Wed 10 Dec 2008
Archived Mystery.File Review: TALMAGE POWELL – Man-Killer.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Crime Fiction IV , Reviews[9] Comments
TALMAGE POWELL – Man-Killer.
Ace Double D-469; paperback original. First printing, 1960.
Speaking of “workmanlike prose,” as I was a little while ago — in the review of the other half of this Ace Double, as a matter of fact — I know Talmage Powell wrote a good deal for the pulps, so I’m not surprised to find anything he wrote totally readable — even, to coin a phrase, “hillbilly mystery fiction,” of which this might be a prime example (complete with moonshiners, deputy sheriffs and other dumb hicks).
[The other half was Bob McKnight’s Running Scared, and you can find my comments here.]
If a lack of tightly knit plotting may have been McKnight’s Achilles heel in the other half of the double volume, then a tendency toward melodramatic dialogue is Powell’s in his portion. Or maybe I’m not the one to judge. Perhaps old aristocratic ladies now on hard times actually speak the way they do in this book while contemplating their future — and the future of wayward sons who (in this book) insist on helping a poor hill girl accused of killing her husband days before her divorce becomes final.
Or maybe the subject matter just naturally leads toward melodrama. More solidly plotted than McKnight’s book, Man-Killer nonetheless lacks the compulsive (not to say screwy) readability of Running Scared, which, on the whole, if you were to ask, I’ve decided is the better of the two.
[UPDATE] Later the same day. I didn’t do it ahead of time, and maybe I should have, but in the first comment to this post, August West happened to mention Talmage Powell’s private eye character Ed Rivers. Having a few minutes on my hands, I followed up with a list of all five detective novels that he was in. Check it out.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I’ve always enjoyed Talmage Powell’s short stories more than any of his novels. “The Smasher” was quite good, but the Ed Rivers P.I. novels never did it for me. Maybe I just couldn’t get over why a P.I. would need a knife hidden in his collar as a weapon, when he carries a gun. To me, a P.I. who just went through the motions.
But most Powell short stories are excellent.
Heard his Western novel called “The Cage” is worth the read. Been meaning to get a hold of a copy.
December 10th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I’m sure I must have read some of Powell’s short stories, as I read tons of pulps and digest magazines back in the 50s and 60s, but I can’t say that I remember any of them. Nor have I read any of his Ed Rivers stories.
I’ve always meant to, but I just never have.
Sure wish I could write a wittier reply than this, like Bill Crider always does on his blog, but for now, this is it.
— Steve
December 10th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Well, since I still couldn’t think of a witty reply, the next best thing to do is to create a checklist. Here’s a list of all of Talmage Powell’s Ed Rivers novels, as taken from the Revised Crime Fiction IV. While I’m at it, I think I’ll include a cover that’s handy:
RIVERS, ED
o The Killer Is Mine (n.) Pocket Books 1959 [Tampa, FL]
o The Girl’s Number Doesn’t Answer (n.) Pocket Books 1960 [Tampa, FL]
o Start Screaming Murder (n.) Permabooks 1962 [Tampa, FL]
o With a Madman Behind Me (n.) Permabooks 1962 [Tampa, FL]
o Corpus Delectable (n.) Pocket Books 1964 [Tampa, FL]
Here’s Kevin Burton Smith’s write-up about Ed Rivers: https://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/rivers.html . He seems to like him better than you do, August, but all that means that I ought to read one of them myself, and sooner rather later.
December 11th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Steve, I urge you to try one of the Ed Rivers original paperbacks. I read all five of them about 35 years ago and my notes indicate that I found them very enjoyable and better than the usual P.I. novel.
My favorite one was The Girl’s Number Doesn’t Answer, which I read in April 1973. My note in the paperback says:
“…extremely well done. Ed Rivers is a big, ugly private eye who works out of Tampa, Florida. He loves cold beer and Cuban food. Lives in a spare, crummy, one room apartment and seems to have no personal life outside of the case he’s working on.
“Despite his toughness, he’s one of the more likable private eyes in the detective fiction field and deserves a place with Kyle’s Ben Gates, Dewey’s Mac, Nolan’s Bart Challis, Reeves’ Cellini Smith, Norbert Davis’ Max Latin, and other writers from the pulps like Butler and Constiner.”
December 11th, 2008 at 1:27 am
And maybe even sooner, Walker, after a list of comparable PI’s like that, though of the ones you mention, I’d consider Bart Challis the least likeliest that I’d make a point of re-reading.
Not that I’ve read all of any of them. Too many gaps, too little time.
— Steve
December 11th, 2008 at 9:47 am
“Hillbilly mystery fiction!” What a combo! Great blog here, I’m having a blast looking through the book and movie posts. I just started my own pulp blog at http://www.pulpserenade.blogspot.com and started with a post on Richard Prather. Check it out if you get the chance. Hope you enjoy.
December 11th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Cullen
Any blog that starts out with a long review of a Shell Scott extravaganza, complete with quotes, is more than OK in my book. I’ll be back often!
— Steve
December 12th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Talmage Powell’s short stories and novels are very good. He is one of my favorites
May 7th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Talmage Powell was a literary giant. His five Ed Rivers P.I. novels, set in Tampa, Florida, are entertaining and thought-provoking works, full of local colour. His short stories, of which there are many, are also good. A few of them are included in the book “Written for Hitchcock”, which is well worth seeking out. He wrote some fine western novelettes as well. Check out the collection “Six-Gun Ladies”, published not so long ago. Although he was adept at writing pacy, gritty stories, complete with deftly-handled fight scenes, Powell’s fictional works exhibit a powerful sensitivity and insight into human nature. He had a good ear for dialogue and knew how to bring his characters to life. I continue to discover his work, and am never disappointed. I look forward to reading novels such as “The Smasher” and “The Girl From Big Pine”. A Powell revival is long overdue.