Two novellas, the title story originally published in 1950, and a second from 1956, published here, I presume, for the first time. This isn't MacDonald at his best, but the tales are compelling and, as always with this author, you have to stick around until the end.

What ties them together is their focus on women, and what women mean to and do to men. Border Town Girl is the superior tale, of a washed up reporter drinking the last of his book and film royalties in Mexico and becoming unwittingly involved in a scheme to smuggle drugs over the border. There is a lot of atmosphere here--MacDonald always does Mexico well. The two main women, a Mexican prostitute who takes him in, and a gangster's doll who alternately uses and helps him, are good characters. More problematic is the chief bad guy on the scene, Christy. The boss has sent him down to handle things and made a gift of the doll to him. The trouble is that Christy, an ex-circus freak, is supposed to be a bit of a mental case. And most of the time he is, but at other times, he seems pretty shrewd. MacDonald doesn't succeed in making both aspects of his character fit together plausibly. The story's fast pace and well-written action scenes make up for these shortcomings, however.

The second story, Linda, has more problems. The first half of the story really turned me off as the narrator acquiesces in what is going on around him. I won't say what it is, as I'm not into spoilers, but his behavior will drive you batty. Then the big payoff comes, and it's even more extreme than you imagined. From that point on, the story is more satisfying, though very implausible. ( )

Contains both Border town girl and Linda.

Two nouvells in this book, the more interesting one being titled "Linda." Linda missed the morality gene and is one of the best portraits of the negative use of "bitch" I've read. Heck, she beats JDM's "Clemmie." ( )