reviewed by Patti Abbott
Stephen Greenleaf was the author of 14 novels about private detective, John Marshall Tanner, books set mostly in the San Francisco area. He was nominated for two Shamus awards, a Dilys Award, and an Edgar for Strawberry Sundae in 1999. He won the Falcon Award for the best private eye novel published in Japan for Book Case.
“Iris,” the story included in this collection and written in 1984, was the only short story he ever wrote. When Ed Lynskey asked him about it in an interview, Greenleaf said
“Iris” is my only short story. It was written to see how Tanner sounded in the third person. (Not all that great). I’m not a very imaginative person, so if I have the merest glimmer of a plot idea, I’m going to pump it up to novel-size rather than squander it in a shorter format. Come to think of it, “Iris” was published in a lot of places over the years, and more than earned its keep.)
And indeed, “Iris” has earned its keep. It was included in many anthologies edited by Otto Penzler, including Fifty Greatest Mysteries of All Time, Best Mystery Stories of the Century and now the Best American Noir of the Century. It was also nominated for a Shamus Award. I’d like to read the story deemed better than this one.
It is one of the saddest stories I’ve ever read and reminds the reader of the strengths found in short stories when they were a more respected form. When writers felt they had time to establish a time and place, rather than plunging headlong into a story that’s all dialog.
Tanner is going south after a particularly unsatisfying case. A woman in a rest area flags him down. She is attractive “her eyes were blue and tardy,” “her boots disappeared under her skirt the way the tops of the mountains at her back disappeared into a disk of cloud.”
Iris asks Tanner to deliver a package. The package turns out to be a baby, and a crying one at that. Before he can act, Iris is gone, although Tanner is able to follow her VW through the mountains (“like a mad mouse assaulting an elephant”). The chase is exciting because Greenleaf is skilled at description and takes his time bringing it home. You travel the terrain with him. Eventually he tracks Iris to a cabin and finds that this is not the only baby left in Iris’ care. And, in fact, he has stumbled onto a merciless killer with babies for hire.
What makes “Iris” such a strong story is the time taken with it, the way the characters are developed, the sympathy we feel for both Iris and Tanner, the atmosphere and dread Greenleaf evokes. She is not the femme fatale we believe her to be at the beginning of the story, but rather its most heartfelt victim. This is a great story.
Patti Abbott is a critically acclaimed short story writer.
Despite the implication of the review, I’m still among the living. More or less.
So what is going on with Stephen Greenleaf these days? I see very little online about him, no official website, no recent novels or interviews, etc. Kudos to him for being able to lie low, but it would be nice to know if he is planning on publishing anything in the (near) future.
Mr. Greenleaf came to my attention back in the mid 90′s when I first secured a telephone number in Seattle. I used to get the occasional call from libraries, etc. looking to speak with Mr. Greenleaf. I finally decided to read one of the books since I felt like his non-paid secretary. I’m sure, given the opportunity, I would have been as good as Peggy. Anyhoo, I got hooked and have read all his novels, but yearn for more.