Mon 6 Jul 2026
Archived Mystery Review: JOHN FARR – The Deadly Combo.
Posted by Steve under Uncategorized[2] Comments
JOHN FARR – The Deadly Combo. Ace Double D-301, paperback original; 1st printing, 1959. Published back-to-back with Murder Isn’t Funny, by J. Harvey Bond (reviewed here).
Mac Stewart us only a cop in a prowl car, but when the body of Dandy Mullens is found, the captain gives Mac the freedom he needs to bring the killer in. Dandy was a great musician, once upon a time, and Mac was a friend, even when the other man fell upon hard times.
The first half of this story has a beat, the beat of the city, the jazz clubs, the midnight hours, the strippers — the beat of the street. The second half does not match the first half, and the solution to the mystery is as rushed as an obligation unfelt.
— Reprinted from Mystery.File.5, May 1988.
July 6th, 2026 at 11:51 pm
John Farr was a pen name of writer Jack Webb, who was best known in the 50s in relation to the question, Is he the same guy who plays Joe Friday on DRAGNET? The answer, as it turned out, was no.
His Wikipedia page is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Webb_(novelist)
and it includes what appears to be a complete bibliography.
July 6th, 2026 at 11:58 pm
Reading further in the Wiki for Jack Webb, yhe writer, I see that and I’m quoting,
“Contemporary interest in Webb’s work was renewed with the 2025 Stark House Press omnibus reprinting One for My Dame and The Deadly Combo.”
I did not know that until just now. And I thought I was up on things.
One more quote, and I’ll stop for now:
“Prolific author and reviewer James Reasoner commented that The Deadly Combo “is both a fast-paced, violent, hardboiled mystery and a love letter to jazz music… Webb’s writing is the prose equivalent of jazz, swooping and swirling almost into improvisation at times.””
You can take his word for it.