More additions to the ongoing online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, all from the installment most recently uploaded, Part 26.

   There’s not too much in common among these authors, save for one fact: most of these additions came from me, and all but the images in the Maz entry are covers of books in my collection.

   And, oh yes, one more thing. The entry for writer Jon Messmann at the end has some unanswered questions within. If you know anything about Mr. Messmann, please add a comment or drop me a line.

ABEL, JOEL S. ca.1939- . Author of one crime novel included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV.
      The Jonah Game. Curtis, pb, 1973. Add setting: Bermuda. Leading character: cardplayer Bart Dodge. “It was a dangerous brand of poker … with murder wild…”

ADAM, EVELYN. 1941- . Add as a new author entry. Pseudonym: Dylan Meave, q.v.

BURLESON, CLYDE W. 1934- . After leaving the US Air Force, he was a founding partner and president of an advertising agency in Texas which became one of the largest in the Southwest. Author of 15 books, three of which have been the basis for documentary specials on cable TV. Two of the books are novels included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV; see below.
      The Mexican Affair. Carlyle, pb, 1979. Setting: Mexico. [Christian Miles tries to learn how his best friend drowned in a Mexican scuba-diving accident.]

      Operation: Evangeline. Carlyle, pb, 1979. Add setting: ship. [A US plan to raise a sunked Soviet sub may blast open the Cold War.]

CRAGGS, JOHN. 1951- . Add as real name of John Mathewson, q.v., plus year of birth.

HACKER, SHYRLE (née PEDLAR). 1910-2000. Born in San Francisco; toured US as a dancer, 1929-34. Teacher & manager of Shyrle Dance Studio, Oakland CA, 1934-45. Award for best mystery novel from Franklin Watts, Inc., 1965, for juvenile mystery, The Mystery of the Swan Ballet. Author of one gothic novel included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Whispers in the Dark. Manor, pb, 1976. Add setting: Nevada. “Enid looked forward to seeing her brother again at Tamarac, her childhood home …”

MATHEWSON, JOHN. Add: pseudonym of John Craggs, 1951- , q.v. Author of one book included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Running Scared. Robert Hale, UK, hc, 1978. A thriller set in the New Forest of southern England: “A poacher is set up to take the blame for a gamekeepers murder but escapes and goes on the run.” [Add setting.]

MAZ. Pseudonym of Alfred Leonardus Mazure, 1914-1974, q.v. Dutch cartoonist, writer and filmmaker. One comic strip creation among others, Dick Bos, was a private detective with a love for martial arts. The books, only 3” x 4” in size, were very popular in the Netherlands. They were translated into several languages, and made into a number of movies. Also the author of three books cited in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, two marginally.

      Cash on Destruction. Neville Spearman, UK, hc, 1962. Add setting: Berlin.
      -Pigeon Parade. Neville Spearman, UK, hc, 1961.
      -Priscilla Darling. Muller, UK, 1963, hc, 95pp. Subtitled: “Being the Adventures of a Young Girl in Search of Happiness,” the tale of a heroine who goes about the world adventuring “in various states of distress and undress.”

MAZURE, ALFRED LEONARDUS. 1914-1974. Pseudonym: Maz, q.v.

MEAVE, DYLAN. Pseudonym of Evelyn Adam, 1941- , q.v. Add as a new author entry.
      Fatal Replay. Carlton Press, hc, 1987. “… a novel of mystery and suspense.”

MESSMANN, JON (J.?) 1920-2004. Pseudonyms: Claude Nicole & Claudette Nicole; house pseudonyms: Nick Carter & Paul Richards. Under his own name, the author of 18 crime and suspense novels cited in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, including seven about men’s adventure series hero Jefferson Boone, The Handyman, and six with Ben Martin, aka The Revenger. As a writer of adult westerns, Jon Messman is better known as Jon Sharpe, author of many of the early adventures of The Trailsman books, including the first one. [Note: He may also have been the [Eric] Jon Messmann who wrote comic book stories for Fawcett in the 1940s and early 1950s. Further investigation is underway.]
      Phone Call. Signet, pb, 1979. Setting: New York City, NY. Confirm/add: novelization of film: Canadian Film, as Bells, 1982; also released as Murder by Phone (scw: Michael Butler, John Kent Harrison, Dennis Shryack; dir: Michael Anderson). “A device [is developed] whereby those answering a phone can be murdered.”

   Another copy of COMPLETE DETECTIVE NOVEL MAGAZINE from my collection. It’s been a while, so please go back to this previous post for more information about the project this is a part of.

November 1931. Number 41. Total pages: 144, not including covers.

      * 8 * John T. McIntyre * Blows in the Dark * novel * illustrated by Leo Morey

      * 85 * Ward Andrus Scranton * The Almost Perfect Crime * short story (reporter Jimmie Reed)

      * 95 * Jack Martin * The Subway Murders * short story (reporter Hemming Byrd)

      * 114 * Ray Torr * The Doctor Crippen Case * true crime article * continued on page 116

      * 115 * Samuel Davenport * Final Extra! * short short story

      * 117 * James W. Poling * Steps of Death * short story

      * 132 * James Moynahan * Rat Poison * short story

Comments: Reporters seem to have been quite the rage, as far as the short fiction in this issue is concerned. The leading character in “Blows in the Dark,” which does not seem to ever have been published anywhere else, is Bob Craige, an adventurer recently returned from Mexico and Central America, only to find waiting for him in New York City a dying man, a beautiful girl, and a Chinese gentleman (I believe I am using the term lightly) named Hong Yo.

   As for John T. McIntyre, here is his entry in Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. I’m quite positive that this is the same author as the one who wrote “Blows in the Dark.”

McINTYRE, JOHN (Thomas)

* In the Toils (play) Penn 1898
* -The Ragged Edge (n.) McClure 1902
* In the Dead of Night (n.) Lippincott 1908 [New York City, NY]

* -The Street Singer (n.) Penn 1908
* Ashton-Kirk: Investigator (n.) Penn 1910 [Ashton Kirk; New York City, NY]
* Ashton-Kirk: Secret Agent (n.) Penn 1912 [Ashton Kirk]

* Ashton-Kirk: Special Detective (n.) Penn 1912 [Ashton Kirk; New York City, NY]
* Ashton-Kirk: Criminologist (n.) Penn 1918 [Ashton Kirk; New York City, NY]

* “Slag” (n.) Scribner 1927
* The Museum Murder (n.) Doubleday 1929 [New York City, NY]

* Steps Going Down (n.) Farrar 1936 [Philadelphia, PA]

* -Signing Off (n.) Farrar 1938

   One of the books is available online. Follow the link above. About Ashton-Kirk, I’ve found a blogger who has said:

    “Until you read the Conan Doyle imitators who were roughly his contemporaries, you can’t understand how reasonable, comparatively, Sherlock Holmes is. Ashton-Kirk is clearly based on Holmes, and yet —

    “He’s one of those young, aristocratic cultured gentlemen. And yes, his eyes are piercing, and his fabulous house is in a bad neighborhood, and he’s irritatingly cryptic, but it’s all part of the formula.”

   This observation is corroborated by Jess Nevins on his Pulp and Adventure Heroes website, where he says in part:

    “Ashton-Kirk, one of the more obvious Holmes homages, was created by John T. McIntyre and appeared in The Popular Magazine and in four collections starting in 1910. Ashton-Kirk is much younger than Holmes, being only in his mid-twenties, the scion of wealth and an ancient line. He has an excellent physique and mind, capable of feats of deduction quite similar to Holmes’ own. Like Holmes, he has a talent for disguise and amateur theatrics, and has a Watson-like assistant.”

[UPDATE.]   Regarding the previous entry in this series, the lead novel for which was “The Murders at Hillside,” by Virginia Anne Roth, Bill Pronzini had this to say about the author, after I mentioned to him that I had all of her novels, but I haven’t read one yet:

    “I think you’ll enjoy the Rath novels. Good, solid Golden Age plotting, background, and characterization. A suggestion: Start with Death at Dayton’s Folly, her first for Crime Club and one of her best.”

   I’ve been busy recently, but things are starting to look up. After a long break, I’ve finally been able to add some links and images to the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. Here are some of the results from Part 25, which I uploaded a short while ago this evening. There’s no connection between the authors so far as I can see. They represent several different genres and sub-genres, but all of them are crime fiction, in one form or another.

   And don’t forget: Anything you can add that’s relevant to these authors or their work would be welcome. Corrections, too!

GRESHAM, STEPHEN (LEROY). 1947- . Add pseudonym: J. V. Lewton, q.v. Other pen name: John Newland. Author of many novels of supernatural horror, mystery and suspense, three of which are included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, two marginally. The author presently lives in Auburn, Alabama, where he teaches creative writing at Auburn University.
      -Midnight Boy. Zebra, pb, 1987.
      Rockabye Baby. Zebra, pb, 1984. “He rocked them into eternal sleep with a lullaby of death.”
      -Runaway. Zebra, pb, 1988.

GREY, EVELYN. Pseudonym of Susan Leslie Liepitz, 1954- , q.v. Add as a new author entry. SC: Serena Miles Camberleigh, in both titles. Both were published as thick Gothic romances at nearly the end of the genre’s period of popularity. (Averaging over 400 pages long, they may have been the longest Gothics ever published.)
      Camberleigh. Berkley, pb, 1985. Setting: England, past.
      Mayfair. Berkley, pb, 1986. Setting: England, past.

LESLIE, EDWARD. Pseudonym of Leslie Edward Sellicks, 1902- , q.v. Author of three works of crime fiction included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, one marginally:
      The Red Slayer. Herbert Jenkins, UK, hc, 1929.
      The Seventh Entanglement. Herbert Jenkins, UK, hc, 1930. Add setting: England.
      -White Man’s Prestige. Frederick Warne, UK, hc, 1939.

LEWTON, J. V. Pseudonym of Stephen (Leroy) Gresham, 1947- , q.v. Other pseudonym: John Newland, q.v. Add as a new author entry. Both books below are horror/mystery novels intended for younger readers.
      Called to Darkness. Zebra, pb, 1995.
      Just Pretend. Zebra, pb, 1994.

LIEPITZ, SUSAN LESLIE. 1954- . Add as a new author entry. Pseudonym: Evelyn Grey, q.v.; other pen names: Ashley Allyn, Susan Leslie. Romance fiction author, some of whose books have crime-related components, including the one below:
      Mystic Memories. Jove, pb, 1998. Time travel romance. Setting: Present/past (1833). Leading character: psychic private investigator Cara Edwards, who is hired to trace a young boy who has disappeared on a restored sailing ship.

SELLICKS, LESLIE EDWARD. 1902- . Pseudonym: Edward Leslie, q.v.

   Just uploaded this evening, about 15 minutes ago, with no links or cover images added yet, is Part 26 of the ongoing online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin.

   Most of the entries seem to consist of newly discovered settings, but there are (as always) a sizable handful of new authors, titles and series characters as well.

   Any of the annotations which I do, I’ll be posting here also, as usual. More later, in other words!

   Another copy of COMPLETE DETECTIVE NOVEL MAGAZINE from my collection. See this previous post for more information about the project this is a part of.

July 1931. Number 37. Total pages: 144, not including covers. Cover artist (signed): Parkhurst. Cover price: 25¢.

      * 8 * Virginia Anne Rath * The Murders at Hillside * novel * illustrated by Parkhurst

      * 105 * Jonathan Eddy * A Vacant Lieutenancy * short story

      * 113 * Karl Nemmel * The Human Vampire * fact article

      * 118 * Leonard A. Hopkins * Jake Gets a Break * short story

      * 122 * Eddy Orcutt * Shots from Nowhere * short story (impossible crime)

      * 134 * Mark Mellen * Ivory O’Toole, Wise Hombre * short story

      * 142 * U. V. Wilcox * Police Problems * true crime feature

Comments: While Virginia Rath went on to have a long career writing hardcover mysteries, this early novel appears to have never been published in book form. Neither of her two primary series characters, Sheriff Rocky Allan or Michael Dundas appears in “The Murders at Hillside.” For more on Mrs. Rath, see her profile here as one of the authors who wrote for Ziff-Davis’s line of Fingerprint Mysteries.

   The blurb on the first page of “The Murders at Hillside” reads as follows: “Death strikes in the night and a gay house party becomes the scene of a series of baffling crimes. From the first murder to the startling solution of the last you will follow breathlessly this brand new book-length novel, complete in this issue.” It is not clear, but I believe the story takes place in the West Coast, probably California.

   Not a “cozy” as the term is used in today’s terminology, but most definitely neither a typical pulp story of gangsters and cops. What this novel is instead is one of those traditional murder mysteries very common in the 1930s, not only in England (manor houses and all), but in the US as well. Also note that the author was only 26 when she wrote it.

   From Crime Fiction IV:

RATH, VIRGINIA (Anne McVay) (1905-1950); see pseudonym Theo Durrant

* Death at Dayton’s Folly (n.) Doubleday 1935 [Sheriff Rocky Allan; California]
* Murder on the Day of Judgment (n.) Doubleday 1936 [Sheriff Rocky Allan; California]
* Ferryman, Carry Him Across! (n.) Doubleday 1936 [Sheriff Rocky Allan; California; Academia]
* The Anger of the Bells (n.) Doubleday 1937 [Sheriff Rocky Allan; California]

* An Excellent Night for Murder (n.) Doubleday 1937 [Sheriff Rocky Allan; California]
* The Dark Cavalier (n.) Doubleday 1938 [Michael Dundas; San Francisco, CA]
* Murder with a Theme Song (n.) Doubleday 1939 [Sheriff Rocky Allan; Michael Dundas; California]
* Death of a Lucky Lady (n.) Doubleday 1940 [Michael Dundas; San Francisco, CA]
* Death Breaks the Ring (n.) Doubleday 1941 [Michael Dundas; California]

* Epitaph for Lydia (n.) Doubleday 1942 [Michael Dundas; San Francisco, CA]
* Posted for Murder (n.) Doubleday 1942 [Michael Dundas; San Francisco, CA]
* A Dirge for Her (n.) Ziff-Davis 1947 [Michael Dundas; San Francisco, CA]
* A Shroud for Rowena (n.) Ziff-Davis 1947 [Michael Dundas; San Francisco, CA]

DURRANT, THEO; pseudonym of William A. P. White, Terry Adler, Eunice Mays Boyd, Florence Ostern Faulkner, Allen Hymson, Cary Lucas, Dana Lyon, Lenore Glen Offord, Virginia Rath, Richard Shattuck, Darwin L. Teilhet & William Worley.

      * The Marble Forest (n.) Knopf 1951 [California]
      * The Big Fear (n.) Popular Library 1953; See: The Marble Forest (Knopf 1951)

ROBERT CRANE – The Sergeant and the Queen.

Pyramid R-1012; paperback original. First printing: May 1964.

   Some information about the author first, shall we? He’s not a name known to me, nor is this a book I bought in 1964, even though I bought a lot of Pyramid’s back then. But from Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, comes the following:

CRANE, ROBERT; pseudonym of Con Sellers, (1922-1992); other pseudonyms Ric Arana & Ladd E. Linsley.

      Sgt. Corbin’s War. Pyramid, 1964. [Ben Corbin; Korea]
      # The Sergeant and the Queen. Pyramid, 1964. [Ben Corbin; Korea]
      Operation Vengeance. Pyramid, 1965. [Ben Corbin; Tokyo]
      Strikeback! Pyramid, 1965. [Korea]
      # The Paradise Trap. Pyramid, 1967. [Ben Corbin; Hawaii]

      # Tongue of Treason. Pyramid, 1967. [Ben Corbin; California]
      Time Running Out. Papillon, 1974. [Ben Corbin; Tokyo]
      Out of Time. Decade, 1980; reprint of Time Running Out (Papillon 1974).

SELLERS, CON(nie Leslie, Jr.) (1922-1992); see pseudonyms Ric Arana, Robert Crane & Ladd E. Linsley.

      The Algerian Incident. Powell, 1970. [Algeria]

ARANA, RIC; pseudonym of Con Sellers, (1922-1992); other pseudonyms Robert Crane & Ladd E. Linsley.

      The Silent Seducers. Challenge, 1967.
      Big Dano. Powell, 1969. [California]

LINSLEY, LADD E.; pseudonym of Con Sellers, (1922-1992); other pseudonyms Ric Arana & Robert Crane.

      Widow for Hire. Powell, 1969.

   The books I own are the ones with indicated with a #. I thought I had a large paperback collection, and I am not greatly impressed at how low the percentage is of these that I have. There is obviously some work to be done by me as far as Mr. Sellers’ books are considered. (I also do not recall ever have seen a book published by Decade. This is something else that will have to be looked into.)

   From Contemporary Authors comes a partial list of more fiction (I think), but none of them crime related. These, unless indicated otherwise, are under his own name:

F.S.C.: The Shocking Story of a Probable America, Novel Books, 1963.
Too Late the Hero, Pyramid Books, 1970.
Dallas (novel adapted from the TV series), Dell, 1978. (Under the pseudonym of Lee Raintree.)

Bed of Strangers, Dell, 1978. (With Anthony Wilson)
Marilee, Pocket Books, 1978.
Sweet Caroline, Pocket Books, 1979.
The Last Flower, Pocket Books, 1979.
Since You’ve Been Gone, Jove Books, 1980.
Keepers of the House, Pocket Books, 1983.

This Promised Earth, Bantam, 1985.
The Black Magnolia, Bantam, 1986.
Trouble in Mind, Bantam, 1986.
Mansei!, Bantam, 1987.
Those Frightened Years, Bantam, 1988.
Brothers in Battle, Pocket Books, 1989.
“Men at Arms” series, four books, Pocket Books, 1991-1992.

   CA also says: “Con Sellers was a prolific writer who produced over 100 novels under a wide range of pseudonyms, including Robert Crane and Lee Raintree. His subjects ranged from pornography to romance, science fiction to war.”

   Mr. Sellers is also quoted thusly: “The most important step in my career was finding my agent, Jane Rotrosen Berkey. Until she took me in hand, I had never gotten more than $3,000 advance; now we talk $100,000.”

   Nice work, and not bad, considering he started with Novel Books, the lowest of the lows, but if his work sold, which it appears it did, he was worth every cent of it. Before turning to writing, using the GI bill as a stepping stone, he was in the military with the U.S. Army from 1940 to 1956; earned more than forty awards, including French Croix de Guerre with Palm, Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Badge with Star, and Purple Heart.

   I thought Sellers’s army service was worth a mention, if only because The Sergeant and the Queen could have been written only by someone in the army, someone who’s been there, knows what it’s like to give orders, take orders, and what it’s like to fight along those who are not ready to be there — kids in a man’s army. This latter theme resonates clearly throughout the book.

   The plot of which is rather slim, to say the least. A word first about Ben Corbin, though. I’ve not read the first book he was in, obviously, since I don’t have a copy, but there’s little need to, since his life story is thoroughly gone over in this one. Born in Korea, the son of a fire-and-brimstone Christian minister to that country, Ben Corbin turned instead to the military rather than religion for his own life’s work. Marrying a Korean woman was also what helped turn his life around, transforming him into one of that country’s greatest heroes — with most of his feats accomplished while deeply undercover — a man of legendary fighting abilities, and all aimed to the good of his adopted land.

   The plan in The Sergeant and the Queen, on the part of Corbin and a handful of others, is to bring in the granddaughter of the last empress of Korea to unite the country, a land torn through the middle after the conflict involving China and the UN, and still very much on edge. What the conspirators do not plan on, however, is how greatly attractive Helen Min finds Ben Corbin to be, and even though he is happily married, how little he is able to resist.

   Corbin fights many personal battles in this book, and whenever he does, the book’s forward motion slows to a near crawl. Those who bought this book in 1964 for the action will have found it — when aroused, Ben Corbin is a veritable one-man army, there’s no denying that. But I wonder what they made of the book’s true strength, the portrayal of a man fighting himself, the memories of his father, and a woman who seems to have her way with him, much of it through his own badly conflicted thoughts and emotions.

   A surprising book, in other words, and one not at all what I expected. A minor if not negligible book in the overall scheme of things, but on its own terms? Five stars out of five.

   Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting the covers and contents of all of the issues of a pulp called COMPLETE DETECTIVE NOVEL MAGAZINE that are in my collection. This is in conjunction with a far more reaching project called the Crime Fiction Index, which is being compiled under the direction of Phil Stephensen-Payne.

   Its intent is to index all of the crime fiction magazines ever published in English, expanding upon two previous such checklists, now both long out of print:

      1. Mystery, Detective, and Espionage Fiction: A Checklist of Fiction in U.S. Pulp Magazines, 1915-1974, compiled by Michael L. Cook and Stephen T. Miller.

      2. Monthly Murders: A Checklist and Chronological Listing Of Fiction In The Digest-Size Mystery Magazines In The United States And England, compiled by Michael L. Cook.

   Follow the link above for more information.

   As for COMPLETE DETECTIVE NOVEL MAGAZINE, Phil also has a checklist of all the issues, most with covers, online here.

   Some of the data is has for the magazine is missing or incomplete, nor does he have all the covers. As I have quite a few of the run, I’ve been promising to give him an assist on these for quite a while. To motivate me – sharp sticks haven’t seemed to work – I’ve decided to post the information here on the M*F blog before sending it along to Phil.

   There will be quite a bit of information that will duplicate his, but even if so it will serve as a check, and while he has quite a few of the covers, some I imagine will be upgrades, as the copies I have are in rather nice condition.

   As the title suggests, each issue contained a full-length novel, along with whatever short stories or other features were needed to fill out the magazine. I’ve estimated the content of the “The Lennox Murder” in the issue below to be 98,000 words, so I feel justified, as did the editors of the magazine, to call the lead story a novel.

   Some of these novels in CDNM can be found in hardcover form. Whether the pulp magazine versions were published before or after the hardcover appeared, I’m not sure, as I don’t have any of these in my collection. As far as I know, the novels in the issues I have were never published anywhere else, although some of the author’s other work may indeed have been. I’ll try to point out instances like this as I go along.

   But what this means to readers and collectors of 1920s and 1930s detective fiction, here’s a source of crime novels you may not have heard about before. Since they appeared in magazine form only, they aren’t included in Al Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV, for example, which cites only book appearances, although in either hardcover or paperback form.

   I won’t be presenting these in any particular order. I’m not organized well enough to do that. If I were to wait until anything like that happened, I would never get anything done.

September 1929. Number 15. Total pages: 144, not including covers. Cover price: 25¢.

      * 4 * Madelon St. Dennis * The Lennox Murder Case * novel * illustrated by J. Fleming Gould

      * 110 * Harry Van Demark * “The World’s Most Dangerous Woman” * true crime feature

      * 114 * Henry Leverage * The Prize Sucker * short story

      * 118 * Harold de Polo * “Tough Guy” Mahoney * short story

      * 125 * Mark Mellen & John Forbes * Held for Ransom * short story

      * 140 * Anonymous * Headquarters, Where the Readers Get Together * letter column

   Comment: The leading character is a female private eye named Tam O’Brien. The daughter of Ex-Chief of Detectives Rance O’Brien, she’s better known as Tam o’ Shanter, Inquirer. Female PI’s were still fairly scarce in 1929, and I don’t believe I’ve seen her name come up before. Historians of the genre are going to have to add her name to the short list of early ones. (On page 66 there is some discussion of some of the previous cases she’s handled, and they’ll probably come up again, as I start posting some of the earlier issues of CDMN.)

   From Crime Fiction IV:

ST. DENNIS, MADELON

       * The Death Kiss (Fiction League, 1932, hc) [Sydney Treherne; New York City, NY] Film: World Wide, 1933 (scw: Barry Barringer, Gordon Kahn; dir: Edward L. Marin).

       * The Perfumed Lure (Clode, 1932, hc) [Sydney Treherne; New York City, NY]

JONATHAN STAGGE – Death, My Darling Daughters.

Unicorn Book Club; hardcover reprint, June 1946. Hardcover first edition: Doubleday Crime Club, 1945. UK hardcover: Michael Joseph, as Death and the Dear Girls, 1946. Digest paperback reprint: Bestseller Mystery #B164; no date stated but circa 1953.

   Most of my time this week has been spent on doing my taxes, which are now done, at last. In the meantime, I’ve posted some old reviews to keep you from stopping by and seeing nothing new. I haven’t chosen the last two at random, though. I had a small design in mind, with no further explanation. I’ll let you put two and two together on your own.

   Jonathan Stagge was the author of nine mysteries published under Doubleday’s Crime Club imprint between 1937 and 1949. Each of these book featuring a country doctor by the name of Dr. Hugh Westlake as their leading sleuth. A widower, he lived with his daughter Dawn, who had only incidental roles in the cases he solved — I think. Maybe I’m wrong on that, as I’ve only read two or three of them, and none toward the end of the series, where she may have not appeared at all. And in some of the earlier ones, read a long time ago, she may have had more a part to play than she does in Death, My Darling Daughters.

   If you’ve been following me as I’ve gone along, however, you won’t be surprised to learn that Jonathan Stagge was a pen name and not a real person. He was instead the writing combo of Richard Wilson Webb and Hugh Callingham Wheeler, who also wrote at various times as Patrick Quentin and Q. Patrick. (Later on in his career, Wheeler co-wrote a play with Stephen Sondheim called Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I didn’t know that, until just now.)

   It’s not clear how old Dawn is when the book at hand begins. Westlake calls her “my young daughter,” and mentions that he had moved with her to the small Massachusetts town of Kenmore after his wife’s death ten years earlier. Dawn is therefore old enough to be left alone in their home for long periods of time, but young enough to naively point out (and strongly suggest) women who might make good wives for him.

   New in town, or rather newly back in town, is the family descended of one of Kenmore’s more famous citizens, Benjamin Hilton, who at one time was the Vice President of United States. (One of the more obscure ones, you may be sure.) Dawn is the reason that Dr. Westlake gets to meet the family, a mother and two daughters, all rather standoffish from the rest of the town’s inhabitants, but it’s the death of their aged nanny that gets him involved with their problems in his other capacity of town coroner.

   And when the other branches of the family come to visit, both headed by famous research doctors, it is Inspector Cobb, whom Westlake has assisted before, who asks him to stay underfoot and see what he can learn. They suspect murder, but the local D.A. is wisely afraid of annoying such important people.

   And when a second death occurs, they know they’re right, and the D.A. wrong. There is a sense of slyly malicious humor involved in Stagge’s telling of the tale, but even though this is nearly the equivalent of English manor house mystery, with only a very few suspects living together under one roof, the fact is that the people are all very unlikeable. (Some more than others.)

   It slows the reading down, this small fact does, but it is important. The daughters, both in their late teens or early 20s, have been sexually repressed by their mother, in the good old Puritan tradition. Nor are their aunts of much assistance, both rather weak and futile creatures. The two men in the family are greedy and overbearing, along with any other faults that you think might apply to the stuffy male aristocracy of New England.

   Dr. Westlake has the very desirable trait of allowing nearly perfect strangers tell him their life histories, which certainly eases the way when his sleuthing hat is on. Nonetheless, as the book begins to close, and you (the reader) are starting to wonder if there is any real puzzle to be solved, the answer I’m going to be ambiguous and say only that persevering to the end usually pays off.

   Overall? There are some dull spots in the reading — and looking back, I can’t see any way the author could have avoided them, or not easily — but there’s enough solid substance here to give the book a thumbs up. But two of them? I’ve thought it over, and the answer is no, as much I’d like to, I just can’t do it.

[ADDED LATER.] Using Al Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV as a guide, here’s a list of all the Jonathan Stagge books, in chronological order:

      The Dogs Do Bark. Doubleday 1937 [Dr. Hugh Westlake; Pennsylvania]
      Murder by Prescription. Doubleday 1938 [Dr. Hugh Westlake; Pennsylvania]
      The Stars Spell Death. Doubleday 1939 [Dr. Hugh Westlake; Pennsylvania]
      Turn of the Table. Doubleday 1940 [Dr. Hugh Westlake; Pennsylvania]

      The Yellow Taxi. Doubleday 1942 [Dr. Hugh Westlake; Pennsylvania]
      The Scarlet Circle. Doubleday 1943 [Dr. Hugh Westlake; New England]

      Death, My Darling Daughters. Doubleday 1945 [Dr. Hugh Westlake; Massachusetts]
      Death’s Old Sweet Song. Doubleday 1946 [Dr. Hugh Westlake; Massachusetts]
      The Three Fears. Doubleday 1949 [Dr. Hugh Westlake; Massachusetts]

   The print version is still waiting to be published, but I’ve just received the good news that the new Revised Crime Fiction IV for 2008 is now available on CD-Rom. The author, Allen J. Hubin, has just informed me that he’s received his copies from Bill Contento, and I’m looking forward to obtaining mine from him.

   The price remains the same, $49.95, and can be ordered from Bill through the Locus Magazine website. (Follow the link.) Bill says he hasn’t had a chance to update the ad, but if you order, which of course I think you should, it is the Revised 2008 Edition that you’ll be getting.

   And don’t forget that Al continues to update the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV. Even though the content is restricted to authors and books from the year 2000 and before, new information keeps coming in. This data consists largely of corrections and additions, but even some deletions are included, when — for example — it’s discovered that some books thought to have been published never were. As for me, I’ve been adding images, web links and more, which of course you know if you’ve been reading the Mystery*File blog for any length of time. Coming soon: Part 26 of this ongoing project…

   The news of mystery writer Arthur Lyons’s unexpected death appeared quickly on the mystery blogs today. First to report was Jiro Kimura’s The Gumshoe Site, followed up soon after by Jeff Pierce at The Rap Sheet, with a long and personal homage to Mr. Lyons. The latter died on March 21st of complications from pneumonia and a stroke; he was only 62.

   Arthur Lyons’s primary character, the one who appeared in all the novels he wrote on his alone and not as part of a twosome, was a LA-based private eye named Jacob Asch. Borrowing Kevin Burton Smith’s words:

    “JACOB ASCH was a glib, cynical, half-Jewish reporter for the L.A. Chronicle until he got sent to jail for refusing to reveal a source. He did six months on a contempt of court beef, and when he was sprung, the glamour of journalism, for some reason, had lost its appeal for him. So now he’s a glib, cynical, half-Jewish LA private dick who gets involved in some very nasty murders, instead.”

   From an interview that Jeff Pierce did with Arthur Lyons some time ago, here’s the author’s take on his character:

    “You’ll never find Asch doing anything unlikely. He will not usually find stuff through coincidence. He’s a plodder. That’s what private detection is, going through papers. All of Asch’s cases come out of paper. He works with paper more than he does people, whereas in Ross Macdonald and with most of those guys, they do it with information people tell them. But there aren’t too many people out there who are going to spill their guts to an investigator, unless the guy has a handle on what’s going on.”

    Here’s a complete list of Arthur Lyons’s work, at least in printed form. Taken and expanded upon from Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, I’ve been able to find covers from all but one of the Jacob Asch books. I apologize that it’s a mixture of hardcovers and paperbacks, nor have I made note of the various reprint editions in which his books have appeared.

LYONS, ARTHUR (Jr.) (1946-2008)

* The Dead Are Discreet (n.) Mason/Charter 1974 [Jacob Asch; Los Angeles, CA]

* All God’s Children (n.) Mason/Charter 1975 [Jacob Asch; Los Angeles, CA]

* The Killing Floor (n.) Mason/Charter 1976 [Jacob Asch; Los Angeles, CA]

* Dead Ringer (n.) Mason/Charter 1977 [Jacob Asch]

* Castles Burning (n.) Holt 1980 [Jacob Asch; Los Angeles, CA]

* Hard Trade (n.) Holt 1981 [Jacob Asch; Los Angeles, CA]

* At the Hands of Another (n.) Holt 1983 [Jacob Asch; California]

* Three with a Bullet (n.) Holt 1985 [Jacob Asch; Los Angeles, CA; Idaho]

* Fast Fade (n.) Mysterious Press 1987 [Jacob Asch; California]

* Unnatural Causes [with Thomas T. Noguchi, M.D.] (n.) Putnam 1988 [Los Angeles, CA; Dr. Eric Parker]

* Other People’s Money (n.) Mysterious Press 1989 [Jacob Asch; Los Angeles, CA]

* Physical Evidence [with Thomas T. Noguchi, M.D.] (n.) Putnam 1990 [Los Angeles, CA; Dr. Eric Parker]

* False Pretenses (n.) Mysterious Press 1994 [Jacob Asch; Los Angeles, CA]

Films:

       Slow Burn, based on Castles Burning. Starring Eric Roberts as Jacob Asch.

Non fiction:

       The Second Coming: Satanism in America (1970)
       Satan Wants You: The Cult of Devil Worship in America (1971)
       The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime (1991) (with Marcello Truzzi)
       Death on the Cheap: The Lost B Movies of Film Noir (2000)

[UPDATE] 03-26-08. For an insightful essay by Jeff Pierce on both Lyons and Jacob Asch, may I suggest a return visit to The Rap Sheet. It was written in 1981 or thereabouts, but its age does not diminish the timeliness of this followup post in any way whatsoever.