DAVID HANDLER “The Happy Couple.” Novelette. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 2005. Not known to have been reprinted.

   David Handler is best known for his hardcover mysteries, most of which fall into either of two series: his Stewart Hoag and Lulu mysteries (of which there are twelve), or his Berger and Mitry tales (of which there are eleven). “The Happy Couple” is therefore a rarity: it’s one of only a small handful of short stories he’s written, and it’s a standalone.

   The narrator is Tim Ferris, as he tells a story that took place thirty years earlier when he was struggling young newspaper reporter in Manhattan. The first line gives a small hint of what is to come: “This is the ugliest show business story that I know.”

   Enamored of the Broadway stage, and superstar actress Barbara Darrow in particular, Ferris is thrilled beyond belief when he is offered an interview with her and her husband, the equally famous actor Anthony Beck. What he does not realize he is walking into is a love triangle between the two of them and Leigh Grayson, a young accomplished actress who is in a lesser role in the current play all three are in.

   Ferris himself finds himself strongly attracted to the latter, which does not please Ms Darrow and the games she loves to play. Not only does he find himself drawn into them as well, but so does the reader. You can simply feel the sexual tension growing, punctuated by Beck finding Darrow sitting naked in Ferris’s lap, an unwanted event by the latter, and totally surprised by it.

   The ending? Totally horrific. I won’t say more, but it is one that Ferris had to wait thirty years before he could tell it. This one’s a chiller.

DANA STABENOW – No Fixed Line. PI Kate Shugak #22. Head of Zeus, hardcover, January 2020; paperback, February 2021. Setting: Contemporary Alaska.

First Sentence: Anna was a warm, heavy weight against his side, her eyes closed, her breathing deep, her tears drying in faint silvery streaks on her cheeks.

   Matt Grosdidier and Laurel Meganack are spending New Year’s’ Eve at Kate Shugak’s cabin bolt hole at Canyon Hot Springs. Their romantic interlude is interrupted by the sound of an engine, and the crash of a plane. What they didn’t expect to find was two young children, belted together in a seat. Further investigation reveals a body buried in the snow, and a whole lot of drugs. Meanwhile, Erland Bannister, who tried to have Kate killed more than once, has died. But why did he make her the trustee of his estate and the head of his foundation?

   Stabenow captures one’s interest from the very first sentence. Her writing is evocative and visual. It captivates, involves, and becomes real. And it moves, no long narratives here; just writing which keeps one turning the page. One also realizes just how timely are the themes of her story. But it’s the details of dealing with Alaska that make one’s eyes widen. For those who follow the series, this is an Alaska very different from the state as it was in the beginning, which only adds to the interest.

   The story is perfectly balanced between the action, the pastoral, and the wonderfully normal, human moments. The transition between these elements segues perfectly, one to the next. It’s fascinating to see how Kate’s mind works; how she walks through the possible scenarios of traps Bannister may have set for her. Her comparison of a modern minimalist office lobby, using the term “dead perfection” from a Tennyson poem and comparing it to a columbarium is identifiable.

   One can’t but love the references to other writers: Dick Francis, Ellis Peters, Damien Boyd, Adrian McGinty, John Sandford, and even Tennyson. Such things make the character seem real– “To quote the late, great Dick Francis, life keeps getting steadily weirder.” —along with references to food– “…caribou steak with loaded baked potatoes and canned green beans fried with bacon and onions.”

   Stabenow weaves the issues of poverty, drugs and government cutbacks seamlessly into the story through the conversations of the characters. She offsets that by observing the way people in the park care for one another. The plot meanders a bit between the characters and the mystery involving the children, but doesn’t life? There is romance and a bit of erotic heat, but it then stops before becoming too graphic. Quite satisfying is Kate’s justifiable anger at law enforcement not having gone after someone they knew was a criminal. Valid and significant points are made about the status of things without being preachy, and the suggestion of a future threat is intriguing without being an end-destroying cliffhanger.

   No Fixed Line is a great pleasure to read. It has everything a really good book should: well-developed characters, a compelling plot that keeps one turning the pages, excellent dialogue, a touch of humor, well-done suspense, well-placed twists, and a perfectly executed ending. Thank you, Dana Stabenow.

Rating: Excellent.

BRADFORD MORROW – The Forgers. Mysterious Press, hardcover, 2014; softcover, 2015.

   The victim is Adam Diehl, a dealer in rare books and papers, and the unlikely victim of such a brutal crime. Nor is he found immediately dead. He is found with his stumps bound and he lingers in the hospital for some time before dying of shock and a severe head injury that would have left him a vegetable if he lived.

   His sister Meghan, who owns a small book store, and her boyfriend Will, a former forger who after a fine and slap on the wrist by the law, now authenticates signatures and inscriptions for a living, are left to puzzle who killed Adam.

   Will has long suspected Adam himself was involved in forgery and is reluctant to reveal that to Meghan, but when they start to receive threatening letters, the first in the hand writing of Henry James and a second in the style of Arthur Conan Doyle, Will begins to look deeper into Adam’s dealings and discovers he was involved with one Henry Slader, who was the brains behind his crimes and now is a threat to Meghan and Will.

   Even after a year passes and Will and Meghan marry, the threats continue.

   The literary thriller is a genre within itself. It varies only from the novel of suspense in both the general literacy of the writers and their intent, which, as much as visceral stimulation, intend intellectual gaming as well, something closer to some of the early examples of the Classic Detective Novel as intellectual game than just a mystery solved.

   The characters of Will and Meghan, their relationship, and in particular Will’s passion for the art of forgery he is forbidden from indulging in, all play an important role in the unfolding of the story as Slader’s forged threats grow more serious and his nature more defined.

   Morrow has written a sequel, The Forger’s Daughter (Mysterious Press, September 2020), that I look forward to after reading this, if the preview provided at the end of this book is any example. The Forgers proves as twisty as any Agatha Christie plot, with a turn that will set your whole understanding of the book on its ear, and handled with the same aplomb.

   To say anymore would risk giving too much away, but this one is a tour de force.

McDONALD & DODDS. “The Fall of the House of Crockett” ITV, 01 March 2020 (Season 1, Episode 1) . Tala Gouveia as DCI Lauren McDonald, Jason Watkins as DS Dodds. Guest star: Robert Lindsay as Max Crockett. Creator/writer: Robert Murphy. Director: Richard Senior.

   I don’t know about you, but I’m always interested in yet another pair of mismatched homicide policemen, whether British or American. I love watching how their differences play off each other, how get to know each other, and maybe even get to respect each other. Old and worn out stuff, I know, but when the show is well-written, which it is in this case, and when the players are perfectly selected, even more so this time around, well, to sum it up, I enjoyed this one.

   DCI Lauren McDonald, is young, black, female, and ambitious. DS Dodds is not so young, white, male, and has just spent the last eleven years behind a desk. Why then, when McDonald is sent from London to Bath, and the first case she’s assigned to is a break-in and a homicide, why is she assigned Dodds as her second-in-command? The answer comes directly from her new commanding officer: see if she can’t nudge him into retirement.

   Dead is one of what is at first assumed to be two burglars who broke into wealthy businessman Max Crockett’s manor house. Outwardly Dodds appears to be almost a doddering old fool, but in reality he’s as sharp as ever, only a bit slower and rusty at the game of old-fashioned detective work. Nonetheless he manages to prove that the target was Max Crockett himself, as arrogant a man as a self-made millionaire can be.

   There are plenty of suspects. He has three children plus their significant others, but only one of his three daughters will soon be announced as his sole heir. The motive is clear. The only question is which one. It takes all of ninety minutes, without commercials, for McDonald and Dobbs to figure this one out, but the time goes very quickly. (You should also keep in mind that I have not told you everything.)

   The first season consisted of only two episodes, televised back in March. The show proved popular enough that a second season has been announced, this time of three more.

GOLDENEYE. United Artists, 1995. Pierce Brosnan (James Bond), Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Joe Don Baker, Judi Dench (M), Robbie Coltrane, Desmond Llewelyn (Q), Samantha Bond (Moneypenny). Based on characters created by Ian Fleming. Director: Martin Campbell. Currently streaming on Netflix.

   Marking Pierce Brosnan’s debut as James Bond, GoldenEye is a movie that both pays tribute to the Cold War past and hints at the equally dangerous post-Soviet present. The plot follows Bond as he seeks to uncover who is beyond the destruction of a Russian military base and the subsequent theft of a nuclear, electromagnetic pulse device that could wreak havoc on the world’s communications systems. Little does Bond know that the man he’s seeking is a former ally, a fellow MI6 agent (Sean Bean) whom Bond assumed was long dead.

   In terms of action, this one’s got it all. The fight sequences are stunningly choreographed; the stunt sequences were among the best to date in a Bond film. What the movie does lack, apart from a brief appearance or two by Jon Don Baker as a CIA agent, are the types of exceedingly memorable oddball characters that were omnipresent in the earlier Bond films. While Famke Janssen is notable for portraying a sadistic female assassin, most of the other villains and shady characters here are somewhat bland. Nothing against Sean Bean, but he is just not Donald Pleasence or Christopher Lee.

   Still, for those who haven’t yet seen GoldenEye, it is worth your time. For two hours, this one provides the kind of pure escapism that harks back to the Sean Connery era. Brosnan would go on to star in three more films before being replaced by Daniel Craig in the more subdued, emotionally wrought Casino Royale (2006). I have a feeling that, in years to come, more people will look upon the Brosnan era as a high point for the franchise.

NICK QUARRY – The Hoods Come Calling. Jake Barrow #1. Gold Medal #747; 1st printing, March 1958. Cover art: Barye Phillips.

   Having discovered that he has a talent for PI work in Chicago, Jake Barrow returns to New York City intending to take over an agency of his own there. He needs $1600 to buy the current owner out, however,  but he soon discovers that his former wife has cleaned out the money he was counting on in his savings account.

   In that regard he confronts her in front of her current boy friend, the brother of a gangster whose party he has been invited to. Two days later he discovers her staggering home badly beaten and in very sad shape. Leaving her in her apartment for a short time, he does not expect to find her dead, strangled to death with his own necktie.

   What does he do? Hide the body, of course, but as it turns out, not all that well. Hard on his heels for the rest of book are the cops and at least two gangs of crooks. It’s a good thing he’s in great physical shape, since he also takes a couple of good beatings at the hands of various parties in what follows.

   To compensate for that, however, perhaps, is that he is very attracted to the women he meets in the course of his investigation – to get the police off his trail, he must find the real killer – or they to him. You know how it goes in tough guy man-on-the-run stories such as this.

   Nick Quarry was the pen name of prolific paperback writer Marvin Albert, and this is the first of six appearances of PI Jake Barrow. If you can forgive the fact that there’s really not a lot that’s new in this one, it is both well-written and well-paced, and overall it is an above average debut. Not that much above average, but if PI stories are your meat, you won’t be sorry if you decide to track down a copy of this one.

      The Jake Barrow series —

The Hoods Come Calling (1958)
The Girl with No Place to Hide (1959)
Trail of a Tramp (1960)
Till It Hurts (1960)
No Chance in Hell (1960)
Some Die Hard (1961)

ORBIT SCIENCE FICTION. September-October 1954. Vol. 1, No. 4. Overall rating: 2 stars.

ALFRED COPPEL “Last Night of Summer.” The study of reactions to knowledge of Earth’s sudden destruction in a burst of flames. (4)

Comment: According to my view at the time, this was a best story in this issue. Reprinted in The End of the World, edited by Donald A. Wollheim (Ace, paperback, 1956) and Catastrophes!, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin Harry Greenberg & Charles G. Waugh (Fawcett Crest, pb, 1981).

MICHAEL SHAARA “Death in the House.” A creature from a flying saucer disguises itself as a dog. (1)

Comment: Reprinted in Uncollected Stars, edited by Piers Anthony, Martin H. Greenberg, Barry N. Malzberg & Charles G. Waugh (Avon, pb, 1986). I suspect that this was due more to Shaara’s name value on the cover more than the quality of the story. (I could be wrong about this.)

JAMES E. GUNN “Danger Past.” Sabotage of a time machine leads to murder. (2)

Comment: As of last year, at 95 years old, Gunn was still active as a published writer. This story, however, has never been collected or reprinted.

MAX DANCEY “Me Feel Good.” Child from asteroid has strange powers. (0)

Comment: “Dancey” was one of several pen names used by author Peter Grainger. Others include Robert Flint Young and Peter Cartur. Under these various names he has thirteen SF tales to his credit, appearing between 1947 and 1974.

IRVING E. COX “No More the Stars.” A conspiracy to escape Earth’s oppression is broken up but does not fail. Quite familiar. (2)

Comment: Cox was the author of several dozen short stories between 1951 and 1965. This one has never been reprinted or collected in the US.

AUGUST DERLETH “The Thinker and the Thought.” A thinking machine mirror its inventor’s thoughts. (0)

Comment: Collected in Harrigan’s File (Arkham House, hardcover, 1975). I don’t know much about Tex Harrigan, the leading protagonist in this collection, but one online source says that he was a newspaperman who continually runs “up against strange inventions and curiously weird-science occurrences.” I do not seem to have been much impressed by this one.

ALAN E. NOURSE “The Image of the Gods.” Colonists of Baron IV find help from the natives in their struggle against Earth’s dominion. (3)

Comment: Reprinted in The Counterfeit Man: More Science Fiction Stories (David McKay, hardcover, 1963) and still in print electronically today.

PHILIP K. DICK “Adjustment Team.” [Novelette] An error in timing allows Fletcher to see the underlying reality of his existence, maintained by outsiders. Weak ending. (3)

Comment: First collected in The Book of Philip K. Dick (Daw, paperback, 1973) as well as several later collections. I do not believe that anything Dick ever wrote has not been reprinted or collected.

MILTON LESSER “Intruder on the Rim.” [Novelette] A husband-wife team of reporters are sent to Pluto’s moon and uncover a plot by the military in charge to take over the solar system. (1)

Comment: Lesser eventually changed his name legally to Stephen Marlowe; under this name he is well known as the author of many mystery and suspense novels. I do not believe any of his SF tales are at all memorable. This one has never been collected or reprinted in the US.

DASHIELL HAMMETT, Editor – Creeps by Night. The John Day Company, hardcover, 1931. Blue Ribbon Books, hardcover, 1931. Tudor Publishing Co, hardcover, 1932. World Publishing Company, hardcover, 1944. Belmont #230, paperback, 1961. The latter contains only 10 stories of the original 20. The other 10 are included in The Red Brain and Other Creepy Thrillers (Belmont #239, paperback, 1961). NOTE: See also comment #4.

   Last Halloween, I found a copy of Creeps by Night, edited by Dashiell Hammett, and was greatly impressed by the obvious lack of effort that went into it. Of the 20 stories included, 18 appeared in popular magazines within a year or two of this anthology — the other two were no more than five years older — so it’s obvious no one spent .a great deal of time scouting out obscure favorites. Even Hammett’s introduction reads as if it were written with his mind firmly on his fee.

   Fortunately, no collection of creepy stories from this era could be entirely without merit, and Creeps includes some fine entries by Lovecraft, Ewers, William Seabrook and others, but nothing ever gets it completely past the feel of having been thrown together for a quick buck.

      Contents:

7 • Introduction (Creeps by Night: Chills and Thrills) • (1931) • essay by Dashiell Hammett
9 • A Woman Alone with Her Soul • (1912) • short story by Thomas Bailey Aldrich
15 • A Rose for Emily •  (1930) • short story by William Faulkner
33 • Green Thoughts • (1931) • short story by John Collier
65 • The Ghost of Alexander Perks, A.B. • (1931) • novelette by Robert Dean Frisbie
87 • The House • short story by André Maurois (trans. of “La maison”)
91 • The Kill • (1931) • short story by Peter Fleming
113 • Ten O’Clock • (1931) • short story by Philip MacDonald
143 • The Spider • novelette by Hanns Heinz Ewers (trans. of “Die Spinne” 1908)
187 • Breakdown • (1929) • short story by L. A. G. Strong
211 • The Witch’s Vengeance • (1930) • short story by W. B. Seabrook
231 • The Rat • [The Rat] • (1929) • short story by S. Fowler Wright
273 • Faith, Hope and Charity • (1930) • short story by Irvin S. Cobb
311 • Mr. Arcularis • (1931) • novelette by Conrad Aiken
347 • The Music of Erich Zann  • (1922) • short story by H. P. Lovecraft
365 • The Strange Case of Mrs. Arkwright • (1928) • novelette by Harold Dearden
395 • The King of the Cats • (1929) • short story by Stephen Vincent Benét
423 • The Red Brain • (1927) • short story by Donald Wandrei
441 • The Phantom Bus • (1930) • short story by W. Elwyn Backus
453 • Beyond the Door • (1923) • short story by J. Paul Suter
483 • Perchance to Dream • (1930) • short story by Michael Joyce
505 • A Visitor from Egypt • (1930) • short story by Frank Belknap Long, Jr.

   I have to admit I was somewhat hesitant to watch this movie. First of all, I am a fan of the original 1968 film with Charlton Heston and must have seen it close to half dozen times. Second, I thought I would be put off by the CGI.

   I couldn’t have been more wrong. Using motion capture in a magical manner, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a thrilling and enjoyable origin story. The international trailer is relatively short, but it does a good job in explaining what the movie is all about and what issues it explores. Scientists in search of a cure for Alzheimer’s employ an experimental medical treatment that has unforeseen consequences for man and ape alike. And we all know where this ends up.

   While the movie has a strong cast, the characters themselves unfortunately aren’t particularly well developed beyond what is necessary to service the plot. With the exception of the ape Caesar (Andy Serkis) that is. This is his movie from beginning to end. You might think the movie looks a tad overwrought. Let me assure you: unlike the disappointment that was Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes (2001), this reboot is well worth a look.

THE LADY IN THE MORGUE. Universal Pictures, 1938. Preston Foster (PI Bill Crane), Patricia Ellis, Frank Jenks (Doc Williams), Bill Elliott (as Gordon Elliott), Barbara Pepper. Screenwriters: Eric Taylor, Robertson White, based on the novel by Jonathan Latimer. Director: Otis Garrett.

   When an unidentified young woman’s body is found in a hotel room bathroom, it is easy to assume that she hung herself. The police, always willing to wrap up a case as quickly as possible, certainly do. PI Bill Crane gets involved only when a representative of a missing girl’s family wants his agency to see if the dead woman is her.

   Also interested in knowing the who the dead girl is are a couple of gangsters who have been rivals for a missing woman’s hand. But when all parties show up at the morgue at the same time, they find her body missing and the morgue attendant knocked on the head and lying dead on the floor.

   Thus begins one of the screwier detective murder mysteries I’ve had the occasion to see in quite a while. What follows is just over sixty minutes of fast-paced clues and action, mixed with cops, hoodlums and a sizable number of attractive dance hall hostesses, debutantes and more.

   You’ll have to pay close attention to the clues that Crane comes across, though. I think there are enough there to make the conclusion hold water, but the emphasis in this sentence is the world “think.” When the movie had ended, and Crane had revealed what was going on in terms who was doing what to whom and where, my head was still spinning. I’m really not sure.

   And to be perfectly sure, I’d have to watch the whole movie again, a possibility I wouldn’t mind in the least. The first time through I was too busy enjoying myself. Madcap detective movies such as this one don’t come along often enough, not nearly so, not for me.