MARGARET MARON “Lieutenant Harald and the Treasure Island Treasure.” Short story. Lt. Sigrid Harald. Published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, September 1989. Collected in Lieutenant Harald and the Treasure Island Treasure & My Mother, My Daughter, Me (Mystery Scene/Pulphouse Short Story Paperback #3, 1991).

   In this short but well-told tale Lt. Sigrid Harald of the NYPD finds herself far from her usual comport zone, the crowded concrete streets of Manhattan. Oscar Naumann, an old friend living in upstate Connecticut whom she apparently had met in one or more of her earlier novel-length cases, now needs her help. At stake is a young girl’s inheritance from her now deceased uncle.

   Living on an island configuration of land, the map, a lifelong lover of maps — and buried treasures — the key to finding what he left his favorite niece in his will is a map he was still working on when he died. This is the puzzle that Sigrid must decipher. Any lover of maps and Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale, “Treasure Island,” will enjoy this one as much as I did.

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Bibliographic Notes:   There have been nine novel length cases for Lt. Harald, the most recent being Take Out, which appeared in 2017 after a hiatus of 22 years. Her only other short story appearance has been “Murder at Montegoni” (EQMM, Sept/Oct 2008).

The vocalist for this hot jazz band, Parisian style, is Tatiana Eva-Marie:

JOHNNY COOL. United Artists, 1963. Henry Silva, Elizabeth Montgomery, Richard Anderson, Jim Backus, Joey Bishop, Brad Dexter, Wanda Hendrix, Marc Lawrence. Based on the book The Kingdom of Johnny Cool, by John McPartland. Director: William Asher.

   The character played by William Campbell in Backlash [reviewed here ], is named Johnny Cool, which is also the name of a violent low-budget movie from 1963 starring Henry Silva, who played Mexicans, Orientals and Indians in the movies, but was actually born in New York.

   Here he’s a Sicilian bandit exported to America to wipe out the rivals of deposed gang lord Marc Lawrence. Said rivals seem to be composed mostly of the outer fringes of Sinatra’s “Rat Pack.” (I think about half the cast was in Ocean’s Eleven) plus personalities and character actors like Mort Sahl, John Dierkes, John McGiver, Elisha Cook Jr and Jim Backus.

   With a line-up like that, Johnny Cool should have offered some fun, but it’s a largely mechanical thing, with lots of action but little excitement, dealt out by director William Asher — whose credits include Return to Green Acres, I Dream of Jeannie and the “Beach Party” movies.

   In Asher’s listless hands, the film gets no sense of progress or momentum; it’s simply a series of lackluster set pieces on the way to an oddly creepy ending that was probably accidental.

   Incidentally Johnny Cool was based on a Gold Medal Original by John McPartland, The Kingdom of Johnny Cool, which as the distinction of being unreadable.

ROBERT UPTON – The Faberge Egg. Amos McGuffin #4. E. P. Dutton, hardcover, 1988. No paperback edition.

   Amos McGuffin has been a San Francisco PI for 18 years, but he’s never had a case like this one. First. his ex-wife and daughter disappear. The trail leads to the man who killed his mentor in the PI business when he first started out., and then on to the egg hunt.

   A hunt conducted by a pair of gay German war vets, before the KCB gets involved, as well as his partner’s daughter. The resemblance to Hammett is unmistakable. I suppose you’d call it an homage. Whenever it’s this blatant, I think you’d have to, but it’s still enormous fun.

      The Amos McGuffin series —

1. Who’d Want To Kill Old George? (1977)
2. Fade Out (1984)
3. Dead On the Stick (1986)
4. The Faberge Egg (1988)
5. A Killing in Real Estate (1990)
6. The Billionaire (2017)

JIM DAVIS “Gone Fishing.” Short story. Brad Carter #2. Published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, November 2012.

   This one’s eleven pages long, but it reads so quickly, once you’re done, you’ll think you’ve read only a longish vignette. That’s a fact also probably true because the story itself is so quick and dirty, and well deserving of its placement in the Black Mask section of that particular issue of EQMM in which it appeared.

   As a PI Brad Carter ekes out a living in Fayetteville, Arkansas, but when he’s hired by a prim and proper maiden aunt to find her nephew, wanted and on the run for rape and aggravated assault, the trail takes him deep into the Ozarks, from a biker bar to a meth lab way up in the hills. Any resemblance to the hillbillies of old, such as in the Li’l Abner comic strip, is purely illusional.

   The introduction to the story says that Jim Davis, the author, was planning on further adventures of Bradley Carter, who proves himself as a survivor a couple of times over in this one, but there was only one other, that being “Golf Etiquette” in the February 2011 issue of EQMM. That’s too bad. I enjoyed this one.

DAVID ROSENFELT – Bark of Night. Andy Carpenter #19. Minotaur Books, hardcover, July 2019.

First Sentence: Frank Salvio checked into the hotel under an assumed name, using fake identification.

   Truman, a healthy French bulldog, was left to be euthanized at the veterinary office where attorney and rescuer Andy Carpenter takes his dog. Truman is chipped, but the man who dropped him off is not his apparent owner. When Andy finds the owner has been murdered, it sets him off on an interstate investigation involving far more than one bulldog.

   The first thing to know is that, in spite of the cute dog on the cover, this is no cozy. Dead bodies abound. The other thing to know is that, in spite of their number, the murders aren’t described in gruesome detail.

   From the very beginning, the case is delightfully twisty, almost a bit too much so. Rosenfelt engages the reader and ensures one wants to know what happened as much as do the characters, and there are a lot of characters. This is one time when a cast of characters might have been helpful.

   The members of Andy’s team, all of whom are given good, succinct introductions, are quirky and enjoyable. Everyone should have a Marcus in their life — or maybe not. Most of all, there’s Andy. There’s something rather delightful about having a protagonist who is a picky eater, not a crack shot, or a boxing/martial arts expert but is, in fact, a bit inept, and admits it. Even when he tries to lose at a game, he accidentally wins.

   Andy’s, and Rosenfelt’s, expertise is the law. It is interesting learning how an investigation team goes through a location of interest,and these are the details which provide veracity to the plot. A well-written courtroom scene can provide tension. What is nice is that he explains the process and legalities along the way and that he writes very good dialogue— “Am I doing down for this?” he asks, the fear evident in his voice. “You’re sitting here in handcuffs, Joey. You’re already down. We’re about to start digging you out.”

   The explanation of what is behind all the deaths is a terrifying one, all the more because of its believability. The escalation of the plot’s timetable makes things exciting and tense. The only slight complaint might be that after everything which has occurred, the ending seemed too quick and the subsequent actions of the person behind it all seemed unlikely.

   Bark of the Night has more bodies than some small towns, yet very little actual violence. No, it’s not the best of the series, but Andy Carpenter fans will still find it an enjoyable read as much because the proceeds help support the Tara Foundation.

Rating:   Good.

   I’m doing better every day. Haven’t used OxyContin since I was in the hospital. Had to use a walker for about a week, but have been getting around with a cane for most of the past few days. Lots of nurses and various therapists have been stopping by, and I’ve been doing the exercises they’ve given me to do, and that has helped a lot, I’m sure. My daughter Sarah leaves for home in Illinois tomorrow, and I have followup visit with my doctor on Monday, but right now, I’m doing just fine.

RICHARD BARRE – The Innocents. Will Hardesty #1. Walker, hardcover, 1995. Berkeley, paperback; 1st printing, December 1997.

   I don’t know anything about Barre other than this is his first novel, and he had his own advertising agency. Michael Seidman [at Walker] is very high on him, for whatever that’s worth.

   Will Hardesty is forty-ish, a ’Nam vet and a PI who’s pretty much drunk his practce away because of a teenage son dead in an accident he blames himself fo And a marriage that’s slipping away from him. Happy days? Not.

   Then the skeletons of several children are discovered near Saddleback Butte, not too far away from his home south of Santa Barbara. A medallion found with the bones is enough to identify one of the dead children to his father, and Hardesty is asked to find the man who killed him. The children died many years ago, but their deaths will bring more, now.

   Well, Michael may have something here. This is one of the better first novels in the hardboiled crop of late. Hardesty is a refreshingly imperfect hero, not above lashing out when he’s hurt and not beyond making mistakes that others pay for.

   Barre’s rose is clean and straightforward, and he paces his story well through shifting viewpoints and third-person narration. The story is action-oriented rather than cerebral, but it’s done well and will hold your attention until the end. Barre is at work on a second Hardesty novel and I’ll look forward to it.

      The Wil Hardesty series —

1. The Innocents (1995)
2. Bearing Secrets (1996)
3. The Ghosts of Morning (1998)
4. Blackheart Highway (1999)
5. Burning Moon (2003)

CATHERINE L. STANTON “Multiple Submissions.” Short story. Sam Bellamy #2. First published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, September 1989.

   I’ve found that catching up on my short story reading has been a good way to fill some otherwise vacant time while recovering from my recent surgery. And of the ones I’ve enjoyed the most, many of them are of the relatively rare category, the traditional detective story, especially those having a recurring character in the leading role.

   Some of these series characters are extremely well known, such as those created by Edward D. Hoch. Some are rather obscure, such as Sam Bellamy in this one: his existence is not even known to the online Crime Fiction Index. Sam’s only earlier appearance was “The Teddy Bears’ Wake” (AHMM, August 1988), and there was not a third, which is a shame, because this second one is a couple of notches well above average.

   Sam is a skilled cabinetmaker by trade, an occupation I don’t remember a fictional sleuth ever having had before, but what such a job does is allow him to meet all kinds of people, including wealthier ones, and wealthy people are prone to having problems an amateur might be able to solve even more than the police.

   It also a plus to have an inquisitive nature about people, and that’s what helps Sam in this case of the murder of the current temporary director of this summer’s series of plays put on by a small Massachusetts drama company. Without going into details, and it would take another couple of paragraphs to do it well, I’ll just say that determining the killer requires some insight into what prods anyone to write a play — and hunger to see it performed — in the first place.

   The two Sam Bellamy stories were Catherine Stanton’s only contributions to the world of crime fiction. Based on this one, I have to say that I wish there had been more.

   One of the fun things about exploring the unlimited spaces of the free and wild parts of YouTube is the different Worlds that you can discover there.

   When most think of steampunk, they think of a small genre in fiction, but it is also a lifestyle for some. There are Steampunk conventions happening all over the world and while they may lack the crowds of Comic conventions the steampunk fans are the comic cons fans’ equal in passion.

         STEAMPUNK WORLDS FAIR 2015

   What exactly is steampunk depends on whom you ask. For me it is a genre of fiction where the culture features advanced technology powered by steam. Steampunk fiction is set in an alternative history or universe or post-apocalyptic world.

   But we are here for the music. Steampunk music style can range from epic adventure to humor and – if not an instrumental – often uses its lyrics to tell a detailed steampunk story.

   ABNEY PARK along with others such as THE COG IS DEAD and STEAM POWERED GIRAFFE exist beyond the music. While the bands release records and go on tour many prefer to perform stage musicals at Steampunk conventions. The bands have created stage names for each member, each with long and complex back-stories (check out their websites). These characters exist in comics, films, games, books, music videos, animation, stage plays, clothing and merchandise.

IMAGINARY BOY by ABNEY PARK (Album UNDER THE FLOOR, OVER THE WALL (2016) performed by Robert Brown (song and vocals), Skye Warren (guitar), Kristina Erickson (piano), and Derek Brown (bass))

   My favorite is Professor Elemental (Paul Alborough), a white English hip-hop comedian who always has time for tea. Using his time traveling trousers and donations from the public, the Professor did a film about his adventures through time and space as he searched for Jeffery his Orangutan butler.

   In the film the Professor visited many different places in time and space such as INN AT THE END OF TIME, a name-dropping song about the science fiction genre. The segment in the Old West was shot at a Steampunk convention and used volunteers for the cast.

         WEIRD WEIRD WEST

   To end this peek at a small part of Steampunk music is an opera, THE DOLLS OF NEW ALBION, written by Paul Shapera.

   THE DOLLS OF NEW ALBION is a four act musical featuring the McAlistar family and their lives in the city of New Albion. Following is the second song of the play.

NEW ALBION 1. Sung by Kayleigh McKnight.