John Herrington is one of the more prolific contributors to the continuing flow of Addenda to Allen J. Hubin’s Revised Crime Fiction IV. He describes his recent activity as follows:

    “What I am doing, out of ennui after Christmas, is going through CFIV at random and picking out authors, with a handful of titles or more, whom Allen has yet to find any information on – then googling them. Slow old business as for every name I find something, there are a score or more that remain anonymous.”

The information that follows arrived in a recent email to Al. To provide the proper context, I’ve included the full entries for each of the authors as they presently stand in CFIV, with John’s comments following:

TINSLEY, REBECCA
* * *The Judas File (Headline, 1995, hc) [Charlotte Carter; Ireland]
* * *Settlement Day (Headline, 1994, hc) [Charlotte Carter; London]

Tinsley

   This lady is a journalist, having written in New Statesman, Times, Telegraph etc., and once worked for BBC. Very involved in Humans Rights according to Internet references to her. But no date of birth.

TANNER, JANET
* * *Daughter of Riches (Century, 1992, hc) [Australia] St. Martin’s, 1993.
* * *Deception and Desire (Century, 1993, hc) St. Martin’s, 1995.
* * *Folly’s Child (Century, 1991, hc) St. Martin’s, 1992.

Tanner

   Janet Tanner has written all her life, hundreds of short stories published worldwide before she turned to novel writing. No date of birth. though she is a grandmother with young grandchildren.

TORGERSON, EDWIN DIAL
* * *The Cold Finger Curse (U.K.: Falcon, 1933, hc) [Sgt. Pierre Montigny; New York City, NY]
* * *The Murderer Returns (Lane, 1931, hc) [Sgt. Pierre Montigny; Montreal, Canada] Smith, 1930.

Torgerson

   Found at the website for the Archives Collections at the University of Mississippi:

“The son of a Swedish-immigrant architect, Torgerson was born in Meridian, Mississippi in 1896 and spent part of his early childhood in Oxford. After graduating from high school, he worked for a number of newspapers and edited Hearst’s American Weekly. Torgerson also wrote short stories that appeared in well-known periodicals, including several detective tales. His first full-length novel, The Murderer Returns, takes place in Montreal, Canada. The principal clue is a set of paw prints left in the snow by a cat. In 1937, he moved to Hollywood after MGM invited him to write a screenplay based on one of his mysteries, and he died there the following year.”

From The FictionMags Index, the following magazine short stories (an incomplete listing):

TORGERSON, EDWIN DIAL
* * The Challenger, (ss) McCall’s Jul 1937
* * Heart and Carrots, (ss) McCall’s Nov 1931
* * High Game, (ss) Argosy Dec 31 1938
* * No Questions Asked, (ss) Detective Story Magazine Apr 8 1919
* * One-Horse Bank, (ss) The American Magazine Feb 1936
* * The Second-Seer, (ss) Argosy Sep 13 1919
* * Uneasy Money, (ss) The American Magazine Mar 1935

   From the same University of Mississippi website comes the first discovery of the year. I’ll begin with the present CFIV entry:

BUCHANAN, CARL
* * *The Black Cloak Murders (Pearson, 1936, hc) [North Carolina]
* * *Night of Horror (Mellifont, 1939, pb)
* * *The Red Scorpion (Mellifont, 1939, pb)

Buchanan

   “Carl Buchanan was the pseudonym used by James Robert Peery on The Black Cloak Murders published in London by C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd. in 1936, with later translations in Spanish and Danish. Set in the southern United States, a murderer seeks information concerning a treasure buried in Europe at the end of World War I. Peery was born outside Stewart, Mississippi in 1900 and grew up in Eupora. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army’s Signal and Intelligence divisions. Once home, he worked in banking and cotton before settling into journalism. Pulp magazines accepted several pot-boilers submitted by him under a penname. Peery reserved his real name for two literary novels that appeared in 1938 and 1940.”

Again from The FictionMags Index:

BUCHANAN, CARL
* * The Crag Island Murders, (nv) Five-Novels Monthly Apr 1932
* * Crimson Goblet, (ss) Clues Aug 1934
* * Finger for Sale, (ss) Clues Oct 1935
* * Laughter in the Chapel, (ss) Clues Apr 1934
* * The Mystery of the Two Glasses, (ss) Clues Jul #2 1930
* * Red Haven, (ss) Clues Dec 1934
* * Rhapsody in Blood, (ss) Clues Feb 1934
* * Right Guy, (ss) Clues Aug #1 1930
* * Screams of the White Cockatoos, (ss) Clues Jul 1934
* * Sweet Racket!, (ss) Clues May #2 1930
* * The Time of the Crime, (na) The Thriller Dec 9 1933
* * 2 Minutes from Murder, (ss) Clues Mar 1935

   [Steve again.] One of the books published by James Robert Peery under his real name is God Rides a Gale (Harper & Brothers, 1940). Curiously, the ABE seller who has a copy of this book describes it thusly: “Inscribed by the author: ‘For Ted Lewis – Greetings! Jim Perry – JKR.’ The second of two literary novels by this Mississippi-born author, who also published mysteries with a co-author under the pseudonym Carl Buchanan.”

Peery

Peery’s first literary novel does not appear for sale on the Internet, nor at present is there an entry for James Robert Peery in CFIV. Al Hubin says: “I’ll add brief notes to the Tinsley and Tanner entries (in Addenda #9); the Torgerson information is pretty well what I have in the Revised CFIV. But the Peery info (along with his 1954 death date) will go into #9 with pleasure.”

   Online presently are Addenda installments 1 through 8. Look for Part 9 shortly.


[UPDATE: 01-22-07] Taken from an email sent by Victor Berch:

Steve:

To Carl Buchanan’s repertoire, you can add the following:

Blind Trail, All-Star Detective Stories Oct. 1930
The Head That Lived, Super Detective Stories July 1935
Hot Car Wreckage, All-Star Detective Stories Apr. 1932
The Monk’s-Hood Murders, All-Star Detective Stories July 1930
Murder By Candlelight, Mystery Apr. 1933
Murder in the Rain, The Underworld Magazine Aug. 1931
The Red Scorpion Murders, World Man Hunters Feb. 1934
Rope’s End, Murder Stories Sep-Oct 1931

There was one other tale under the name Robert Peery, who, I assume, is our man:

The Spy Champion, Startling Detective Stories Mar. 1930.

>> Thanks, Victor. I’m inclined to agree with you about that last story.    –Steve