Shoot the Messenger

Yancey Williams’ picaresque novel begins in an open, peaceable municipal park adjacent to a bustling city center. Here, in the front seat of his worn-out gray van, hit man Elvis — a midget psychopath — and ex-Russian mobster Vladimir have teamed up for the first time as the infamous “Murderers’ Row.”

This detailed look at their first bungled caper begs the obvious in a move-over-Abbott-and-Costello mayhem. This dynamic duo has nothing on Laurel and Hardy — except for a little blood on their hands.

Harriett O’Connor has been in a loveless, psychologically abusive marriage for years. Her husband Harry is a modern philanderer. Enter Earnest Darwin, candidate for US Congress, whom she perceives as her knight in shining armor. The two begin their adulterous affair and concoct Harry’s demise in short order.

Reenter Elvis and Vlad. It seems the two lovers have unwittingly hired the same Murderers’ Row for their own cockamamie intentions.

Reader Review

“Shoot the Messenger begins with an American midget named Elvis Octavius Palmer and a color-blind Russian mobster sitting in a rundown gray van waiting to off some poor soul. ‘Zingularly,’ says the Russian, ‘ve blend togeth like gypsies off d Russia great steppes. Ve are brothers of d bloodz.’ Welcome to the deception and decadence of Dante’s inferno, only instead of Virgil as a guide, Williams circles above us like a good-natured shark, gleefully looking for the best angle of attack.

Simply put — and that is a challenge, as Williams is always absurdly, riotously complicated — the two hit men are hired by a wealthy fund-manager-recently-turned-politician to kill his mistress and her associate. The mistress, in turn, hires this resourceful duo to terrify the lover she is attempting to blackmail. Both the midget and the mobster are memorable characters, but the mistress steals the show.

The action takes place in a very few short summer days somewhere in the American South. Short, but teeming with action — this much lust, avarice, fraud, treachery, and even heresy. ‘Shoot the Messenger’ is maybe a bit too cleverly constructed, but you’ll never notice. You’ll be laughing too hard.”

— M.K. Turner