All books seem to have their own backstory. This one centers on the author, Arnold Hano (1922 - ), here using one of his three pseudonyms. Hano was an important figure in paperback book publishing after World War II. He was the managing editor at Bantam in the late 1940s, then the editor-in-chief of Lion Books from 1950 to 1954. Although Arno wrote a dozen novels, he’s best known today as a sports writer. His recounting of the first World Series game between the Giants and the Indians, A Day in the Bleachers (1955), is still considered a baseball classic.
So I’m a Heel by Mike Heller. Fawcett Gold Medal (1957), 144 pp.
Ed Hawkins, who lives in a small coastal community between Los Angeles and San Diego, has been bouncing from job to job ever since leaving the military with a disfiguring war wound some dozen years before. His wife, Mary, worries about financial insecurity but remains supportive. His sensitive ten-year-old son, Matt, who prefers books to baseball, feels isolated from his father. Ed hits on a way to make some extra cash when he accidentally learns that one of the town’s big shots, Otto Weylin, had just been arrested for child molestation in another jurisdiction. But then he’d been released without charges. Unless Ed spreads the word, no one will learn of the incident. It’s the perfect setup for blackmail.
Ed Hawkins is not the typical narrator of a paperback crime novel. He’s unhappily cynical and not much of a tough guy, even though he’s big enough to push people around on occasion. He’s also cautious and concerned about the well-being of his wife and son. The story moves along quietly, sometimes meandering into a subplot about the unsuccessful leader of the local Democratic party. Then another of Ed’s personality characteristics, his propensity for jumping to conclusions, becomes clear. After that unexpected events occur and tension mounts rapidly. The book may be better in concept than execution, but it still provides a fairly engaging read that could find an audience today.