High Priest of California
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
High Priest of California
Buy for $6.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Chris Andrew Ciulla
About this listen
She was leaning against the door. Her smile was a sickly twisted grimace; the sort a prisoner gives a judge when he's asked if he has anything to say before he's sentenced. Russell Haxby is a ruthless used-car salesman obsessed with manipulating and cavorting with married women. In this classic of hard-boiled fiction, Charles Willeford crafts a wry, sardonic tale of hypocrisy, intrigue, and lust set in San Francisco in the early '50s. In High Priest of California every sentence masks innuendo, every detail hides a clue, and every used-car sale is as outrageous as every seduction. First published 1953.
©2011 Indo-European Publishing (P)2020 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Pick-Up
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Benjamin Charles
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
The unblinking story of two lost and self-destructive drifters - a failed painter working as a counterman in a cheap diner and a woman in flight from domestic violence - trying to find a place for themselves in the back streets of San Francisco, Pick-Up is hardboiled writing at its nihilistic best.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
one of CWs best
- By Vincent on 10-31-21
-
Kiss Your Ass Goodbye
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Dan Bittner
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 5
In this classic Miami crime story and thriller, from the writer acclaimed for his Hoke Moseley novels, a man's life is threatened when he discovers his new lover is married.
-
The Shark-Infested Custard
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Mike Carnes, Dan Bitner, Josh Goodman, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 13
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 12
Larry Dolman is a rather literal-minded ex-cop who now works private security. Eddie Miller is an airline pilot who's studying to get his real estate license. Don Luchessi is a silver salesman who's separated from his wife, but too Catholic to get a divorce. Hank Norton is a drug company rep who gets four times as many dames as any of the other guys. When a friendly bet goes horribly awry, they find themselves with two dead bodies on their hands and a homicidal husband in the wings - and acting more like hardened criminals than upstanding citizens.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Wild times back in Florida
- By GioSailor on 09-21-24
-
Writing & Other Blood Sports
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
Charles Willeford was a man of letters in all senses of the word. Poet, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and raconteur, his early paperback novels with their existential/immobilized heroes were the creations (to paraphrase Chandler) of a man not himself immobilized - a man who, instead, with his trademark black-humored prose, doggedly examined the mind-thrumming banalities of our materially sated but intellectually befuddled postwar world, crafting a body of work that is only now, 50-some years after his first appearance in print, beginning to be widely appreciated.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Loved The Immobilized Hero
- By Rich S. on 07-05-21
-
Something About a Soldier
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Dan McGowan
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3
This funny, rich, raunchy autobiography re-creates the adventures of a very young soldier in the US Army at the height of the Depression. Charles Willeford was 16 in 1935 when he signed up and was sent to the Philippines. And the Philippines of those days was like a place out of another century. Willeford’s job was to fuel aircraft whose pilots treated him and his buddies almost like slaves. At night, however, he was a lord, fully exploring a great, timeless, and sensual city with a multitude of women available - even on a private’s pay.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A window into a writers past
- By Maracapozzi on 04-29-23
-
Cockfighter
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Jim Steele
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
A former professional boxer, actor, horse trainer and radio announcer, Charles Willeford is best known for his Miami-based crime novels featuring hard-boiled detective Hoke Moseley, including Miami Blues and Sideswipe. Of Cockfighter, Harry Crews said, “Charles Willeford renders the sport with such knowledge and attention to detail that...had the almost inexpressible impression of being on my knees again beside the great fighting pits of the southern circuit.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great Author, Great Story
- By Paraskevi on 01-06-21
-
Pick-Up
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Benjamin Charles
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
The unblinking story of two lost and self-destructive drifters - a failed painter working as a counterman in a cheap diner and a woman in flight from domestic violence - trying to find a place for themselves in the back streets of San Francisco, Pick-Up is hardboiled writing at its nihilistic best.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
one of CWs best
- By Vincent on 10-31-21
-
Kiss Your Ass Goodbye
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Dan Bittner
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 5
In this classic Miami crime story and thriller, from the writer acclaimed for his Hoke Moseley novels, a man's life is threatened when he discovers his new lover is married.
-
The Shark-Infested Custard
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Mike Carnes, Dan Bitner, Josh Goodman, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 13
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 12
Larry Dolman is a rather literal-minded ex-cop who now works private security. Eddie Miller is an airline pilot who's studying to get his real estate license. Don Luchessi is a silver salesman who's separated from his wife, but too Catholic to get a divorce. Hank Norton is a drug company rep who gets four times as many dames as any of the other guys. When a friendly bet goes horribly awry, they find themselves with two dead bodies on their hands and a homicidal husband in the wings - and acting more like hardened criminals than upstanding citizens.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Wild times back in Florida
- By GioSailor on 09-21-24
-
Writing & Other Blood Sports
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
Charles Willeford was a man of letters in all senses of the word. Poet, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and raconteur, his early paperback novels with their existential/immobilized heroes were the creations (to paraphrase Chandler) of a man not himself immobilized - a man who, instead, with his trademark black-humored prose, doggedly examined the mind-thrumming banalities of our materially sated but intellectually befuddled postwar world, crafting a body of work that is only now, 50-some years after his first appearance in print, beginning to be widely appreciated.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Loved The Immobilized Hero
- By Rich S. on 07-05-21
-
Something About a Soldier
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Dan McGowan
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3
This funny, rich, raunchy autobiography re-creates the adventures of a very young soldier in the US Army at the height of the Depression. Charles Willeford was 16 in 1935 when he signed up and was sent to the Philippines. And the Philippines of those days was like a place out of another century. Willeford’s job was to fuel aircraft whose pilots treated him and his buddies almost like slaves. At night, however, he was a lord, fully exploring a great, timeless, and sensual city with a multitude of women available - even on a private’s pay.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A window into a writers past
- By Maracapozzi on 04-29-23
-
Cockfighter
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Jim Steele
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
A former professional boxer, actor, horse trainer and radio announcer, Charles Willeford is best known for his Miami-based crime novels featuring hard-boiled detective Hoke Moseley, including Miami Blues and Sideswipe. Of Cockfighter, Harry Crews said, “Charles Willeford renders the sport with such knowledge and attention to detail that...had the almost inexpressible impression of being on my knees again beside the great fighting pits of the southern circuit.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great Author, Great Story
- By Paraskevi on 01-06-21
-
The Burnt Orange Heresy
- A Novel
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 30
Fast-talking, backstabbing, womanizing, and fiercely ambitious art critic James Figueras will do anything - blackmail, burglary, and beyond - to make a name for himself. When an unscrupulous collector offers Figueras a career-making chance to interview Jacques Debierue, the greatest living - and most reclusive - artist, the critic must decide how far he will go to become the art-world celebrity he hungers to be. Will Figueras stop at the opportunity to skim some cream for himself or push beyond morality's limits to a bigger payoff?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Portrait of an Artist as a Immobilized Hero
- By Rich S. on 07-05-21
-
Miami Blues
- Hoke Moseley, Book 1
- By: Charles Willeford
- Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 366
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 334
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 335
After a brutal day investigating a quadruple homicide, Detective Hoke Moseley settles into his room at the un-illustrious Eldorado Hotel and nurses a glass of brandy. With his guard down, he doesn't think twice when he hears a knock on the door. The next day, he finds himself in the hospital, badly bruised and with his jaw wired shut. He thinks back over 10 years of cases, wondering who would want to beat him into unconsciousness, steal his gun and badge, and most importantly, make off with his prized dentures.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Proof it can be done!
- By LadySpeaker on 10-07-15
-
Bait Money
- A Nolan Novel, Book 1
- By: Max Allan Collins
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
The mob couldn’t kill him, the cops couldn’t catch him, and even time wouldn’t slow him down. His name’s Nolan...a shrewd, restless tough guy with a talent for theft. With a lifetime of heists under his belt and a bullet in his side, he’s ready to retire. And the Mafia’s eager to help him along...permanently. They think he’s got a debt to pay - with his life. But at all these years, they might be willing to settle for 100 grand instead. Nolan’s got to pull a bank job to try to save his ass.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Very good
- By Chris Haynes on 05-12-21
-
Pop. 1280
- By: Jim Thompson
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 186
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 157
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 156
Nick Corey is a terrible sheriff on purpose. He doesn't solve problems, enforce rules or arrest criminals. He knows that nobody in tiny Potts County actually wants to follow the law and he is perfectly content lazing about, eating five meals a day, and sleeping with all the eligible women. Still, Nick has some very complex problems to deal with. Two local pimps have been sassing him, ruining his already tattered reputation.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Camus of Crime Fiction
- By Darwin8u on 06-14-15
By: Jim Thompson
-
The Big Sleep
- Philip Marlowe, Book 1
- By: Raymond Chandler
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 539
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 475
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 473
A dying millionaire hires private eye Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
I miss Ray Porter
- By Kindle Customer on 03-22-22
By: Raymond Chandler
-
High-Rise
- By: J. G. Ballard
- Narrated by: Tom Hiddleston
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 221
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 196
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 196
From the author of the Sunday Times best seller Cocaine Nights comes an unnerving tale of life in a modern tower block running out of control. Within the concealing walls of an elegant 40-storey tower block, the affluent tenants are hell-bent on an orgy of destruction. Cocktail parties degenerate into marauding attacks on 'enemy' floors, and the once-luxurious amenities become an arena for riots and technological mayhem.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Dark and thought-provoking
- By Amazon Customer on 04-18-19
By: J. G. Ballard
-
The Dharma Bums
- By: Jack Kerouac
- Narrated by: Ethan Hawke
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 779
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 672
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 667
First published in 1958, a year after On the Road put the Beat Generation on the map, The Dharma Bums stands as one of Jack Kerouac's most powerful and influential novels. The story focuses on two ebullient young Americans - mountaineer, poet, and Zen Buddhist Japhy Ryder, and Ray Smith, a zestful, innocent writer - whose quest for Truth leads them on a heroic odyssey, from marathon parties and poetry jam sessions in San Francisco's Bohemia to solitude and mountain climbing in the High Sierras.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Lyrical Rendition
- By Michael E on 04-28-20
By: Jack Kerouac
-
The Big Bounce
- By: Elmore Leonard
- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 57
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 56
Jack Ryan always wanted to play pro ball. But he couldn't hit a curveball, so he turned his attention to less legal pursuits. A tough guy who likes walking the razor's edge, he's just met his match, and more, in Nancy. She's a rich man's plaything, seriously into thrills and risk, and together she and Jack are pure heat ready to explode. But when simple housebreaking and burglary give way to the deadly pursuit of a really big score, the stakes suddenly skyrocket.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Average Leonard; average narrator.
- By Richard Delman on 07-19-12
By: Elmore Leonard
-
Gringos
- By: Charles Portis
- Narrated by: David Aaron Baker
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
For a time, Jimmy spent his expat days in Mexico unearthing pre-Columbian artifacts. Now he makes a living doing small trucking jobs and helping out with the occasional missing-person situation. But Jimmy’s laid-back lifestyle is being seriously imposed upon by a ninety-pound stalker named Louise. Add to this a sudden wave of hippies led by a murderous ex-con guru in search of psychic happenings, archaeologists unearthing (illegally) the Mayan tombs, and Louise and her weirdo husband’s quest for UFO sites, and Jimmy’s south-of-the-border existence is in danger.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A modern Mark Twain
- By Patrick King on 06-29-23
By: Charles Portis
-
A Hell of a Woman
- By: Jim Thompson
- Narrated by: Thomas Kelly
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Frank "Dolly" Dillon has a job he hates, working sales and collections for Pay-E-Zee Stores; a wife named Joyce he can't stand; and an account balance that barely allows him to pay the bills each month. Working door-to-door one day, trying to eke money out of folk with even less of it than he has, Dolly crosses paths with a beautiful young woman named Mona Farrell. Mona's being forced by her aunt to do things she doesn't like, with men she doesn't know - she wants out, any way she can get it.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
L'enfer, c'est les autres
- By Darwin8u on 07-16-15
By: Jim Thompson
-
City Primeval
- High Noon in Detroit
- By: Elmore Leonard
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 546
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 480
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 480
Clement Mansell knows how easy it is to get away with murder. The seriously crazed killer is already back on the Detroit streets - thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his crafty looker of a lawyer - and he's feeling invincible enough to execute a crooked Motown judge on a whim. Homicide Detective Raymond Cruz thinks the "Oklahoma Wildman" crossed the line long before this latest outrage, and he's determined to see that the hayseed psycho does not slip through the legal system's loopholes a second time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fight, bleep, or hold the flashlight
- By Darwin8u on 11-04-15
By: Elmore Leonard
-
A Cool Breeze on the Underground
- By: Don Winslow
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,907
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,329
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,311
Neal Carey is not your usual private eye. A graduate student at Columbia University, he grew up on the streets of New York, usually on the wrong side of the law. Then he met a P.I. who introduced him to the Bank, an exclusive institution with a sideline in keeping its wealthy clients happy and out of trouble. They pay Neal's college tuition, and Neal gets an education that can't be found in any textbook, from learning how to trail a suspect to mastering the proper way to search a room. Now it's payback time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Great Read
- By Cody on 05-18-15
By: Don Winslow
Related to this topic
-
The Lonely Lady
- By: Harold Robbins
- Narrated by: Maria Debonair
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 80
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 73
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 73
Meet JeriLee Randall, aspiring actress, ambitious writer, and sexual powerhouse. It is this ambition that takes her away from her tiny hometown of Port Clare and sets her on a collision course with her future. Surviving on determination and seduction, she makes her way to Broadway and then on to Hollywood. The bright lights mask a deeper darkness, and JeriLee is quickly drawn into a world of greed, drugs, casting couches, and smooth-talking power players.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The Lonely Lady
- By Shelly-Ann Brown on 02-25-21
By: Harold Robbins
-
Who Is Vera Kelly?
- By: Rosalie Knecht
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 181
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 157
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 156
New York City, 1962. Vera Kelly is struggling to make rent and blend into the underground gay scene in Greenwich Village. She's working night shifts at a radio station when her quick wits, sharp tongue, and technical skills get her noticed by a recruiter for the CIA. Next thing she knows she's in Argentina, tasked with wiretapping a congressman and infiltrating a group of student activists in Buenos Aires. When a betrayal leaves her stranded in the wake of a coup, Vera learns the Cold War makes for strange and unexpected bedfellows.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
not a whole lot of spycraft just a good story
- By Kirra Krussman on 01-19-19
By: Rosalie Knecht
-
BUtterfield 8
- By: John O'Hara, Lorin Stein - introduction
- Narrated by: Gretchen Mol
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 63
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 57
A masterpiece of American fiction and a best seller upon its publication in 1935, BUtterfield 8 lays bare with brash honesty the unspoken and often shocking truths that lurked beneath the surface of a society still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression. One Sunday morning, Gloria wakes up in a stranger's apartment with nothing but a torn evening dress, stockings, and panties. When she steals a fur coat from the wardrobe to wear home, she unleashes a series of events that can only end in tragedy.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Wildly Uneven
- By David P on 08-27-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
-
Joy in the Morning
- A Novel
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Maggi-Meg Reed
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 92
In 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, Carl Brown and Annie McGairy meet and fall in love. Though only 18, Annie travels alone halfway across the country to the Midwestern university where Carl is studying law - and there they marry. But Carl and Annie’s first year together is much more difficult than they anticipated as they find themselves in a faraway place with little money and few friends. With hardship and poverty weighing heavily upon them, they come to realize that their greatest sources of strength, loyalty, and love will help them make it through.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Another Wonderful Betty Smith Audio Book
- By 20eagle16 on 01-25-21
By: Betty Smith
-
Where Love Has Gone
- By: Harold Robbins
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 96
In love and soon to be a father, Luke Carey has the life he's always wanted. That is until a mysterious, late-night phone call summons him to San Francisco. Luke's first daughter, whom he hasn't seen in six years, 14-year-old Danielle, needs him, and he's desperate to do anything he can to help. But coming back into Danielle's life means facing his ex-wife, Nora, and the explosive, violent drama of the life he left behind.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Will it ever end?
- By Amazon Customer on 04-23-22
By: Harold Robbins
-
Where I'm Calling From
- Selected Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 71
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
By the time of his early death in 1988, Raymond Carver had established himself as one of the great practitioners of the American short story. Where I'm Calling From, his last collection, encompasses classic stories from Cathedral, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and earlier Carver volumes, along with seven new works previously unpublished in book form.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Love Carver, But Dietz Ruins It With Reading
- By Noirbat on 05-10-18
By: Raymond Carver
-
The Lonely Lady
- By: Harold Robbins
- Narrated by: Maria Debonair
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 80
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 73
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 73
Meet JeriLee Randall, aspiring actress, ambitious writer, and sexual powerhouse. It is this ambition that takes her away from her tiny hometown of Port Clare and sets her on a collision course with her future. Surviving on determination and seduction, she makes her way to Broadway and then on to Hollywood. The bright lights mask a deeper darkness, and JeriLee is quickly drawn into a world of greed, drugs, casting couches, and smooth-talking power players.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The Lonely Lady
- By Shelly-Ann Brown on 02-25-21
By: Harold Robbins
-
Who Is Vera Kelly?
- By: Rosalie Knecht
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 181
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 157
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 156
New York City, 1962. Vera Kelly is struggling to make rent and blend into the underground gay scene in Greenwich Village. She's working night shifts at a radio station when her quick wits, sharp tongue, and technical skills get her noticed by a recruiter for the CIA. Next thing she knows she's in Argentina, tasked with wiretapping a congressman and infiltrating a group of student activists in Buenos Aires. When a betrayal leaves her stranded in the wake of a coup, Vera learns the Cold War makes for strange and unexpected bedfellows.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
not a whole lot of spycraft just a good story
- By Kirra Krussman on 01-19-19
By: Rosalie Knecht
-
BUtterfield 8
- By: John O'Hara, Lorin Stein - introduction
- Narrated by: Gretchen Mol
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 63
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 57
A masterpiece of American fiction and a best seller upon its publication in 1935, BUtterfield 8 lays bare with brash honesty the unspoken and often shocking truths that lurked beneath the surface of a society still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression. One Sunday morning, Gloria wakes up in a stranger's apartment with nothing but a torn evening dress, stockings, and panties. When she steals a fur coat from the wardrobe to wear home, she unleashes a series of events that can only end in tragedy.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Wildly Uneven
- By David P on 08-27-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
-
Joy in the Morning
- A Novel
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Maggi-Meg Reed
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 92
In 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, Carl Brown and Annie McGairy meet and fall in love. Though only 18, Annie travels alone halfway across the country to the Midwestern university where Carl is studying law - and there they marry. But Carl and Annie’s first year together is much more difficult than they anticipated as they find themselves in a faraway place with little money and few friends. With hardship and poverty weighing heavily upon them, they come to realize that their greatest sources of strength, loyalty, and love will help them make it through.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Another Wonderful Betty Smith Audio Book
- By 20eagle16 on 01-25-21
By: Betty Smith
-
Where Love Has Gone
- By: Harold Robbins
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 96
In love and soon to be a father, Luke Carey has the life he's always wanted. That is until a mysterious, late-night phone call summons him to San Francisco. Luke's first daughter, whom he hasn't seen in six years, 14-year-old Danielle, needs him, and he's desperate to do anything he can to help. But coming back into Danielle's life means facing his ex-wife, Nora, and the explosive, violent drama of the life he left behind.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Will it ever end?
- By Amazon Customer on 04-23-22
By: Harold Robbins
-
Where I'm Calling From
- Selected Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 71
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
By the time of his early death in 1988, Raymond Carver had established himself as one of the great practitioners of the American short story. Where I'm Calling From, his last collection, encompasses classic stories from Cathedral, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and earlier Carver volumes, along with seven new works previously unpublished in book form.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Love Carver, But Dietz Ruins It With Reading
- By Noirbat on 05-10-18
By: Raymond Carver
-
Quarry
- A Quarry Novel, Book 1
- By: Max Allan Collins
- Narrated by: Christopher Kipiniak
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 117
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 100
Quarry doesn't kill just anybody these days. He restricts himself to targeting other hitmen, availing his marked-for-death clients of two services: eliminating the killers sent after them, and finding out who hired them…and then removing that problem, as well. So far he's rid of the world of nobody who would be missed. But this time he finds himself zeroing in on the grieving family of a missing cheerleader. Does the hitman's hitman have the wrong quarry in his sights?
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
The great Max Allan Collins
- By Bradley Paul Valentine on 09-25-16
-
Appointment in Samarra
- Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition
- By: John O'Hara, Charles McGrath - introduction
- Narrated by: Christian Camargo
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 279
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 240
In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Quite good, but not a classic
- By Michael on 04-25-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
-
Disturbing the Peace
- By: Richard Yates
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 60
To all appearances, John Wilder has all the trappings of success, circa 1960: a promising career in advertising, a loving family, a beautiful apartment, even a country home. John's evenings are spent with associates at quiet Manhattan lounges and his weekends with friends at glittering cocktail parties. But something deep within this seemingly perfect life has long since gone wrong.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
7 hours and 27 minutes pure blisd
- By Mia on 01-05-13
By: Richard Yates
-
Tomorrow Will Be Better
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 108
Tomorrow Will Be Better tells the story of Margy Shannon, a shy but joyfully optimistic young woman just out of school who lives with her parents and witnesses how a lifetime of hard work, poverty, and pain has worn them down. Her mother's resentment toward being a housewife and her father's inability to express his emotions result in a tense home life where Margy has no voice. Unable to speak up against her overbearing mother, Margy takes refuge in her dreams of a better life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Heartfelt and Heart-wrenchingly Real!
- By M. Ryder on 02-16-22
By: Betty Smith
-
The Night Always Comes
- A Novel
- By: Willy Vlautin
- Narrated by: Christine Lakin
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 73
Barely 30, Lynette is exhausted. Saddled with bad credit and juggling multiple jobs, some illegally, she’s been diligently working to buy the house she lives in with her mother and developmentally disabled brother Kenny. Portland’s housing prices have nearly quadrupled in 15 years, and the owner is giving them a good deal. Lynette knows it’s their last best chance to own their own home - and obtain the security they’ve never had. While she has enough for the down payment, she needs her mother to cover the rest of the asking price.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Willy knows tragedy
- By Phil Bailey on 08-03-21
By: Willy Vlautin
-
The 42nd Parallel
- By: John Dos Passos
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 288
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 243
This first entry in John Dos Passos's celebrated U.S.A. trilogy paints a grand picture of the United States at the dawn of the twentieth century.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Powerful document of an all-too-familiar past
- By Ryan on 06-01-13
By: John Dos Passos
-
Youngblood Hawke
- By: Herman Wouk
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 41 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 298
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 260
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 255
Arthur Youngblood Hawke, an ex-Navy man moves from rural Kentucky to New York to assault the citadel of New York publishing with his first novel, an oversized manuscript that becomes an instant success. Toasted by critics and swept along on a tide of popularity, he gives himself over to the lush life that gilds artistic success. Love comes with an affair with an older married woman and an unfulfilled flame with his editor, while wealth pours in with the publication of his second novel, and participation in real-estate developments.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
More than a good yarn
- By Arken on 10-24-18
By: Herman Wouk
-
After the First Death
- By: Lawrence Block
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 23
It was all too frighteningly familiar. For the second time in his life, Alex Penn wakes up in an alcoholic daze in a cheap hotel room off Times Square and finds himself lying next to the savagely mutilated body of a young woman. After the first death, he was convicted of murder and imprisoned, then released on a technicality. But this time he has to find out what happened during the blackout and why, before the police do.
By: Lawrence Block
-
Mildred Pierce
- By: James M. Cain
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 557
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 431
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 428
Mildred Pierce had gorgeous legs, a way with a skillet, and a bone-deep core of toughness and determination. She used those attributes to survive a divorce in 1940s America with two children and to claw her way out of poverty, becoming a successful businesswoman. But Mildred also had two weaknesses: a yen for shiftless men and an unreasoning devotion to her monstrous daughter.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Mildred -- you pierce my heart
- By P. Giorgio on 03-11-11
By: James M. Cain
-
Post Office
- A Novel
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Christian Baskous
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,570
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,381
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,376
"It began as a mistake." By middle age, Henry Chinaski has lost more than 12 years of his life to the U.S. Postal Service. In a world where his three true, bitter pleasures are women, booze, and racetrack betting, he somehow drags his hangover out of bed every dawn to lug waterlogged mailbags up mud-soaked mountains, outsmart vicious guard dogs, and pray to survive the day-to-day trials of sadistic bosses and certifiable coworkers.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not his best, but still Bukowski
- By ibillinsly@gmail on 02-05-18
By: Charles Bukowski
-
The Color of Money
- By: Walter Tevis
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 132
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 122
Twenty years after he conquered the underground pool circuit in The Hustler, "Fast" Eddie Felson is playing exhibition matches with former rival Minnesota Fats in shopping malls. With one failed marriage and years of running a pool hall behind him, Eddie is now ready to regain the skills needed to compete in a world of pool that has changed dramatically since he left.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
if you play,,, you'll live it !!!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-12-20
By: Walter Tevis
-
The Sins of the Fathers
- By: Lawrence Block
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,086
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 958
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 956
The hooker was young, pretty...and dead, butchered in a Greenwich Village apartment. The prime suspect, a minister's son, was also dead, the victim of a jailhouse suicide. The case is closed, as far as the NYPD is concerned. Now the murdered prostitute's father wants it opened again--that's where Matthew Scudder comes in.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Good introduction to a popular series
- By Sharron on 12-26-11
By: Lawrence Block
What listeners say about High Priest of California
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Alex halladay
- 06-08-23
thoroughly unpleasant classic willeford
To me, willeford shines as perhaps the single most cynical noir writer of his kind. each of his books, wall to wall, is filled with deeply unpleasant, vile people and their desperate victims.
this is no exception, high priest of California is arguably the single most evil point of view character willeford has written despite the fact his crimes are relatively minor in relation to his larger body of work. Obviously this is a mixed bag for a lot of people. some will be instantly turned off of this sleazy worm clawing his way into a woman's life by any means necessary, but others, like me, will find this as compelling an observation on banal evil and vanity as Jim Thompsons classic "the killer inside me".
really breezy quick read, one of the funniest, cruelest punchline endings of Willeford's career. worth picking up on sale if you can get it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- GioSailor
- 10-04-24
Another excellent Willeford
This is another excellent Willeford book. It is more like a novella because of the shorter running time. I enjoyed the detailed descriptions around San Francisco from the point of view of a used car salesman and his attempt to hook up with a rather unusual lady. This one less heavy hitting than the brilliant Pick-up, also set in SF. Very effective narrator with a suitable voice.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!