Created by Eddie Muller & Jessica Schmidt
“Whichever way you turn, Fate sticks out a paw to trip you up.”
Anyone who trolls the waters of film noir and noir fiction knows (or ought to know) Eddie Muller. He’s the Czar of Noir, the award-winning author, TCM host, and film noir expert. He’s written novels and must-read non-fiction about the genre, and now he’s written… a kid’s book!
Co-written with Jessica Schmidt, and illustrated by Forrest Burdett, the 2023 picture book, Kid Noir: Kitty Feral and the Case of the Marshmallow Monkey, is something else. It follows suitably hard-boiled private detective KITTY FERAL as she prowls the big city, hunting for a candy-crusted chocolate confection — the “Marshmallow Monkey” of the title. Kitty, in case you haven’t figured it out, is a cat.
The town’s only cat detective, in fact, until she claims to have quit that racket — at least at first. But when he finds out her human pal Cora and her friends have ordered the giant gooey treat which seems to have gone missing, Kitty figures the case is “too sweet to ignore.”
And then Kitty’s good-natured but none-too-swift partner, Mitch the Mutt, goes missing too.
It’s your typical noir burg, a big, unforgiving town filled with dark alleys, rooftops, seedy waterfronts, bookstores, rundown offices and rabbit gangsters, and the tale features regular shout-outs and winks to classic films — sharp-eye noir buffs will quickly spot references to The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and many others. Meanwhile, Forrest Burdett‘s shadowy illustrations (in glorious black and white, with an occasional splash of color) have a definite noir vibe to them, and the first-person narration by Kitty is suitably hard-boiled (snappy and sharp). Purrfect, you might say.
It’s a treat for adults in the know, and it might just strike a spark in some curious kids. For the latter, a final page even clues young readers in on what noir is all about. And… get this… the 32-page picture hardcover is in landscape format because Eddie says it’s “more cinematic.”
BOOKS
Kid Noir: Kitty Feral and the Case of the Marshmallow Monkey (2023) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Kiddie Pulp
Get ’em While They’re Young - “Oh mama I got dem cosmic anthropomorphic P.I. blues again…”
Going to the dogs, the cats and wors
- They Also Served: Eddie Muller
Our take on the Czar of Noir (Hey! I’m working on it!)
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
