REVIEWED BY DAN STUMPF:         


ED LACY – The Men from the Boys. Harper & Brothers, hardcover, 1956. Paperback reprints: Pocket #1152, 1957 (cover art by Lou Marchetti); Macfadden 50-249, 1967.

ED LACY The Men from the Boys

   One of the chief pleasures of going to PulpFest (aside from observing the antics of Steve and Walter from a safe distance…) is finding something I saw on a bookstand years ago and didn’t get for some reason — probably because I was broke at the time. This year it was The Men from the Boys (the Macfadden paperback you see to the left) and I’m glad I finally got back to it.

   This is the goods. Originally published in 1956, this fast, tough and faintly poetic tale is the first-person account of Marty Bond, a disgraced ex-cop living in a seedy hotel on his pension and whatever he can get as house detective, pimp, bouncer, and resident chiseler.

   As the story starts, he’s visited by his stepson Larry, a cop-wanna-be and Citizen On Patrol who answered a call for help from a neighborhood butcher claiming he was just robbed of fifty thousand dollars. Only when Larry got back with a real cop, the butcher decided he hadn’t been robbed at all.

ED LACY The Men from the Boys

   From this intriguing start, Lacy goes on to spin a tale of mobsters, prostitutes, patsies and fall guys, with an occasional mostly-honest cop and aspiring stripper thrown in, set against a backdrop of New York in a sweltering summer. And when Lacy swelter, you can feel your shirt stick to your back.

   The action scenes are plentiful and well-handled, the characters vivid and memorable, and if the central puzzle turns into something disappointingly impossible, well, it’s easy to forgive in an ending that surprised me with its off-the-wall poetry.

   I’ll be seeking out more by Lacy, and meantime, this one stays on my shelf for years to come.

Editorial Comment:   For a long overview and profile of Ed Lacy and his career, check out Ed Lynskey’s article here on the main Mystery*File website. It’s followed by a complete bibliography of his book-length fiction.