Little Tramp

by Gil Brewer

Where was he? Why was he here, with this kid? What had he done?

Hazily he watched her come toward him, saw her hips sway beneath flimsy lace, the swell of full breasts in the skimpy bra. “How did we get here?” he demanded.

She laughed “Don’t you remember, honey? You kidnapped me … and …”

Remember? He remembered that she had cost him his job. Dimly he recalled cursing her out in a dozen bars, getting blind drunk. And he had a vague memory of her behind the wheel of a car. She had kidnapped him!

Now she was missing, and the cops would be hot on the trail. Which story would they swallow—his or hers?

He saw her angelic smile and knew the answer. He was trapped.

“Come on, Gary,” she said. “Let’s have some fun.”

Genres: Noir, Pulp

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Florida writer Gil Brewer was the author of dozens of wonderfully sleazy sex/crime adventure novels of the 1950's and 60's, including Backwoods Teaser and Nude on Thin Ice; some of them starring private eye Lee Baron (Wild) or the brothers Sam and Tate Morgan (The Bitch) . Gil Brewer, who had not previously published any novels, began to write for Gold Medal Paperbacks in 1950-51. Brewer wrote some 30 novels between 1951 and the late 60s – very often involving an ordinary man who becomes involved with, and is often corrupted and destroyed by, an evil or designing woman. His style is simple and direct, with sharp dialogue, often achieving considerable intensity.

Brewer was one of the many writers who ghost wrote under the Ellery Queen byline as well. Brewer also was known as Eric Fitzgerald, Bailey Morgan, and Elaine Evans.

http://www.gilbrewer.com/

Reviews

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a famous scene from a Marx Brothers movie in which a ship's cabin is increasingly crowded with stewards, manicurists, engineers, a young woman looking for her aunt, etc, until the room bursts open and the occupants come tumbling out in chaos.

This novel reminded me of that scene as the main action takes place in a cabin by the lake where a fake kidnapping plot hatched by an 18 year old psycho (the Little Tramp) named Arlene falls apart in a swirl of violence and booze. The whole thing is far-fetched, but noir plots are typically far-fetched or they wouldn't be so enjoyable.

A fast, fun and somewhat sleazy read. Just the sort of thing Gil Brewer did best.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Happiness is taking a break at work to read something called Little Tramp. And no, Charlie Chaplin can't be found anywhere for miles from this tome.

UPDATE: Not one of Brewer's best. Some invincible rapeman holds two women and a man hostage at gunpoint and bullies them through the majority of the book. If you want to read good Brewer, go with Wild To Possess or the other reissues at Stark House.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little Tramp is a terrific noir-era pulp story, although it is not one of Brewer's best known works. The story involves, Gary Dunn, a man who runs into trouble wherever he goes and there's generally, as in many of Brewer's books, a woman behind the trouble.

Dunn is on the right track now. He has a job at a lumber yard. He is engaged to Doll (short for Dolores), who works at a strip club at the edge of town, and they are making plans to do everything right. Gary wants it now "after all the hell-for-leather-bottle-and-a-babe years, an after what Jane Matthias had done to him up in Alexandria." Only there wouldn't be a story if there wasn't a monkey wrench in his plans and here the monkey wrench is in the form of the Boss's daughter, who asks for him by name to come out to the house and build some shelves. Only he had met this one before: "He had seen her twice and she'd come damn close to being a problem." She flagged him down when she had a flat tire. "Anybody would have stopped for a looker like that one, though she was damned young." While he changed the tire, "she leaned against the side of the car, watching, the long tanned legs disturbingly near his arms." This one was trouble with a capital T. When he gets to the mansion where the boss lived, he saw her bare feet with neat crimson toenails, "silver shorts, high and snug around warm brown thighs." He wanted out. He didn't know what was going on, but "she was scheming and he couldn't take being played like a fish." "He knew the way he felt, he had to get away from her. From the moment he'd seen this girl standing at that intersection, calling to him about a flat tire, he'd been suspicious. Now he had every reason to hate her, and just looking at her told him there was nothing he'd be able to do about it." But this one is hell on wheels, and when he doesn't go for her proposition and her father is pulling up in the driveway, she tore her jersey, exposing herself, scratching at him with her nails. "She mussed her hair, and he heard the zing of the zipper on her shorts." Franklin Harper walks in, his face beet-red, and Gary is now out of a job and his life is falling apart. All because of Arlene Harper, the manipulative little ---. Brewer paint a guy into a corner and a no-win situation.

This one is a terrific fast-reading pulp piece. Best thing about it is as a reader you can feel Gary's anger and frustration as he backed into one corner after another with no way out by Arlene, this crazy girl. "That wild, crazy, scheming little bitch." "She was either crazy as hell, or the deadliest schemer he'd ever met up with." Nobody would ever believe this was my plan, she tells Gary. "He'd been too close to hell too many times not to recognize the furnace when he was inside walking on the burning grate." "He did not move. He was sick, and it was like a dream." "Her body moved close and he heard her tight breathing. She slid onto his lap, holding the drink in one hand, circling his neck with the other arm."

Brewer takes the reader into a journey that is the hell Gary's world has become with this she-devil, one second manipulating him and one second seducing him and all the world thinks he kidnapped her. One terrific pulp story. Highly recommended.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another devious film-worthy plot from Brewer. Not without some flaws, particularly the very last page, but this is still a top-notch noir. Gary Dunn, embezzlement in his recent past, is working as a carpenter/lumber yardman and trying to save enough money to marry his stripper girlfriend when he is setup by Arlene, the 18-year old daughter of the owner of the lumber company. When Gary resists her advances he has no idea what she really has in mind, but he soon learns that she is staging her kidnapping so that she can collect the ransom money from her father, and Gary is on the hook as the kidnapper. As usual in a Brewer novel, he piles on the complications in the middle of the book when Kryder, a private detective hired to keep an eye on Arlene, decides he’s taking over the kidnapping scam and all hell breaks loose.

[Ellyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fabulous mid-century pulp smut. Somewhat weak ending, but still enchanting noir escapism.

[Chris Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another gem of Brewers!
Got "tramps"
deceit and lots of booze drinking,
Wonton women (and men),
true noir plotting,
more deceit some guns and a climax
worthy of a Jenna Jamison movie!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the train wreck of 1957's The Angry Dream (aka The Girl from Hateville), Gil Brewer finished the year with two much stronger efforts: The Brat and Little Tramp. Little Tramp is a Noir Everyman story, in which our ordinary guy, Gary Dunn, is blackmailed by the title character into kidnapping her so that she can extort money from her father, who also happens to be Gary's former boss. For me, what often elevates five-star noir above four-star is the ending: Simply put, how memorable is it? Gil Brewer loads up a powder keg and lights the fuse. Will he snuff the fuse, or will he let it blow? And if he lets it blow, will the explosion somehow surprise me--but without making me roll my eyes? This time out, Brewer does a fine job of packing the explosives, but if you ask me next week what happened to the keg, I probably won't be able to remember.

[Viktor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drags a lot due to the setting being a cabin wherein everyone sits and looks at each other. I think too much happens too soon, and so there we all are in a cabin for 80 pages until the wrap-up. All the cards had been played up front.

Still, there's so much pure pulp evil here to keep it at 3 *'s.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one has all the hallmarks of great hardboiled fiction--an eighteen-year-old femme fatale, lots of liquor and an average joe who's been dealt so many losing hands, you wanna see him win one.