The three-book Pepperoni Hero series debuted in 1975 and was probably the oddest named series in the men’s adventure genre. It’s hard to learn much about the author, Bill Kelly (Copyright: William Kelly), because there have been dozens of novelists with the same name over the past 50 years. The hard-to-acquire series is a running joke among collectors and fans of the genre, but I’ve never met anyone who has actually read one. I decided to take the plunge.
First, Pepperoni Hero is his real name. The first name is from a drunken father and the last name was historically truncated from Heropoulus by a Greek immigrant ancestor, yet his friends call him Pep or Pepper. The novel is a low-rent tribute (okay, rip-off) to John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series. For example, McGee’ houseboat, “The Busted Flush,” is named after the poker hand that won him the boat. Pepper’s houseboat is called “Crap” because he won his boat in a dice game. On the book’s first page, Pep is in bed reading “John D. MacDonald’s latest Travis McGee satire,” and Pep drinks Plymouth Gin on the rocks, just like McGee. At times, its difficult to tell if this book is outright parody, fan fiction or just an earnest - but inferior- cover band.
Like McGee, Pep is a boat bum with the unusual twist that he’s doing it in Chicago while moored at Navy Pier Marina. He works as an adventurer for hire helping people who can’t enlist the help of the law for one reason or another. This 188-page paperback is one long flashback with Pep recounting his life story to the reader. Some of the stories he tells about his checkered past are very compelling, but I kept wondering when the novel was going to start. Then, all of a sudden, I realized that one of those old war stories was, in fact, the plot of the novel.
The plot deals with Pep helping an old Vietnam War buddy who wants Pep to use his superior poker skills to clean out his wealthy brother-in-law. The reason this is important involves a convoluted and rather stupid sibling rivalry and a dead man’s will with millions at stake. This turns into a murder plot with an impotent bad guy involved in sexual torture, homemade porno movies, and blackmail. Meanwhile, Pep gets laid a lot.
Kelly is actually a pretty good writer but his plotting is an abomination. He does seem to know his way around the neighborhoods and norms of Chicago. The action scenes are well-described, and Pep is a credible badass. The sex scenes, and there are many, are plenty graphic. Finally, the author gives Pep an eight-inch dong - consistent with the league minimum for numbered 1970s paperbacks.
Despite these mitigating factors, the bottom line is that no one in his right mind would ever recommend this mess of a novel to you for anything other than the novelty of the cover. By all means, buy it and display it proudly. But for heaven’s sake, please don’t read it. Only one of us should have to endure this mess of a paperback.
Purchase this book HERE
Julian Mayfield (1928-1984) was an Army vet, taught at Cornell and spent the majority of his life as civil rights activist. He was often associated with communist sympathizers and was even invited to Cuba by Fidel Castro. The South Carolina native wrote a number of plays, adapting one (“417”) into his debut novel, “The Hit”, in 1957. Mayfield's most profound novel of his published trio is “The Long Night”, published in 1958 by Vanguard.
With the description and book cover, it's easy to lump this novel into the crime paperback movement of the 1950s. The tag: “His gang turned on him, the cops were his enemies – the powerful, grim story of a kid on the run in the Harlem jungle.” Blanketing the novel with the sexy heels and mini skirt may have improved sales. Regardless of the clever crime marketing signatures, this novel shouldn't be misplaced into the genre. It just doesn't fit and I'm kicking myself for including it here. But, there's pieces that may appeal to genre fans so I continue.
Main character Fredrick Brown is a ten-year old lieutenant in a dominant Harlem neighborhood gang called The Comanche Raiders. It's a hot Friday night and Brown, nicknamed Steely by his gang, picks up $27 cash for his mother. She won it in some sort of game or street hustle and has trusted him to carry this money back home to her (shades of Jack & The Beanstalk). On his return trek, he runs into members of his own gang who physically assault him. The money is stolen and Brown is forced to locate $27 before he can return home.
Harlem's grime is on full display here. Mayfield isn't restrained, positioning young Brown in precarious situations. Hoping to score quick bucks, Brown robs a woman, steals a bike and receives another assault from a rival gang. The police don't assist, and soon Brown finds himself on the mean streets at midnight with little hope. In emotional flashbacks, we learn that Brown's father left the family to pursue college. Brown recalls various times of his young life and his interaction with his mother. The end is a bit of a surprise and wrapped the narrative up in an open-ended conclusion.
This isn't a gem by any means, but could be viewed as a decent coming of age tale. Considering the timing of its release, Mayfield does a good job displaying the rough and tumble battles between inner city ethnic groups. At 140-pages and large font, it's an easy way to pass the time.
Quarry’s Choice by Max Allan Collins is a 2015 installment in the hit man series, yet it takes place in 1972. The popular paperbacks have always been unstuck in time, and the reading order doesn’t really matter. The important thing is that you do, in fact, read these books because Quarry is among the best genre series characters ever written.
This one takes place after Vietnam vet Quarry has been accepting assassination assignments from the Broker for about a year. During a standard business meeting in Iowa, a couple of hired killers try to murder the Broker but are foiled by Quarry’s quick action. It’s an exciting opening scene that sets the pace for the remainder of this propulsive installment.
Soon thereafter, the Broker engages Quarry to kill the man behind the assassination attempt - a junior varsity racketeer named Killian in Biloxi’s Dixie Mafia. Killian is in the process of trying to consolidate power, and he views the Broker as a loose end requiring elimination. The ever-resourceful Broker has an inside track to get Quarry a job - in an undercover capacity - as one of Killian’s bodyguards to bide time until Quarry is properly positioned to eliminate this well-protected threat.
In Biloxi, Quarry is assigned a stripper/prostitute, who uses the name Lolita, to be his escort as he learns his way around town. As a writer, Collins is notoriously good at writing fantastically graphic sex scenes, so Lolita’s version of southern hospitality is a welcome addition to this otherwise violent and tense paperback. Beyond the sex scenes, the relationship that develops between Quarry and the whore is one of the most satisfying aspects of the novel and underscores the basic goodness and humanity of our antihero hitman.
Biding his time for an opportunity to take out Killian, Quarry is given assignments from his target to thin the herd of criminal competition in Mississippi, and Quarry must make some tough choices concerning conflicts of interest and the ethics serving two masters. The strip clubs and illegal gambling operations servicing the nearby Air Force base in Biloxi serve as a fascinating cultural study of regional crime.
As you may have figured, Quarry’s Choice is another fantastic and perfectly written novel in this flawless series. It’s short enough that it never drags, and Collins’ writing crackles with good humor and compelling bloodshed. The twists and turns as the book approaches its climax is genuinely surprising. The paperback’s conclusion is gratifying and leaves the reader wanting another helping of Quarry action. Highly recommended.
Buy this book HERE
Nebraska native Chet Cunningham penned over 450 books in his lifetime. The prolific author served as a mortar gunner in the Korean war before obtaining a master's in journalism at Columbia University. His first novel was published in 1968, the first of many westerns he would compile in his bibliography. My first introduction to his writing was Stephen Mertz's 'M.I.A. Hunter' books, and much later the 1980s vigilante series 'The Avenger'.
The eponymous debut was released by Warner Books in 1987 and would continue for three sequels through December of 1988. The “Avenger” here is Matthew Hawke, who at the beginning of the series is a DEA agent in San Diego. The opening pages has Hawke masterminding a sting operation in a derelict neighborhood. Barging into a warehouse office, Hawke finds the Mob's hands bloody – with his wife's tortured corpse lying discarded on a desk. After a quick shootout, Hawke's colleagues arrive just in time to accept his badge and gun. Hawke resigns from the force.
The same night, Hawke aligns himself with the lovable Brandy, a 17-yr old prostitute that he has kept tabs on during his career. Daylighting at her place allows him to moonlight as the vengeful avenger, wreaking havoc on drug cartel kingpin Ramon Raimundo. Hawke begins by dismantling the trafficking trails and knocking out mid-level bosses. The author typically uses a chapter to set up the hit, then moves to a quick close with Hawke dealing the deathblow. The chapters and elimination of the cartel eventually moves to the streets of Tijuana and Ramon's fortress.
Cunningham is a good writer for “popcorn” action, adventure and westerns. He's certainly no literary mastermind, but his books serve genre readers with enough bravado and gun toting heroes to satisfy any casual fan. 'The Avenger' is recommended for fans of 'The Executioner', 'The Vigilante', 'Hawker' and 'The Hitman'.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
“The Girl with the Long Green Heart” was a Fawcett Gold Medal paperback original novel by Lawrence Block released in 1965 that was brought back as a Hard Case Crime reprint in 2005 with a new cover by the great Robert McGinnis (although the original cover art was quite fetching). It’s a con-man story in the same vein as “The Sting” and it’s an absolutely terrific read.
Johnny Hayden is a master of the long con with a specialty in land and stock scams. After a stretch in the joint, he’s working in a bowling alley futilely saving his pennies so he can one day break into the hotel business. Johnny receives a visit from a younger, less-experienced fellow grifter named Doug Rance who comes with a proposition for a job. Rance has identified a mark named Wallace Gunderson who is ripe for the picking, but he needs Johnny’s help to make it happen.
Johnny is a great first-person narrator, but it wouldn’t have been much of a story if he declined Rance’s offer and went back to polishing his balls at the bowling alley. Instead, he’s back in the game honing and tweaking Rance’s plan to engage in a little theft by deception. After the initial setup and planning, it’s off to upstate New York to meet the mooch. A good bit of the action also takes place in Toronto, an underused setting in classic crime fiction.
I won’t give too much of the con away here other to say it involves land in Canada that may or may not be of interest to speculators interested in uranium mining. Gunderson is a jackass and a blowhard, so you don’t feel a bit sorry for him as Johnny and Rance work their magic. Rance enlists the help of Gunderson’s secretary, Evelyn, who has her own score to settle with her boss. Evelyn is a scorned woman with larceny in her long green heart and a real looker to boot. She needs to work closely with Johnny to make this scam happen, and, well, you can probably see where this is going.
If you like con-man novels, “The Girl With the Long Green Heart” will be right up your alley. The story’s big twist wasn’t a huge surprise and the conclusion was a bit anti-climactic, but it was a blast to read from beginning to end. It’s another early-career winner from Lawrence Block. Recommended.
Purchase this book HERE
New York author Leonard Zinberg utilized the pen name Ed Lacy for his solid run of 1950s and 1960s crime paperbacks. He wrote nearly 30 novels in this span, including “Lead with Your Left”, published in 1957. Like a majority of Lacy's work, it features a former boxer as a main character.
While firmly entrenched in the mystery and crime genre, “Lead with Your Left” is a poignant study of young marriage. It's the trials and tribulations of young love weighed against the financial burdens of new careers. For me, that's the thread weaving this enjoyable crime novel together. Lacy speaks from the heart with a realistic, grim approach to his storytelling. Much like popular contemporary David Goodis, Lacy is swept up with famine, love, loss and the proverbial triumph over adversity.
The novel's protagonist is Dave Wintino, a baby-faced rookie detective in NY who is striving to survive in the battle ground of marriage, work and bills. From the book's opening we learn that Dave and his wife Mary are at odds over his career choice. Mary, hoping her spouse would join her uncle's fabric business, is embarrassed to be a “cop's wife” and that his youth and smarts are wasted on what she perceives as meaningless work. Adding more abrasion, Dave's peers at the precinct refuse to accept him based on his size and young appearance. But, we quickly come to understand this character – former Army vet and ex-boxer with an iron determination to complete a job or assignment at any cost.
Dave's case is the death of retired detective Owens. He was found shot with nonnegotiable bonds in an alleyway. While the senior detectives work around Dave as if he is an obstruction, the young detective takes it upon himself to solve the crime on and off the payroll. He finds that both Owens and his partner Wales put away a murderer/gangster years ago and there may be a connection. Running with a revenge scenario, Dave's investigation ascends the ranks once Wales is found murdered as well. While working with family and former colleagues, Dave is able to connect the dots and determine that all isn't what it appears to be.
Lacy's positioning of a failing marriage into the narrative is important. As the Owens investigation continues, Dave is assigned a watchmen role for a young journalist who is harassed by a company she is exposing in print. Lusting after the young woman, Dave bounces freedom and individuality off the marriage brick house, contemplating his life and career choices. The book's pivotal point is finding the surprise connection between the two cases. Once that's established, the book races to a fiery crescendo as Dave faces the murderer without the precinct's help.
The bottom line – Lacy is a master of his domain. I thoroughly have enjoyed his work and continue to seek out his name on those dusty store shelves. “Lead with Your Left” is a compelling and enjoyable read. Recommended.
Buy a copy of the book HERE
The March 1980 edition of ‘Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine’ (MSMM) featured a “New Novelette” by reliably great Texas writer James Reasoner called “Death and The Dancing Shadows.” The story was later reprinted in the essential 1987 collection, “The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction,” and it’s also now available as a stand-alone story on Kindle for a buck. Since I count myself as a Reasoner superfan, I was excited to read it.
This was one of five “Markham P.I.” stories that Reasoner wrote during the 1980s. Markham is a Hollywood-based private eye who serves as a troubleshooter for clients - mostly in the entertainment industry. This time around, Markham’s client is aging movie cowboy Lucky Tremaine who’s being blackmailed by an unknown adversary. The blackmailer has a sex tape starring Lucky’s beloved 18 year-old granddaughter, and he wants $10,000 or he’ll release the tape to the world. (Evidently this story was written before sex tapes were a door to wealth and fame as a reality TV star.)
The more Markham learns about the situation, the more cause for concern arises. The granddaughter is a student at USC, but she’s been missing for three days. Markham endeavors to find the missing girl and identify and neutralize the blackmailers. All of this eventually leads to a murder that Markham is also obliged to solve. He’s a P.I. with a lot to do, and only a handful of “Novelette” pages to get it all done.
An average reader of private eye stories will probably see the first big plot twist coming, but the subsequent twists were legitimately surprising and made for an exciting read. This is a testament to Reasoner’s writing talents as he clearly has been both a student and a practitioner of pulp fiction mystery writing for his entire life.
“Death and The Dancing Shadows” ends with a satisfying conclusion answering the one remaining mystery left unsolved in the story. As a hero, Markham is a decent character but is largely indistinguishable from many other fictional American private eyes. This could have just as easily been a Mike Shayne, Peter Chambers, or Johnny Liddell story, and if you’re a fan of that type of thing, there’s a lot to enjoy here as well.
Mostly, it’s cool that this “Novelette” has stood the test of time and is still available for purchase at a reasonable price 38 years after its original publication. There’s nothing revolutionary or groundbreaking here, but it’s a solid private eye mystery and an easy recommendation.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
'The Vigilante' installment “Knock, Knock, You're Dead” is the fourth book of Robert Lory's action series. It was released in 1976 by Pinnacle and is the first of the series to feature a painted cover. Thankfully, Lyle Kenyon Engel disposed of the silly photography and model from the first trio of books, moving to painted covers for the second half of this six-book series.
Surprisingly, “Knock, Knock,...” is positioned just three weeks from the horrendous subway assault on protagonist Joseph Madden. New readers will quickly understand that Madden is The Vigilante, avenging the murder of his wife by visiting various locales and thwarting crime with a .38 revolver. The excuse for the travel? Madden works for a security firm and provides consulting to clients nationwide. Thus, the first week was hot lead in NY, followed by death and destruction in LA and San Fran and now, this third week, a consulting trip to Chicago for a new client. It's a massive body count but the author manages to hold on to some semblance of Madden's vulnerability and weakness. Honestly, he's just an average guy that blunders his way through gun fights.
This novel is fairly elementary – stop some baddies from blowing up a building. It's a thin plot, hampered by sketchy details that just leads to Madden versus the bomber. There's a few fights, some investigative work and then the inevitable gun fight. Our vigilante upgrades to a Mauser .32 pistol, effectively demonstrated in a comparison scene where Madden must choose between the revolver's performance stability and the Mauser's bullet capacity. This was a nice change of pace and adds to the series' evolution of a “rookie” Madden ascending through the ranks of vigilante classes (there is such a thing in this genre!).
Unlike the first two novels, “Knock, Knock,...” continues to include more and more sex. Like other genre offerings of this era, the women are simply sexual fodder. Here, Madden decides he “will have” a beautiful waitress. The two flirt and eventually Madden stomps in and finds that the waitress is simply waiting all day at the coffee maker for Madden to bed her down. In another scene, Madden punishes a crime queen by bringing her to orgasm multiple times (the horror!). It's cheesy, ridiculous...but I keep reading them. I'm already scoping out books five and six on my bookshelf.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
Writing as Jon Sharpe, author Jon Messman was the primary architect and ghostwriter behind the popular adult western series, ‘The Trailsman.’ In 1989, Signet Books launched a new series called ‘Canyon O’Grady’ also using the Jon Sharpe house name, so it only made sense to have Messman pen the inaugural installment.
The premise of the Canyon O’Grady books is pretty interesting, and it’s quite similar in structure to Longarm. Canyon is a “U.S. Government Agent” who gets his investigative assignments directly from U.S. President James Buchanan. For instance, in Book 2, POTUS asks Canyon to protect the man working on a new invention called “the machine gun” before the device falls into the wrong hands. Book 5 finds Canyon working double duty to protect political rivals Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln from terrorists seeking to disrupt the next U.S. presidential election.
When asked the difference between a federal marshal and a U.S. Government agent, Canyon explains: “A federal marshal arrests people and brings them in. Sometimes he does some law-keeping. Mostly, though, he’s the arresting arm of the federal government. A government agent tracks down trouble and troublemakers anywhere and everywhere. Federal marshals have a territory. I go anywhere the trail takes me.”
The first book in the series takes place along the wild and lawless Kentucky-Tennessee border in 1859 where Canyon is undercover on a special assignment from the President involving the mysterious death of Meriwether Lewis of Lewis & Clark fame 50 years earlier - a cold-case homicide that becomes a manhunt and a treasure hunt.
Shortly after his arrival into a small Kentucky town, Canyon witnesses a targeted murder of a man who might have some answers regarding Lewis’ death. It turns out that the victim is one of several close associates suffering assassinations at the hands of hired hit squads because of a shared secret in their past. Only one of the group has survived and his comely daughter wants Canyon to find her reclusive and hidden father before it’s too late.
Because this is an adult western, you can count on regular breaks in the action for some mandatory graphic sex scenes. It took 37 pages for Canyon to get laid in the debut, so you know the author was really committed to the main plot. However, never fear - there’s also a substantial amount of cinematic and grizzly violence to keep the pages flying by.
Messman includes lots of details and backstory regarding our hero. Canyon was conceived in Ireland and born in the U.S. His father was an Irish revolutionary fleeing British rule with a price on his head. Canyon was classically educated by wise and learned Catholic friars and often quotes ancient Greek poets and sings Irish folk songs. He rides a beautiful palomino horse named Cormac after the Irish king of the 8th Century.
A fair amount of the novel is Canyon traveling through the wilderness accompanied by a beautiful girl in search of her father. They encounter many obstacles along the way requiring Canyon to save the girl’s bacon from mountain lions and rapey fur trappers. At times, the intensity of the violence approaches the level of the Edge series when the bullets begin to fly and the blood starts to flow. Meanwhile, the central mystery regarding the assassinations is remarkably compelling for a pulpy paperback.
The Canyon O’Grady series lasted for 25 books before folding in 1993. The authors changed hands with Chet Cunningham writing several and Robert Randisi delivering the final eight books. Canyon O’Grady and Skye “Trailsman” Fargo actually team up in Trailsman #100. As for this first episode, it’s an outstanding debut that makes the reader want to dig deeper into this fascinating hero. Recommended.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
The May, 1957 issue of “Adventure” magazine featured four short stories by the likes of Dick Halvorsen, Robert Zacks, Jack Daniels and James Miller. A western novel entitled “Gunmen Die Sudden” by Will Cook was included, along with artwork from the likes of Bob Schultz and Gil Cohen. Looking for a quick western read, I chose unknown author James Miller and his short story “Manhunt”.
The story introduces us to Cree warrior Iron Legs, a brave who has abnormally short legs and long, dangling arms. Iron Legs is a hunter in his tribe, and they welcome a trio of trappers just before the heavy winter hits the Canadian Rockies. The trio are led by a cruel Cree known as Fire Hair and consists of a drunk white man and a typically hated Blackfoot. Iron Legs, fearing the worst but hoping for the best, braces for a confrontation with the three.
Meanwhile, a tribesman named Soaring Eagle comes across a young Chipewyan woman and her brother stranded on a riverbank in the wilderness. The two, along with their father, had been cast out of their own tribe due to signs of smallpox. Soaring Eagle finds them kneeling at their father's grave and brutally kills and scalps the Chipewyan man. After taking the woman forcefully by horseback, he trades her to Iron Legs for two robes. Iron Legs cares for the woman and the two begin to sew the seeds of a relationship.
While Iron Legs is off hunting, the trio led by Fire Hair leave the camp with the Chipewyan woman. When Iron Legs returns, he finds that she has been taken. Thus the bulk of the story is spent on this mono-myth telling of the Cree warrior hunting and finding his lover. Through the snowy mountains into Alberta, Iron Legs tracks the trio and fights them one by one. The final confrontation revolves around the bound woman on a frosty, windswept ridge (captured perfectly by artist Bob Schultz).
This is a short - but stocky - read that really captures the essence of the American western; hardmen, hard living, love and vengeance. There's plenty of gun and knife play to fill this 20-minute read. I'm not sure what else James Miller has written. Unfortunately, it's a rather common name with a lot of online avenues to travel in an attempt to locate his work and biography (which probably is a pseudonym to begin with). Overall, you can do a lot worse than “Manhunt”.
“Saturday Night Town” was Harry Whittington’s 1956 release with Fawcett World Library’s imprint, Crest Books, featuring an attractive cover art by Barye Philips. It’s an anomaly in the vast library of Whittington in that it’s a highly-regarded novel that has never been reprinted since it’s debut 62 years ago. It’s been reported that the short book was Kathryn Whittington’s favorite of her husband’s work.
The action in “Saturday Night Town” takes place over a single April evening in rural and rainy Cottonseed, Florida. For a small town, Saturday nights in Cottonseed are generally hopping social events sandwiched between Friday’s farming and Sunday’s church services.
Bill Beckmon is a good doctor who cares deeply about the well-being of his patients. Despite this, he is passed up for a promotion in the local hospital much to his own disappointment and his wife’s frustration. This has got him thinking about leaving town and the people who need his services. Most of Dr. Bill’s practice is made up of poor crackers who can’t afford to pay their medical bills. A rundown of Dr. Bill’s patients - rich and poor - is the means by which Whittington introduces the reader to the first wave of the ensemble cast of characters in this book.
And there sure are a lot of characters in “Saturday Night Town.” I needed a cheat sheet to keep track of them all. The book is only 144 pages but the army of named characters moving the plot - or plots - forward made it feel a bit like “Game of Thrones.” Within the first 30 pages, we meet 20 characters of varying significance. It was like a soap opera with throngs of protagonists.
And it was all too much for me. Things happen. Storylines cross. Conflicts escalate and erupt. Couples form and others break it off. But it was all a bit of a jumbled mess and a slog to read. I love Harry Whittington, but this isn’t one of his best despite what you may have heard. There’s a good reason it was never reprinted - it’s just no good.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
The beloved 'Spenser' series of private eye novels originated in 1973 with “The Godwulf Manuscript.” Parker wrote 40 entries in the series until his death in 2010. His last Spenser was “Sixkill”, published posthumously, and an unfinished manuscript entitled “Silent Night”, later completed by literary agent Helen Brann in 2013.
Spenser is often cited as Parker's take on the Southern California private eyes of the 1930s and 40s, modernized for the 70s audience and positioned in Boston. The series is hardboiled, with an intense, fast-moving pace that eventually caught the eye of the television lens in 1985. ABC's “Spenser: For Hire” starred Robert Ulrich as the Boston gumshoe, and gained some footing with audiences for three seasons, 66 episodes and four films for Lifetime. Joe Mantegna would later capture the role for three television movies on the A&E network. Parker once described the impact of the television show on his work as “no more effect on my writing than Monday Night Football.” (TV Guide June 20, 1987)
Very little is revealed in terms of Spenser's backstory. In this debut novel, we learn that he was a former cop who was fired for insubordination. The first name is never revealed for the length of the series, but questions about the last name are quickly erased as Spenser introduces himself to a college dean; “It's with an S, not a C. Like the English poet, S-p-e-n-s-e-r.” There's mention of an estranged lover and that he was in the military in Korea. His office is in Boston, he drives a rag-top convertible, works out, has a penchant for cooking and loves beer. You now know just as much as the next Spenser fan.
The first assignment has Spenser hired by a Boston university to locate stolen property referred to as The Godwulf Manuscript. The culprit is suspected as SCACE, a far-left fringe group just looking for a cause in the form of the Student Committee Against Capitalist Exploitation. Spenser gets a lead on a young student named Terry Orchard, who is later found drugged with a smoking gun beside her dead boyfriend. The Boston PD, who really hate Spenser, finger Orchard for the crime but Spenser has reason to believe that the person who stole the manuscript is behind the murder. The investigation leads our main character through the bowels of the university, from a drug dealing professor to a local mobster, while carefully traipsing through the posh neighborhoods of Boston tracking Orchard's family and friends.
This is a speed-read at 180 pages, high on action and intensity, fueled by Parker's remarkable writing style. The author writes Spenser in the first person, but the truly incredible part of his technique is relaying to the reader everything Spenser sees in these characters and places. It's almost a left to right visualization that easily placed me in the sticky gumshoes of this captivating man named Spenser. The masters can do this well and Parker proves he's easily in that elite company.
Further, Spenser's witty and sarcastic dialogue is priceless. Whenever he faces stiff superiors (although he boldly dismisses any hierarchy), he throws out delightful one-liners like, “Can I feel your muscle?” or his own profession's ridicule like, “The ones with phones are in the yellow pages under SLEUTH”. In some ways I can't help but think Spenser had an impact on Max Allan Collins' creation of the equally sarcastic 'Quarry' or maybe how “X-Files” creator Chris Carter developed FBI agent Fox Mulder (who, in his own right, had some great dialogue with superiors).
Based on my limited experience of reading just this one lone Spenser novel, I could foresee easily reading 10-12 of these in quick succession over a short period of time. I have 40ish novels to enjoy, so I'm going to pace myself. “The Godwulf Manuscript” is one of the best of the best.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
“The Seventh” by Richard Stark (a pseudonym of Donald Westlake) was released in 1966 as the seventh book in the Parker series. The book was re-released in 1968 as “The Split” - with far superior cover art - coinciding with the movie adaptation starring Jim Brown in the Parker role.
As the novel opens, Parker is laying low in a girl’s home with the cash proceeds from a recent seven-man heist. He steps out for a few minutes to run an errand and upon his return, finds his hostess/sex partner murdered with a ceremonial sword and the heist proceeds missing. Did someone come to steal the loot and decide to kill the girl? Or did someone come to kill the girl and hit the jackpot by lucking into $134,000 in heist proceeds? This is the novel’s central mystery for Parker to solve.
Like many Parker novels, “The Seventh” is told in a manner that is unstuck in time. The reader gets to see selected scenes multiple times from the perspectives of various characters. It’s a narrative stunt that works because Westlake could write his ass off.
The flashback to the heist makes for awesome reading. The seven-man crew successfully robs the gate receipts from a stadium on college football Saturday. The plan was for Parker to hold the dough until the heat subsides and then each member of the crew would get their seventh. The theft of the money from Parker’s hideout throws a monkey-wrench in that plan.
Parker plays detective as he tries to solve the murder of his temporary girlfriend and recover the money with the assistance of his irritated crew. Meanwhile, the local police are also trying to solve both the homicide and the robbery of the stadium cash room. It’s a legitimate whodunnit executed perfectly by Westlake with the best scene being Parker’s brazen and audacious handling of the local cops.
There’s plenty of blood and gunplay in this one, and the violent ending set piece is among the best in the series. Westlake was at the top of his game with “The Seventh” and fans of the series should consider it a “must-read.” Highly recommended.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
Stark House Press has just released a reprinting of Gil Brewer's 1958 novel “The Red Scarf” and his 1954 book “A Killer is Loose”. The two works are packaged together with a forward from the esteemed Paul Bishop, author of “Lie Catchers” and “Deep Water”. Brewer is a staple of the crime paperback empire, writing over 30 novels in a career that spanned 1951-1970. Despite being a fixture in the genre, his selling prowess never came to fruition.
“The Red Scarf”, the subject of this review, is described by Bishop as “noir at its finest – comparable to any exploration of human darkness before or since”. While I wasn't as moved as much as Bishop, I found this crime novel intriguing in its dissection of greed and its effect on the human condition. It's a familiar and rather elementary story involving a briefcase of stolen cash from the mob. It seems to be the premise of nearly every noir crime, some sort of heist that goes incredibly wrong for the inexperienced planner and performer.
Roy Nichols and his wife Bess are in a tough spot. They own a roadside motel that doesn't actually feature a road. The acquisition of the motel was in hopes that a planned road would be built through town. However, the city has nixed the idea and Roy has been rejected for additional loans by the bank and his own brother. Roy runs into Teece and his wife Vivian on a lonely stretch of road. Teece is running money for the mob from state to state and has decided to steal a briefcase of cash. After wrecking and seemingly dying, both Roy and Vivian escape unhurt and venture to Roy's motel in Florida with the money. It's here that things get somewhat complicated.
Teece wants to pay Roy to keep her safe at the motel. She's fearing the mob will find her and the money. Roy, hoping to keep all of this a secret from Bess, agrees but second guesses everything. He is constantly looking over his shoulder for the police, mobsters and even a dead Teece in fits of paranoia that may not be worth the price. When the police and a hitman start snooping around the motel...things get wacky and unhinged.
Brewer tinkers with everyday people and puts them in precarious situations. Thus, “The Red Scarf” wraps snugly around the reader, tightening in just the right places to make this one a stressful, high-tension read. The police interrogations are worth the price of admission and watching Roy's nervous antics and jitterbug dances between Bess, Vivian and the law were particularly enjoyable. While there isn't a great deal of action, suspenseful negotiating more than makes up for the absence of guns and fists. I'd recommend “The Red Scarf” to anyone looking for suspenseful fiction.
Buy your copy here.
There is widespread agreement that the Big Three masterpieces in James M. Cain’s body of work are “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” “Double Indemnity,” and “Mildred Pierce.” However, I’m told there are plenty of gems in Cain’s back-catalog worth exploring. “The Embezzler” was a short novel by Cain that was written in 1938 and sold as a serial to a publication called “Liberty” followed by reappearance as a stand-alone paperback,many compilations and paperback doubles. At times, the book was also released as “The Money and the Woman.”
The story is told by a bank executive named Dave who is sent to Glendale to investigate unusually high deposit activity in the bank’s smallest branch. Dave meets the man responsible for the booming deposit business, the head teller named Charles Brent, whose explanation is that he strongly encourages the local workers to save their money in the bank rather than squander it. Seems reasonable enough.
A few weeks later, Dave is visited at his home by Brent’s very pretty wife, Sheila. She tells Dave that Brent is sick and needs medical treatment. The only way Brent will seek help is if he knows someone trustworthy will be temping for him while he’s away. Brent suggests that she knows the job well enough to do it in his absence. Dave likes the idea of having pretty Sheila around for a couple weeks and agrees.
Relationship-wise, you can see where this is heading. With Dave and Sheila working closely together while Brent is in the hospital, the co-workers become closer and a level of inappropriate intimacy arises. Then, all of a sudden, Dave stumbles upon an apparent embezzlement scheme at the bank that appears to have been orchestrated by Brent, Sheila, or both.
That’s the set-up. A hardboiled forensic accounting crime story will only thrill readers so much without something special added to the mix. In this case, it’s Dave’s starry-eyed infatuation with Sheila that drives his bad decisions into golden noir territory. What happens next is a tension-filled white-collar crime novel that culminates in an explosion of violence and criminality. Recommended.
Appendix:
In addition to a couple stand-alone paperback printings, “The Embezzler” (aka “The Money and The Woman”) appeared in the following James M. Cain compilations:
Three of a Kind
The Baby in the Icebox
Everybody Does It
The Complete Crime Stories
Two Novels (with Double Indemnity)
There are likely others. If you own a Cain compilation, check it out as there’s a good chance this terrific little gem is included.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
1975's Fawcett Gold Medal crime novel “Hard to Kill” was penned by Duane Schermerhorn using the pseudonym James Marcott. The little known Canadian writer also wrote two entries for the 'C.A.T.' series as Spike Andrews before moving into action and adventure obscurity. Over the years, Schermerhorn has contributed to information technology literature as well as dabbling in plays, music lyrics and reviews. While fans ponder his absence from the genre, we're left with a fantastic heist yarn that practically begs for a sequel or subsequent adventure starring specialist Richard Decker (the series could have been DECKER!).
Jailbreak aficionado Decker summarizes his latest assignment, springing high-profile criminal Gunnert from a Toronto jail: “This is the toughest job I ever heard of, and I haven't even seen the jail yet. My God, you want the guy sprung right away, and I'll have to do it before Browning does. On top of that the guy's a cop-killer, I've got no connections inside, and Farrell has his whole gang gunning for me. The cops could be keeping Gunnert in a paper bag and this would be tough. I'm letting myself in for a lot of trouble spinning him. I wouldn't touch this for less than a hundred Gs.”
By 1975, the heist novels had been perfected already by 60s heavyweights like Dan J. Marlowe and Donald Westlake. So, it's hard to be innovative and original using well-worn conventions. Honestly, “Hard to Kill” isn't. But, it's strength lies in the characters and narrative and with these elements Schermerhorn excels. It's a blistering 140-page burner that never lifts off the gas.
Decker is hired by a crime lord named Ryerson to spring a notable cop-killer named Gunnert. While the importance of the criminal is a secret to Decker and the reader, by book's end we're all in the know. Arriving at that point has our protagonist facing Ryerson's enemy Farrell, who has his own men and agenda to retrieve Gunnert first. It's no easy task, as Decker learns while casing the facility. It's multiple stories with a lot of personnel, brick and mortar. Increasing the difficulty level is the high-profile “protection” aspect. Gunnert is a bit of a prized catch for the Toronto PD. Considering the risks, Decker asks for $100Gs to make the break.
Like any good crime novel, we need accomplices and a girl. In this case Decker recruits the equally able Yorkin and Anderson while falling in love with a colleague's sister, the lovable Valery. In a backstory, we learn that Decker grew up pushing drugs. His kid sister got hooked on his own stock and became a street junkie. Now, Decker hates drugs and pushers and must walk a thin line between right and wrong – which eventually puts him at odds with the job he's accepted.
The novel is loaded with the familiar tropes – recruitment, gunfights, car chases, romance and the inevitable double-cross. But from who and when? That's where the novel eventually gains momentum, unwinding a slick story that never becomes trapped in the details or chores. Decker and his creator showcases enough talent to prove it isn't “Hard to Thrill”. Hunt down a copy of this old paperback. It's worth the time and monetary investment.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
In 1975, Fawcett Gold Medal published a stand-alone action-crime paperback called “Hard to Kill” by James Marcott. The enjoyable novel concerned a jailbreak expert named Richard Decker hired by a crime lord to spring a high-profile criminal from prison. The book was a fun read, but it wasn’t a commercial success. It never saw life beyond the initial 8,000 copy print-run. Copies remain available in used bookstores, and are often traded among vintage paperback collectors and readers, but it has mostly fallen into obscurity.
And the world never heard from James Marcott again – whoever he was.
Jump forward to 1982. Warner Books had a hit on their hands with the ‘Dirty Harry’ paperbacks and wanted to create a buddy-cop series along the same lines as part of the publisher’s new “Men of Action” brand. This was the genesis of the C.A.T.: Crisis Aversion Team series by Spike Andrews. The books featured frenetic action, sex, and violence to satisfy the men’s adventure market that was thriving in the early 80s. The plan was to release a monthly C.A.T. book and watch the cash pour in. Unfortunately, due to floundering sales, new editors at Warner Books decided to cancel publication after only releasing three installments.
And the world never heard from Spike Andrews again – whoever he was.
Connecting the dots between James Marcott and Spike Andrews required a deep dive into U.S. Copyright records that listed the name Duane Schermerhorn as the man behind both pseudonyms. Some further Google searches located a man by that name in Canada who is now a highly-regarded local photographer. Could this be the same guy? It seemed like a promising lead as “Hard to Kill” took place in Toronto – an unusual setting for an action novel at the time. I found a Flikr page showcasing Schermerhorn’s photos and sent him a message through the app to find out if he was hidden author I was seeking.
Hours later, I received a message from Schermerhorn confirming that we was, in fact, the man behind the James Marcott and Spike Andrews pen names.
“I had been a reader of mysteries all my life,” he explained, “and when I graduated from college, I decided to try my hand at writing them. I tried a number of different genres - eccentric amateur detective, private eye, innocent guy caught in a conspiracy - but it wasn't until I tried the anti-hero genre that I got a work published.”
Schermerhorn created Richard Decker as a logical series character. “When I conceived ‘Hard to Kill,’ I was modeling the character, and to a large degree the story, on Richard Stark's Parker books. That series was, to my mind, the pinnacle of the anti-hero stories. I was thrilled to be accepted by Fawcett, and was very much aware of their role in the field. I was particularly fond of John D. MacDonald's books, and thought that most of Donald Hamilton's books in the Matt Helm series were better than their hardcover equivalents. It was, of course, a fantasy of mine to join the ranks of the legendary paperback-original writers.”
Both Schemerhorn and his literary agent were excited at the prospect that the Decker series may have a future “After I submitted the second manuscript in the series, my agent told me that there was interest in making the first into a movie with Roy Scheider playing the lead. Nothing materialized, which isn't uncommon for these sorts of projects.”
Schemerhorn wrote a total of three books in the Decker series but after “Hard To Kill” failed to catch fire, there wasn’t much interest in publishing the other two books. They never saw the light of day and exist as pages collecting dust among the author’s unpublished works.
Even though Decker failed to make Schemerhorn – or James Marcott, rather – the next Richard Stark, it wasn’t all a loss. “It got me a New York literary agent, which was a big step forward.” This publishing industry contact opened the door to Warner Books who was looking for a buddy cop series, and the C.A.T. series was born.
“I met with the editor to understand what sort of series this was to be. He wanted a high-volume series, with books being published every couple of months. This sort of pace basically cannot be maintained by a single writer, so there was to be at least two in the C.A.T. series - more if the series took off. The two of us were contracted to write three books each. I wrote 1, 3, and 5 and a writer in North Carolina [George Ryan] was to write 2, 4, and 6.”
Schemerhorn wrote the ‘bible’ for the C.A.T. series to ensure continuity among the other authors who would one day be brought on board as the series achieved the literary status of The Executioner and The Destroyer. “After the release of C.A.T. #1, the editor sent a note requesting more sex and violence. So in #3, I raised the level to near-parody,” Schemerhorn confessed. “I wrote all three of the books I was contracted for and I assume my co-author did the same. But the series didn't do well, and I think only the first three were actually published.”
And that was the end of the C.A.T. series. Books 1-3 came and went without much fanfare and only exist today as collector’s items for men’s adventure paperback fanatics. Books 4-6 never saw publication, and it’s unlikely that they will ever be read by anyone.
“After awhile, my interest in the genre waned and I moved away from novels. I wrote short stories, a screenplay, a play, and many poems. I had limited success - published poems and a play that was workshopped - but not enough to earn a living as a writer. So I left the profession all together.” Schemerhorn shifted gears in his artistic pursuits and found success as a photographer whose work is currently shown in Canadian art galleries.
The C.A.T. books were work-for-hire gigs for Warner Books, so Schemerhorn did not maintain the intellectual property rights to the characters, the stories, or the books that he sold to the publisher. “Hard to Kill” is a different story. Fawcett Gold Medal permitted authors to keep the rights to their work, which is why we still have the Matt Helm and Parker books available to us today as reprints. As such, Schemerhorn still owns the rights to “Hard to Kill” as well as the two unpublished books in the Decker series. With the eBook and self-publishing revolution of the past decade, is it possible that the world may see the full Decker series available for modern readers?
“Yeah, it does sound interesting and appealing. I'd have to look into what all is involved. But I think I might have a look.”
Fingers crossed.
Acknowledgement:
After jumping through the hoops and doing the online research to unmask Mr. Schemerhorn, I was embarrassed to see that the work had already been done by the excellent Trash Menace blog in their review of C.A.T. #1. So, a humble hat tip in to our colleagues over there for beating us to the scoop. Cheers!
Addendum
This was the first time that Duane Schermerhorn was ever interviewed about his writing in the men’s adventure fiction genre. He seemed genuinely excited that anyone remembered and enjoyed his body of work in the paperback fiction world. After his interview with Paperback Warrior but before the publication of this article, we received word that Mr. Schemerhorn died suddenly from a ruptured aortic aneurysm on September 28, 2018 in Toronto. We are sorry Mr. Schemerhorn never read this article but happy that we could play a small part in remembering this aspect of his creative life.
Between 1954 and 1959, Florida author William Fuller wrote six Brad Dolan mystery paperbacks for Dell about an American playboy who finds mystery and adventure while bumming around the Caribbean in his rickety houseboat. “Brad Dolan’s Miami Manhunt” is the fifth book in the series from 1958, but there’s no particular reason why they need to be read in order.
As a hero, Dolan is a can-do guy in a laid-back shell. His only ambitions are “blue water, sunshine - and freedom.” In practice, Dolan funds his freedom by doing some low-level smuggling throughout the Caribbean - mostly guns, booze, smokes, and people. As required, he’s got an eye for the ladies and very specific feelings about the appropriate breast size. And while he’s unlikely to ever get booked on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” he’s quick with a funny wisecrack at just the right times.
In this Miami-based adventure, Dolan finds himself on vacation while his boat is being repaired. Upon arrival at his hotel, he meets a stripper with all the correct proportions who asks him to help recover money that her dead husband squirreled away before his demise. Faster than you can say “Travis McGee,” Dolan is on the case. The stripper - Marta is her name - thinks she knows where the money is stashed, but bad guys are after her to get that information. She offers to split the dough - a cool quarter million - with Dolan, which will help fund his roustabout lifestyle for years into the future.
Almost right away, things go sideways. Dolan is tailed by an unknown shadow and he is questioned by police for a crime he didn’t commit. The hidden cash is somehow tied into an airline pilot who recently went missing in a Caribbean banana republic, and Dolan turns gumshoe to get the straight dope on the pilot’s disappearance in hopes that it will open the door to the hidden fortune.
I don’t know much about the author, William Fuller, but he was likely very different than most of the genre paperback scribes of the 1950s. The back of “Brad Dolan’s Miami Manhunt” has a photo of the impossibly handsome, shirtless, muscular writer with the bio, “Like his fictional creation, Fuller’s been around himself - merchant seaman, hobo, movie bit player, infantryman on Guam, Leyte, and Okinawa. He now lives in Winter Haven, Florida.” It sounds like Fuller lived a remarkable life and channeled his experiences into his fiction.
At 160 stubby Dell pages, this Brad Dolan adventure wasn’t a huge time-commitment, but it was a lot of fun to read. Given Fuller’s looks, charisma, and talent, the real mystery may be why he remains largely unknown today. At the very least, it was good enough to motivate me to seek out the other five books in the series. Recommended.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
Gold Eagle brought us the fourth volume of Laurence James' 'Deathlands' saga in August of 1987. “Crater Lake” picks up after the happenings of the third book, “Neutron Solstice”. From the hot Mississippi basin, the group entered the redoubt only to emerge in frigid Oregon. It's a return back to the harsh winter elements found in “Red Holocaust”. After a quick hike down the road they come to the bizarre little town of Ginnsburg Falls.
The town is strictly organized into a hierarchy that places women well below social classes. In Ginnsburg Falls, women exist for breeding and slavery. This theme has run rampant in doomsday and prepper fiction so it's nothing too original or innovative. Quickly, series' mainstays Lori and Krysty are placed in holding pens and it's just a matter of time before Ryan fights back. After a stoning ritual, the team manages to escape security and heads into the forbidden north region, a volcanic island called Crater Lake.
The team stumbles on what appears to be another redoubt in an area called the Wizard Island Complex for Scientific Advancement. Essentially, it's a fortified lab that once housed over 1,500 scientists. Cutting themselves off from civilization, the group resulted to inbreeding over the years and now the remaining party is 60 psychos that are hoping to destroy the Earth again. After targeting Jak for research, the team find themselves prisoners on the island with another “escape the bad guys” narrative.
The book is really two story-lines that are very comparable to each other. One, escape Ginnsburg Falls and the second is the island fiasco. There's the prison aspect, a few firefights and an enjoyable adventure to be found, but it's really starting to become redundant and borrowed at this point. I hope the series does improve, but based on this book alone I may be ready to retire early. Of note is a hint of who and where Doc originally came from as well as the death of a major character. No spoilers here.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
Although he never rose to the commercial success of his contemporaries, Robert Colby was a productive author of paperback original novels for Fawcett Gold Medal and Ace during the 1950s and 1960s. Meanwhile, he was also a regular contributor of short stories to ‘Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine’ and ‘Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.’ “The Star Trap” was Colby’s 1960 release for Fawcett Gold Medal. The book was also reprinted by Manor Books in 1974, and it exists as an affordable eBook today.
Our narrator is Hollywood B-list actor Glenn Harley who is awakened by a 3 a.m. hysterical phone call from starlet Nancy Rhymer - a mere acquaintance - needing help. Glenn rushes to Nancy’s home to find her in a revealing nightgown with a fellow actor lying dead on the floor with a knife wound in his chest. For reasons not fully revealed at first, Nancy wants Glenn’s help in concealing the murder.
The act of stashing a body to get in good with a beautiful girl inevitably involves complications, and it wouldn’t be a femme fatale noir story without them. I won’t give away the store in this review, but suffice to say I found myself muttering, “Oh man, this is getting good,” several times throughout the short novel. At points, there is a disappearing corpse, a missing bundle of cash, some crooked cops, and an honest-to-goodness nymphomaniac. Fun for everyone.
“The Star Trap” isn’t a masterpiece of the genre by any means, but it’s a pretty enjoyable - and very short - paperback to kill a few hours. I’ve heard that Colby’s best work was his 1959 thriller, “The Captain Must Die,” and I intend to check that one out in the near future. Stay tuned.
Buy a copy of this book HERE
