she's raised by a wealthy widow. Mrs Havermann isn't cruel, but values Karen only as a maid and potential geriatric nurse. Karen craves maternal love, but Maude Havermann seeks only romance. Desperate for human connection, Karen is drawn to Skip and makes a fatal admission that sets off a deadly chain of events.

Not all the foolish are young and inexperienced. Two old men have been in prison and are determined not to go back. They know the risks of crime, but the chance of a big score is tempting. The "score" involves a tough guy from Las Vegas, but maybe THIS time they can outwit the Big Boys.

Delores Hitches wrote thrillers and screen plays and detective novels. She was a second-stringer, but a successful one and a thoroughly competent professional writer. Her books are beginning to show up in Kindle editions. I found this short novel in a collection from the 1950's.

She knew people and their predictable and unpredictable ways. She shows how childhood forms us, while suggesting that some traits may be inborn. I'm glad I read this one. It isn't earth-shaking, but it's thoughtful and intelligent.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skip and Eddie are two friends in their early twenties or so, who have recently gotten out of juvenile lockup for crimes committed, and they are friends with Karen who is a 17-year-old orphan girl who lives with a rich old widow named Mrs. Havermann. Mrs. Havermann also has a roomer - Mr. Stolz - who is a Las Vegas kingpin who keeps thousands of dollars in cash hidden his room to avoid income tax and perhaps other investigations - in those days (the mid 1950s) the Mob ran the casinos in Las Vegas. Mrs. Havermann is aware of his money that he is keeping and has promised to say nothing to anyone, but she inadvertently lets it slip to Karen, who in turn lets it slip to Skip and Eddie. Our boys have dreams of getting rich by stealing the cash and thereafter living high on the hog. Karen would let them into the house at night. But Eddie mentions their plan to his Uncle Willy, an ex-con himself, who talks to a lawyer named Snope who deals with a lot of shady characters and so another ex-con named Big Tom comes into the picture - they want to do the burglarizing themselves. Skip and Snope would each get 10% of the haul and they would cut Eddie out. Naturally, Skip is not happy. And so, things start to go sideways. Skip hitchhikes from the Los Angeles area where they all are, to Las Vegas to check out Mr. Stolz to make sure he won't be around when they commit the act. The book is a real page-turner. Highly recommended to anyone who likes crime thrillers. And murders do occur too, eventually.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unguarded pile of money just gathering dust in an old defenseless widow's house? Just sitting there under a coat in an unoccupied room? Of course a couple of young ne're-do-wells hatch a plan to just walk right in and grab it, but loose lips instantly sink ships. Right out of the gate there are too many crooks in the kitchen, sometimes one entering just as another left moments ago, creating a convoluted mess of a crime scene and a delightful read. From the street thugs to the seasoned looters to the Las Vegas white-collar criminal, everyone is far too blinded by the thought of getting their hands on that cash to think/act reasonably. This leads to a revelation for one character, a nondrinker, who chooses an AA meeting to be his alibi as the crime goes down (way down). Listening to the stories of one member he realizes, tearfully, that crime is his booze, but from here on out he will live his life crime-free! After he gets his payout for this last one, of course... then he'll quit. The story is messes upon mishaps upon misfires which makes for great pulp.

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent pulp novel from the 1950s. If you’re a fan of Jim Thompson, then you’ll find “Fools’ Gold” by Dolores Hitchens right up your alley.

As usual with these types of stories, there are very few (if any) likable characters. Two teenagers looking for easy cash and a way out of their dead-end lives set their sights on a pile of dirty money hidden in a widow’s house, being led there by an innocent orphan girl. This quick score quickly spins out of control as two old thieves get involved, as well as the Vegas mob. Double-crosses, little mistakes, and unexpected obstacles lead to several killings as the story draws to the foregone conclusion.

Ms. Hitchens does a remarkable job of introducing several unexpected twists to the story and builds the suspense as each character reacts differently to the changing situations. A fun, quick read for those who like their pulp fiction dark.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Library of America via NetGalley. Thank you!

[Bradley Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of the Library of America's collection "Women Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1950s."

It begins simply. Two small-time delinquents catch wind of a cache of money they weren't supposed to know about, and plot to snatch it. But things don't go smoothly, especially when a bigger fish finds out about their plans and moves in on the action. They should have paid attention to The Shadow's sinister warning, repeated at the beginning of each episode of the contemporaneous radio program: "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does NOT pay."

It all goes wrong, of course, with blood and guilt and worse, but with just a shred of a hope for redemption for those who pause at the last, and step back from the precipice.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delinquent kids want to rob a house of what looks like dirty money. Various mobs get involved. IT all goes wrong... So far so ordinary.
This was probably 3 1/2 stars, 3 seems a little mean. But, there simply isn't enough to justify the 4th. Yes it held my attention, as another of the 1950s Women Crime writers. It was all too tv episode. Even the tagged interesting character Karen, was for me one dimensional.
It's an unfair comparison, but this was published at then end of the 1950s when 'The Galton Case' appeared. It's not on the same block.
The points of interest for me were for me the archetype male characters, mined so successfully a few years later in 'In Cold Blood'.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tidy little crime gets out of control, proving fictionally that the more people who know of a crime the more likely it is to go bad. Two amateur criminals get a young woman living with an old lady to cough up the dowager's secret: a gentleman has been coming to her house to secrete a large sum of money. Easy pickings, but once the leader of the two amateurs tells his ex-con uncle and the ex-con uncle turns the job over to professionals for a cut, territorial chest thumping leads to one disaster after another. Hitchens' novel is a bleak one with glimpses of hope just a little beyond the characters' reaches.

[Sandra de Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This suspense novel put me in mind of Ruth Rendell’s work. Written earlier, clearly in the fifties style, but a book in which everyone gets what’s coming to them. I loved reading about the setting almost as much as I enjoyed the story – trying to imagine Los Angeles in which you could drive up into the hills and find dirt roads and new houses going up. Where a huge mansion could exist with only three occupants, no luxury, not broken up into apartments, and not far from downtown LA. I read this in one night.¬

[Magnus Stanke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book in the omnibus Women's Writers of the 50s.
This one starts off being quite detached from the action. Then, as gradually more characters are introduced, a kaleidoscope emerges, that portrays social backgrounds of all the involved. Nobody is all innocent or guilty and at the same time the suspense mounts.

Incidentally, this was adapted by JL Godard as Bande a part. If you like the early films of this director (I do), it's a swell film, but any resemblance to the novel is accidental.

[Mystic Miraflores · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe everyone got their just desserts in the end. For the most part, the bad guys received punishment. I hope Eddie and Karen can have a happy life together, although it will be a struggle, of course. Uncle Willy's AA experience was amusing and relevant to the story; he tried to give good advice to folks. The story started slowly but really sped up towards the climactic ending.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crime doesn't pay, I guess.

Overall not bad but a little tedious at times. It's a pretty straight forward story drawn out too long and the characters can be a bit frustrating. Everyone basically gets what they deserve. The denouement was a bit bland. I was hoping for a bit more of a twist due to the title.

[John Marr · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent caper gone-wrong novel featuring some expected plot twists, some unexpected, and one unsettling violent scene that for me at least was reminiscent of "The Honeymoon Killers." Highly recommended.

[John Youngblood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asorbing page-turner, made into a movie by Goddard, called The Outsiders (nothing to do with "Stay gold, Pony-boy"). A young girl, ward to a rich woman, participates in a "simple plan" to steal cash, and things quickly go awry.