Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliott Chaze

Black Wings Has My Angel

by Elliott Chaze

During the 1950s, Gold Medal Books introduced authors like Jim Thompson, Chester Himes, and David Goodis to a mass readership eager for stories of lowlife and sordid crime. Today many of these writers are admired members of the literary canon, but one of the finest of them of all, Elliott Chaze, remains unjustly obscure. Now, for the first time in half a century, Chaze’s story of doomed love on the run returns to print in a trade paperback edition.

When Tim Sunblade escapes from prison, his sole possession is an infallible plan for the ultimate heist. Trouble is it’s a two-person job. So when he meets Virginia, a curiously well-spoken “ten-dollar tramp,” and discovers that the only thing she cares for is “drifts of money, lumps of it,” he knows he’s met his partner. What he doesn’t suspect is that this lavender-eyed angel might just prove to be his match. 

Black Wings Has My Angel careens through a landscape of desperate passion and wild reversals. It is a journey you will never forget.

Reviewed by Michael @ Knowledge Lost on

3 of 5 stars

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Elliott Chaze’s Black Wings has my Angel reminds me of a typical James M Cain book; no that that’s a bad thing, in fact; it’s a perfect format for a Noir novel. I was a little surprised that this book went out of print for 50 years and only came back onto the market in the 1980’s, it really is an enjoyable and spectacular noir tale. Black Wings has my Angel tells the story of an ex-con who picks up a call girl in motel and together they stage an armed robbery. Obviously that’s just the beginning and I don’t really need to tell you what to expect, as most people know what happens in a noir novel.

I’ve heard that Elijah Wood is planning on releasing a movie based on this pulp tale, I’m sure it will be awhile a way, but I do look forward to it. This is really a must read for anyone interested in pulp, and the revival of the genre that happened in the 80’s.

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  • Started reading
  • 7 August, 2011: Finished reading
  • 7 August, 2011: Reviewed