Bob's Bullets - 'Kill Me' series a blast from the past

(By popular request)

TOKYO — For those of you who like pulp fiction, very raw pulp fiction, the Earl Norman “Kill Me” books are a lot of fun. They focus on a character named Burns Bannion, a U.S. Army veteran who takes his discharge in Tokyo in the late 1950’s, studies karate, and becomes a private detective. He winds up exploring the fleshpots  and back alleys of Japan for a wide assortment of strange clients.

In Kill Me In Tokyo, Norman’s first novel, Bannion takes on an assignment from an American businessman to find a girl named Mitsuko, in a city that is full of them. The American is murdered shortly thereafter and Bannion, having received a payment of ¥300,000, feels honor bound to fulfill his contract, as impossible as the task seemed to be. He eventually picks up the trail but along the way is beaten up by an assortment of characters — including  underworld gangsters and sumo wrestlers.