Carl Buchanan has come up before on this blog, in particular in this post made last January. At the time it had just been discovered that “Carl Buchanan” was the pen name of James Robert Peery, a fact which produced a flurry of activity, including a list of the stories he’d done for the detective pulp magazines.

   I won’t reproduce the list of his short fiction here — you can follow the link above for that — but here now is the revised entry for Buchanan as it presently exists in Part 9 of the online Addenda for the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin:

BUCHANAN, CARL. Pseudonym of James Robert Peery, 1900-1954, q.v. Born in Mississippi; served in U.S. Army’s Signal and Intelligence Divisions in WWI; worked in banking and cotton before settling into journalism; published two mainstream novels under his real name. Under this pen name, the author of a number of short stories for the US detective pulp magazines and three crime novels published in the UK, included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Black Cloak Murders. Pearson, UK, hc, 1936. Setting: North Carolina.

Carl Buchanan: Black Cloak Murders

      Night of Horror. Mellifont, UK, pb, 1939.
      The Red Scorpion. Mellifont, UK, pb, 1939.

[UPDATE] A week or so ago, I received an email from Suzanne Peery Schutt, who has agreed to allow me to share it with you. She says:

    “My sister-in-law sent me your web site, and I just wanted you to know that I am the daughter of James (Jim) Peery. He was a brilliant man who died at age 54. His two novels are Stark Summer, 1939, and God Rides A Gale, 1940. These were the war years and it was difficult making a living as a writer, so he moved to Jackson from Eupora, working as news editor of radio station WJDX and was Mississippi correspondent for United Press.

    “He died of a thrombosis way too soon, at age 54. I was a junior in college. I cherish my memories: I never had to look up a word in the dictionary as he knew them all. I have no copies of the pulp magazine stories; I was just a child but remember him at the typewriter in the parlor of the family home in Eupora. It was built in 1908 and is still standing despite damage from Katrina. The family who owns it now has renovated it and I go back at least 3 times a year to see it and remember my wonderful heritage.

    “Daddy was married to his childhood sweetheart, Sudie Leigh, and my mother. Mother was a school teacher and superintendent of education for Webster County. For a time, she supported the family so that Daddy could write his two novels.

    “I live in Clinton, am married to Wallis Schutt, an engineer, and we have three grown children. I am an avid reader and quilt maker.”

            Best regards,

              Suzanne Peery Schutt

James Robert Peery


[UPDATE #2] 12-11-07. In the interest in keeping this entry on Mr. Peery complete, here are the combined listings of his pulp stories written as Carl Buchanan, as far as Victor Berch and I have been able to determine them, taken in part from The FictionMags Index:

BUCHANAN, CARL

Blind Trail, All-Star Detective Stories Oct. 1930
The Crag Island Murders, (nv) Five-Novels Monthly Apr 1932
Crimson Goblet, (ss) Clues Aug 1934
The Head That Lived, Super Detective Stories July 1935
Hot Car Wreckage, All-Star Detective Stories Apr. 1932
Finger for Sale, (ss) Clues Oct 1935
Laughter in the Chapel, (ss) Clues Apr 1934
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 Mystery of the Two Glasses, (ss) Clues Jul #2 1930
Red Haven, (ss) Clues Dec 1934
The Red Scorpion Murders, World Man Hunters Feb. 1934
Rhapsody in Blood, (ss) Clues Feb 1934
Right Guy, (ss) Clues Aug #1 1930
Rope’s End, Murder Stories Sept-Oct 1931
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

   Victor adds “There is one other [detective] tale under the name Robert Peery, who, I assume, is our man.”

The Spy Champion, Startling Detective Stories Mar 1930

   To which I agree, and although it is has not yet been confirmed that Robert Peery is indeed James Robert Peery, here again from The FictionMags index are the following:

PEERY, ROBERT

The Bat Patrol, (ss) Eagles of the Air Jan 1930
Battle Madness, (ss) Battle Stories Nov 1931
Brood of the Black Eagle, (nv) Battle Stories Nov 1929
Bullet Bait, (ss) Battle Stories Apr 1931
The Claws of the Yellow Eagle, (ss) War Birds Jun 1929
Condemned to Die, (ss) Battle Stories Feb 1930
A Corner in Bully Beef, (ss) Over the Top Jan 1929
Dan Comes Back!, (ss) Flyers Nov 1929
The Decoy Battery, (ss) Battle Stories Jun 1929
Decoy of Death, (ss) Battle Stories #65 1935
Dog Robber and the Spy, (ss) Triple-X Magazine Oct 1929
A Dog-Robber in No-Man’s Land, (ss) Battle Stories Jan 1932
Fixed Bayonets, (ss) Battle Stories Dec 1929
Forward by Squads, (ss) Battle Stories Aug 1930
Fury in the Blue, (ss) Battle Stories May 1929
Handcuffed in No-Man’s Land, (ss) Battle Stories Feb 1932
A Hero in Spite of Himself, (ss) Battle Stories Sep 1930
Hidden Guns, (ss) Complete Flying Novel Dec 1929
The Lost Mine Murders, (ss) Triple-X Western Aug 1931
The Mystery Gun of Company B, (ss) Battle Stories Jun 1931
Off With Your Stripes!, (ss) War Stories Mar 27 1930
On Enemy Wings, (ss) Battle Stories Jul 1929
On Wings of Despair, (ss) Zoom Apr/May 1931
The Phantom Murder, (ss) Triple-X Magazine Dec 1929
Punishable with Death, (ss) Battle Stories May 1931
Sadie Was There!, (ss) War Novels Feb 1929
The Spy at Regimental, (ss) Battle Stories May 1930
The Spy of Mercier Trench, (ss) Battle Stories Mar 1930
The Spy with the Bandaged Hand, (ss) Battle Stories Jan 1930
The Stranded Platoon, (ss) Triple-X Mar 1930
The Suicide Job, (ss) War Stories Oct 11 1928
That Bum From Mott Street, (ss) War Stories Mar 14 1929
Thirteen to One, (ss) War Birds Aug 1929
To the Last Gun, (ss) Battle Stories Oct 1930
Tunnel of Death, (ss) Battle Stories Nov 1932
Written in Blood, (ss) War Novels Jul 1930

   In addition, James Robert Peery had a letter published in the July 1939 issue of Clues, which neither Victor nor I have seen. If anyone has a copy of the magazine, we’d love to know what he had to say.