I recently came across another box of unsorted Gothic Romance paperbacks in my basement, and I finally took the time to go through it today. The results that you see below will eventually be found in Part 25 of the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, appearing online in the next month or so. (You’ll read about it here first, of course.)

   I may have mentioned this before, but many of the gothic romances published in the 1960s and 70s for women (mostly) were really written by men. The short grouping of authors that follows goes a long way in proving that statement.

ALEXANDER, JAN. Pseudonym of Victor Jerome Banis, 1937- , q.v.; other pseudonym Lynn Benedict. Under this pen name, the author of 19 gothic or romantic suspense paperbacks included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      The Wolves of Craywood. Lancer, 1970. Add setting: northern California. Also add: reprinted as by V. J. Banis (Wildside Press, 2007). “…the countryside around Cray manor blazed with the legend of the werewolf.”

BANIS, V(ICTOR) J(EROME). 1937- . Pseudonym: Jan Alexander, q.v.; other pseudonym Lynn Benedict. Note: Besides the gothic romance novel noted below, many others have also been recently reprinted under the author’s own name. These will be cited in full in Part 25 of the Addenda.
      _The Wolves of Craywood. Wildside Press, pb, 2007. Previously published as by Jan Alexander, q.v.

BOND, EVELYN. Pseudonym of Morris Hershman, 1926- , q.v.; other pseudonyms Arnold English, Sam Victor, Jack Whiffen & Jess Wilcox. Under this pen name, the author of 21 gothic or romantic suspense novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      The Crimson Candle. Add setting: New York City, 1894. “Was Kim Atwood a murderess or the victim of a maniacal plot?”

BOYLE, ANN (PETERS). 1916- . Married James Hancock Boyle in 1938; the author of a number of romance novels and a contributor of short stories and serials to many children’s magazines. Besides the gothic paperback original below, the author of two other romance novels (Avalon; 1975, 1977) included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV and indicated as having marginal crime content.
      Moon Shadows. Manor, pb, 1978. Add setting: Austria.

HERSHMAN, MORRIS. 1926- . Pseudonym: Evelyn Bond, q.v.; other pseudonyms Arnold English, Sam Victor, Jack Whiffen & Jess Wilcox. Under his own name, the author of three mystery novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.

HUFFORD, SUSAN. 1940-2006. Add year of death. Actress and singer; appeared in the Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof, 1970-72, with various theatrical touring companies, and on television. Married for many years to daytime television star Michael Zaslow, who died of ALS in 1998. The author of eight gothic or romantic suspense novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. Series character Hilda Hughes, a professor of literature at the University of Michigan, appears in at least five of them.
      Melody of Malice. Add setting: London, and SC: Hilda Hughes. “The devil himself seemed to play the keyboard of horror…”

ROSS, CLARISSA. Pseudonym of W. E. D. Ross, 1912-1995, q.v.; other pseudonyms: Laura Frances Brooks, Lydia Colby, Rose Dana, Jan Daniels, Diane Randall, Ellen Randolph, Dan Ross, Dana Ross & Marilyn Ross. To a long list of other paperbacks under this name, add to the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV the one below:
      Summer of the Shaman. Warner, pb, 1982. Setting: Vermont. “Out of the past a dark curse threatens her dreams … her life.”

ROSS, W(ILLIAM) E(DWARD) D(ANIEL). 1912-1995. Pseudonym: Clarissa Ross, q.v.; other pseudonyms: Laura Frances Brooks, Lydia Colby, Rose Dana, Jan Daniels, Diane Randall, Ellen Randolph, Dan Ross, Dana Ross & Marilyn Ross. At one point in his career, Mr. Ross reported his total output as being 323 novels and 600 short stories. His novels were largely gothic thrillers, nurse romances, and western adventures; as Marilyn Ross, his wife’s name, perhaps best known as a long list of Dark Shadows paperbacks based on the popular daytime soap opera.

   I was working last night making annotations in Part 20 of the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV. There are a number of only one- or two-book authors in this grouping, but in one way or another, all of their books all look interesting to me. In fact, I have already ordered one author’s books from various online sellers, and I’m considering those of another.

HOLLAND, REBECCA. Pseudonym of Ruby Horansky, 1930- , q.v. Under this pen name, the author of two mystery novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Danger on Cue. Raven House, US, pb, 1980. Setting: Connecticut; summer stock theatre. “Acting is a cruel business – and sometimes a deadly one!”

      Shadows on the Bay. Popular Library, pb, 1977. Setting: Maryland. [A gothic romance.]

HORANSKY, RUBY. 1930- . Add year of birth; living in New York City. Pseudonym: Rebecca Holland, q.v. Under her own name, the author of two mystery novels included in the . Series character and setting in each: Nikki Trakos, an attractive, 30-year-old six-foot police detective in Brooklyn NY.
      Dead Ahead. Scribner, US, hc, 1990. Piatkus, UK, hc, 1992. “… her chauvinistic chief gives Trakos three days to find the killer of a middle-aged loser shot to death in a desolate section of Brooklyn.”

      Dead Center. Scribner, US, hc, 1994. Piatkus, UK, hc, 1993, as Dead Centre. “[Nikki’s] first major case, the murder and sexual mutilation of a high-profile Manhattan politician.”

HORNE, VIVIAN (D.) 1941- . Add middle initial and correction of birth date. Graduated from California State University at Domiguez Hills; lives in Pasadena, California. Author of one crime novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      When the Snowman Melts. Xlibris, pb, 1999. Setting: San Francisco CA. Prosperous black attorney Marcus Garvey Walker and his wife Elizabeth, a TV news anchor, “seem to have it all until AIDS, murder and a detective named Macbeth Chen step in.”

HORRIGAN, JACK [JOHN?]. 1929-2004? Add possible real first name and tentative year of death. Author of one crime-related play included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Children! Children! New York: French, pb, 1970. [2-act play.] [The Broadway production opened March 7th, 1972, and closed after only one performance.] Add film: Hemdale, 1986, as Twisted (scw: Glenn Kershaw, Bruce Graham; dir: Adam Holender). Movie description: “A psychotic young adolescent […] torments his new baby-sitter with electronics, swords and mind games.”

HORTON, JOHN (RYDER). 1920-2007. A CIA senior executive in the directorate of operations who became chief of the Soviet bloc division. In retirement, he wrote three espionage novels listed in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV and started a small vineyard in southern Maryland. Series character & setting in all three books: CIA agent Ted Oliver; Mexico City, Mexico. See below:
      A Black Legend. Ivy, pb, 1989.
      The Hotel at Tarasco. Ivy, pb, 1987.
      The Return of Inocencio Brown. Ivy, pb, 1991.

HORWITZ, MERLE (HERBERT). 1929- . Add middle name and year of birth. Graduated from the University of Southern California; a veteran trial lawyer who has represented many celebrities in domestic-related cases. Author of two private eye novels listed in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. Series character in each: PI Harvey Ace, retired and wishing to play the horses and take it easy. See below.
      Bloody Silks. Knightsbridge, pb, 1990. Setting: Los Angeles, CA.
      Dead Heat. Knightsbridge, pb, 1990.

HOSKINS, BERTHA LADD. 1865- . Add year of birth; death date not known. Born in Providence RI; later a physician living in Brookline MA. Author of one novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      The Double Fortune. New York: Neale, hc, 1909. “A splendid and dramatic tale of travel and adventure, of absorbing mystery and strange experiences…”

HOUSEN, MARTHA (E.) 1928- . Add middle initial and confirmed birth date. Author of one mystery novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Murder in the Sunshine. iUniverse, pb, 1999. Setting: Albuquerque, NM; theatre. [Millie and Andy Milliken lease a theater harboring a deep, dark secret from its vaudeville/silent movie days. ]

HOVEY, DEAN L. 1952- . Add year of birth. Author of one mystery novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, plus one sequel published post-2000.
      Where Evil Hides. Minnesota: j-Press, pb, 2000. Setting: Minnesota. “Somewhere in rural Pine County Minnesota, a man of evil hides by day and stalks his victims at night. Undersheriff Dan Williams and his deputies use every investigative technique, yet the man seems to be invisible.”

HOWARD, HAMPTON (WARREN). 1945- . Add middle name and year of birth. Author of two spy thrillers listed in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Friends, Russians, and Countrymen. St. Martin’s, hc, 1988. Allen, UK, hc, 1990. Setting: New York City, NY. “Flamboyant counterspy Edward Stuart […] must flush out a Soviet spy from among the upper levels of the U.S. nuclear strategy council.”
      War Toys. Stein, hc, 1983. Setting: Paris. “He knows who set him up. And they know he knows… A thrilling CIA double-cross.”

HOWARD, JOELY (A.) 1969- . Add middle initial and year of birth. Author of one romantic suspense novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below:
      Rewarding Pursuits. iUniverse, pb, 2000. Setting: Seattle WA.

ERIC HEATH – Murder of a Mystery Writer.Arcadia House, hardcover 1955. A rewritten version of Death Takes a Dive, Hillman-Curl, 1938.

   Whenever you come across a book that is — how shall I phrase this? — not as good as it could have been, how overwhelming the temptation is to start quoting large portions of it just to prove the point. Only a consideration of space unwisely used keeps my resistance high.

   Murder of a Mystery Writer begins with chapter one, as so many books do. Criminologist Dr. Wade Anthony, whose pet theory it is that motion pictures will soon be the crime investigator’s number one tool, takes his secretary-assistant Penny Lake along with him, hoping to find Mystery Lodge (about which more later) a quiet place of seclusion in which to write his latest book.

   Instead, when upon arrival they find themselves snowed in, they also find themselves interlopers to a branch meeting of the Mystery Writers’ Guild that is running concurrently. The mystery writers are past experts at slugging away at each other with a continuous flow of insults, but one of the other main topics of discussion is the possibility of a perfect crime being committed. At length, one of the more obnoxious of the authors is done away with. Could this have been a trial run?

   This may in fact sound pretty good, and without quoting, I can’t say that I’m conveying very well the fact that the first few chapters are pure, unadulterated corn. Mystery Lodge is a prime example of what some misguided entrepreneurs consider a topnotch tourist attraction. Bizarre is hardly the word for it. It’s filled with phony coffins, artificial corpses in the closets, snakes hanging from the chandeliers — all the brain child of the saturnine host, the greatest mystery reader in the world, Antrim Zarzour.

   Heath has his heart in the right place, however, and I have to admit, it’s a valiant effort. The murder is committed at dinner, with a gunshot ringing out as the lights go off, whereupon the weapon immediately disappears. There are lots of suspects and mysterious servants, a dying message, a tuning pipe, and a trapdoor or two.

   All very interesting, you might agree. But beyond the fact that Heath demonstrates no great skills as a writer, the fact remains that murder is not a game that has to be solved according only to the rules. If there was no such thing as mystery fiction, this story would be impossible — in more ways than (the obvious) one. [D]

[UPDATE] 02-28-08.   In my first paragraph, I mentioned the restrictions I placed upon myself in refusing to quote or paraphrase long passages. But when Bill Pronzini provided me with the cover image that graces this review, he reminded me that:

    “I not only have a copy in jacket (scan attached), I found it so atrocious when I read it back in the early 80s that I wrote a six-page dissection of its plot absurdities and accorded it Alternative Hall of Fame status in Gun in Cheek (Coward McCann, 1982). A classic!”

   How could I resist? I didn’t quote from Eric Heath’s book back in 1979, but I am going to quote Bill today, almost 30 years later. These paragraphs describe what immediately followed the murder that was committed at dinner, as mentioned above:

   For the other five and a half pages, you’re going to have to read Gun in Cheek for yourself. (You’re going to have trouble reading Heath’s book itself, though, if you’re interested in primary sources. Nary a copy is offered by anybody online.)

   And for those of you willing to investigate further, here is the complete entry for Eric Heath in Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin:

HEATH, ERIC (1897?-1979?)
    Death Takes a Dive (Hillman-Curl, 1938, hc) [Cornelius Clift, Jr.; Los Angeles, CA]
    Murder in the Museum (Hillman-Curl, 1939, hc) [Cornelius Clift, Jr.; California]
    Murder of a Mystery Writer (Arcadia, 1955, hc) [Wade Anthony; California] Rewritten version of Death Takes a Dive, q.v.
    The Murder Pool (Arcadia, 1954, hc) [Wade Anthony; Los Angeles, CA]

[UPDATE] 03-05-08.   Excerpted from an email sent me by Bill Pronzini:

   [When Al says that] Murder of a Mystery Writer is a “rewrite” of Death Takes a Dive, it probably gives the wrong impression that the two books are more or less identical — a case of total self-plagiarism. Not so.

   The latter uses the exact same plot devices as the former, but the setting in Dive is a Beverly Hills house party, and the characters, while similar in other ways, are Hollywood types (sans dwarf, rather than mystery writers. Also, Dive is narrated by a “glamorous hard-as-nails female detective” named Winnie Preston and the criminologist who solves the caper and earns Winnie’s undying love is called Copey.

LOUIS L’AMOUR – Off the Mangrove Coast.

Bantam hardcover; First Edition, May 2000. [Paperback reprint: Bantam, May 2001.]

   Louis L’Amour is likely to be one of the three most well-known western writers of all time. I’d place Zane Grey and Max Brand ahead of him, but you could argue with me. Of the nine stories brought together in this latest collection, however, only one takes place in the old West, and it’s perhaps the only one that could safely be considered “historical.”

   There are two boxing stories, one about a private eye, and another about an insurance investigator in a tight spot. None of these, including the western, are worthy of more note than this. A better one is a short little tale about a longshoreman who meets his match at checkers, and a good one is an interesting vignette that takes place in a French café after World War II.

   The two best stories are the title story, about diving for treasure in the South China Sea, and a longer one about hunting for diamonds in the jungles of Borneo, infested with headhunters.

   The time these stories take place is unclear, perhaps in the 1940s, perhaps as early as the 1920s. L’Amour pulpy, rough-hewn writing style is uneven, sometimes full of cliches and worn-out plot devices, sometime lyrical and imbued with a strong sense of what it takes to be a man. But if he hadn’t written these particular works, they’d have never been published again, I regret to say. The old pulp magazines are filled with stories just like these, gone and mostly forgotten, remembered only by a handful of enthusiasts who still collect them.

POSTSCRIPT: As one of those selfsame enthusiasts, I really would have liked to known where these stories first appeared. There is no bibliographical information provided at all.

       — June 2000. This review first appeared in The Historical Novels Review. It may have been very slightly revised since then.

[UPDATE] 02-20-08.    The final tagline explains why the emphasis in the review is on the “historical” content, and not so much on the detective stories that happen to be in the collection.

   The book is included in Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, though, and here’s a list of the stories which (for reasons of space) I didn’t include when I first wrote the review. A couple of the magazines where the stories first appeared are given, and I’ll repeat them here:

      The Cross and the Candle
      The Diamond of Jeru
      Fighters Should Be Hungry, Popular Sports Magazine, February 1949
      * It’s Your Move, The Tanager, February 1939
      Off the Mangrove Coast
      The Rounds Don’t Matter
      Secret of Silver Springs
      Time of Terror
      The Unexpected Corpse, G-Men Detective, November 1948

   * This story is not one of those for which CFIV lists the original source. I just came across this one somewhere else myself. My copy of The Louis L’Amour Companion is not handy, I’m sorry to say, and in fact is nowhere to be found. It’s been almost eight years since I wrote this review, so obviously I haven’t been suffering from any unrequited urgency, but if you can fill in the details, I’d certainly appreciate it.

   If I were able to rewrite the review for the blog right now, I’d make sure to identify the stories more clearly with the contents, but I didn’t at the time, and I can’t. All I can tell you about the book is what you’ve already just read. L’Amour is not one of my favorite western writers, but in case it wasn’t entirely clear, I enjoyed this collection.

[UPDATE #2] 02-21-08. Robert Teague of the WesternPulps Yahoo group has supplied me with a couple of story sources:

    “The Rounds Don’t Matter” was first printed in Thrilling Adventures Feb 42

    “Secret of Silver Springs” Range Rider Western Nov 49

   Four more to go, keeping in mind, as others have pointed out, that titles may have been changed, and some of the stories may have appeared for the first time in this (much) later collection.

[UPDATE #3] 03-03-08. Excerpted from a pair of email messages sent me by Juri Nummelin:

Hi Steve,

   I finally pulled out my copy of Weinberg’s L’Amour Companion, and it does seem that the four stories have been previously unpublished. I can’t find them on the checklist Weinberg provides. Well, of course the titles may have been altered. There are short descriptions of the short stories in Weinberg’s book, so if you have synopses of the stories in the book, I can compare them to Weinberg’s.

   I seem to remember that “The Diamond of Jeru” was made into a film in the early 2000’s. Yes, I was right.

   From IMDB: http://akas.imdb.com/title/tt0282441/

   It says that the film is based on L’Amour’s novel, but you can’t really be sure about what Imdb says. It says however that the screen story was written by Beau L’Amour. Maybe this was an unproduced treatment Beau has found in his father’s archives. In that case it would be only sensible and polite to provide that info on a foreword or some such.

   You can add to the info Robert Teague already provided you with: “Secret of Silver Springs,” Range Riders Magazine, as by Jim Mayo, January 1950

   By the way, Robert Sampson has a pretty good article on L’Amour’s detective stories in Weinberg’s book. He makes the stories sound good.

                — Juri

       >>> My reply:

   Thanks, Juri, even if Weinberg’s book didn’t supply a lot more information. When I come across my copy of Off the Mangrove Coast again, I’ll see if I can’t supply the synopses you suggested.

   I was totally unaware that “The Diamond of Jeru” had been made into a movie. It was made for cable (USA Network) and is available on DVD. So far, though, all of the copies I’ve seen offered online have been very expensive, but I’ll keep looking. The movie starred Billy Zane, Paris Jefferson, and Keith Carradine, with Jackson Raine and Khoa Do. According to IMBD, it’s “the story of an American scientist and his wife who hire an ex-pat war veteran to act as a guide on a journey up an unchartered Borneo river in search of diamonds.” Reviewers on IMDB have mixed opinions about the movie, to say the least.

   By the way, there’s one synopsis right there.

   As for L’Amour’s detective stories, I enjoyed the one collection of them that I read quite a bit. On the other hand, once again there was nothing in them that knocked my socks off. I’m sure any reader of the detective pulps could come up with a selection of stories from any other pulp writer equally as good, if not better.

   Having cleaned and sorted out half of the garage earlier this winter, I’m now tackling the boxes of books that have been stored in the basement for several years. One of these happened to be filled with gothic romances, and what you see below are the bits of information that will show up in the next installment of the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. (Consider this a sneak preview.)

ARLISS, JOEN. Pseudonym of Ian Martin, q.v. Under this pen name, none under his own name, the author of five gothic or romantic suspense novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, all published in a short period of two years, 1979 to 1980. Series character Kate Graham appears in two of them, both of them published in the Zebra Mystery Puzzler series. (The last chapters of books in this series were sealed to keep the solutions from being read too early.)
      Shadow Over Seventh Heaven. Popular Library, pb, 1980. Add setting: California (Big Sur area).

BAKER, W. J. Pseudonym: John Churchward, q.v.

BRONTE, LOUISA. Pseudonym of Janet Louise Roberts, 1925-1984, q.v.
      Lord Satan. Avon, pb, 1972. Setting: England; 1815. Add: reprinted as by Janet Louise Roberts (Pocket, 1979).

CHURCHWARD, JOHN. Pseudonym of W. J. Baker, q.v. Under this pen name, none under his own, the author of one novel previously included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. To this title, add the one indicated by an asterisk (*) below.
      The Rainbow Deaths. New English Library, UK, hc, 1977. “A secret agent finds a super weapon and plot to overthrow the government in rural English village.”
      * What Beck’ning Ghost? New English Library, UK, hc, 1975. US title: What Beckoning Ghost? (Berkley, 1977) Setting: England. [A ghost story spanning over a hundred years in time, with murder at the root.]
      _What Beckoning Ghost? Berkley, US, pb, 1977. See What Beck’ning Ghost?

DANTON, REBECCA. Pseudonym of Janet Louise Roberts, 1925-1984, q.v.
      Black Horse Tavern. Popular Library, pb, 1972. Add: reprinted as by Janet Louise Roberts (Pocket, 1980). Add setting: Boston; 1773.

DEVON, LYNN. Pseudonym of David A. Kaufelt, 1939- , q.v. Under this pen name, the author of one romantic suspense novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Jade. Gold Medal, pb, 1978. Add setting: Long Island, NY [Sag(g) Harbor]; 1850.
[ “…a beautiful young bride [is] abandoned on her wedding night.” ]

KAUFELT, DAVID A(LLAN). 1939- . Pseudonym: Lynn Devon, q.v. Under his own name, the author of five novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, including three with series character Wynsome “Wyn” Lewis, a real-estate broker living on Long Island.

MARTIN, IAN. Pseudonyn: Joen Arliss, q.v.

ØVSTEDAL, BARBARA KATHLEEN. 1925- . Pseudonyms: Barbara Paul, q.v.; Barbara Douglas & Rosalind Laker.

PAUL, BARBARA. Pseudonym of Barbara Kathleen Øvstedal, 1925- , q.v.; other pseudonyms Barbara Douglas & Rosalind Laker. Under this pen name, none under her own, the author of four romantic suspense novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. [Note: This Barbara Paul is not the same author as American mystery writer Barbara (Jeanne) Paul, 1931- , who wrote the “Sgt. Marian Larch” detective novels, among many others.]
      The Seventeenth Stair. Macdonald, UK, hc, 1975. St. Martin’s, US, hc, 1975. Setting: France; add to setting: past (appears to be late 1800s: reference to carriages, steam-packets and tram rails). [The cover show is that of the Ballantine paperback reprint.]

ROBERTS, JANET LOUISE. 1925-1984. Pseudonyms: Louisa Bronte, Rebecca Danton & Janette Radcliffe. Under her several pen names and her own, the author of many gothic and romantic suspense novels. [A short profile of this author, including a complete bibliography, appears earlier on the Mystery*File blog.]
      _Black Horse Tavern. Pocket, pb, 1980. Add as a new title under this byline; previously published (Pop. Library, 1972) as by Rebecca Danton, q.v. Setting: Boston; 1773.
      _Lord Satan. Pocket, pb, 1979. Add as a new title under this byline; previously published (Avon, 1974) as by Louisa Bronte, q.v.

ROSS, CLARISSA. Pseudonym of W. E. D. Ross, 1912-1995, q.v.; other pseudonyms Laura Frances Brooks, Lydia Colby, Rose Dana, Jan Daniels, Diane Randall, Ellen Randolph, Dan Ross, Dana Ross & Marilyn Ross. Under this pen name, the author of some 45 novels cited in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, most of them gothics or romantic suspense fiction.
      Jade Princess. Correction: Delete the opening “The.” Pyramid, pb, 1977. Setting: Hong Kong.

ROSS, W(ILLIAM) E(DWARD) D(ANIEL). 1912-1995. Pseudonym: Clarissa Ross, q.v.; other pseudonyms: Laura Frances Brooks, Lydia Colby, Rose Dana, Jan Daniels, Diane Randall, Ellen Randolph, Dan Ross, Dana Ross & Marilyn Ross. Prolific author of many books included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, most of them published as gothic or romantic suspense novels.

SALVATO, SHARON ANN (née JOSEPH). 1938- . Author of at least six novels under her own name, three of which are included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. The first two listed below are gothic romances, the third historical fiction. Four additional historical romances were written with Cornelia M. Parkinson as Day Taylor.
      Briarcliff Manor. Stein & Day, hc, 1974. Setting: New York. Add to setting: 1867. [Shown is the cover of the Dell paperback reprint.]

      The Meredith Legacy. Stein & Day, hc, 1975.
      Scarborough House. Stein & Day, hc, 1975. Collins, UK, hc, 1976.

LUCIEN AGNIEL – Code Name: “Icy”

Paperback Library 63-310; paperback original, May 1970.

   Of the three books I have by Mr. Agniel, none are copyright in his name, only by either Coronet Publications, who owned Paperback Library, or Warner Brothers. (More about the latter in a minute.) That’s usually a fairly broad hint that the author didn’t exist, that it was a pen name or, more likely, a house name.

   Not so in this case. First of all, and I just noticed this, my copy of Code Name: “Icy” has a handwritten inscription on the first inside blurb page, dedicating the book to Elizabeth. I’ll refrain from repeating the entire inscription. It’s not embarrassing, but I think it should remain private.

   Then, looking in Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, we find not only dates for Mr. Lucien (1919-1988), but a note that he’s included in Contemporary Authors. Pulling up the CA web page, I found that Elizabeth was his first wife, who died in 1973.

   Over the years Lucien Agniel served in World War II and was awarded a Bronze Star, among other honors; worked for the Charlotte News, the US Information Agency, Radio Free Europe, and US News and World Report, among other jobs and occupations.

   There are two books listed in CFIV for Mr. Agniel, this one in hand, plus Pressure Point, also from Paperback Library (November, 1970). Arguably there should be another, and I will send the suggestion on to Al in my next email to him: a book entitled Zeppelin (Paperback Library; May 1971), an adaptation of the Warner Brothers movie of the same title.

   I don’t know if you’ve seen the film, starring Michael York and Elke Sommer, but since I haven’t, I looked up the story line on IMBD, which reads as follows: [An allied spy who has pretended to defect to Germany in World War I] “finds himself aboard the maiden voyage of a powerful new prototype Zeppelin, headed for Scotland on a secret mission that could decide the outcome of the war.”

   Most of Code Name: “Icy” takes place in Paris, where the paths of the following characters converge: Eric Eis, an East German assassin who is working with the Russians but who apparently is a former American soldier presumably dead but whose body was never recovered. Fred Sherman of the CIA, who has received an anonymous letter reporting that Eric Hendricks, an American deserter, is still alive; Dr. Richard Hendricks of St. Louis, the brother of the man presumed dead; “Gloria,” who sent the anonymous letter to Fred Sherman; and Nicole, of Birmingham, England, working as a gold-digging stripper in a Parisian night spot, and whom Fred Sherman appears to becoming excessively fond of.

   There is one other incidental participant in the tale, one unnamed, but suitably snooty President of France. It will come as no surprise that he survives. None of the others’ plan work out exactly as they had planned, however, except perhaps Nicole’s.

   All in all, a rather modest affair, one that can be read in a couple of nights before turning off the light. Fred Sherman seems a fairly sappy guy for a CIA agent at first, but he redeems himself reasonably well toward the end. A quick skim through Pressure Point doesn’t turn up his name as an active participant, so it looks like this was his one and only outing – the only one worth recording in book form, that is.

WILLIAM R. COX – Death on Location. Signet S2158, paperback original; 1st printing, July 1962.

    It begins with a baseball game, the championship series of the Las Vegas Strip Baseball League, which if you think about it, sounds like a lot of fun. Besides being a reformed gambler, however, Tom Kincaid is a shoestring movie producer as well, and when he moves his crew upstate to start filming an adventure epic starring his live-in girl friend, he unknowingly carries the dirt of big city dope traffic with him.

    The detection is a flabby effort, to tell the truth. The solution to the murder of the leading lady’s stand-in seems to flop out of its hidey closet of its own accord, but the message is that the movie business is really just plain hard work. The logistics of making a movie are staggering, to put it mildly, and they’re put together by honest, industrious people. Under the sophistication, folks, they’re just like us.    (C)

   
[UPDATE] 02-11-08. Cox was another paperback writer in the 1950s and 60s who began his career in the pulps, writing mysteries like this one — I’m almost positive that Tom Kincaid appeared in his short stories long before he started showing up in full-length novels — but Cox wrote a ton of westerns and sports fiction as well. Short or long, magazine or paperback, it didn’t seem to matter. The only books he wrote that appeared in hardcover, though, while he was alive, were sports stories for boys, with titles like Trouble at Second Base and Rookie in the Back Court.

   When there was a lull in writing books and short stores, Cox did TV screenplays, shows like Bonanza, Wagon Train and Tales of Wells Fargo, but according to IMDB, an episode of Route 66 as well, among many others.

   There were a couple of interesting characters to be found in his western paperback fiction. First was a guy called Cemetery Jones, about whom I know little more than his name, and second, although this may not count, after William Ard died, Cox wrote a bunch of the “Buchanan” books under the Jonas Ward byline.

   Thanks to Al Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV, here’s a list of all of the Tom Kincaid novels. Someone else will have to help me out on the pulp stories Kincaid appeared in. I can’t find any reference to specific titles or dates, but I’m positive I’ve read one or two of them over the years.

         Hell to Pay. Signet, 1958.
         Murder in Vegas. Signet, 1960.
         Death on Location. Signet, 1962.

   William R. Cox died in 1988, at the age of 87. Here’s a link to his obituary in the New York Times.

   It’s been a while since I’ve printed one of these reviews from TMF, so I’ll repeat the introductory explanation that came with the first one I did, back in last July.

HELEN NIELSEN – After Midnight.

Curtis 07204; paperback reprint, no date stated. Hardcover edition: William Morrow, 1966; hardcover reprint: Detective Book Club [3-in-1 edition], July 1966.

   When I think of defense attorneys and mystery stories, I think of Perry Mason. Sam Drake is a part-time lawyer only, and in the author’s own words, a full-time bon vivant, which is hardly promising. He does don the appropriate suit of shining armor at the proper time, however, to take up the defense of a beautiful client accused of stabbing her husband to death. But then rather than tackling the case as a personal challenge to his own flamboyant sense of justice, he takes the considerably more dangerous step of becoming more and more personally involved with the new widow.

   After an emotion-packed trial in which all the unanswered questions are carefully avoided, some hops and skips in logic combine with what at first seems insurmountable coincidence to lead the solution off in perversely contrary directions. The writing is often noticeably pulpy, to match the hero, I guess.     [C minus]

[UPDATE] 02-07-08. I have only the barest recollection of reading this book. The review you’ve just read is as new to me as it is to you. I can’t locate my copy, nor can I find a cover image online, so for once we’ll have to go without one. (If you happen to have either the paperback or the hardcover, a scan would be welcome.)

   Of Helen Nielsen, born in 1918 and died 2002, Contemporary Authors says:

    “Helen Nielsen writes mystery stories in which she carefully plays fair with the reader, providing enough information for the mystery to be solved. Nielsen mixes her detective puzzles with realistic character studies and often sets her stories in southern California, where she has lived since her childhood. Her California, however, is often the “the chilling rains or the thick, yellow, and dripping fogs of winter,” according to Mary Groff in the St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers.”

   Here are excerpts from reviews of some of her other books, by such critics as

Anthony Boucher: “… in a vein of quietly observant realism, underlined by sustained emotional horror.”

Jon L. Breen: “Nielsen has successfully combined the chase-adventure-espionage tale with a formal, fairly clued detective puzzle, a rarer feat than one might imagine.”

Newgate Callendar: “… a smooth piece of work . . . urbane and agreeable.”

   Two of her novels were considered either hard-boiled or noirish enough for them to have been reprinted by Black Lizard. These are the two covers you’ll see somewhere here above or below.

   After all of this accumulated evidence, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to read After Midnight again, if I could, and see if I have the same opinion as I did back in 1979. I may have been wrong on this one.

   As for Steve Drake, I did not know he was a series character then, but thanks to Al Hubin and Crime Fiction IV, I do now. Here’s a list of all of the cases he handled:

      After Midnight. Morrow, 1966. Setting: California.
      A Killer in the Street. Morrow, 1967. Setting: Tucson, AZ.
      The Darkest Hour. Morrow, 1969. Setting: California.
      The Severed Key. Gollancz, UK, 1973. Setting: California.
      The Brink of Murder. Gollancz, UK, 1976.

   These last two books, which were also the last two she wrote, were never published in the US.

   This collection of authors came from Part 7 of the online Addenda to Al Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV. Al recently received an email from the first of these writers, Kip Chase, who lives in San Luis Obispo CA. Mr. Chase cleared up several questions about his entry in CFIV, which we’re very pleased to include here.

CHASE, KIP. Pseudonym of Trevett Coburn Chase, 1928- , q. v. Under this pen name, the author of three detective novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below. SC in all three: Mr. Justine Carmichael, a retired LAPD chief of homicide, now confined to a wheelchair. (Note: That the detective’s name is Justine, rather than Justin, as intended, was a typing error which was not caught and perpetuated its way through all three books.)
      Killer Be Killed. Hammond, UK, hc, 1963. Setting: Mexico
      Murder Most Ingenious. Hammond, UK, hc, 1962. Add setting: California. [An impossible crime included in Locked Room Murders by Robert Adey: A wealthy estate owner is found knifed to death in his well-guarded art gallery, and a valuable Gaughin painting stolen.]

      Where There’s a Will. Hammond, UK, hc, 1961. Setting: California.

CHASE, OLIVE (MAUD?). 1908-1987?. Add tentative middle name and year of birth. With either Stanley Clayton or Stewart Burke, co-author of four mystery-oriented plays published by French (UK) between 1965 and 1978. All four are included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. To these add the following:
      Impact, with Maureen Nield, 1935-2004, q.v. French (London), 1982. (Play.) Synopsis: “Wife kills unfaithful husband, doctor helps cast suspicion on sister-in-law.”

CHASE, TREVETT COBURN. 1928- . Add confirmed year of birth. Pseudonym: Kip Chase, q.v.

CHITTENDEN, F(RANK) A(LBERT). 1910-1998. Add year of death. Author of five crime novels published in the UK between 1947 and 1954; all are included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. Of these, only one was later published in the US; see below:
      Strange Welcome. T. V. Boardman, UK, hc, 1949. Coward-McCann, US, hc, 1949. Setting: England. [Shown is the cover of a German edition.]

CLAPPERTON, RICHARD (GUY). 1934-1984. Add year of death. Born in Scotland; miltary service in Australia, early 1950s. Proofreader, cartoonist; author with three novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below. SC: Private eye Peter Fleck appears in all three.
      No News on Monday. Constable, UK, hc, 1968. Setting: Australia. US title: You’re a Long Time Dead, Putnam, 1968. [Peter Fleck is hired to find a woman but finds her dead.]
      The Sentimental Kill. Constable, UK, hc, 1976. Setting: Australia. [Is famous British author Temple Wilde really missing, or has he just chosen to disappear on a sentimental journey to Australia?]
       Victims Unknown. Constable, UK, hc, 1970.
      _You’re a Long Time Dead. Putnam, US, hc, 1968. See: No News on Monday (Constable, 1968).

CLARK, LAURENCE (WALTER). 1914-1987. Add year of death. Born in England; journalist & free-lance writer, founder of the publishing firm Veracity Ventures Ltd., 1964. Author of one novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Murder of the Prime Minister. Veracity Ventures, UK, hc, 1965. Setting: England, 1812. [The assassination of President Kennedy is juxtaposed against that of Spencer Perceval 151 years earlier.]

CLAY, MICHAEL JOHN. 1934-2000. Add year of death. Pseudonym: John Griffin, q.v.

GRIFFIN, JOHN. Pseudonym of Michael John Clay, 1934-2000, q.v. Add year of death. Under this pen name, the author of 11 espionage thrillers included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. All were published Robert Hale in the UK between 1976 and 1981. SC: Richard Raven, in all.

GRUDIN, ROBERT. 1938- . Ref: CA. Add as a new author entry. An educator, editor, and writer, including a study of William Shakespeare.
      -Book. Random House, 1992. Setting: Academia. [A parody of scholars, literary ideologies, and the academic novel: an author of an out-of-print novel that offended other academics in its parodies of literary thinking is threatened by murder.]

NIELD, MAUREEN. 1935-2004. Add as a new author entry. Playright; co-author of the mystery drama listed below:
      Impact, with Olive Chase, 1908-1987?, q.v. French (London), 1982. (Play.)

JOHN FARRIS – Sacrifice. Tor; paperback reprint, June 1995. Hardcover edition: Tor, September 1994.

   It has just occurred to me that John Farris has one of the longest careers of any mystery writer still active. His first novel, The Corpse Next Door, was published by Graphic Books, a small but solid line of mostly paperback originals, in 1956. Farris was born in 1936, so if the book wasn’t published until he was 20, the odds are the most of it was written when he was still nineteen.

   He switched to the pen name of Steve Brackeen for his next few books, typical Gold Medal thrillers, except that Gold Medal didn’t do them. One of them, Baby Moll (Crest, 1958), will be reprinted by Hard Case Crime later this year under his own name, a mere 50 years later.

   Farris eventually became the author of the “Harrison High” books, which sold in the millions, and he became an even bigger seller once he started writing horror fiction that was invariably tinged with the supernatural. Books like The Fury (1976) and All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes (1977) are as close to classics in the field as you’re going to get, and yet … even though Farris has averaged close to a book a year since those two books, unlike Stephen King, Dean R. Koontz and mystery-wise, Ed McBain, who came along about the same time he did, it is as if no one’s ever heard of him. Nobody knows his name.

   (As a special note, back when Mystery*File was a print magazine, Bill Crider did a column on John Farris’s early career for me, and you can find it online here. You should go read it.)

   Even though his later books veered convincingly away from standard mystery fare, there’s enough criminous element in them that most of them are included in Crime Fiction IV, Al Hubin’s bibliography of the field. Sacrifice is listed marginally, for example, but in Part 24 of the online Addenda to the Revised CFIV, the dash before the title has been removed.

   Rightfully so. One of the characters is C. G. Butterbaugh, a detective on the trail of the mysterious Greg Walker, who tells the first part of the story, and whose miraculous recovery from a gunshot wound to the head simply amazes the doctors on his case. When Walker and his daughter Sharissa then disappear into the mysterious interior of Guatemala from their sleepy town in Georgia, Butterbaugh needs all of his reading of Sherlock Holmes not to be shaken from the case.

   Nor to be overwhelmed from what he discovers. Take the title of the story, Sacrifice; the fact that Sharissa, although a high school senior, is still a virgin; and the Guatemalan jungle – and what does that add up to you?

   I won’t say, but every reviewer on Amazon will tell you, and as a matter of fact, so does Farris, long before this 379 page novel is halfway over. The question really is, how to we get to the ending from where we are, and who among the sizable cast of characters will survive?

   I doubt that anyone could call this great literature, but once picked up, this is a book not easily put down. There might be something deeper going on, if you were analyze the all of the various relationships, many of them sexual in nature, that develop and entangle each other in this tale – the ending being particularly observant and poignant –

   I’ll take that back. There’s no “might” about it. What this book demonstrates is why Farris has survived as a writer, and those who wrote most of the novels published during the horror boomlet in the 1980s and early 1990s have not. There’s some food for the mind in his fiction, at least this particular example, not just a slug to the gut.