Category Archives: True crime

Dishing up Pulp Curry in a new way: why I am starting a Substack newsletter

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Andrew Nette| 2 Comments

After much thought I have decided that to experiment with moving the focus of my blogging from this site to a new Pulp Curry Substack newsletter.

Why am I doing this?

The first post on this website appeared on July 2010 (about the incredibly underrated 1979 Australian heist film, Money Movers – you can read the post here). I’ve been writing on the site with varying frequency ever since (579 posts in all), and for the most part have enjoyed it immensely.

But for the last 12 or so months I just haven’t been feeling it – or getting the hits to make it seem worthwhile – and have started to wonder whether it’s worth continuing with the effort. Posting on a website has been starting to feel like the equivalent of trying to read a broadsheet newspaper in a crowded tram carriage, unwieldy and inconvenient.

And, thinking about it, I suspect the blog format is starting to get a bit stale for me and is actually now a brake on my posting more regularly.

I know that I’m no Robinson Crusoe in this regard. The majority of the blogs I used to follow have gradually fallen by the wayside, as people have moved on, grown weary of the effort, found other interests, adopted other means to get their message out, or, in some cases (gulp), died.… Read more

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Orphan Road book launch

Posted on June 18, 2023 by Andrew Nette| 2 Comments

Melbourne folk, just a very quick heads up that I will be launching my latest crime novel on Tuesday July 11 at Brunswick Bound bookstore, 316 Sydney Road, Brunswick. Details are below. It would be great to see you there.

And if you cannot make the date but would like a copy of the book, please ask your local bookseller to order it in via Ingram Spark or drop me a line and I can fix you up with a copy.

… Read more

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Posted in Australian crime fiction, Australian crime film, Australian noir, Australian pulp fiction, Orphan Road, True crime

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Orphan Road now available

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Andrew Nette| Leave a comment

My latest crime novel, Orphan Road, is now available.

Orphan Road is available from the publisher Down and Out Books. It is also available from Amazon and other online platforms, and bookshops are able to order it via Ingram Spark.

And Melbourne friends, a heads up that I’ll be launching the book at my local bookstore, Brunswick Bound, 361 Sydney Road, Brunswick, on Tuesday, July 11.

Please put that date in your dairy and more details come soon.

Orphan Road – a sequel to my last novel, Gunshine State – sees my (not so) professional thief Gary Chance become involved in the murky aftermath of one of Australia’s largest heists, Melbourne’s Great Bookie Robbery. In April 1976, a well organised gang stole as much as $16 million from bookmakers in the Victoria Club, located on the second floor of a building in Queen Street and the City. The real amount of what was stolen was never confirmed and the culprits, although they are known now, were never identified at the time or apprehended.

But, of course, the heist always goes wrong and while the police never arrested anyone for the Great Bookie Robbery, the various members of the gang fell out amongst themselves, leaving a trail of bodies.

As the starting point for Orphan Road I posited the question, what if a large amount of cash wasn’t the only thing stolen that day in April 1976.… Read more

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Posted in Australian crime fiction, Australian crime film, Australian noir, Australian popular culture, Orphan Road, True crime

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Why 1973 was the year Sidney Lumet took on police corruption

Posted on March 24, 2023 by Andrew Nette| Leave a comment

My latest piece for the US site CrimeReads looks at the director Sidney Lumet and why 1973 in particular was the year that he took on the subject of police corruption in not one but two films. The first Serpico, is a deservedly well known classic. The second, The Offense, should be far better known. You can read the piece in full on the CrimeReads site here.

… Read more

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Posted in 1970s American crime films, 1980s American crime films, British crime cinema, Crime fiction, Crime film, Neo Noir, Sidney Lumet, True crime

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Men’s Adventure Quarterly: Gang Girls issue

Posted on March 2, 2023 by Andrew Nette| 1 Comment

Regular readers will have read previous posts on this site in which I have publicised the work of Bob Deis on the roughly 160 men’s pulp magazines that blossomed on American newsstands in the 1950s and 1960s. Or what Deis refers to as men’s adventure magazines. These magazines combined brilliant, often over the top illustrations, with hard-hitting fiction and lurid ‘non-fiction’ exposes of various mid-century cultural obsessions.

For the last year or so, Deis has been working with Bill Cunningham on a quarterly publication called Men’s Adventure Quarterly. Issue 7, is now out and has the theme of ‘gang girls’. It covers some similar territory to that dealt with in the 2016 book I coedited, Girl Gangs, Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction and Youth Culture, 1950-1980.

Indeed, I contributed an introduction on the sensational world of midcentury delinquent gangs and its reflection in pulp culture. It’s a beautiful physical publication, full of original art from the magazines and wonderfully designed and laid out by Cunningham. I am also impressed by the evolution of this magazine into an increasingly serious work of pulp fan scholarship. If this looks like your thing I would really encourage you to pick up a copy via Amazon.

You can find it on Amazon Australia here, Amazon UK here, and Amazon America at this link.… Read more

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Posted in Crime fiction, Crime film, Fawcett Gold Medal Books, Girl Gangs, Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction & Youth Culture, 1950-1980, Men's Adventure Magazines, Pulp fiction, Pulp fiction in the 70s and 80s, Pulp Friday, Pulp paperback cover art, True crime

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