ELIZABETH LEMARCHAND – Who Goes Home? Walker, US, hardcover, 1987. No US paperback edition. UK edition: Piatkus, hardcover, 1986.

   Vacationing Chief Superintendent Tom Pollard and his wife go hiking through the Crownmoor District and, while resting near a dilapidated farmhouse, see it visited by a young man who, finding no one home, soon leaves.

   The next night, the house is heavily damaged by a fire of suspicious origin. Shortly afterward, someone is killed in a hit-and-run accident, carrying drugs and a map to the farmhouse. Police, digging through the rubble for more information, discover a twenty-year-dead skeleton, and Scotland Yard — meaning Pollard and his assistant Inspector Toye — is called in.

   The trouble with this one, besides the fact that none of the characters show any sign of life, is that I guessed the identity of the skeleton’s original owner almost as soon as it was dug up. Add to this massive doses of coincidence used to help Pollard solve the case, and you have what Mystery Aficionados refer to as a Real Clunkeroo.

   ELIZABETH LEMARCHAND.   1906-2000.   Series Character: Insp./Supt. Tom Pollard in all.

* Death of an Old Girl, 1967.
* The Affacombe Affair, 1968.

* Alibi for a Corpse, 1969.
* Death on Doomsday, 1971.
* Cyanide with Compliments, 1972.
* Let or Hindrance, 1973.
* Buried in the Past, 1974.

* Step in the Dark, 1976.
* Unhappy Returns , 1977.
* Suddenly While Gardening, 1978.
* Change for the Worse, 1980.

* Nothing to Do with the Case, 1981.
* Troubled Waters, 1982.
* The Wheel Turns, 1983.
* Light Through Glass, 1984.
* Who Goes Home?, 1986.
* The Glade Manor Murder, 1988.

Previously on this blog:   Suddenly While Gardening (reviewed by Steve Lewis)

CHARLES FINCH – A Stranger in Mayfair. St. Martin’s/Minotaur Press, hardcover, November 2010; trade paperback, July 2011.

Genre:   Historical mystery. Leading character:  Charles Lenox; 4th in series. Setting:   London, England-Victorian era.

First Sentence:   “Clara, who is that gentleman?”

   Charles Lenox has, at forty, entered a new phase in his life. He is newly married to Lady Jane, for years his best friend and neighbor, and he is newly elected to Parliament’s House of Commons.

   The second of these events necessitates spending less time doing detective work — but not yet. A colleague in Parliament, Ludovic Starling, has asked Lenox to investigate the murder of one of his footman.

   As Lenox, and his protégée Dallington, move forward in the investigation, they are met with resistance not only from Scotland Yard but from Starling, who asks them to give up the case. An attack on Lenox stiffens his resolve to find the killer.

   Finch has become a favorite of mine and this book, once again, demonstrates why as there were so many levels on which I enjoyed this book.

   We are introduced to Lenox and Lady Jane through a conversation held by others, via a prologue which actually works as it allows their back story to be told without it seeming forced or cumbersome. Each of the characters are fully drawn with very brief exposition that brings them to life.

   One thing by which I am very impressed is how, with each book in the series, the characters lives individually grow and develop. This impacts not only each character but the relationships amongst them. Relationships are something Finch does extremely well, including the awkwardness of a newly married couple and a man making a major change in his career.

   Mr. Finch’s knowledge of Victorian England is evident in every page and yet, again, so seamlessly incorporated into the plot that it is informative rather than intrusive. Through Lenox’s work in Parliament, we learn the concerns of the period and meet historical figures in their proper settings and appropriate roles. Through the birth of a child, we observe the customs and etiquette of the time.

   Although Finch is American, he studied at Oxford, now lives in the UK and delightfully conveys British humor and understatement, “For an Englishman is was a strange time to be in France….first because of Napoleon’s rather uncouth attempt to conquer Europe…” The dialogue has a natural flow but also reflects the speech of the time.

   Neither of the above is meant to devalue the plot. The mystery is intriguing, and full of effective twists. I like that solution is no more obvious to Lenox than to us, the reader. We are presented with numerous possibilities, each dismissed, until the final resolution.

   Might I have figured it out? Perhaps; but the story involved me to the point where I wasn’t deliberately trying.

   The only reason I did not rate the book as “excellent” was the use of portents which were completely unnecessary. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it with the proviso suggestion of starting the series at the beginning.

Rating:   VG Plus.

      The Charles Lenox Mysteries —

1. A Beautiful Blue Death (2007)
2. The September Society (2008)

3. The Fleet Street Murders (2009)
4. A Stranger in Mayfair (2010)
5. A Burial at Sea (2011)

L. L. ENGER – Swing. Pocket; paperback original; 1st printing, August 1991.

   This is the second adventure of Gun Pedersen, a former baseball slugger who’s now a righter of wrongs, a Travis McGee type of non-PI, the kind of guy who you’d want on your side, one who sticks up for his friends. I haven’t read the first one, Comeback, but I have a copy, and I’m sure I’ll dig it out and read it one of these days.

   Pedersen’s home is Minnesota now, and the scene makes several dramatic changes back and forth between the cold, ice-covered lakes of the North Country and the sunny climes of Florida, where a former teammate is trying to hang on in the Senior League.

   Moses Gates is his name, and there’s always been a connection in his past with another ballplayer who once committed suicide (by hanging) during spring training. Now a reporter looking into the story is also dead, again by hanging, and Moses’ alibi looks awfully shaky.

   This is a story far larger than life, and heads off in directions Gun hardly expects when he begins his crusade. (I didn’t expect them either, and I’m still a little amazed by it all.) There is far more action (of an extremely violent sort) than there is detection, but if that’s what you’re looking for, this is a story that will certainly get your blood flowing just that much more quickly.

   For what it’s worth, though, I also found it a little depressing, in tone, in substance, and in style. (That’s a personal reaction, I hope you realize, and not necessarily a critical comment.)

       Bibliographic Data:

L. L. ENGER. Pseudonym of Leif & Lin Enger [brothers]. Series character: Gun Pedersen in all.

    1. Comeback. Pocket Books, pb, 1990. [Nominated for an Edgar.]

    2. Swing. Pocket Books, pb, 1991.
    3. Strike. Pocket Books, pb, 1992.
    4. Sacrifice. Pocket Books, pb, 1993.

    5. The Sinner’s League. Penzler Books, hc, 1994.

   I am reprinting this from Fatal Kiss #13 (May 1980), the same issue in which I reported the results of the first annual Top Ten Tec Poll.

   The poll consisted of my listing ten authors whose last names began with either the letter A or B, then requesting respondees to rate them on a scale from 1 to 10. If you were not familiar with an author, then one of three categories were to have applied:

       A = I never intend to read this author
       B = I’d like to read this author but I haven’t yet
       C = I’ve never heard of this author [or no vote]

   There were 42 responses, including my own, from mystery readers scattered all over the world. Here are the results:

Author // Numerical Responses // Average // A — B — C

    Eric Ambler     35     6.83     2 — 3 — 2

    Nicholas Blake     26     6.65     3 — 7 — 6

    Margery Allingham     32     6.00     2 — 6 — 2

    Lawrence Block     23     5.89     1 — 11 — 7

    Earl Derr Biggers     30     5.67     6 — 3 — 3

    Charlotte Armstrong     28     5.29     5 — 6 — 3

    Edgar Box     22     5.28     4 — 11 — 5

    George Bagby     24     4.44     6 — 9 — 3

    Edward S. Aarons     23     4.23     11 — 5 — 3

    Carter Brown     24     3.79     10 — 5 — 3

   One small surprise was the healthy showing of Lawrence Block, obviously not familiar to many people in 1980, but those who’d read him liked what they’d seen. [In 1980, Block had written a sizable list of paperback originals, the first three Matt Scudder books, and the first two “Burglar” novels.]

   As I said at the time, I expected Ambler and Blake to do well, and they did. Aarons and Carter Brown did not do well with female voters, while Allingham and Charlotte Armstrong did not do as well with most male readers. And yes, I knew that Edgar Box was really Gore Vidal.

   Since response was so high, I thought at the time that it was worth doing again. I’ll list the authors I suggested for the next poll, all of whose last names began with “C.” I don’t know if I have the issue in which the results were tabulated, or even if they ever were. I’ll have to do some searching in the garage where most of my back issues are stored.

   If you’d care to record your opinions on the following authors, either in the Comments or by emailing me directly, feel free to do so:

Victor Canning, John Dickson Carr, M. E. Chaber, Raymond Chandler, Leslie Charteris, G. K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, Manning Coles, James Hadley Chase, Tucker Coe, George Harmon Coxe, Frances Crane, John Creasey, Edmund Crispin, Freeman Wills Croft, Ursula Curtiss.

PAUL KEMPRECOS – Neptune’s Eye. Bantam, paperback original, September 1991.

   This is a long book, over 300 pages of small print, and so even at a $4.50 cover price, you’re getting your money’s worth. It’s also a private eye novel, and while I like PI novels almost more than any other kind of detective story, I think that 300 pages of small print is too long. While PI stories might not need to be short, they do need to be snappy, and after 300 pages I found that this one had long since lost its snap.

   It is the second adventure for Aristotle “Soc” Socarides, the first being Cool Blue Tomb, published a few months before, also by Bantam. It begins as a missing daughter caper, but quickly heads off in several directions: first, as a murder mystery; then as an industrial espionage story involving a notorious arms dealer and a large Cape Cod scientific community; as a World War II Nazi novel; and as a deep-sea diving adventure.

   While all this is going on, Socarides must also locate his sister, who has run away from home. In a certain sense, I disapprove of this trend. Hercule Poirot never had to work on a case for his mother. Sam Spade never had to work on a case for his mother. Perry Mason never had to work on a case for his mother. (The list goes on.)

   Or in other words, everything is in here except for the stopper for the kitchen sink. Socarides is also a wise mouth when it comes to cops who have an attitude toward PI’s who have wise mouths and seem to barge in on murder cases where they’re not wanted. I’ve read this before, and so have you.

   There are also times in the tale when Socarides’ actions are also very dumb, and that he is alive to tell the story when it’s over came as quite a surprise to me. The murder mystery has been solved at a point when there are still fifty pages to go, which are then used to clear up all the other loose ends. Neatly enough, I should add, but by that time I’m afraid I just didn’t care enough.

Rating:   C.

       The Aristotle “Soc” Socarides series —

1. Cool Blue Tomb (1991)     [Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel]

2. Neptune’s Eye (1991)
3. Death in Deep Water (1992)

4. Feeding Frenzy (1993)
5. Bluefin Blues (1997)

   Since 1999 Paul Kemprecos has been the co-author of several novels in Clive Cussler’s “NUMA Files” series. At least the first two books of his own series are hard to find, and in nice condition have become rather pricey (in the $20 to $30 range).

   From the introduction:

    “Davis Dresser (1904-1977) was an American writer best known for the Michael Shayne mystery series, written under the pseudonym of Brett Halliday. […]

    “Besides writing the Michael Shayne series, Dresser was also prolific as a western writer [including many of the “Powder Valley” series as Peter Field] and had cut his teeth writing ‘love novels’ for the lending library publishers of the 1930s. […]

    “[This] is an attempt to draw together, in one place, all of Davis Dresser’s books and pseudonyms, in as many editions as possible, and to explicate the attributions of the more obscure pseudonyms.”

   Check it out here:

http://www.philsp.com/homeville/KRJ/Davis_Dresser_Bibliography.pdf

   I am reprinting this from Fatal Kiss #13, which was the name that my mystery fanzine was going by at the time, but no matter the name, it was still Mystery*File.

   Forty-three voters participated in all. Each voter was to supply me a listing of his or her top ten television shows of the detective, mystery, crime, or suspense genre. Not everyone did. Some obvious misunderstandings such as votes for Mary Tyler Moore, no matter how well intended, were discarded. I otherwise left it up to the individual voter’s discretion as to how far the limits of the category could be stretched, at least in all situations in which a case of any kind could be made for the marginal show in doubt.

   Point totals were assigned as follows: A show rated as a Number One was given 10 points; shows listed as a Number Two, 9 points; and so on. If a voter did not rank his or her choices, or in cases of ties, the corresponding point totals were split equally.

   If a person voted for 5 or fewer shows, that person’s Number One show was given only 5 points, and so on, on the grounds that someone voting for only one program could thus skew the voting point totals disproportionately. And, I’m sorry, all honorable mentions were likewise honorably ignored.

   Votes for the Sunday Mystery Movie were, rightly or wrongly, split between Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan & Wife, the most well-known and longest-lasting of that multi-part feature. This incorrectly ignores the lesser-known shows that appeared as part of that series, shows such as Hec Ramsey and Amy Prentiss. Sorry, Hec. In the point totals that follow, the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie did receive one first place vote which was not otherwise tabulated.

   Here then, finally, are the results:

SHOW     POINTS     VOTERS     NUMBER OF FIRST PLACE VOTES

COLUMBO     132     23     7
THE ROCKFORD FILES     123.5     23     2
THE AVENGERS (1)     119.5     17     5
ELLERY QUEEN (2)     102    17     2
PETER GUNN     72.5     13     3

      (1) Six voters specified only the version that starred Diana Rigg.
      (2) The version with Jim Hutton was either specified or assumed.

PERRY MASON     71     13     0
DRAGNET (3)     68     10     2
PETER WIMSEY (PBS)     60.5     10     1
THE OUTSIDER     53     7     2
QUINCY     46     9     1

      (3) Four voters specified only the Webb/Alexander version.

McCLOUD     41.5     9     0
POLICE STORY     41.5     7     0
BARNEY MILLER     40.5     7     0
HARRY O     38.5     8     0
THE UNTOUCHABLES     38     6     1

THE SAINT (4)     35     6     0
IRONSIDE     33.5     7     2
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE     30.5     5     0
ALFRED HITCHCOCK     30     5     1
NAKED CITY     30     5     0

       (4) Four voters specified only the version with Roger Moore.

NOTE: Now that we’re out of the top twenty, I will no longer include the number of voters, and the number of First Place votes, if any, will follow the total points in parentheses.

I SPY     29
KOJAK     26
McMILLAN AND WIFE     26 (1)
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.     26 (1)
THE EDDIE CAPRA MYSTERIES     25 (1)

THE DEFENDERS     24.5 (1)
THE PRISONER     23
THE SNOOP SISTERS     23
MYSTERY! (PBS)     22.5
M SQUAD     21

BANACEK     20
T.H.E. CAT     19.5
MANNIX     18
THE ROGUES     18 (1)
DANGER MAN / SECRET AGENT     18

MR. AND MRS. NORTH     17 (1)
BURKE’S LAW     17
KAZ     16.5
THE RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES     15 (1)
MAVERICK     14.5

CITY OF ANGELS     13
HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL     12.5
DIAGNOSIS: UNKNOWN     12
ELLERY QUEEN [with George Nader]     12
THE FUGITIVE     11.5

CHECKMATE     11
HAWAII FIVE-O     11 (1)
KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER     11
THE THIN MAN     10
BARETTA     10

HIGHWAY PATROL     10
CHARLIE’S ANGELS     10 (1)
HEC RAMSEY     9
BARNABY JONES     9
COLONEL MARCH OF SCOTLAND YARD     9

KRAFT MYSTERY THEATER     9
THE NAME OF THE GAME     9
77 SUNSET STRIP     8
THE LINEUP     8
MAN AGAINST CRIME     8

TOMA     8
IT TAKES A THIEF     7
HAWK     7
ADAM-12     7
THE BIONIC WOMAN     7

THE BOLD ONES     7
DEAR DETECTIVE     7
THE LONE WOLF     7
MADIGAN     7
STARSKY AND HUTCH     6.5

TENSPEED AND BROWNSHOE     6.5
CANNON     6
DRAGNET [the later version]     6
THRILLER     6
TIGHTROPE     6

MARK SABER     6
DELVECCHIO    5.5
THE MOONSTONE     5.5
WHIRLYBIRDS     5.5
GET SMART     5

RICHARD DIAMOND     5
LOU GRANT     5 (1)
JOHNNY STACCATO     5
MIKE HAMMER     5
MR. LUCKY     5

REX STOUT’S “THE DOORBELL RANG”     5
WILD WILD WEST     5
STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO     4.5
BANYON     4
THE EDGE OF NIGHT     4

FOREIGN INTRIGUE     4
JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN     4
WONDER WOMAN     4
AMY PRENTISS     3
ELLERY QUEEN [with Hugh Marlowe]     3

ESPIONAGE     3
MRS. COLOMBO / KATE LOVES A MYSTERY     3
OWEN MARSHALL     3
THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN     3
THE TWILIGHT ZONE     3

ADAMS OF EAGLE LAKE     2
87TH PRECINCT     2
THE MAN CALLED X     2
THE NBC TUESDAY NIGHT MOVIE     2
NIGHT GALLERY     2

THE PERSUADERS     2
SWITCH     2
YANCY DERRINGER     2
CAIN’S 100     1
McCOY     1

NANCY DREW     1
WHO DONE IT?     1
WIDE WORLD MYSTERY     1

[UPDATE] 10-05-11.   In the original presentation of these poll results, I included the names of all the voters. I’ve decided not to at this later date, but if there’s a consensus that suggests they’d be relevant, then I will.

   Otherwise, you may take this as a small snapshot in time, with an insignificant number of voters, but nonetheless with a number of surprising and interesting results. I hope you agree!

M. K. WREN – Dead Matter. Conan Flagg #7. Ballantine, paperback original, 1993.

   I thought this series was dead, but after a nine year hiatus, it’s back. Conan Flagg, bookstore owner, private detective, and wealthy man, returns from a trip to his hometown in Oregon to find chaos.

   While he was gone, his store manager has arranged a book signing for a local boy made good, and the bookstore is swarmed. During the signing, a local logger, being a little put out with the author for bedding his wife, threatens him with a chain saw in the store, but is disarmed by Flagg.

   The next day, after a party which Flagg attended, the unpopular fellow is found with is throat ripped out — by a chain saw.

   I liked the Flagg series in its original incarnation. Wren, who has written in several fields, knew how to tell a story, and in Flagg had created a sympathetic if not outstanding character. The books were not designed to make any top 10 lists, but were decent examples of their craft.

   I see no reason to revise any of these judgments for this.

    The Conan Flagg series —

1. Curiosity Didn’t Kill the Cat (1973)

2. A Multitude of Sins (1975)
3. Oh, Bury Me Not (1976)
4. Nothing’s Certain But Death (1978)
5. Seasons of Death (1981)
6. Wake Up, Darlin’ Corey (1984)

7. Dead Matter (1993)
8. King of the Mountain (1994

        #7. TUG NORTON, by Edward Parrish Ware.

   Tug Norton is a private detective and creation of prolific author Edward Parrish Ware (1884-1967?). These stories are told first hand by Tug Norton:

   Norton notes that when business is dull, he entertains and instructs himself by studying his casebook (The Devil Winks). This is how some of the Norton stories begin, with him reliving the case he has looked up in his files.

   Tug Norton is a former cowboy and policeman. He formerly served in the police department in Kansas City, but lost his position there when new police commissioners came into office and fired “all those politically off-colored,” including him. (Lost Lake)

   His past as a cowboy is brought out in the story “The Sow’s Ear”, in which Lafe Spear, a friend of his from Oklahoma, shows up at the agency to hire him. Lafe Spear and Norton had worked together as cowboys some twelve years previously. This story is written as a contemporary Western: horses are used, and the principals dress as cowboys (including Tug Norton). The setting is rural Oklahoma.

   The Kaw Valley Detective Bureau is based in Kansas City, Missouri, but the cases are also spread out in numerous other locations. Norton states in one story that he was not interested in out-of-town cases, and that he was “confining my practice—what there is of it—to the city.” (The Tomahawk)

   However, contrary to this declaration, Norton does take cases outside Kansas City. In the Norton series there are some stories in an urban setting, but the series is a wide-ranging one and has quite a few stories in rural settings. For example, one story, “The Silent Partner”, begins in Kansas City but most of the action takes place in the wilds of Arkansas.

    “Empty Pouches” takes place in Arkansas, “The Trackless Trail” and “The Tomahawk” cases are in Kansas, “The Queen’s Patteran” in and around Joplin, Missouri, and so forth for many other cases. “The Devil Winks” is mostly in Kansas City, but the climax and finish take place in rural Arkansas.

   In “A Dead Man in the Cast,” Norton discusses an early case in his career, before he had any assistants. At that time the agency consisted of just himself and his secretary-receptionist Mary Malloy. The offices at that time were in suite 606 (sixth floor), Gateway Building.

   Norton never used the front entrance to his offices, instead using as the entrance another door along the hall that showed the words: Andrew Harper, Stocks & Bonds, Private. This suite masked an entrance to his real offices next door.

   In another early story from his career as a private detective, “The Wheels Turn,” shows a client hiring him at his hotel. Norton mentions that a year after this case his offices were in the Sandstone Building. In his early cases Norton seems to have been aided by having cases referred to him by Chief Enger, his former boss at the Kansas City Police Department.

   He does use other operatives in his work, and they show up in the stories from time to time. As of the early 1927 stories, Jim Steel was his chief assistant, and worked with him on “The Queen’s Patteran” case among others. Other unnamed detective operatives also show up in stories such as “When Fate Wants a Man.”

   Norton has an office boy named Spec, who announces visitors and would-be clients. Spec is noted as being “something of a mimic.” (A Game With Death) No doubt he is also a detective in training.

   Norton on occasion is called in to help various law enforcement officials in Missouri. The story “A Game With Death” features one of those cases. A sheriff named Hap Craker calls on Tug Norton in his Kansas City office and asks for help against a gang of criminals infesting his county.

   In another case, Sheriff Sam Sneed from Arkansas, an old acquaintance of Norton’s, comes to him for help in solving a series of robberies and murders. (Empty Pouches) In a third case, Sheriff Rube Wallace of Cold Springs County called for Norton’s assistance in a multiple arson and murder case. So it appears that Tug Norton had gained a good reputation for solving difficult cases.

   The Kaw Valley Detective Bureau is also on retainer with various clients, or in other words paid at regular intervals in case their services are needed. “The Dumb Spot” is an example where one of these clients calls them in to help solve a bank robbery and murder.

   The agency has connections with other detective agencies around the country, and they could call in for help on a case if necessary. This is the case in “Dynamite and Six-Guns,” where a friend from a Chicago detective agency has a case that is taking him to Kansas City. He calls Norton and asks for his agency’s assistance in the matter. It turns out to be an exceedingly violent case for Norton, but he wins a big fee.

   Some of his cases are just downright offbeat and strange. The first is “The Seven Coffins”, a story late in the series. Norton’s agency is hired to guard six empty coffins in a deceased millionaire’s mansion, but the mystery of the seventh coffin causes murder. The mortician and his assistant are involved, and one scene takes place at the funeral home.

   In another case, “The Tomahawk,” a rich man has suddenly become a hermit in his own mansion, and Norton has to find out why. In this case, an old Gypsy curse from a nearby tribe is the reason for the man’s behavior.

   Even though there is plenty of violence in the series, with numerous gunfights, Norton is not a big believer in using guns to solve every problem. In the story “Hell’s Backyard,” he puts forth his philosophy upon the use of guns. He says that any sleuth, either police or private detective, who is overly fond of using guns to solve problems is asking for trouble. He either gets shot or fired for using his gun.

   This attitude is interesting for that time, considering that the pulps are filled with violence, and gunfights are common in this series. In fact, Ware’s own Ranger Calhoun series are probably some of the most violent in the magazine, and rarely does a story end without the criminal being shot. However, even this series couldn’t compete with Judson Philips’ series about the Park Avenue Hunt Club when it comes to violence.

   Norton is a bit of a philosopher, and begins many of the stories with some of his philosophy (based on experience and observation). Here is an example:

   Norton’s idea of a vacation from work is to go fishing. In “Trouble Up the Stream,” he and his assistant Jim Steel go on a week-long fishing trip. However, as expected, they run into trouble and have to solve a murder.

   This series was begun during the formative period of the hard-boiled private detective type of story, but still uses features of the more formal detective story, such as the use of logic and deduction to solve crimes. It does have some features of the hard-boiled story; the stories are still very violent in the private detective way, with the conclusion often resolved with gunshots.

   Tug Norton is definitely a tough, hard-boiled detective with plenty of experience, and his speech and behavior show this. He doesn’t act like the stereotypical lone wolf private detective. He is more of a descendant of the older detective characters of the dime novels type. Many, but not all, of the new private detective stories are primarily urban in setting.

   Ware had many stories published in Flynn’s/Detective Fiction Weekly in the 1920s-1930s. The Tug Norton series numbered 40 stories from 1926-1934, including two in Dime Detective. The Ranger Jack Calhoun series, also by Ware, numbered at least 59 stories from 1926-1936.

   A third series by Ware was the Buck Harris series of 12 stories 1930-1934. Battle McKim was another series by Ware, counting 12 stories 1934-1935. Ware’s character Sheriff Bob Stratton appeared in 2 stories in 1929.

   So Ware was very busy writing for this one pulp title. His Calhoun stories seemed to be the most popular, and the character appeared on the magazine’s cover a number of times. Tug Norton, although seemingly not as popular, was in my opinion the better written series.

      The Tug Norton series by Edward Parrish Ware:

    From Detective Fiction Weekly:

The Tree-Top Trail     January 30, 1926
The Fifth Gate     March 13, 1926
The Queen’s Patteran     January 1, 1927
Hell’s Backyard     March 26, 1927
The Silent Partner     April 2, 1927
Lost Lake     May 14, 1927
The Hole in the Hill     October 1, 1927
Empty Pouches     December 3, 1927
The Tomahawk     February 18, 1928
The Devil’s Pocket     February 25, 1928
The Devil Winks     March 3, 1928
Hitched to the Wind     April 14, 1928
The Wheels Turn     April 28, 1928
When Fate Wants a Man     October 20, 1928
When Thief Catches Thief     December 1, 1928
Signed With Lead     December 15, 1928
The Death Stone     November 2, 1929
The Trackless Trail     November 30, 1929
The Locomotive Mystery     February 22, 1930
Hot Eyes     July 5, 1930
A Game With Death     May 24, 1930
The Sow’s Ear     October 18, 1930
Prison Shoes     November 22, 1930
The Jade Boomerang     December 6, 1930
Snow Camp     December 13, 1930
A Background of Vendetta     April 11, 1931
Consider the Sphinx     October 24, 1931
Trouble Up the Stream     November 28, 1931
The Yellow Demon     July 16, 1932
The Devil’s Do-All     July 23, 1932
The Pole-Axe Problem     October 1, 1932
Behind the Green Mask     November 12, 1932
Monkey Blood     February 25, 1933
Red Skies     May 27, 1933
A Dead Man in the Cast     August 12, 1933
Dynamite and Six-Guns     January 20, 1934
The Seven Coffins     February 17, 1934
The Dumb Spot     June 9, 1934

    From Dime Detective Magazine:

The Skull of Judgment     March, 1932
The Gallows Clue     July 15, 1933

    Previously in this series:

1. SHAMUS MAGUIRE, by Stanley Day.
2. HAPPY McGONIGLE, by Paul Allenby.
3. ARTY BEELE, by Ruth & Alexander Wilson.
4. COLIN HAIG, by H. Bedford-Jones.
5. SECRET AGENT GEORGE DEVRITE, by Tom Curry.
6. BATTLE McKIM, by Edward Parrish Ware.

RICHARD ROSEN —

    ● Fadeaway. Harper, hardcover, September 1986. Onyx, paperback, September 1987.

    ● Saturday Night Dead. Viking, hardcover, June 1988. Onyx, paperback, June 1989.

   Though I don’t really understand why Harvey Blissberg abandoned baseball at age thirty to become a private eye, and Richard Rosen doesn’t satisfactorily explain it, I am nonetheless glad to welcome him to the shamus corps.

   Rosen’s second book, Fadeaway, does for basketball what his first, Strike Three, You’re Dead, did for baseball. Rosen writes better sports mysteries than anyone I know, except, of course, Dick Francis. I also like the way Rosen uses Providence, R.I., not your everyday mystery locale. Sure his solution is telegraphed, but Western Union has to live also.

   In Saturday Night Dead, Rosen and Blissberg almost desert sports, though Harvey gets his case through an old baseball buddy. His work is more as a bodyguard than a detective, but what would one expect of a detective from the same town as Spenser.

   Rosen worked for many years in television, and he does a great job with a comedy show that, as the title indicates, is remarkably like Saturday Night Live. He even includes some brand-new sketches, including one, “Death of a Mailman,” which is a hilarious send-up of Arthur Miller.

   Despite an overly melodramatic ending, this book does nothing to detract from Rosen’s status as one of the best new writers of the 1980s.

      The Harvey Blissberg series —

1. Strike Three You’re Dead (1984)    [Edgar Award winner for Best First Novel.]

2. Fadeaway (1986)
3. Saturday Night Dead (1988)
4. World Of Hurt (1994)
5. Dead Ball (2001)