The Last Match

While working the French Riviera, a devilishly handsome con artist discovers that all bets are off when he meets his match in a stunning heiress, who, along with the police, pursues him around the world in hopes of reforming him. Original.

It has been 54 years since Dodge's most famous book, To Catch a Thief, hit the shelves and was shortly thereafter made into the classic Hitchcock film. In reading his latest, written just before his death in 1974 and never before published, it's easy to see why his writing translated so well to Hollywood noir, with its tight-lipped narration, a tough easy rider in the lead and vivid descriptions of both glittering locales and gamine ladies. Our hero, con man Curly, is working the Côte d'Azur—as well as a matronly woman of means—when he meets the Hon. Regina Forbes-Jones, aka "Nemesis," who pegs him for a small-time grifter straight off. The on again/off again flirtation between the callused American swindler and the saucy British beauty is the delicious meat of the book. Unfortunately, Dodge chooses to spend most of the narrative chronicling Curly's scams across the world: from Cannes to Tangier, Marrakech, Lima and Belém. When the relationship between Reggie and Curly takes center stage, though, the book shines, and it ends with a gratifying twist. Dodge fans should pick this up for good old times, but newcomers may want to start with his time-tested classics. (Oct.)
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Dodge, author of To Catch a Thief (1952), wrote this, his last novel, shortly before his death, in 1974. It remained among his papers until a professor brought it to the publisher's attention. The story follows a good-looking grifter from Cannes to Tangier and beyond, not always a step ahead of the law. He tries, too, to elude the woman he calls Nemesis, a haughty Brit intent on making him live up to his potential. The plot, like the setting, is all over the map--but who cares about the plot in a book like this? The pulp era may have been over, but Dodge was still writing like it was in full swing, peppering the story with snappy patter ("She had a tongue like a riding crop, and she used it"), curvy dames ("she was the nakedest woman I ever saw even when fully clothed"), and close calls ("The guy who was waiting for me in my room merely wanted to blow my head off, that's all"). Not Dodge's best work, but great fun. Keir Graff
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