THE SECRET OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. Author: Jeremy Paul; based on the characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle. First performed at the Wyndham Theatre, London, in the 1988-1989 season for some two hundred performances. Revived: March 2010, with Peter Egan (Holmes) and Philip Franks (Watson) in the two leading roles.

   This was a touring production of a play that had previously been in the West End, a few years back, with Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke as Holmes and Watson. I had seen their performance twice, once in a pre-West End outing in Guildford which was very disappointing since Brett kept stumbling over his lines, and secondly in the West End, near the end of the run, which was much more enjoyable.

   In this present tour Peter Egan was Holmes and Philip Franks was Watson, the same pairing that I had seen a couple of years ago in a tour of The Hound of the Baskervilles. That time I was a little disappointed in the performances but here they seemed much better and were comfortable in their roles.

   In the first part of this two-hander we are treated to the background story with Watson looking for someone to share digs with, meeting Holmes and setting up in 221b. We are taken through certain events, if not the actual cases, so some talk of Irene Adler, Watson’s marriage and eventually Holmes’s clash with Moriarty, and his return as the bookseller. The interval came as Watson collapsed to the floor.

   I enjoyed this part, mainly because writer Jeremy Paul had used the words and phrases from Doyle’s stories, so much of it was very familiar.

   The second part however was rather different. First we had Watson’s recriminations and Holmes’s explanation but then the story branched into something rather different as Holmes appeared to be something of a split personality (if that phrase is stilll used in the psychobabble of today) and eventually confessed to being Moriarty, having invented and portrayed the master criminal to give him some mental stimulation — or maybe he was deluding himself that this was the case. It was not all that clear.

   All in all an enjoyable production but there is no new story and the final fifteen minutes makes little sense.

MAX BYRD – Target of Opportunity. Bantam: hardcover, August 1988; reprint paperback, November 1991.

   The first by this author in hardcover after several paperback private eye tales, starts in Lake Tahoe. There San Francisco homicide inspector Gilman is vacationing with his best friend and brother-in-law, former Washington lawyer, Donald Kerwin.

   They stop for groceries at a 7-11 Store, where a ski-masked man shotguns Kerwin to death and leaves Gilman with an awful case of tinnitus. The Tahoe cops blow the investigation and the killer walks free.

    Kerwin’s widow comes unglued at the news, and follows the killer to his Boston home with her own form of bloody justice in mind. Gilman chases after her, desperately hoping to stop her. Kerwin’s shooting was apparently random, but the scot-free killer comes from a wealthy family, had no apparent reason to be robbing a convenience store, and has an estranged father on the Harvard faculty.

   What could all this possibly have to do with OSS activities in wartime France? It could easily be fatal to Gilman to find out. Fresh if perhaps fanciful plotting, capable storytelling. Interesting detail.

BARTHOLOMEW GILL – Death on a Cold, Wild River. Peter McGarr #10. William Morrow, hardcover, 1993. Avon, reprint paperback, 1994. Macmillan, UK, hardcover, 1993.

   The first thing that struck me about this was a dust jacket that would have been quite appropriate for a fishing novel, but was about as mysterious as a poached trout. Morrow needs a new art director.

   Peter McGarr, head of Ireland’s Murder Squad, is suspended pending completion of a investigation of the circumstances detailed in The Death of Love, in which an Irish politician was assassinated.

   He reads of the death by drowning of Ireland’s foremost lady fisherman, and is devastated; she had been his lover before he met his wife. He goes to console the father and attend the funeral, and is shown evidence that the death may not have been accidental, after all.

   He gingerly — because of his suspension — begins to dig around, and finds that she was both rich and not universally loved. There’s a poacher who thinks she turned him in; a Scottish lady who coveted her lucrative catalog business; and an American who wanted to be her partner; and who knows, maybe others.

   There’s a lot of fishing lore here, particularly salmon fishing, which will interest many (though not me). Gill does his usual competent job of narration, primarily from McGarr’s viewpoint, and the prose and plot were fine.

   This isn’t a bad book at all, you understand, and I enjoyed reading it. It’s just that it doesn’t quite live up to Death of a Joyce Scholar and The Death of Love. The characters don’t seem as sharply etched, and there doesn’t seem to be the same depth of feeling, and the same peculiarly Irish sensibility.

   It’s “just” a decent mystery novel by a good writer. I’m disappointed only because I’ve come to expect a bit more from Gill and McGarr.

Editorial Comment:   Barry wasn’t able to show the cover of this book by Gill in his printed zine back in 1993, but I’m pleased that I’m able to now, some 17 years later. What do you think? Was he right, or was he right?

PAUL HAGGARD [STEPHEN LONGSTREET] – Dead Is the Door-Nail.   J. B. Lippincott, US, hardcover, 1937.

   One of the many problems associated with a lack of a sense of humor by a reviewer is the inability to tell when an author is teasing the reader. What is one to make of this: “The paunch and jowl of raffish apartment houses catapulted their elegant heights above the streets in a pageant of foppish decadence.”

   And yet it is closely followed by: “…to the wise mob of drunks, hop-heads and flamboyant slatterns of both sexes, it was a sanctuary and first-aid station. In Hilton’s electric cabinets, steam baths, needle showers and sun booths, the elect were tried and found wanton.”

   In the first of four novels featuring Mike Warlock, sports reporter for the New York Globe, and his faithful companion and cameraman, Abner Gillaway, they are assigned by the paper to cover the murder of Doris Castle, rich and the World’s Champion Lawn Tennis Player.

   Lots of suspects here, despite a few getting knocked off along the way. Did Castle’s husband, crooner Ira Wells, kill her because the marriage was unconsummated after three months? Or one of Wells’s many lovers? Or the odious Professor Ott, who once peddled a combination cough medicine and dandruff cure? Or Ott’s assistant, a coward and a blackmailer? Or the devilish Dr. Delcro, up to who knows what?

   Considerable action in an amusing hard-boiled novel in which the author just may have had his tongue in cheek. And if he didn’t, it’s still funny.

      Bibliographic Data:    [Expanded from the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin.]

HAGGARD, PAUL. Pseudonym of Stephen Longstreet; other pseudonym: Henri Weiner.
      Dead Is the Door-Nail. Lippincott, 1937. Mike Warlock
      Death Talks Shop. Hillman-Curl, 1938. Mike Warlock.

      Death Walks on Cat Feet. Hillman-Curl, 1938. Also published as: The Case of the Severed Skull, as by Henri Weiner.
      Poison from a Wealthy Widow. Hillman-Curl, 1938. Mike Warlock.

LONGSTREET, STEPHEN. Born Chauncey Weiner; 1907-2002. Pseudonyms: Paul Haggard & Henri Weiner. Also a screenwriter.
      The Crime. Simon & Schuster, 1959.

       -The Pedlock Inheritance. McKay, 1972
       The Ambassador. Avon, pb, 1978.

WEINER, HENRI. Pseudonym of Stephen Longstreet; other pseudonym: Paul Haggard.
      Crime on the Cuff. Morrow, 1936.   “Introduces one-armed sleuth John Brass, former Secret Service man who is also a popular cartoonist, creator of the comic strip, ‘Georgie the G-Man.'”
      The Case of the Severed Skull. Mystery Novel of the Month, pb, 1940. Reprint of Death Walks on Cat Feet, as by Paul Haggard.

DANA STABENOW – A Night Too Dark. St. Martin’s, hardcover, February 2010; paperback reprint: November 2010.

Genre:   Private eye. Leading character: Kate Shugak; 17th in series. Setting:   Alaska.

First Sentence:   Gold.

    Mining has come to Kate’s corner of Alaska and changing her world forever. But death is still there. A truck is found with an apparent suicide note. What remains of a body is later found and identified as one of the workers from the Suulutaq Mine.

    When the man thought dead walks into Kate’s yard, they find someone disappeared at the same time and uncover a case of corporate espionage. But the death of a much-liked mine office worker has Kate determined to find out what is going on.

    Most of the things I love about Dana Stabenow’s writing are here. The dialogue is excellent and filled with delightfully dry humor. The sense of place in her ability to convey Alaska, particularly the profusion of flowers in spring, is visually effective.

   Her references to contemporary music and books contribute to the sense of time and identity of the characters of Kate and Jim. The scenes of sexual foreplay are fun, titillating yet never go too far.

    The characters are empathic and appealing. For everything Kate has survived, which has given her the edge and strength she has, as a character, she is anything but cold. Although she is a bit too good to be true, that is also what bring me back book after book. Chopper Jim, Old Sam, the aunties, Johnny, Mutt and all those around her provide dimension both to Kate and to the setting.

    The plot started off strong but rather wandered away from itself. Ms. Stabenow knows how to build a scene so filled with anticipation and suspense, you nearly forget to breathe. Although there was one such scene, there was only one. For the rest of the story, it rather felt to be “Kate Lite.”

    It reminded me more of her earlier, lighter books. I very much enjoyed those at the time, but her more recent books, those after Hunter’s Moon have developed so far past those, this feels to be a step back.

    I’m not saying the issues raised in the story weren’t interesting, timely or important; they were. Kate’s concerns about the changes happening around her will certainly impact her growth as a character. I’m also not saying I was bored or found the book slow reading; I assuredly was not.

    For all my admitted disappointment, this is still a good read and I am anxious to see where the series goes from here. But would someone please explain to me what the title, with its dark and suspenseful connotation, had to do with the story?

Rating:   Good.

   Dan Stumpf’s recent review of Spin the Glass Web serendipitously uncovered the fact that it was published by Harper in hardcover as a sealed mystery, in which the final chapters were sealed with a paper flap. The gimmick was that if you brought it back to wherever you bought it with the seal still intact, you could get your purchase price fully refunded.

   This was nothing new. Back in the 1920s and 30s the same publisher published a full line of these books, designated as Harper Sealed Mysteries, and Victor Berch recently completed a full checklist of these.

   The official series ended in 1934, but some research on the part of Victor and myself, plus some input from Bill Pronzini, has uncovered a few more books for which Harper used the same promotional idea.

   There may be others, but this list should contain most of them:

JOHN DICKSON CARR Death Turns the Table, 1941.

BILL S. BALLINGER Portrait in Smoke, 1950.

MAX EHRLICH, Spin the Glass Web, 1952.

BILL S. BALLINGER The Tooth and the Nail, 1955.

NICHOLAS BLAKE A Penknife in My Heart, 1958.

NICOLAS FREELING Question of Loyalty, 1963.

P. R. SHORE – The Bolt.   E. P. Dutton, US, hardcover, 1929. Methuen, UK, hardcover, 1929.

   This long forgotten mystery novel was published in England and the United States in 1929. In the latter country it was published by E. P. Dutton, who at this time published several British mysteries with excellent endpaper maps.

   I have no idea whether these maps originated with the original English editions, having never seen the original English editions, but I plan to review all such Dutton mysteries that have come into my purview. I start with The Bolt.

   The author of The Bolt evidently was a man, Peter Redcliffe Shore. He is said to have been born in 1892 and to have authored one other detective novel, 1932’s The Death Film (about a slaying in a theater). That is the sum total of my knowledge of this author.

   I originally had assumed the author was a woman, because the tale is one of those English village “cozies” and it is narrated by a female character, a thirty-nine year old “spinster,” one Marion Leslie. Given that the author was truly a man I am impressed with his ability to carry off this character.

   The first fifth of the novel is given over to setting up its murder, and this part is effectively done. The village of Ringshall comes equipped with a Manor and a pub, The Lady & Hare, as well as a Squire, his nineteen-year-old daughter, his unpopular new wife, an eligible bachelor curate, the daughter’s boyfriend (a relative of Miss Leslie’s), a designing female of uncertain reputation, and assorted rustics, including a maid at the Manor House and her ambitious laboring boyfriend, a village witch and her “idiot” son. Oh, and the assorted gossiping ladies of the village.

   This part of the book is done so well, that it is almost a disappointment when comes murder (of the Squire’s wife during the day of the village fair, by means of a rifle equipped with a flint arrowhead, or “elf-bolt,” as the superstitious locals call it).

   Of the Squire’s wife maddening propensity to interfere with and dictate all aspects of village life (which includes patronizing the poor with dubious benevolence), the narrator amusingly notes: “She was the only person I’ve ever known who really bought those bundles of haircloth flannel and shoddy serge which certain shops advertise as ‘suitable for charity’ — which I suppose they are, if you take Mrs. Ward’s view of charity.” (I assume this is a reference to the popular Victorian novelist Mrs. Humphry Ward?)

   No one in Ringshall could stand the Squire’s wife, but several villagers had especial reason to dislike her. Could one of these people have done the deed, or was it someone from her past?

   Although professional detectives pop in and out, most of the work is done by Miss Leslie and her friend the curate. The solution finally comes by means of some hidden papers, but the reader is given a chance to put most of it together herself.

   The solution is good enough, though it is not cut to a multi-faceted, Christie-like brilliance. However, I have to wonder whether this novel might have influenced Agatha Christie’s The Murder at the Vicarage, which was published the following year. The village setting is certainly similar, as is the central situation of a locally prominent man, his second wife and his young adult daughter (though in the Christie novel it is the husband, not the wife, who is murdered).

   The Bolt also resembles John Dickson Carr’s Till Death Do Us Part, which involves rifle ranges and murder during a village fair. Though it is not as clever as either of those classic English detective novels, The Bolt is worth reading for lovers of traditional village mysteries.

Editorial Comments:   This book was listed by Curt in his recent list of Forty Favorites from the Twenties, which you can go back and read here. As it was one of the more obscure ones he chose, I was delighted when he offered to send a review of it.

   As for the author, all that Al Hubin adds that Curt did not is that Shore was “born in Hampton; educated privately and at Oxford; educator; living in Somerset in 1930s.” His second book was published by Metheun in 1932 and never appeared in the US. There are, unfortunately, no copies of either book currently offered for sale on the Internet.

[UPDATE] 10-17-10.   Curt provided the image of the book’s endpapers, but his copy lacked a dust jacket. From Bill Pronzini’s collection, however, comes cover images of both of Shore’s two mysteries, those which you now see above. Thanks, Bill!

[UPDATE #2] 10-18-10.   What do you know? It turns out Curt was right all along. Check out his statement at the beginning of paragraph four, in which he says his original assumption was that P. R. Shore was female.

   Which she was. Thanks to the combined detective work of Jamie Sturgeon, Al Hubin and Steve Holland, it’s been discovered that the name “Peter Redcliffe Shore” was total fiction. The author of The Bolt is now identified as Helen Madeline Leys, 1892-1965, who also wrote ghost stories as Eleanor Scott. Randalls Round, a highly regarded collection of these tales, was recently published by Ash-Tree Press (1996) in a limited hardcover edition

   Congratulations to all for coming up with this. Good work!

A BLONDE FOR A NIGHT. DeMille Pictures Corporation/ PatM Exchange, 1928. Marie Prevost, Franklin Pangborn, Harrison Ford, T. Roy Barnes, Lucien Littlefield. Screenplay by F. McGrew Willis & Rex Taylor. Director: E. Mason Hopper. Shown at Cinevent 42, Columbus OH, May 2010.

   After what appears to have been a whirlwind romance, Marcia and Bob Webster (Marie Prevost and Harrison Ford) are honeymooning in Paris. There are minor spats but the arrival of Bob’s friend George Mason (T. Roy Barnes) and his tales of their past exploits with blonde conquests provoke Marcia to don a wig and set out to see how faithful Bob will be if he’s put to the test by a seductive blonde.

   Her partner in this masquerade is Hector, a dress-shop owner, played with his trademark fuss-budget primness by Franklin Pangborn.

   I don’t think the wig was that much of a disguise, particularly in close-ups but, if you go along with the premise, the 60 minutes pass pleasantly enough.

   First a brief bit of definition. The Thriller as I am using the term is distinct from the Detective and Suspense novel by several factors which I’ll attempt to define as broadly and generally as possible.

   In the Thriller the primary emphasis is on incident, action, adventure, and movement with the protagonist — even when he is an innocent caught up in larger events — taking a proactive role in those events. The thriller to some extent has its models in Homer’s Odyssey and books like Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped (which is the model for the entire Buchan school). In a thriller all the elements are secondary to incident, action, and movement.

   In the Detective novel the emphasis is on method, motive, and the pursuit of clues. There may be colorful incident and action as well as considerable suspense involved, but at heart those things are secondary to the procedure of investigation. Atmosphere, locale, adventure, all the elements of the thriller may play a role, even a major role, but they are still secondary to the solution of the central problem.

   In the Suspense novel an individual or group is at the mercy of fate. Even when they try to take a proactive role they are still largely at the mercy of blind fate and seldom save themselves merely by skill, intelligence, courage, or even common sense. At best when the opportunity arises they may take advantage of it, but they are usually saved or damned not by their own actions but sheer fate.

   There is more crossover and argument about suspense vs thriller than any other area, but in general suspense novels are darker and more psychological. I’m including most Gothic novels under the broad suspense genre as well as most crime novels.

   For this little exercise I have defined four basic types of Thriller. Many books are combinations of these, so that Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household combines the novel of Chase and Pursuit with The Mission.

1. Chase and Pursuit — an innocent (usually) is drawn into a mysterious situation through no fault of his own, but using his intelligence (in some more comic versions his lack of it), cunning, and other untapped abilities he overcomes and usually not only survives but triumphs. Buchan’s The 39 Steps is the great model.

2. The Quest — the search for the Great Whatits, the McGuffin. It may be a place, a thing, a person, or even an idea, but it drives the action of the protagonist and the villains. Most of today’s thrillers in the Cussler school are quest novels.

3. The Journey — The protagonist or protagonists have to get from A to B. Why, how, and everything else related is still sublimated to the mere fact that they must reach the end of the journey. Elleston Trevor’s Flight of the Phoenix is a journey novel.

4. The Mission — this is often incorporated with the others and may feature an avenger hero, a tough professional of some sort, an amateur, or even a gentleman crook who sets out to accomplish some goal. It may be saving the world or swindling the crooks, rescuing a girl in trouble or destroying some evil. Most secret agent fiction is a mission style thriller such as From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming which also incorporates elements of the other three. Most Avenger style novels fit under the Mission category.

   But above all in a thriller incident, action, adventure, and movement are the predominant themes. Elements of horror, the supernatural, and even science fiction may appear. A few books on the list are closer to mainstream novels than genre novels, but that is another of the oddities about the thriller since it can run from the lowest denominator of the men’s action series to books that are clearly literature.

   The list is more or less chronological to when the writer in question first appeared, so in general even with a later book the writer in question will appear when his first work was published (though with Andrew Garve, Victor Canning, and Hammond Innes I have chosen to place them in the post-war era though all debuted pre-war, and both Richard Sale and Richard Llewelyn are listed in the 1930’s for books published in the 1960’s as is Frank Gruber for books published in the late 1950’s). The dates are general however and not exact. Many of these writers had careers that ran thirty and more years.

   I’ve limited myself to one book per writer, and in general few short story collections since there are not a lot of short thriller collections out there. I’ve also allowed for ties in a many cases, a second or equal work since many of these writers wrote over long periods of time.

   The starting date is not as arbitrary as it may seem, the thriller as we know it grows a great deal out of the work of Robert Louis Stevenson and since Kidnapped appeared in 1886 and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde appeared in 1888, 1890 seemed a good starting place for the modern thriller, and since 1990 marked a natural cut off place I chose that, though obviously James Rollins, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs, Arturo Perez-Reverte, and Barry Eisler would all be represented if the list ran longer.

   I’ve also left out the crime novel which is often closer to the hard-boiled and or suspense school so certain writers such as W.R. Burnett, Peter Rabe, Dan J. Marlowe (whose best work in my opinion is in the crime school), Richard Stark, and the like are not listed. Most hard-boiled writers are closer to the detective story and not listed.

   As with my mystery and suspense list this is a list of favorites, not bests. Keep in mind many of these writers wrote other kinds of books that would be on other lists (Reginald Hill for instance) but this is confined to thrillers. It is very Anglo-centric since relatively few American writers worked in the thriller mode until recently.

   As in my previous list of 100 “best” mysteries, an * indicates a film or television adaptation.

         1890’s

Sant of the Secret Service or The Veiled Man [TIE] by William LeQueux
Dr. Nikola by Guy Boothby
The Iron Pirate or The Diamond Ship by Max Pemberton
The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings by L.T. Meade & Robert Eustace
The Prisoner of Zenda * by Anthony Hope

         1900’s-1910’s

El Dorado * by Baroness Orczy
Truxton King a Novel of Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon
The Four Just Men * or Dark Eyes of London * by Edgar Wallace
Phantom of the Opera * by Gaston Leroux
813 or The Countess Cagliostro * by Maurice Leblanc
The Adventures of Jimmie Dale the Gray Seal by Frank L. Packard
The Lone Wolf * by Louis Joseph Vance
The Day The World Ended or The Quest of the Sacred Slipper by Sax Rohmer
The Great Impersonation * or The Wrath To Come by E. Philips Oppenheim
The Riddle of the Sands * by Erskine Childers
The Three Hostages * or A Prince of the Captivity by John Buchan
Anthony Trent Gentleman Adventurer or The Secret of the Silver Car by Wyndham Martin

         1920’s

The Final Count * or Jim Maitland by H. C. McNeile writing as Sapper
The Man With the Club Foot or Mr. Ramosi by Valentine Williams
Ashenden or the British Agent * by W. Somerset Maugham
Blind Corner or Storm Music by Dornford Yates
Chipstead of the Lone Hand or The Curse of Doone by Sydney Horler
Portrait of a Man With Red Hair* by Hugh Walpole
Solomon’s Quest by H. Bedford-Jones writing as Alan Hawkwood
Jimgrim or King of the Khyber Rifles * by Talbot Mundy
The Trail of the Black King by Anthony Armstrong
Death Rides the Forest or Gunston Cotton Secret Agent by Rupert Grayson
Blackshirt by Bruce Graeme
The Murderer Invisible * or Experiment in Crime by Philip Wylie
The Last Hero or The Saint in New York * by Leslie Charteris
The Mystery of the Dead Police (aka X vs Rex) * by Philip MacDonald
The Confidential Agent * or Our Man in Havana * by Graham Greene

         1930’s

The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck by Andrew Laing
The White Python or King Cobra by Mark Channing
The Wheel Spins * by Ethel Lina White
Without Armor * by James Hilton
The Nine Wax Faces by Francis Beeding
The Himalayan Assignment by Van Wyck Mason
A Toast to Tomorrow or Alias Uncle Hugo by Manning Coles
A Coffin for Dimitrios * or Dr. Frigo by Eric Ambler
Mr. Moto is So Sorry or Think Fast Mr. Moto * by John P. Marquand
Murder Chop Chop by James Norman
The Devil Rides Out * by Dennis Wheatley
A Knife for the Toff or Mists of Fear by John Creasey
The Stars Are Dark or Dark Duet by Peter Cheyney
Four Men and a Prayer * by David Garth
The General Died at Dawn * by Charles G. Booth
Bridge of Sand or Brothers of Silence by Frank Gruber
End of the Rug by Richard Llewelyn
Above Suspicion * or Assignment in Brittany* by Helen MacInnes
Most Secret or No Highway * by Nevil Shute
Rogue Male * or Watcher in the Shadows * by Geoffrey Household
Night Without Stars * or Take My Life * by Winston Graham
For The President’s Eyes Only by Richard Sale

         1940’s

Never Come Back * by John B. Mair
Colonel Blessington by Pamela Frankau
The Small Back Room * or Mine Own Executioner * by Nigel Balchin
Game Without Rules or The Long Journey Home by Michael Gilbert
The Megstone Plot (A Touch of Larceny) * by Andrew Garve
Levkas Man * or Doomed Oasis by Hammond Innes
Finger of Saturn or Queen’s Pawn by Victor Canning
The Three Roads by Kenneth Millar
Woman in the Picture by John August
Desperate Moment * by Martha Albrand
Odd Man Out * by F. L. Green
The Conspirators * or Nine Days to Muksala by Frederick Prokosh
Undertow or Deadfall * by Desmond Cory
The Last Quarter Hour or Cold Spell by Jean Bruce
The Sub Killers or Tough Justice by San Antonio
Girl on the Run or Assignment–Lily Lamaris by Edward S. Aarons
Run Mongoose or The Last Clear Chance by Burke Wilkinson
White Eagles Over Serbia by Lawrence Durrell
Cormorant Isle or House of Darkness by Allan MacKinnon

         1950’s

From Russia With Love * or On Her Majesty’s Secret Service * by Ian Fleming
Soldier of Fortune * by Ernest K. Gann
A Sunlit Ambush by Mark Derby
The Fifth Passenger by Edward Young
A Noble Profession by Pierre Boulle
Uhruhu or Something of Value * by Robert Ruark
Murder in Morocco or The Man With No Shadow by Stephen Marlowe
Free Agent by Frederic Wakeman
Dead Men of Sestos or Eye of the Devil * by Philip Loraine
The Breaking Strain by John Masters
Night Walker or Death of a Citizen by Donald Hamilton
The Silk Road or The Red Road by Simon Harvester
The Rose of Tibet or Kolmsky Heights by Lionel Davidson
The Old Dark House of Fear by Russell Kirk
Maneater * or The Buckingham Palace Connection by Ted Willis
The High Road to China * or The Golden Sabre by Jon Cleary
The Achilles Affair or Without Prejudice by Berkeley Mather
The Fever Tree by Richard Mason
Flaw in the Crystal by Godfrey Smith
Ossian’s Ride by Fred Hoyle
The League of Gentlemen * by John Boland
A Captive in the Land by James Aldridge
The Game of X * or Dead Run * by Robert Sheckley
Wildfire at Midnight or Airs Above Ground by Mary Stewart
The White Tower * by James Ramsey Ullman
Third Side of the Coin or The Green Fields of Eden by Francis Clifford
The Expedition or Nine Hours to Rama * by Stanley Wolpert
The Last Mandarin or The Chinese Bandit by Stephen Becker
The Guns of Navarone * or The Satan Bug * by Alistair MacLean
High Wire or The Telemann Touch by William Haggard
Rampage * by Allan Calliou
Kill Claudio by P. M. Hubbard
High Citadel or Running Blind * by Desmond Bagley
Winter’s Madness by David Walker
Flight of the Phoenix * as Elleston Trevor or The Kobra Manifesto as Adam Hall
Midnight Plus One by Gavin Lyall

         1960’s

Season of Assassins by Geoffrey Wagner
River of Diamonds or Hunter Killer by Geoffrey Jenkins
Gibraltar Road or The Man From Moscow by Philip McCutchan
The Manchurian Candidate* by Richard Condon
A Small Town in Germany or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy * by John Le Carre
Ring of Roses or A Scent of New Mown Hay by John Blackburn
Rather a Vicious Gentleman by Frank McAuliffe
No Road Home by Geoffrey Rose
Village of Stars by Paul Stanton
Red Alert * by Peter George
Seven Days in May * by Fletcher Knebel and Charles Bailey II
Charade * by Peter Stone
Dark of the Sun (aka The Mercenaries and Last Train From Katanga) * by Wilbur Smith
Not Only the Same Sun by John Gordon Davis
Isle of Snakes or The Hoffman Miniatures by Robert L. Fish
False Beards (aka Barbouze) or Holy of Holies by Alan Williams
The Ordeal of Major Grigsby by John Sherlock
A Dandy in Aspic * by Derek Marlowe
The Liquidator * by John Gardner
I, Lucifer or A Taste for Death by Peter O’Donnell
Diecast by Michael Brett
Otley by Martin Waddell
For Kicks or The Edge by Dick Francis
The Wrath of God* as James Graham or East of Desolation as Jack Higgins
Black Camelot by Duncan Kyle
Passport for a Pilgrim (aka Where the Spies Are) * by James Leasor
Sergeant Death by James Mayo
Callan * as James Mitchell or The Man Who Sold Death as James Munro
The Ipcress File * or Funeral in Berlin * by Len Deighton
Spargo by Jack Denton Scott
Murderer’s Burning by S. H. Courtier
Tree Frog or Blue Bone by Martin Wodehouse
The Dolly Dolly Spy by Adam Diment
The Yermakov Transfer as Derek Lambert or Blackstone and the Scourge of Europe as Richard Falkirk
Chinaman’s Chance or The Singapore Wink by Ross Thomas
Assassin by Evelyn Anthony
Deadlight by Archie Roy
Her Cousin John or Crocodile On the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
Nightclimber by Jon Manchip White
Our Man in Camelot or Colonel Butler’s Wolf by Anthony Price (I’m not sure if one or both of these was adapted for the Terence Stamp David Audley series or not)
The Man From Greek and Roman by James Goldman
Night Probe or Treasure by Clive Cussler
Dolly and the Singing Bird or Dolly and the Starry Bird by Dorothy Dunnett

         1970’s

Stained Glass or Who’s On First? by William F. Buckley
A Flock of Ships by Brian Callison
The Wilby Conspiracy * by Peter Driscoll
The Scarlatti Inheritance or The Bourne Identity * by Robert Ludlum
Tank In Armor or The Heights of Zervos by Colin Forbes
Shibumi by Trevanian (Rod Whitaker)
Vandenberg * by Oliver Lange
The Day of the Dolphin * by Robert Merle
Day of the Jackal* by Frederick Forsyth
The Other Side of Silence by Ted Allbeury
Royal Flash or Flashman at the Charge by George MacDonald Fraser
Heights of Rim Ring by Duff Hart-Davis
Firefox * by Craig Thomas
Madonna Red by James Carroll
Eye of the Needle * or Night Over Water by Ken Follett
The Spy Who Sat and Waited by R. Wright Campbell
The Trans-Siberian Express by Warren Adler
Kiss Me Once as Thomas Maxwell or Assassini as Thomas Gifford
A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone
Sisters by Robert Littell
The Better Angels by Charles McCarry
The Sixth Directive by Joseph Hone
Code Name: Grand Guignol by Ib Melchior
Marathon Man by William Goldman
The Man Who Loved Mata Hari by Dan Sherman

         1980’s

November Man by Bill Granger
Metzger’s Dog by Thomas Perry
Daddy by Loup Durand
The Queen’s Messenger by W. L. Duncan
Yellowfish by John Keeble
Who Guards a Prince? as Reginald Hill or The Long Kill as Patrick Ruell
Shipkiller by Justin Scott
The Quest by Richard Ben Sapir
The Names by Don Delillo
The Two Thyrdes by Bertie Denhem
Winner Harris by Iain St. James
In Honour Bound by Gerald Seymour
The Frog and the Moonflower or The Power of the Bug by Ivor Drummond
Red Dragon * by Thomas Harris
The Seventh Sanctuary or Brotherhood of the Tomb by Daniel Easterman
The Eight by Katherine Neville
Embassy House by Nicholas Proffett
Imperial Agent by T. N. Murari
Sharpe’s Gold or Wildtrack by Bernard Cornwell
The Beasts of Valhalla by George Chesbro
Night Soldiers by Alan Furst
The Scorpion by Andrew Kaplan

   I’m sure someone will notice I did not choose a Fu Manchu novel for Sax Rohmer. Much as I like the Devil Doctor, I think the two I chose are among Rohmer’s best thrillers and better than any individual Fu Manchu titles. However if forced to pick a Fu Manchu I suspect The Masks of Fu Manchu and Daughter of Fu Manchu would be my choices.

   And just for arguments sake, here is a quick list of supernatural, lost world, and science fiction thrillers that only just miss the list:

Dracula * by Bram Stoker
The Beetle by Richard Marsh
The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Marching Sands by Harold Lamb
The Flying Legion by George Allan England
Seven Footprints to Satan * and Creep Shadow * by A. Merritt
The Ghoul * by Frank King
The Aerodrome by Rex Warner
Ninth Life by Jack Mann
Undying Monster * by Jessie Douglas Keruish
The Ka of Gifford Hillary or The Star of Ill Omen by Dennis Wheatley
The Edge of Running Water * by William Sloane
Dark Freehold (aka The Uninvited) * by Dorothy MacArdle
Conjure Wife * by Fritz Leiber
Darker Than You Think by Jack Williamson
Sinister Barrier by Eric Frank Russell
Heroes Walk by Robert Crane
The Haunting of Hill House * by Shirley Jackson
Beyond Eden by David Duncan
The Main Experiment by Christopher Hodder-Williams
A is For Andromeda* or Andromeda Breakthrough* by Fred Hoyle and John Elliott
Fire Past the Future by Charles Eric Maine
The Man With Two Shadows by Roderick Macleish
The Other * by Tom Tryon
Salem’s Lot * by Stephen King
Lord of the Trees by Philip Jose Farmer
Neither the Sea Nor the Sand * by Gordon Honeycombe
Catholics * by Brian Moore
Somewhere in Time * or Hell House * by Richard Matheson
Running Wild by J. G. Ballard
The Further Adventures of Captain Gregory Dangerfield by Jeremy Lloyd
Runes by Christopher Fowler
Mutant 59 the Plastic Eaters * by Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis
The Andromeda Strain * by Michael Crichton

   Finally, honorable mention who did not make the list with a single book, but who deserve credit: George Goodchild, Hugh Cleverly, Berkeley Gray, Edmund Snell, Captain A. O. Pollard, Gerard Fairlie, Ernest Dudley, L. F. Hay, Francis Gerard, Richie Perry, John Newton Chance, Francis Durbridge, William Diehl, William Martin, Phyllis Whitney, Kenneth Royce, George B. Mair, Achmed Abdullah, A. E. Apple, Walter Wager, William Stevenson, Eric Van Lustbader, David Morrell, R. Vernon Beste, Nicholas Luard, Norman Lewis, David Gurr, A.W. Mykel, Michael Malone, David Lindsey, Dan Simmons, Hans Helmut Kirst, Lindsay Hardy, Alan Dipper, Marvin Albert, Ken Crossen, and too many others to list.

   Plus as a small army of writers whose work has appeared since my cut off date of 1990, including James Rollins, Jack Du Brul, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Barry Eisler, Neal Stephenson, Matt Reilly, Anthony Horowitz, Boris Akunin, and many more.

MAX EHRLICH – Spin the Glass Web. Harper & Brothers, hardcover, 1952. Bantam #1096, paperback, 1953.

Filmed as The Glass Web. Universal International, 1953. Edward G. Robinson, John Forsythe, Kathleen Hughes, Marcia Henderson, Richard Denning, Hugh Sanders. Screenplay: Robert Blees & Leonard Lee. Director: Jack Arnold.

   Max Ehrlich started writing for newspapers, moved on to Radio in the late ’30s and Television in the ’50s. In between times he wrote a few books, including Spin the Glass Web (Harper, 1952) which draws on his experience in live TV to craft a neat tale of a not-quite-innocent screen-writer caught up in murder.

   The story opens on Don Newell, head writer of a TV show of rather questionable taste but undoubted allure — they dramatize recent crimes as sensationally as possible. Don is married and blessed with children, and the story starts as he decides to buy off his mercenary mistress Paula — or kill her, depending on the moment.

   As he makes his way to her apartment, we flashback to their meeting, his seduction and attendant complications, including blackmail. The third-person narrative unfolds a bit further and we find Paula has a criminal husband knocking around somewhere, and another TV writer on the string: Henry Hinge, a pudgy, detail-obsessed, technical advisor with ambitions of getting Newell’s job.

   Flashbacks and unfolding done with, Don turns up at Paula’s apartment, finds her already murdered, and slowly realizes his problems are only beginning.

   Spin never generates much mystery; it’s pretty clear early on who the killer is and how he’s going to trip himself up, but the momentum of the tale comes from Newell’s frantic efforts to get out from under Hinge’s compulsive poking around into the details of the case, and the effort of trying to act natural around his increasingly suspicious wife.

   Ehrlich spins this out rather effectively, using as a backdrop the producer’s decision to dramatize Paula’s murder for the show Don has to write: the closer the show comes to air time, the tighter the web Hinge spins around the hapless, haunted Newell.

SPOILER ALERT: I have to mention here that although, as I said, the killer and his undoing are telegraphed early on, Ehrlich finishes the book by cranking up the old deus ex machina and taking it out for a spin.

   The result is dramatically satisfying but hardly convincing as the getting-away-with-it killer is gunned down by a passing policeman who sees him running in the night.

   Now when I was a kid, you could get shot and killed for running away from a cop and not stopping when he ordered you to. I mean, I never tried it myself, but I saw it on the News a few times, and it was featured in a couple of movies, most notably The Prowler and Woman in the Window.

   By the time I was wearing a badge and gun, the rules had tightened up a bit, but I still had the chance once to legally shoot a fleeing felon in the back; couldn’t do it, though.

   When it came right down to it and I was squeezing the trigger, I suddenly said to myself, “No, you better hadn’t,”and stopped. (I ended up catching the burglar when he ran into a chicken-wire fence.) Anyway, whenever I see this bit in a book or movie, I always recall that moment and wonder how often it happened in what we call Real Life.

   Getting back to Ehrlich’s book, it was filmed the next year as The Glass Web “in Amazing 3-D” at Universal by the redoubtable Jack Arnold, who also brought the Creature from the Black Lagoon to the screen and detailed the domestic life of the Incredible Shrinking Man.

   It’s a solid job of film-making, with John Forsythe suitably harried as the philandering writer, Edward G. Robinson (recalling his role in Double Indemnity) playing the obsessed Hinge, and a very effective Kathleen Hughes as the predatory Paula, whom the writers contrive to kill at the start of the movie and kill again later on.

   There’s a wonderful scene early in the film, well-played and tightly-written, between Robinson and Hughes that sketches their pathetic relationship perfectly. And if the wrap-up goes a bit over the top, it at least makes for fun watching.

Editorial Comment:   You can’t make it out it, I’m sure, but on the front cover of the Harper hardcover edition up above, it reads: “Your Money Back If You Can Resist Breaking The Seal.”

   Which makes this a Harper Sealed Mystery that was missed in Victor Berch’s checklist of the same. The previous series ended in 1934, some 18 years earlier. Are there any others that came along later? We’ll find out.