Oh, Alternative Histories, How You Amuse Me

So how's this for a book: Shortly after Prohibition begins, Wyatt Earp travels from L.A. to New York to help the son of Doc Holliday - who runs a speakeasy - because he's getting pressured by a mob whose second in command is on Al Capone. Gunslinging and poker playing hijinks ensue.

That would be the idea behind Black Hats, by Patrick Culhane. I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff, however generally improbable it might be. In this case, Earp apparently was working part-time as a private investigator in L.A. at that time, and there are some accounts which say Capone was still in New York then (his arrival in Chicago is only placed somewhere in 1918-1920). Plus, Earp's old friend Bat Masterson worked as a sports editor in New York at the time, so one more for the pile. To Culhane's credit, he provides a listing of the various resources he used, which ones he ignored and why, and certain creative liberties he took, in a section after the story's end.

I found it to be a generally engaging read, though Culhane's style took a bit of getting used to. He frequently goes to flashbacks from Earp's life or Masterson's, or Capone's boss, Frankie Yale. Sometimes they're related to what's happening at that moment, while others serve to establish the character. For the most part, Culhane works them in during lulls in the story, when the character would have time for reflection, or at the beginning of the chapter, to set the stage for what's to come.

As implied by the title, there are no white, no heroes. Everyone is after something. Earp's there ostensibly to get Johnny out of this, but when he sees the amount of business coming in, he starts calculating ways to make a little coin himself. Masterson is no different, though perhaps less devious. Johnny's making money, and working through some other things as well. Obviously Capone and Yale are in this for the money, and they don't regard themselves as bad people, anymore than the people they find themselves set against. The lead entertainment at the club has found this as a revitalization of her career, and Johnny's sweetheart is avoiding a return to her childhood home. Nobody's altruistic, which is perhaps fitting, since the story buts the Old West, which was not as clean or noble as some of the old movies portrayed it, against the Roaring Twenties (well, it's not quite the Twenties, but close enough), which were largely about people having fun, or being disillusioned about higher ideals (see: Lost Generation writers). Doing something solely out of the goodness of one's heart doesn't really fit.

The characters have their own distinctive voices, especially Earp, who tends to speak little, and Masterson who speaks quite a bit, and loves to use his vocabulary. There's a bit of violence in the book, the obligatory use of Tommy guns and six-shooters, though it's fairly restrained. I think there's as much description of people playing poker as there is of gunfights. Well, it's close between the two. It's a relatively short novel, and it reads quickly enough, even with all the flashbacks, the plot advances swiftly, so I'd recommend it, if it sounds like your cup of tea.

And by "tea", I of course mean the alcoholic beverage of your choice, served in a tea cup. Appearances of propriety must be maintained, after all.