JOYCE CHRISTMAS – A Better Class of Murder.

Fawcett, paperback original; 1st printing, Dec 2000.

   Question. Did Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple ever appear in a story together? I don’t think so, but I might be wrong. I know that Perry Mason and the detective duo of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam never appeared in the same book. But think about it. Wouldn’t have either one been quite an event? Crossovers like this used to be rare in the comic book field, now it’s so common they do it all the time, even between DC and Marvel, two different publishers and direct competitors, if you will.

   But for mystery fiction, it’s not an everyday occurrence. (*) So to have the first appearance together of Joyce Christmas’s two main characters, Manhattan socialite Lady Margaret Priam (ten previous books) and retired office manager Betty Trenka (four earlier mysteries), well, when it first came out, her fans must have been grabbing the book right off the shelf.

   For me, though, this is the first of either series I’ve read, and it’s (in a word) disappointing. The two characters could not be from two more different worlds, but that’s not the problem. Poirot and Miss Marple are equally opposite in many ways, but just consider the puzzles they might have solved together — I think Agatha Christie could easily have come up with a couple of absolute knockouts. They would have been doozies.

   That’s not the case here. In fact, there’s very little case to be solved, and neither Lady Margaret or Miss Trenka get within 50 miles of the crime itself. Betty Trenka is asked by a neighboring suburbanite, a computer expert by trade, to do another job entirely, one that takes her into New York City, and thus into Lady Margaret’s social set, almost incidentally so. The connection turns out to be a dead woman whose body had been found earlier, back in (further) upstate Connecticut, involved somehow with a missing and essential computer disk.

   As crimes go, this is a rather mild one, and the solution is unravelled more or less perfunctorily, with no further ado or commotion. Lady Margaret has nothing to do but show Betty Trenka around the city, which the latter’s naiveté does make amusing, and perhaps even mildly interesting. All in all, though, what you should expect from this book is a lot more talk than there is action, of which there is none, neither physical nor mental.

COMMENT (*). 06-05-08. It wasn’t true then, and while it may be more true now, crossover appearances between mystery characters still happen only about .01 of 1% percent of the time. Of course in comic books it happens so often that it’s taken for granted, and it’s boring.

         JOYCE CHRISTMAS: A Checklist —

[Expanded upon from her entry in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. All of her mysteries were published as paperback originals by Fawcett, or in the case of the earlier ones, Fawcett Gold Medal.]

   Lady Margaret Priam

1. Suddenly in Her Sorbet (1988)
2. Simply to Die for (1989)
3. A Fete Worse Than Death (1990)
4. A Stunning Way to Die (1991)
5. Friend or Faux (1991)
6. It’s Her Funeral (1992)
7. A Perfect Day for Dying (1993)
8. Mourning Gloria (1996)
9. Going Out in Style (1998)
10. Dying Well (2000)

   Betty Trenka

1. This Business Is Murder (1993)
2. Death at Face Value (1995)
3. Downsized to Death (1997)
4. Mood to Murder (1999)

   Lady Margaret Priam & Betty Trenka in tandem

1. A Better Class of Murder (2000)
2. Forged in Blood (2002)

   The following entries will appear shortly in the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. The annotations, links and images have been provided by me (Steve) as usual. Note that the bulk of this post is taken up by novelizations and other tie-in’s connected with the BBC television series, Between the Lines.

GRANT, GRAEME. 1961- . Born in Aberdeen, Scotland; occupation: writer. Pseudonym: Tom McGregor, q.v. Under his own name, the author of three novels included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, all novelizations of either a film or television series.

McGREGOR, TOM. Pseudonym of Graeme Grant, 1961- , q.v. Under this pen name, the author of 15 books cited in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, most of them novelizations of various television series, including Cracker, Due South, Kavanagh QC and two for the BBC-TV police drama series Between the Lines. Add/revise series characters in each of the latter two: Complaints Investigation Bureau (Tony Clark, Harry Naylor, Maureen Connell). [The C.I.B. is the department responsible for investigating other police officers.] See also author Diane Pascal for one other novelization of the series.
      The Chill Factor. Warner, UK, pb, 1994. Novelization of the “Between the Lines” BBC-TV series.
      Close Protection. Warner, UK, pb, 1994. Novelization of the “Between the Lines” BBC-TV series.

MANRING, E(RNEST?) H. 1931?-1998? Add as a new author entry.
      _Man Alone. Belmont Tower, pb, 1975. Retitled edition of Steve Douglas of Sleepy Cat Ranch (Belmont, 1971).

      Steve Douglas of Sleepy Cat Ranch. Belmont, pb, 1971. Reprinted as Man Alone (Belmont Tower, 1975). “Steve Douglas could have walked away and let the Mafia goons take over his ranch for their own dirty reasons, but this stubborn wild horse tamer … didn’t take kindly to having city trash telling them what [he] could and couldn’t do.”

PASCAL, DIANE.
   Between the Lines: Breaking Point. Warner, UK, pb, 1993. Setting: Liverpool. Novelization of the BBC-TV police drama series Between the Lines. Add series characters: Complaints Investigation Bureau (Tony Clark, Harry Naylor, Maureen Connell). [The C.I.B. is the department responsible for investigating other police officers.] See also author Tom McGregor for two other novelizations of the series.

NOTE: At the present time, the book below, another tie-in with the BBC-TV series Between the Lines will not be added to the Revised Crime Fiction IV unless supporting evidence in its favor can be found or is provided:

ZUKOWSKA, KRYSTYNA.
   Between the Lines: Tony Clark’s Dossier. Boxtree, UK, pb, 1994. According to a description provided on one website, this book purports to be “a collection of case reports assembled by Clark [a character in the TV series] while he was trying to work out who had been sending him death threats. There [is also] a collection of photographs from the first two seasons, pretending to be from his own photo album.”

   I was going to add data about one additional author to the online Addenda this evening, but it’s early morning, and the entry for Kel Richards has already become longer than I’d expected. Perhaps it’s common knowledge and I just hadn’t heard about it before, but the existence of G. K. Chesterton as a series character in a pair of detective novels came as quite a surprise to me, and a pleasant one, at that.

   And of course I now have to see about finding the books. Don’t I?

RICHARDS, KEL(VIN BARRY) 1946- . Noted Australian journalist and radio personality. Among the twelve books included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV are three novels plus one story collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures published in a series of “Tales of Terror” books designed for older children. Other series characters are talk-show host Mark Roman (two novels); Ben Bartholomew, a P.I. in Roman-occupied Palestine, 1st century C. E. (four novels); and G. K. Chesterton (two novels, one post-2000). Additions to the author’s previous entry can be found below; while only Australian editions are listed, some of Richards’ work has been published in the UK. (The Sherlock Holmes link above leads to full summaries of his contributions to the canon.)

      The Curse of the Pharaohs. Beacon, Australia, pb, 1997. SC: Sherlock Holmes. Add setting: Scotland, 1890s.

      Death in Egypt. Beacon, Australia, pb, 1996. Add SC: G. K. Chesterton, the noted British author, to appear later in at least one post-2000 novel. Setting: Egypt; early 20th century. (Add the time period.)

      Footsteps in the Fog and Other Stories. Beacon, Australia, pb, 1999. SC: Sherlock Holmes. Collection of three novelettes. Add setting: England, Scotland; 1890s.

      The Headless Monk. Beacon, Australia, pb, 1997. SC: Sherlock Holmes. Add setting: England (Cornwall); 1890s.

      The Third Blood Stain. Hodder, Australia, pb, 1995. SC: Mark Roman. Add setting: Sydney, Australia. [A young man seeking on-air advice from Roman is later found murdered.]

      The Vampire Serpent. Beacon, Australia, pb, 1997. SC: Sherlock Holmes. Setting: London; 1890s. (Add the time period.)

WILDING, PHILIP. Add as a new author entry.
      Murder with Merit. Banner, UK, pb, 1959. Setting: London. Leading character: PI Nick Crane. [Crane comes to the rescue of a beautiful blonde whose sadistic husband is found with a knife in his back.]

ANDREA PICKINS – The Hired Hero .

Signet, paperback; c.1999; 1st pr., June 1999.

   The mystery in this regency romance is not of the detective variety. It’s more of a spy or adventure thriller, with plenty in romance department as well, but more of that later.

   The father of Lady Caroline Talcott, who is a bit of a tomboy (or harridan, if you will), is off fighting Napoleon, and the papers he sends to his daughter, to be delivered to London, are vital to the war effort. But when the messenger with the parcel collapses and dies on Caroline’s front doorstep, she is the only one who can complete the task. Waylaid on the way (hmm) by an unknown assailant, she reluctantly enlists the assistance of the dissolute Earl of Davenport. Unknown to her, however, the gentleman with the bad reputation is dead, and the new earl is the dead man’s twin brother.

   She hires him anyway — he is dreadfully in need of money — hence the title. Caroline is not only a great horseback rider, she is also a crack shot with a pistol and a terrific boatsperson, all of which come into play. The romance between the two also begins to grow in intensity, but in fits and starts.

   This is a fine, fine adventure, with an underlying feminist theme that (for the most part) makes it largely unlikely, given the time period, but the narrow escapes and the near misses certainly provide a lot of fun.

[UPDATE] 06-02-08. Yes, once again this is a book that’s in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. Even though The Hired Hero was billed and sold as a Regency Romance, there’s always the possibility of overlap into “our” field, no matter the primary genre, and this is a prime example.

   Of the dozen such Regency Romances written by Andrea Pickins, I’ll concede, however — that being the primary pen name used by real author Andrea DaRef — this is the only one which could be really considered for inclusion in CFIV. See her website for covers of them all.

   But of her recent historical romances, taking place in very much the same era, the following trilogy might be prime candidates as having sufficient criminous content to also be invited in, save for one fact: they’ve all been published after CFIV‘s cut-off date of the year 2000, or will be. All are also adventures of various members of “Mrs. Merlin’s Academy for Select Young Ladies, a secret school for Hellion Heroes.”

The Spy Wore Silk. Forever, paperback original, June 2007. “On her first assignment, the resourceful Siena is charged with sniffing out a Napoleonic spy while posing as a courtesan in search of a new protector.”

Seduced by a Spy. Forever, paperback original, March 2008. “Shannon is the most daring of ‘Merlin Maidens.’ Her assignment: stop the fiendishly cruel assassin who is targeting a top British ballistics expert’s family.”

The Scarlet Spy. Forever, paperback original, October 2008. “The most ladylike of ‘Merlin’s Maidens,’ Sofia possesses a natural grace and grandeur to go along with her deadly arsenal of martial skills — which makes her the perfect choice for undertaking a dangerous dance of deception through the highest circles of London Society.”

JULIETTE LEIGH – The Fifth Proposal.

Zebra, paperback original; 1st printing, July 1999.

   Detective mysteries come concealed in the strangest places. This one, for example, was published as a regency romance, and if you didn’t look closely when it first came out, you probably missed it.

   When Shelby Falcon is summoned to her dear grandfather’s home after learning that he’s gravely ill, she doesn’t know it, but she’s about to become an heiress. Or so he announces, with all the other family members circled around him. In his own mind, though, he has no intentions of dying yet.

   Someone intends to change those intentions, however, and a series of suspicious and potentially fatal accidents begins to happen to the old gentleman. Shelby suspects one of her four cousins, all debtors and heavily in need of money. Another possible perpetrator is the mysterious Gill, whom she’s never seen before, the old man’s new companion and bodyguard.

   As the story goes on, the four cousins in turn make proposals of marriage to Shelby — ah, you do know where this is going, don’t you?

   Well, it is a regency romance, after all. Frothy and light, with only the mystery of Colonel Falcon’s unknown assailant to give it a little added substance. The historical period is adequately evoked, at least within my limited experience in such things, but the dialogue (at times) seems a trifle forced to me, and (if this makes sense) artificially created to fit the time period.

   PS. It all ends well.

[UPDATE] 06-01-08. And in case you were wondering this as well, yes, the book above is in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, and in fact, here’s the complete entry for the author, under two names. (Not all of her books were mysteries. Others were Regency Romances only, and are not listed below.)

LEIGH, JULIETTE. Pseudonym of Dawn Aldridge Poore, 1941- .

      The Fifth Proposal (Zebra, 1999, pb) [England; 1800s]
      Sherry’s Comet (Zebra, 1998, pb) [England; 1800s]

POORE, DAWN ALDRIDGE. 1941- . Pseudonym: Juliette Leigh. Series Character: Rozanne Sydney, in all.

      The Brighton Burglar (Zebra, 1993, pb) [England; 1800s] “When it comes to unsolved crimes and unmatched hearts, Miss Roxanne Sydney is on the case! When Miss Sydney’s late father leaves her with a bed-ridden estate and three younger sisters to marry off, the unsinkable Roxanne decides to keep her family afloat by taking in boarders. But opening her home to strangers becomes a dangerous enterprise indeed when Roxanne finds herself embroiled in the current Brighton mystery: Someone is stealing valuable painting from the wealthy country estates…”

      The Cairo Cats (New York & London: Zebra, 1994, pb) [London; 1800s]. “Miss Roxanne Sydney travels to London to attend a wedding, and when one of her two exotic cat statues–artifacts from her father’s Egyptian travels–is stolen, she has a mystery on her hands.”

      The Mummy’s Mirror (Zebra, 1995, pb) [Egypt; 1800s] “With her three sisters finally wed, Miss Roxanne Sydney is free to pursue her favorite pastime: a mystery! Accompanied by Miss Flora Rowe, her poor but proper traveling companion, Roxanne is off to uncover the grandest of all mysteries, the land of Egypt. […] …something decidedly odd is going on between the pyramids and the burning sands. And a missing mirror will soon turn the desert into perilous territory for a genteel detective in distress…and in danger of losing her heart!”

      The Secret Scroll (Zebra, 1993, pb) [England; 1800s] “When an invaluable ancient scroll vanishes on the eve of her sister’s wedding, Miss Roxanne Sydney looks among the visitors at the Sydney estate to find the culprit.”

ANNE ROWE – Too Much Poison.

Detective Book Club; 3-in-1 edition; hardcover reprint, January 1945. Hardcover first edition: M. S. Mill, 1944.

   I love old mysteries. It’s like taking a small time capsule into the past, a past seldom written about in history books. The past that people actually lived in, everyday people, in all walks of life.

   Including the Manhattan social set. Strangely enough, the war is never mentioned in this wartime mystery, a cheery sort of world, yet with a hint of tragedy hiding behind the curtains. Mona Carstairs, the secretary-nurse to a doctor slowly establishing himself, has secretly been married to him for three years, supporting and nurturing him. And now, as he is on the verge of success, he has found a new lady friend, very young, petite and silvery blonde.

   That’s the story as it begins, and it probably has you yawning already. The mystery itself, two deaths by exotic cobra poison, is much more complicated. I won’t go into it in any more detail, but there are quite a few suspects, all in social circles that wouldn’t allow me in, but it’s quite a pleasure to read about them.

   Coming to Mona’s aid — as she gradually becomes Inspector Barry’s primary suspect — is Cliff Mallory, a son of one of Barry’s former colleagues on the force, as well as a cousin of Dr. Carstair’s new flame, a renown polo player, and now a knight in armor and an amateur detective to boot.

   Any resemblance to actual police procedure seems purely coincidental, although I would admit that standards may have differed then from what I see on NYPD Blue now. But the mystery is definitely taken seriously by Anne Rowe, with lots of clues and false trails scattered throughout, giving the fan of amateur detective fiction quite a bit to puzzle over.

[UPDATE.] 05-29-08.   I’m going to assume that not only is the book is forgotten, but so is the author. While this is the only book of Anne Rowe’s book that I’ve read, posting this review from over seven years ago makes me want to read more of them.

   To that end, if you’re also so inclined, here’s a complete list, thanks to Al Hubin and his Crime Fiction IV. Except for the one marked UK, listed are only the US editions and titles. (I have a feeling that some of these are going to be hard to find.)

ROWE, ANNE (Von Meibom) (1901?-1975?)

   When I received word of the death of Maureen Peters from John Herrington yesterday, I emailed my daughter Sarah immediately, as she’s the historical fiction expert in the family, and I thought she’d like to know. While Maureen Peters wrote a sizable number of books included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, under her own name she was known far more for her fiction about the past, most often re-creating the lives of women born to royalty.

   Here’s a portion of Sarah’s opening paragraphs about Maureen Peters on her blog, Reading the Past:

   There you have it. The secret is out. In the world of mystery fiction, Maureen Peters is far better well known as Veronica Black than she is as her own. For the rest of Sarah’s overview of her career, please follow the link above, and I hope you do.

   For more about Sister Joan, the contemporary nun who is the series character in many of the Veronica Black books, see this page on Philip Grosset’s website dedicated to clerical detectives:

   Said Maureen Peters about Sister Joan in an interview with her that you can find online:

   As Catherine Darby, Maureen Peters wrote books that were sold as Gothics, such as the 12 books in the “Falcon Saga,” but were really what Sarah calls “dark family sagas.” Or more precisely, she describes their plot lines this way: “Themes of illicit passion, family rivalry, witchcraft, revenge, and even reincarnation permeated the novels…”

         BIBLIOGRAPHY. Crime Fiction only.
[Expanded and revised from her entries in CFIV; British editions only, except as noted.]

PETERS, MAUREEN (1935-2008). Pseudonyms: Veronica Black, Catherine Darby, Elizabeth Law & Judith Rothman.

BLACK, VERONICA

Dangerous Inheritance (n.) Hale 1969 [England]
Portrait of Sarah (n.) Hale 1969 [England]
The Wayward Madonna (n.) Hale 1970 [England]
A Footfall in the Mist (n.) Hale 1971 [England]
Master of Malcarew (n.) Hale 1971 [England]
The Enchanted Grotto (n.) Hale 1972 [England]
Fair Kilmeny (n.) Hale 1972 [England]
Moonflete (n.) Hale 1972 [England]
Minstrel’s Leap (n.) Hale 1973 [England]
The House That Hated People (n.) Hale 1974 [England]
Spin Me a Shadow (n.) Hale 1974 [England]
Echo of Margaret (n.) Hale 1978 [England]
Greengirl (n.) Hale 1979 [England]
Pilgrim of Desire (n.) Hale 1979 [England]
Flame in the Snow (n.) Hale 1980 [England]
-Lover Dark, Lady Fair (n.) Hale 1983 [England]
Hoodman Blind (n.) Hale 1984

Last Seen Wearing (n.) Hale 1990 [England]
A Vow of Silence (n.) Hale 1990 [Sister Joan; England]

Vow of Chastity (n.) Hale 1991 [Sister Joan; England]
My Name Is Polly Winter (n.) Hale 1992 [England]
A Vow of Obedience (n.) Hale 1993 [Sister Joan; England]
A Vow of Sanctity (n.) Hale 1993 [Sister Joan; Scotland]
A Vow of Devotion (n.) Hale 1994 [Sister Joan; England]
A Vow of Penance (n.) Hale 1994 [Sister Joan; England]
A Vow of Fidelity (n.) Hale 1995 [Sister Joan; England]

A Vow of Adoration (n.) Hale 1996 [Sister Joan; England]
Vow of Poverty (n.) Hale 1996 [Sister Joan; England]
A Vow of Compassion (n.) Hale 1997 [Sister Joan; England]
Vow of Evil (n.) Hale 2004 [Sister Joan; England]

DARBY, CATHERINE [All were published first in the US as paperback originals.]

-A Falcon for a Witch (n.) Popular Library 1975 [Falcon Saga #1; England; 1910 ca.]

-The King’s Falcon (n.) Popular Library 1975 [Falcon Saga #2; England; 1644]
-Fortune for a Falcon (n.) Popular Library 1975 [Falcon Saga #3; England]
-Season of the Falcon (n.) Popular Library 1976 [Falcon Saga #4; England; 1774]
-Falcon Royal (n.) Popular Library 1976 [Falcon Saga #5; England]
-The Falcon Tree (n.) Popular Library 1976 [Falcon Saga #6; England; 1841]
-The Falcon and the Moon (n.) Popular Library 1976 [Falcon Saga #7; England; 1886]

-Falcon Rising (n.) Popular Library 1976 [Falcon Saga #8; England; 1818]
-Falcon Sunset (n.) Popular Library 1976 [Falcon Saga #9; England; 1916]
Whisper Down the Moon (n.) Popular Library 1977 [Moon Chalice Quest #1; England]

Frost on the Moon (n.) Popular Library 1977 [Moon Chalice Quest #2; England]
The Flaunting Moon (n.) Popular Library 1977 [Moon Chalice Quest #3; England; 1644]
Sing Me a Moon (n.) Popular Library 1977 [Moon Chalice Quest #4; England]
Cobweb Across the Moon (n.) Popular Library 1978 [Moon Chalice Quest #5; England]
Moon in Pisces (n.) Popular Library 1978 [Moon Chalice Quest #6; England; 1800s]
-Seed of the Falcon (n.) Popular Library 1978 [Falcon Saga #10; England]
-Falcon’s Claw (n.) Popular Library 1978 [Falcon Saga #11; England; 1399]
-Falcon to the Lure (n.) Popular Library 1978 [Falcon Saga #12; England]

LAW, ELIZABETH

ROTHMAN, JUDITH

   For a complete listing of all of Maureen Peters’ fiction, see the Fantastic Fiction webpage for her.

   Taken from Part 27 of the ongoing online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. The work of only two authors is cited in this posting, but with the number of pen names each of them had, it may make it seem as though there were more.

BRETT, JOHN MICHAEL. Pseudonym of Miles Tripp, 1923-2000, q.v.; other pseudonym: Michael Brett, q.v. Under these two pen names, the author of three adventures of Hugo Baron, an agent who works for a British organization called Diecast.
      A Cargo of Spent Evil. Barker, UK, hc, 1966. SC: Hugo Baron. Add setting: England, Germany. [On this assignment Baron poses as a Neo-Nazi sympathizer.] Shown is the cover of the reprint Pan edition.

      _Diecast. Pan, UK, pb, 1966. Previously published as by Michael Brett. [Add this edition.]
      A Plague of Dragons. Barker, UK, hc, 1965. SC: Hugo Baron. Setting: Africa.

BRETT, MICHAEL. Pseudonym of Miles Tripp, 1923-2000, q.v.; other pseudonym: John Michael Brett, q.v.
      Diecast. Barker, UK, hc, 1964. Gold Medal, US, pb, 1963. Add: also published as by John Michael Brett: Pan, UK, pb, 1966. SC: Hugo Baron.

FORBES, COLIN. Pseudonym of Raymond H. Sawkins, 1923-2006, q.v.; other pseudonyms: Jay Bernard & Richard Raine. Born in London; served in North Africa in World War II before joining a publishing and printing firm. Under this pen name, the author of over 30 novels of espionage, action and adventure. Appearing in many of them is a man called Tweed, the Deputy Director of the Secret Intelligence Service. For a long article on Forbes after his passing by Iwan Morelius, a long-time friend, see this earlier post on the Mystery*File blog.
      The Janus Man. Collins; UK, hc, 1987. Harcourt, US, hc, 1988. SC: Tweed. Add setting: Europe. [Tweed hunts a killer working on Moscow’s orders; one of four European section chiefs is working for the other side.] Shown is the cover of the reprint Pan edition.

SAWKINS, RAYMOND H. 1923-2006. Pseudonyms: Colin Forbes, q.v., Jay Bernard & Richard Raine. Best known for his works of espionage, mystery and adventure under the Colin Forbes byline. Under his own name, the author of three detective novels featuring Supt. John Snow. One of these is shown below (Heinemann, 1966).

TRIPP, MILES. 1923-2000. Pseudonyms: John Michael Brett, Michael Brett, qq.v. Born in England, served in RAF Bomber Command during World War II. Studied law and admitted as a solictor in 1952. Under his own name, the author of over 30 crime and detective novels included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. Fourteen of these featured a private eye named John Samson; one of these is shown below (Severn House, 1999).

   At the end of my previous post on Zekial Marko, better known to paperback collectors and mystery fans as John Trinian, I hinted at a small piece of information that turned up in his online obituary.

   Namely, that Marko had a brother named Kenn Davis. The double N immediately caught my eye. Could this be the same Kenn Davis, the mystery writer? Turns out that he is, and I hadn’t known it before. It was also news to Al Hubin, author of Crime Fiction IV, but after doing some investigating on my own, if it was a secret, it hasn’t been very well kept. People on various blogs and Yahoo groups have pointed it out on several occasions in the past.

   So it’s not exactly breaking news, but it’s still reason enough to talk about Kenn Davis’s books. Expanded slightly from his entry in CFIV:

  DAVIS, KENN. 1932- . Series character: CB = PI Carver Bascombe. All books are paperback originals.

      The Dark Side [with John Stanley]. Avon 30957, pb, December 1976. [CB]
      The Forza Trap. Avon 44552, pb, June 1979 [CB]
      Bogart ’48 [with John Stanley]. Dell 10853, pb, February 1980

      Dead to Rights. Avon 78295, pb, August 1981
      Words Can Kill. Gold Medal 12667, pb, May 1984 [CB]
      Melting Point. Gold Medal 12901, pb, May 1986. [CB]

      Nijinsky Is Dead. Gold Medal 13096, pb, 1987 [CB]
      As October Dies. Gold Medal 13097, pb, 1987 [CB]
      Acts of Homicide. Gold Medal 13351, pb, 1989 [CB]
      Blood of Poets. Gold Medal 13352, pb, 1990 [CB]

   In spite of the number of books, I have a feeling that both Kenn Davis and Carver Bascombe are fairly well forgotten today. Even though I believe I have all but one or two of the books, they’re boxed away where I can’t get at them. (You’ve heard that before.) So far I’ve been able to come up with only a few cover images, which you will see both above and below.

   But did you know, as I certainly didn’t — and I’ll get back to Carver Bascombe shortly — that Kenn Davis is also a well-known California-based artist, and has been for over 50 years? Taken from a website illustrating some of his work, one of which is shown here:

   Kenn Davis and John Stanley also co-wrote the screenplay for the comedy-horror film Nightmare in Blood, the storyline described on IMDB as: “Attendees at a horror-film convention in San Francisco keep disappearing. It turns out that the guest of honor is a real vampire…” Kenn Davis was the producer, and John Stanley directed. More on the making of the movie here, written by John Stanley himself. (No, that is not him in the coffin below.)

   As for Carver Bascombe, from the second of the two websites linked to in the above paragraph, Stanley says:

   As it happened, The Dark Side was nominated for an Edgar in 1976 as Best Paperback Original. (Note that by the time the book was published, the movie Shaft had already appeared, in 1971, based on Ernest Tidyman’s 1970 novel) From the cover of The Dark Side:

   Kevin Burton Smith in the online January Magazine has this to say about the series:

   Of special note, the link above leads to a long article by Kevin about black PI’s, a complete overview from a historical perspective. It’s well worth your reading.

[UPDATE] 01-18-10. I have bad news to report. Kenn Davis died six days ago at the age of 77. For a wonderful tribute to him as an author, check out Jeff’s piece about him on The Rap Sheet. I am pleased to say that Mr. Davis saw this post I did on him (see Comment #7). I am not pleased to say that in spite of all good intentions, an interview I kept meaning to do with him never happened. I wish it had.

   It was Juri Nummelin who on his blog was one of the first to post the news of Zekial Marko’s passing. A brief obituary can be found in its entirety on the Writers Guild of America website.

   Here’s a shortened version:

   Marko’s list of TV credits would in itself qualify his death be mentioned on this blog. What the obituary does not say, however, but what has been known to fans of his work for some time, is that he was also “John Trinian,” author of a small eclectic set of mystery and crime paperbacks written back in the 1960s.

   It turns out that Al Hubin already knew this – the name behind the names is included in Crime Fiction IV, as you can easily check. What’s not there, but will appear in the next installment of the online Addenda — and right here, right now, of course — is any biographical information about Markos, including the year he was born (1933) and the fact that his name at birth was Marvin Leroy Schmoker. The latter Juri learned from a relative of Marko’s who contacted him after he died, perhaps because Juri had written about John Trinian on his blog and elsewhere.

   Based on and expanded from his entry in CFIV, here’s the list of all of Trinian’s paperback mystery fiction:

      A Game of Flesh. Bedside Book BB106, 1959; Lancer/Domino 72-678, 1963; Macfadden 75-360, 1970. “An explosive novel of a wanton gigolo and the love-starved women he shamed!”

      The Big Grab. Pyramid G548, 1960; Manor 95230, 1973. Reprinted earlier as Any Number Can Win. Pyramid F-925, 1963. “Their take would be a cool quarter of a million-or a hot slug in the gut.” Film: Cipra, 1963, as Melodie en Sous-Sol (Basement Melody). Released in Britain as The Big Grab; released in the U.S. as Any Number Can Win. Stars: Jean Gabin, Alain Delon.

      North Beach Girl. Gold Medal s1000, 1960. Reprinted as Strange Lovers. Macfadden 60-301, 1967. [A novel set in the San Francisco beat world of the Fifties.]

      The Savage Breast. Gold Medal s1104, 1961; Macfadden 60-330, 1968. “Born beautiful, spoiled rotten..was she a goddess to be loved or a tigress to be tamed?”

      Scratch a Thief. Ace Double F-107, 1961. Also published as: Once a Thief. Gold Medal k1569, 1965, as by Zekial Marko; and under the latter title as by John Trinian: Manor 95272, 1973. “A blood and guts book about a cop with a grudge and an ex-con who wanted to go straight…” Film: MGM, 1965, as Once a Thief; in French: Les Tueuers de San Francisco. (scw: Zekial Marko; dir: Ralph Nelson). Stars: Alain Delon, Ann-Margret. [Go here for a short clip from the film.]

      House of Evil. Pyramid F-712, 1962. [?? Macfadden-Bartell, 1970] “The story of a Hollywood sex cult.”

      Scandal on the Sand. Gold Medal k1449, 1964. Macfadden-Bartell 75-338, 1970.

   Reviews or commentary on Trinian’s work are few and hard to come by, but on Ed Gorman’s blog he had this to say, not too long ago:

   What better things could one writer say about another? A fitting way to end this short tribute, I hope you’ll agree.

[UPDATE.] Later the same day. Keen eyes on your part may have noticed the same thing I did. It is true, it is he, and this small bit of information is what a followup post, coming up soon, will be all about.