Grimhaven (Staccato Crime, 4) - Softcover

Robert Joyce Tasker; (Introduction By Woody Haut)

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798886010077

Publisher: Stark House Press, 2022

Synopsis

One thing for certain, Tasker was considerably more adept at writing than he was at armed robbery. On St. Valentine’s Day, 1924, Tasker walked into Sauer’s Dance Parlor in Oakland, California and mounted the bandstand where Les Hite’s band was playing. Good-looking enough to be mistaken for the band’s master of ceremonies or their recently acquired white crooner, he commandeered the microphone, reached into his jacket pocket and produced a revolver. Waving the gun from one side of the dance hall to the other, he announced that onlookers place whatever paper money they had into a tablecloth he provided for the occasion. The police had little trouble apprehending Tasker. They found him outside the dance hall, sitting on its steps smoking a cigarette, the bulging tablecloth full of money at his side. A police officer grabbed the gun, only to discover Tasker had never bothered to put bullets in it. ―from the Introduction by Woody Haut

About this title

About the Author

Robert Joyce Tasker was born November 13, 1903 in Albee, South Dakota, and raised in Canada and Portland, Oregon. Incarcerated in San Quentin for five years for armed robbery, he began contributing to and editing the prison journal, the San Quentin Journal. He also wrote an autobiographical account of his prison life, Grimhaven, which was published by Knopf in 1928. The success of the book allowed Tasker to become a Hollywood screenwriter after his release. In 1942, Tasker relocated to Mexico City to work for various film producers. He died there on December 7, 1944, from an overdose of sleeping pills.

Edition details

• Publisher: Stark House Press
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798886010077
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 204