Donna Frey left a comment on my blog entry about gothic romantic mystery paperbacks a while back, and I thought it might be more useful if posted my reply as a new blog entry, instead of leaving it hidden where no one would find it.

   Here’s what Donna asked:

   Donna, you’re not alone in liking the gothics that Theresa Charles wrote. I’ve been asked a few times before to be on the lookout for her books by people trying to find them. (They’re not all that difficult to come across, but again there must be a demand for them. The asking prices online start around $4.00, which as the low end price for a gothic, is rather high.)

   As far as a biography is concerned, technically speaking, there is or was no “Theresa Charles.” That was the joint pen name of two British authors, Irene Maude Swatridge and Charles John Swatridge, neither no longer living. Other than their names, though, I’ve never found much of anything more about them. I assume they are were a married couple, but of course this doesn’t mean that they were. Irene also wrote a few books on her own, using a pair of other pen names. I’ll list the titles below.

   You’re right in being wary of buying any books by Theresa Charles without knowing more about them. A lot of the books under her name appear to have been straight romances, including (yes) Doctor-Nurse affairs. The list of titles below are from Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. With one possible (and obvious) exception, these would be your best bets as books to start hunting down. [UK = British edition.]

      CHARLES, THERESA; pseudonym of Irene Maude Swatridge & Charles John Swatridge; other pseudonyms: Leslie Lance & Jan Tempest
         * The Burning Beacon (Cassell, UK, 1956, hc) Lancer, 1966.
         * Fairer Than She (Cassell, UK, 1953, hc) Dell, 1968.
         * Happy Now I Go (Longman[s], UK, 1947, hc) U.S. title: Dark Legacy. Dell, 1968.
         * House on the Rocks (Hale, UK, 1962, hc) Paperback Library, 1966.
         * The Man for Me (Hale, UK, 1965, hc) U.S. title: The Shrouded Tower. Ace, 1966.
         * Nurse Alice in Love (Hale, UK, 1964, hc) U.S. title: Lady in the Mist. Ace, 1966.
         * Proud Citadel (Hale, UK, 1967, hc) Dell, 1967.
         * Widower’s Wife (Hale, UK, 1963, hc) U.S. title: Return to Terror. Paperback Library, 1966.

      LANCE, LESLIE; pseudonym of Irene Maude Swatridge; other pseudonyms: Theresa Charles & Jan Tempest
         * The Bride of Emersham (Pyramid, 1967, pb) British title?
         * Dark Stranger (Low, UK, 1946, hc)
         * The Girl in the Mauve Mini (Hale, UK, 1979, hc)
         * The House in the Woods (Ace, 1973, pb) British title?

      TEMPEST, JAN; pseudonym of Irene Maude Swatridge; other pseudonyms: Theresa Charles & Leslie Lance
         * House of the Pines (Mills, UK, 1946, hc) Ace, 1968.

   I hope this helps!

Hi Steve,

   Please find below a brief biography (well, the only one I have found) on the writer who, as Armitage Trail, wrote the novel Scarface.

   I wonder if anyone has ever done any research to track down the pseudonymous work mentioned in it. I asked Victor Berch who knows little more — apparently he could not even find him in the census for the years he was alive. (Apparently his brother, also difficult to trace in official records, wrote over 20 episodes for the Addams Family [television show] amongst other work).

   Just wonder if he is worth putting in your blog to see if anyone can add to the bio?

   Armitage Trail was a pseudonym for the American author Maurice Coons. The son of a theatrical impresario who managed the road tours of the New Orleans Opera Company, and also manufactured furniture and farm silos, Maurice Coons left school at 16 to devote all his time to writing stories. By 17 or 18, he was already selling stories to magazines. By his early twenties he was writing whole issues of various detective-story magazines under a great assortment of various names. And at 28 — after going to New York to write more stories, and from there to Hollywood to write movies — he dropped dead of a heart attack at the downtown Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles.

   At the time of his death, he weighed 315 pounds, had a flowing brown moustache, and wore Barrymore-brim Borsalina hats. He was survived by his brother, humorous writer Hannibal Coons.

   Maurice Coons gathered the elements for Scarface when living in Chicago, where he became acquainted with many local Sicilian gangs. For a couple of years, Coons spent most of his nights prowling Chicago’s gangland with his friend, a lawyer, and spent his days sitting in the sun room of his Oak Park apartment writing Scarface. He never did meet Al Capone, who was the inspiration for his immortal character, though Capone was very much alive when his book was published.

   When Howard Hughes was making plans to produce the movie, Coons wanted Edward G. Robinson to play the leading role because of his resemblance to Capone but being Hollywood, it ended up with Paul [Muni] playing Scarface, a different-looking sort of man altogether. The author did not live to see the picture, but Al Capone did, and screenwriter Ben Hecht had to talk fast to convince his henchmen that Scarface was not based on him. Scarface was also made into a film in 1983, directed by Brian de Palma and starring AI Pacino. Armitage Trail’s only other surviving novel is The Thirteenth Guest ( 1929). Both his novels prefigure the birth of hard-boiled fiction and Black Mask magazine.

   From Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin:

COONS, MAURICE (1902-1930); see pseudonym Armitage Trail.

TRAIL, ARMITAGE; pseudonym of Maurice Coons.

   * * Scarface (Clode, 1930, hc) [Chicago, IL] Long, 1931. Film: United Artists, 1932 (scw: Fred Palsey, W. R. Burnett, John Lee Mahin, Seton I. Miller, Ben Hecht; dir: Howard Hawks). Also: Universal, 1983 (scw: Oliver Stone; dir: Brian De Palma).

   * * The Thirteenth Guest (Whitman, 1929, hc) Film: Monogram, 1932 (scw: Francis Hyland, Arthur Hoerl, Armitage Trail; dir: Albert Ray). Also: Monogram, 1943, as Mystery of the Thirteenth Guest (scw: Charles Marlon, Tim Ryan, Arthur Hoerl; dir: William Beaudine).

Hi —

   I’ve been searching for a mystery I read in about 1974 — it may have been several years old when I read it. Don’t know the author or title. The story takes place in NYC — a young medical student murders his pregnant girlfriend through some ingenious medical means. The friend or roommate of the murdered woman falls in love with the medical student and later figures out the truth about him. Since for some reason she cannot prove it, she marries the (now) doctor as a kind of daily punishment for him, with the truth disclosed in a letter kept with her lawyer “in case anything happens to her.”

   I believe the author was a woman. The book was well written, and I’ve been wracking my brains for years trying to come up with the title and author. Seems the title had something to do with her ironic “punishment” of the murderous doctor. Any idea?

   I recently reread Westlake’s The Hot Rock for the first time in ages and was struck by the fact that Grofield makes an appearance. One of the members of Dortmunder’s crew, Alan Greenwood, is forced to change his last name after he’s arrested. We learn in the book’s penultimate chapter that he’s now Alan Grofield.

    Grofield had already been established in the Parker series as well as his own books at this point. So is this a belated origin story, as they say in the comics field?

[UPDATE]  Later the same evening. I don’t know anything more about Greenwood / Grofield than I did earlier today, but I did some surfing and came up with the following somewhat relevant information. First of all, first editions of The Hot Rock in dust jacket (1970) are starting to get pricey. You can pick up Fair ex-library copies for $15, but be prepared to spend in the low three-figure range for one in VG condition.

Even copies of the first printing Pocket paperback are hard to find, although not expensive. The cover image below is taken from a later Canadian printing.

There was a movie made of the book, and do you know, I had completely forgotten that it was Robert Redford who played Dortmunder. His brother-in-law, Andrew Kelp, is played by George Segal in the 1972 movie. Others in the gang are Ron Liebman as Stan Murch, and Paul Sand as Alan Greenberg. The image below was taken from the laserdisc version.

As for Paul Sand, it was surprising difficult to find a photo of him. The one below came from the classic extravaganza TV series, Supertrain (1979). Too bad it’s a few years too late to be useful, but so far, it’s the best I have.

Hi Steve,

   Here are my latest notes on Fielding/Feilding in case someone can add anything.

   Further to my questioning of A. Fielding being the pen name of Lady Dorothy Feilding, I have a little more information — but also more questions.

   Working on the belief that her American publisher was correct in saying the author’s real name was Dorothy Feilding and had lived in Sheffield Terrace, Kensington, I retraced my steps and found that the statement was correct.

   Initially I checked the London telephone directories for the 1930s and — a Mrs A. Feilding was listed at 2 Sheffield Terrace from 1932 to 1936. A phone call to the Local Studies Library at Kensington, a check of the electoral roll for the period and there she was — Dorothy Feilding. No sign of Mr A. though. (Sadly, my previous enquiry had only seen the 1937/1938 rolls checked when she was no longer there).

    The phone books showed that she had moved to Islington for 1937, but by 1939 she had ‘disappeared’ from the listing.

   Unfortunately that is the sum of my search so far. A Dorothy Feilding (Mrs A.) was living in London circa 1932-1938 but so far no trace of her either side of that time. Also, there is no trace of Mr A. yet. Was she a widow, separated, was her husband away from home at the time? No idea. (Lady Dorothy’s husband was Charles Joseph, and anyway, his surname was Moore).

   There was an Albert Feilding born in Yorkshire in 1869, but cannot find another male A. Feilding from then to end of century. Possible the husband was not born in England or Wales, I wonder?

   There is also no trace of her in the probate registry up to the 1960s, but then she may died without making a will. I have yet to make a quarter by quarter search for her and her husband in the deaths registers.

   Not a great deal to say, but I think this at least removes Lady Dorothy from the scene.

   I have one other goodie which might be worth throwing out for comment.

   As you may now, the major English novelist C. P. Snow’s first book was a murder mystery, Death under Sail.

   Recently I was checking Author and Writers Who’s Who 1934 and came across the entry for a Kathryn Barber — who is in Crime Fiction IV for a couple of novels as Kay Lynn. But, to my surprise, her list of publications also include Death under Sail (in collaboration)!!

   Did a quick Google, but could find no mention of anyone but C. P. Snow in connection with the book..

   Wonder if anyone can throw any light on this?

SNOW, C(harles) P(ercy) [Baron Snow] (1905-1980)

LYNN, KAY

    “I’m seeking information on novelist Arthur Rees (Australian born 1872 (ish ), died 1942). Spent (perhaps much) time in England and wrote novels showing detailed knowledge of and interest in his adoptive home. His ‘detective/horror’ work includes The Shrieking Pit set in Norfolk and the tiny port of Blakeney.

    “The book is prefaced by reference to Annie and Frances – my sisters in Australia, and a lengthy poem (of merit) about Blakeney.

    “Any biographical information would be very much appreciated. Many thanks.”

         —

   As always, when asked about an author new to me, I turn first to Allen J. Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV, wherein is found:

   This listing includes the British editions only. A handful of the titles were published in the US, often with title changes; CFIV also lists one US title which has not yet been matched with an UK equivalent. Books in which a setting is indicated (most of them) take place in either England or Wales.

   After consulting CFIV, as usual I sent out the usual cry for assistance, which was quick in arriving. From John Herrington came the bulk of the incoming information:

   Then from Al Hubin:

   Heading back to do some Googling on my own, I came up with the following book descriptions from the Supernatural Fiction Data Base (which I did not know existed before):

The Shrieking Pit, 1919

   Not, strictly speaking, a supernatural title. The locale that gives the book its title has a supernatural legend attached to it that is mentioned in passing, but there are no supernatural incidents in the story.    (**)

The Threshold of Fear, 1925

   A novel with borderline supernatural content: its villain has occult powers of mind control.

** As part of the introductory material for this book is the following: “As the scenes of this story are laid in a part of Norfolk which will be readily identified by many Norfolk people, it is perhaps well to state that all the personages are fictitious, and that the Norfolk police officials who appear in the book have no existence outside these pages. They and the other characters are drawn entirely from imagination.”

   As John mentioned, four of Arthur Rees’s mysteries are available as free etexts. I’ve provided links to these in the entry from CFIV. If you (like me) dislike reading novels for entertainment from a computer screen, you can always download them as text files, then print them out. All it will cost you is the paper. And a new printer cartridge, I hasten to add, but still a bargain.

   It’s a good thing that Bill Crider reads this blog. If you saw his comment on my post about trying to remember where I’d seen a photo of mystery writer Dan J. Marlowe recently, you already know that even though he is somewhat older than I am, his mind is at least twice as sharp.

   You’ll find a photo on the back of the upcoming collection from Stark House Press in which one of his books is going to be reprinted, Bill said. And so it is.

   And where is my copy of the ARC for this book? On the top of the pile of TBR books on the living room coffee table. I think I need a shorter leash, no doubt about it!

   While I was on the hunt, Greg Shepard and Mark Shepard, a couple of the head guys at Stark House, sent me photos of the cover of their upcoming book, from which I’ve uploaded the images that you see here.

   Contained in the book, coming out in April, 2007, are three novels published by Gold Medal back in the era when Gold Medal was THE publisher of tough, noirish, hard-boiled fiction, bar none:

      THE VENGEANCE MAN, Dan J. Marlowe (Gold Medal d1645, 1966)

      PARK AVENUE TRAMP, Fletcher Flora (Gold Medal 781, 1958)

      THE PRETTIEST GIRL I EVER KILLED, Charles Runyon (Gold Medal k1507, 1965)

   Well, maybe these are a little past Gold Medal’s prime in the era, but they’re still gritter and tougher than anything else published at the time, and if this is the kind of mystery and crime fiction that you prefer to read, take my word for it, you aren’t going to go wrong reading any of the three.

   Quite coincidentally, in today’s mail came my contributor’s copy of a two-in-one combo of stories by A. S. “Sid” Fleischman, Look Behind You Lady [+] The Venetian Blonde, also from Stark House Press.

   I wrote the introduction to the first book, based on a review I did of the book, and unbeknownst to me at the time, Mr. Fleischman, now in his late 80s, wrote an overall one for both. Luckily the two introductory essays seem to mesh together very well.

   I’ll post the review as a separate blog entry, coming up soon, and in the meantime, I’ll check in with Greg Shepard and see if I can’t have him say something about what’s in store from Stark House for the rest of the year.

   As for Dan J. Marlowe, to get back to the original inquiry, why not check out Josef Hoffman’s piece about him, “Playing with Fire,” quoted on the back cover next to the photo at the top of this page. You’ll find the article reprinted online at the old M*F website, along with a short essay on Marlowe’s Gold Medal fiction by Bill Crider, along with a bibliography of all of his book-length fiction. Recommended!

Hi Steve,

   I just read an internet article you wrote some time back on John D. MacDonald. I first became acquainted with his work while serving in Vietnam long ago. Little did I know then that later on I would be a high school English teacher, and as such, I have always thought that MacDonald was one of the most overlooked authors in American literature. Do you know of any teaching resources that were ever developed for any of MacDonald’s works?

         Thanks,

            Chris Creasman

Hi Chris

   And thanks for the inquiry. I didn’t write the article you’re referring to, though — you must be referring to the interview that Ed Gorman did with JDM which I published on the original M*F website. (And no, no one’s come up with the name of the writer who MacDonald accused of plagiarizing him, not even his son Maynard.) Even though I haven’t read any of his books in a while, and shame on me, I always thought he was a fine writer.

   As for teaching resources, I found this link, but it seems fairly meager to me. Maybe someone else knows more than I do, though, and if you do, I hope you’ll let us know about it.   –Steve

PS. I’ve shown only one of JDM’s covers here. For a slide show of over 100 of them, check out this page put together by Bill Crider.

   I stumbled onto Dan J. Marlowe a few years ago and have become a big fan. I have 20 of his books. I have searched the web for pictures of Marlowe, but with no luck. Do you have a picture of him, or could you direct me to a website that does?

   Thank you very much.

         Oscar Hightower

>> I’m sure I’ve seen a photo of Mr. Marlowe, but at the moment I can’t remember where, nor can I find one online. Can anyone help? –Steve

   The following email inquiry came from David Karschner:

   If anything, true crime is a category about which I can safely say that I know less than nothing, if it could be possible, so anyone who knows more than I do, or have been able to uncover so far, please chuck a life preserver my way. I’m in over my head, in other words.

   But checking with Allen Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV, emphasis on the “fiction,” I was mildly surprised to discover that there is an entry there for Alan Hynd:

HYND, ALAN (1903-1974)

* * Alan Hynd’s Murder (Duell, 1952, hc) Collection. Somewhat dramatized true crime.
* * Brutes, Beasts and Human Fiends (Paperback Library, 1964, pb) Collection. Dramatized true crime.

* * The Case of the Lady Who Took a Bath (Berkley, 1957, pb) Collection. Dramatized true crime.
* * Great Crime Busters (Putnam, 1967, hc) Collection. Dramatized true crime, intended for younger readers.
* * Great True Detective Mysteries (Grosset, 1968, hc) Collection. Dramatized true crime.
* * In Pursuit: The Cases of William J. Burns (New York: Nelson, 1968, hc) [Series Character] William J. Burns] Collection. Dramatized true crime.
* * Murder! Great True Crime Cases (Penguin, 1947, pb) Collection. Dramatized true crime.
* * The Pinkerton Case Book (Signet, 1948, pb) Collection. Dramatized true crime.
* * Prescription: Murder (Paperback Library, 1962, pb) Collection. Dramatized true crime.

* * ’Til Death Do Us Part (Paperback Library, 1962, pb) Collection. Dramatized true crime.
* * Violence in the Night (Gold Medal, 1955, pb) Collection. Somewhat dramatized true crime.

   Perhaps the question asks itself. Does “dramatized” equate to “fictionalized?” I haven’t asked Al yet what his standards or definitions are in this somewhat borderline category, but when I do, I’ll add his reply as an update.

   Dave’s reply:

   As for Noel Hynd, whom (since I never thought about it) I never realized until now is Alan Hynd’s son, he has an entry in CFIV as well. These I’ll put in chronological order:

HYND, NOEL (1947- ); Born in New York City, the son of Alan Hynd, 1908-1974, q.v.; raised in Connecticut, educated at University of Pennsylvania; crime reporter.

   Doing some quick Googling, this list does not include, within the proper time frame of 2000 and before, The Prodigy (1997), which appears to be a supernatural horror story only.

   There are some interviews with Noel Hynd which you can easily find online, but they all seem to taken place in the late 1990s. A rather complete biography can be found at IMDB, and this led me to his most recent book, The Enemy Within, which was published by Tor/Forge in 2006. [But with nothing published between 1999 and 2006.]

   Dave is now attempting to reach Mr. Hynd through Forge.

         —

UPDATE [02-11-07]   I’ve just heard from Al Hubin, who says: