OF MICE AND MINESTRONE

Kathleen Kent’s brief introduction suggests that the running theme here is “Kindness and Cruelty.” An even more precise motto might be “Violence Is Inevitable,” since Lansdale consistently treats the often lethal outbursts of his characters in disarmingly matter-of-fact terms, as if the boys couldn’t help it. Three of the stories present Hap (white, straight, tough, sentimental) in the days before he met Leonard (black, gay, tougher, chip on shoulder), and two of them barely count as stories: “The Kitchen” is a retrospective valentine to the simple pleasures of a family visit to Hap’s grandmother, and “The Sabine Was High” allows the pair to swap anecdotes about Hap’s stint in prison and Leonard’s hitch in Vietnam after Hap meets the bus bringing Leonard home. In between, the title story shows Hap’s futile attempts to rescue a stranger named Minnie from the husband who batters her, tracks her down to her sister’s, and maybe kills her; “The Watering Shed,” the sole reprint, tracks the progress from Hap and Leonard’s maiden voyage to a local bar to a suddenly ugly, race-tinged quarrel that leaves two men dead; and “Sparring Partner,” the longest and best of the lot, follows the two friends to the perfect milieu, the boxing ring, where they hire out as punching bags for allegedly more dangerous opponents and where ritualized violence is subject to rules that have to be followed unless they don’t. The dialogue throughout is worth the price of admission, not as stylized as Elmore Leonard’s but laden with the same irresistible combination of relaxed badinage and playful threats that sometimes spiral into serious consequences while still remaining playful.

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