Red Clay, Blue Cadillac: Stories of Twelve Southern Women

Book Description

Twelve short stories of all the wrong women.

The author of First Lady and Handling Sin has given us a page turning collection of short stories, with a central theme in each of which the main character is a belle of the South whose talents include a penchant for deceit, betrayal, seduction and sometimes murder. Written in the author's wry and masterful voice, these evocative stories are infused with all the peculiar customs, ironies and humor so special to the South.

The twelve stories in this collection include "Red Clay," which won an Edgar Allen Poe Award, in which a local girl from Thermopylae becomes a movie star who moves back to her sleepy North Carolina home town and is tried for murdering her unfaithful husband. Her trial causes the town and one man in particular to look back with longing and nostalgia at this exquisite Southern belle who captivated-and sometimes manipulated-every man she met.

"Fast Love," the recipient of an O. Henry Award, is the story of a man who chases down his future wife after seeing her jog past. As he gets closer to his quarry, he also gains the courage to stand up for what he wants and to champion what he believes.

In "Blue Cadillac," Marie, blonde and beautiful, shares dinner and her love of Elvis with a high-tech sales rep on his way home to Memphis. Along the way and on the road, they have exquisite sex and decide to part, Marie in her blue Cadillac. As he rings the bell at his mother's house, the young man discovers that he has been robbed of his wallet and his whole life on cards.

Self-contained masterpieces, each of these short stories has the impact and power of a full-length novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly The first four selections in this collection of 12 stories are so sterling in their style and structure, so well crafted, captivating and entertaining, that the reader wants to slow down and savor their authentic voices and characterizations, qualities that have led Malone to major writing awards (the Edgar, the O. Henry). Of these, the best is "Marie," an account of a blonde beauty's casual seduction and robbery of a foolish high-tech sales rep, but it is closely rivaled by "Stella," which in its time-spanning tale of unrequited and unquestioning love and loyalty recalls the romantic power of stories by Richard Yates and the darker gothic elements of Katherine Anne Porter. The awkwardly rendered "Lucy" is a brief stumble, but Malone recovers in the next selection, "Flonnie," a poignant and powerful examination of contemporary Southern race relations. The next piece, "Patty," a pedestrian, overlong murder mystery, begins the collection's steady descent into the mundane and clich‚d, as Malone fumbles for plot development and original character through the remaining tales, of which only "Mona" stands out. Each of the better stories provides a disquieting look at familiar themes, and each is marked by a writing style fresh with surprising twists and turns of phrase and Malone's remarkable insight into the human condition. Only when Malone becomes heavy-handed does his workmanship overwhelm and tread upon his art. Overall, the collection is more than worthwhile, including some of the best stories to come out of the South in years, but its unevenness betrays the whole. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist After a 10-year hiatus from fiction writing, Malone penned the Cuddy Mangum-Justin Savile mystery First Lady [BKL Ag 01]. He seems to be making up for lost time as, some six months later, he follows up with a collection of a dozen short stories (one of which, "Patty: Love and Other Crimes," also features Cuddy and Justin). The main focus of this collection is southern women, ranging from a smoldering, light-fingered femme fatale with an Elvis obsession to a phenomenally rich socialite whose fifth wedding is marred by murder. Wry, vivid, and classic in structure, these stories are a pleasure to read. They include "Stella: Red Clay," winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, in which a glamorous movie star moves back to her North Carolina hometown after marrying a local man only to be put on trial for murder after he is found dead from a gunshot wound to the head. In the O. Henry Award winner "Meredith: Fast Love," a man falls in love in a flash with the first female jogger anyone has ever seen in Toomis, North Carolina, and attempts to win her favor by running after her. Malone infuses all of these stories with his trademark wit and distinctive voice. A winning collection. Joanne Wilkinson Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved