(Give Me That) OLD-TIME DETECTION. Spring 2020. Issue #53. Editor: Arthur Vidro. Old-Time Detection Special Interest Group of American Mensa, Ltd. 34 pages (including covers). Cover image: Ellery Queen and Nikki Porter.

   By retrieving and curating interesting facts and arcana about the detective story, Arthur Vidro renders an invaluable service to today’s readers, with the latest issue of Old-Time Detection (OTD) nicely continuing that tradition.

   The primary focus this time is on the writer(s)-cum-fictional character, multimedia star Ellery Queen (“the American detective story,” in Anthony Boucher’s estimable estimation). While EQ’s popularity has diminished over time, “his” relevance to the development of the genre worldwide never will, placing “him” in that rarified pantheon of mystery writers that includes Edgar Allan Poe, who originated modern detective fiction; Conan Doyle, who expanded and popularized it; and that bevy of authors, many of them female, who profited most from it.

   Among the varied attractions of this issue: Charles Shibuk’s article on the current trend in trade-paperback republications of classic detective fiction … commentaries by the world’s foremost Agatha Christie expert Dr. John Curran on the recent death of Christie specialist artist Tom Adams; the deplorable film adaptations of her works (“the only murder that was committed during the two hours was that of the legacy of Agatha Christie; and that the perpetrator was the BBC”); a card game (“an entertaining way to pass the time”); a coin celebrating the centenary of The Mysterious Affair at Styles accompanied by a reissue of the novel; and a prospective Agatha Christie film festival … Vidro’s reprint of Edward D. Hoch’s own introduction to his collection of Simon Ark stories (who, says Hoch, “owes a far greater debt to Father Brown than to Carnacki and the other occult sleuths”) … and Jon L. Breen’s contemporary review of Douglas Greene’s The Dead Sleep Lightly, a collection of radio plays by John Dickson Carr (“probably the greatest of all radio suspense scripters”).

   Still more attractions in OTD: Marvin Lachman’s compact biography of Ed Hoch (who “did not achieve the quantity of his writing by sacrificing quality”), with Hoch returning the favor to Lachman (“arguably our greatest mystery short story fan and proponent”) … Jon L. Breen’s review of Murder on Cue (“a case that is resolved most fairly and satisfactorily in an old-fashioned gathering of the suspects”), its chief attraction in his view being its theatrical background … Dale Andrews’s discovery of Ellery Queen’s “Easter Eggs,” by which he means the Christian holiday … and J. Randolph Cox’s account of how he first became aware of EQ and his life and subsequent encounters, personal and professional, with Ellery over the years.

   Further into this issue: Ted Hertel’s article about the two-and-only appearances that EQ made in Better Little Books … Arthur Vidro’s sidebar about that indefatigable Ellery Queen researcher, Mike Nevins (“nearly all roads [to EQ scholarship] lead to or through Nevins”) … Marv Lachman’s first and life-long encounters with EQ (“I loved Queen’s appeal to the brain”) … a memorable anecdote by book collector Andrew J. Fusco, a Sherlockian, about his meeting with Fred Dannay … J. Randolph Cox’s in-depth exploration of the religious underpinnings of the fiction by the two cousins known as Ellery Queen … Les Blatt’s review of The Chinese Orange Mystery (“The crime that was backwards”) … Ted Hertel’s take on The Misadventures of Ellery Queen (“I was not disappointed”) … this issue’s fiction piece, EQ’s radio play “Adventure of the Cellini Cup,” which, as Arthur notes, leaves somewhat to be desired as a fair play mystery … Michael Dirda’s pithy reviews of new fiction and nonfiction (“there’s plenty of excellent entertainment to be found in the Golden Age rivals of Dame Agatha”) … and finishing up with readers’ responses and a puzzle, this one with an alimentary theme.

   As usual, Old-Time Detection is always able to provide what classic detective fiction fans crave.

   A review of the previous issue of OTD is available on Mystery*File here.

   —

If you’re interested in subscribing: – Published three times a year: spring, summer, and autumn. – Sample copy: $6.00 in U.S.; $10.00 anywhere else. – One-year U.S.: $18.00 ($15.00 for Mensans). – One-year overseas: $40.00 (or 25 pounds sterling or 30 euros).

Payment: Checks payable to Arthur Vidro, or cash from any nation, or U.S. postage stamps or PayPal.

Mailing address: Arthur Vidro, editor, Old-Time Detection, 2 Ellery Street, Claremont, New Hampshire 03743.

Web address: vidro@myfairpoint.net.

THE PUSHER. United Artists, 1960. Kathy Carlyle, Robert Lansing, Felice Orlandi, Douglas Rodgers, Sloan Simpson, Sara Amman, Jim Boles, John Astin. Screenplay by Harold Robbins, based on the novel by Ed McBain. Director Gene Milford

   While it may not be polished, one thing is for certain. The Pusher has grit. Loads of it, actually. Based on Ed McBain’s eponymous novel, this crime film has the aesthetic one might expect from such a movie. Lots of on location shots of tough, crime-ridden Manhattan streets, nightclubs galore, and a particularly unsavory drug dealer who admittedly preys on the youth and vulnerable women. Although clunky at times, with pacing that never quite works, it’s an overall solid work of independent film-making and an early example of what would later be come to be known as exploitation films.

   The plot follows New York police lieutenant Peter Byrne as he attempts to solve the mystery of who killed a young Puerto Rican junkie. As it turns out, his daughter has a nexus to the crime. Not only that, she’s also been hooked on heroin by the same dealer who is a suspect in the aforementioned murder. There’s also a romantic relationship at play. Byrne’s partner is engaged to be married to his daughter. And he has no idea that his beloved is an addict. A tough spot to be in.

   What makes The Pusher work is not so much the plot, but the atmosphere. Lots of scenes showcase urban poverty, cold and cruel sidewalks, and an overarching sense of despair and dissolution. Although staid compared to 1970s cinema, it’s still a movie that pushes the envelope for its time. An MGM film, this is not. Had this movie been made in the 1980s, it definitely could have easily been produced by Cannon Films and starred Charles Bronson as the lead.

   One final thing. The film’s villain, a heroin dealer who goes by the nickname Gonzo, is portrayed by Italian American actor Felice Orlandi. Although I wasn’t familiar with him until I saw this film, he gives an exceptionally convincing performance as a conniving street smart criminal. I had a chance to look him up and saw that he was in numerous crime films from the 1960s and 1970s, including some I have seen. Next time I watch them, I will be sure to keep an eye out for him.

ROBERT WALLACE “The Mark of the Beast.” Dexter Wynne #1. First published in Thrilling Detective, February 1933. Facsimile edition published by Adventure House, paperback, January 2012.

   Robert Wallace is a house name known to have been assigned to the work of eight or more authors. Unless there is someone who reads this and knows, I have no way of telling you which one of them wrote this particular story.

   Billed as “a complete book-length novel,” it is the longest story in the magazine, but even so, it takes up only 33 pages. In it, private eye Dexter Wynne is asked by a client to check into a mysterious telegram from his sister, telling him that she is afraid of something in the mysterious house where she is living with their stepfather.

   Wynne asks his client, Harry Bates to stay while he investigates, but when he gets there, he find Bates has gotten there ahead of him, dead on the road, with half his face torn away. More than one death follows, making the guilty person all the more apparent as soon there is no one left to suspect. Lots of hidden passageways add to the atmosphere, or at least that was the intent. The build-up to the conclusion fails badly, with a rather prosaic explanation making the whole affair rather shoddy and shopworn.

   I have not said anything about Dexter Wynne, the PI in this tale, and whose only appearance this probably was. There is a reason for that. There is nothing to say. His name could have been chosen out of a hat.

   It is wonderful to have artifacts such as the magazine this story first appeared in reproduced in such a beautiful format, but I’ve sampled the rest of the stories in it, and I haven’t found any of them to be any better than this one. Not all of the detective pulps published in 1933 were of Black Mask caliber.

      Complete contents:

The Mark of the Beast by Robert Wallace
The Banding Murder Case by Allan K. Echols
The Black Ram by Perley Poore Sheehan
The Face That Came Back by Wayne Rogers
The Den of Skulls by Jack D’Arcy
Death Talks Backs by John H. Compton
The Trail of the White Gardenia by Donald Bayne Hobart
The Coward by Ken Rockwell
Reflections by John Lawrence
The Crumpled Clue by J.S. Endicott

VAN WYCK MASON – The Branded Spy Murders. Captain Hugh North #5. Doubleday, hardcover, 1932. Reprinted in Complete Detective Novel Magazine, November 1932. No paperback edition, but currently available on Kindle.

   It’s 1932 and Hugh North, Captain Hugh North the man from G2 (still D.I.C. in 1932), is in Hawaii, where one of his men has recently committed suicide, and with another having blown an assignment both over the same woman, he’s been given a task that could have international implications, since an incident where American soldiers died in a clash with the Japanese in Manchuria is threatening to blow up into full blown war if Hugh North can’t defuse the situation.

   The story takes place almost a decade before Pearl Harbor, but a Japanese fleet is steaming towards Hawaii and Hugh North is the only thing between his country and war in the Pacific unless he can uncover who is provoking the trouble as the deadline for the arrival of the Japanese fleet narrows.

   Not that it’s much of a challenge for Hugh North, who even by this is fifth outing had quite a record of pulling fat out of the fire, whether capturing spies, averting catastrophe, or nailing murderers. He managed to do that particular trick from 1930’s Seeds of Murder to 1968’s Deadly Orbit Mission, so obviously he was pretty good at it. The last “Murders” title was 1941’s Rio Casino Murders, which saw North on hiatus until 1946 and Saigon Singer, when the series continued with more exotic titles usually referring to the locale and more concerned with spying than murder mystery.

   North, as one Howard Nevins, is present at Abner Polk’s dinner party along with Lt. Wilson Clark, the officer who blew his assignment; Baron Von Rentner, a Prussian big game hunter; Mr. Kanamura, a Japanese ships chandler; Polk; and the beautiful Mademoiselle Phedre Renoire (Something feline—that was what she resembled. Sleek, graceful, and probably unexpectedly strong.) when news reaches them the tension has escalated — “JAPAN SENDS U. S. ULTIMATUM!” Then in slightly smaller type: “Shells Kill More Americans Guarding Transpacific Property! War Demanded!”

   Tensions are escalating between Clark and the Japanese over the news. and between Clark and the Baron over a woman both are entranced with, and into this walks North’s old ally — sometimes rival — Major Bruce Kilgour of British Intelligence, when something is noticed in the water nearby …

   That murder (“The poor girl was naked as a jay bird, and there wasn’t a wound on her that I could see—and I looked very carefully. That scratch on her neck—does that suggest anything?”) will have repercussions from Hawaii to Washington D.C.,Tokyo, and Moscow as North finds himself at odds with agents who want nothing better than war in the Pacific.

   Meanwhile North has one dead officer and another one enchanted with the woman who is causing all the problems …

   And it isn’t long before North finds out just how formidable Nadia Stefan is when Lt. Clark commits suicide like Major Cross before him.

   Mason may not be Ian Fleming. and Hugh North certainly isn’t James Bond, but there are plots to be uncovered, codes to be deciphered, genuine detective work, clues to be followed, and an exciting down to the wire ending that helps explain the longevity of the series.

   Prior to the war, Mason, John P. Marquand, and David Garth (Four Men and a Prayer) were the American spy novel, and Mason continued well after the War.

   Mason, who as F. Van Wyck Mason wrote best selling historical novels and was a staple in pulps like Argosy, had a long successful career, having traveled extensively even before he created Hugh North, who would rise in the ranks from Captain to Major and eventually Colonel as the series went from Hugh North D.I.C. to the man from G2. North inspired a short lived radio series, The Man from G2, and comic book artist Nick Cardy (Bat Lash, Teen Titans) even attempted to syndicate a comic strip, Major North.

   Just how he missed Hollywood is still a question, but certainly the series had a long a critically recognized run, North not quite falling in the category of great detective, but so close the difference is hardly worth mentioning. The series was recognized early on for its use of exotic locations fully realized. Mason claimed despite his travels that he did most of his research in  National Geographic, but if so he was a master of spotting the telling detail.

   North might not be a Great Detective, but I’d like to see Ellery Queen or Philo Vance manufacture fingerprint powder in an exotic location or create their own ballistics test with bales of cotton both of which North does in another adventure.

   Of course there is no doubt North will solve the codes and the murder and save the day just on the edge of disaster in a suspenseful finale on a sub chaser. That’s what we read this sort of thing for, but it is an entertaining journey written in surprisingly modern prose with only some of the politics mildly questionable (Mason has less to apologize for than many if not most of his contemporaries), and with a bevy of well written females including the spider like Nadia Stefan at the center of the web, but victory comes bitterly.

TRAVELERS “Travelers” (2016). Canadian-American production. Netflix. 17 October 2016 (Season 1, Episode 1). Eric McCormack, MacKenzie Porter, Nesta Cooper, Jared Abrahamson, Reilly Dolman, Patrick Gilmore. Creator-Screenplay: Brad Wright. Director: Nick Hurran.

   It takes the full hour, but as the pilot episode for this series, it does exactly what it is supposed to do: Introduce both the players and the plot with just enough story to have we the viewer (me) anxious to see the next one.

   I can’t say that it’s a new idea (so I won’t), but you can tell me whether or not you’ve heard this one before: a group of travelers from a rather bleak future comes to our time and place to make some corrections. They do this by entering taking over their new hosts’ bodies at the time they would otherwise have died.

   I apologize if I’ve already told you more than you wanted to know. Me, I prefer going into a series totally cold and not having any idea what the whole story line is. At least I can’t tell you what’s going to happen next, what the team’s various missions are going to be, and for a very good reason: I have no idea.

   The series was on for three seasons, so at least more than few people found a reason to keep watching. This first episode was very stylishly done, with better than average acting on the part of all the participants. Each of the characters who have become hosts for the travelers is quite well drawn. In terms of the lighting and some of the locations, there are some elements of noir to the story. Not as much as in Blade Runner, say, but it’s there. Whether it continues, I do not know.

MARTIN MEYERS – Spy and Die. Patrick Hardy #2, Popular Library, paperback original, 1976.

   Pat Hardy is an oversexed private detective, living the good life of luxury apartments and bosomy girls. When hired by the niece of a deceased jellymaker to find out how he died, he’s caught in a squeeze of national security and enemy agents.

   It’s all nonsense, of course. The highlight of the affair is a meeting with a fat head of security named Julius Foxx, and his assistant Mr. Archibald. There’s a lot of bouncing in bed and other places, a good deal of padding, and little else.

   
   The Patrick Hardy series —

1. Kiss and Kill (1975)
2. Spy and Die (1976)
3. Red Is For Murder (1976)
4. Hung Up To Die (1976)
5. Reunion For Death (1976)

    —
Bibliographic Update: In the 1990s, Martin Meyers teamed up with his wife Annette (as Maan Meyers) to write a series of historical crime novels following the lives of one family living in Manhattan over the years.

MONEY MADNESS. Film Classics, 1948. Hugh Beaumont, Frances Rafferty, Harlan Warde, Cecil Weston. Screenwriter: Al Martin. Director: Sam Newfield (as Peter Stewart).

   There is a small but elite set of noir films that begin with a man getting off a bus (or train) with only a suitcase. The town is usually in warmer climes, and all he owns is likely to be in the suitcase, but that’s not a absolute requirement. It doesn’t take him long to find a girl, perhaps working in a small diner, night club or roadhouse on the outskirts of town.

   In this case, however, before he meets the girl, he puts most of the contents of the suitcase into a bank safety deposit box: $200,000 in cash. We the viewer are suspicious immediately, but not the girl, who is as tired of slinging hash as she is of living with a crabby old aunt. So weary of life as she is living it as to be swept off her feet and be married only two days later.

   Which is when the man (Hugh Beaumont) lets the girl (Frances Rafferty) what he has in mind to do with the aunt, and how he plans to launder the money, although I am not sure that’s a word that was in common use in 1948.

   As the naive young woman, Frances Rafferty is perhaps a little too naive and too willing to go along with the other’s plan, but Hugh Beaumont as the man with the plan is a revelation as someone who can go in only a split second from a sweet-talking lover to a tough and out-and-out cad who won’t take no for an answer, and in no uncertain terms, lets his new bride know it.

   It was a different era when men could dominate women this way, or is it? The story is taut and well-structured with only one caveat, and the minimal amount of money that was able to be spent on production fits in perfectly with the dinginess of life of the less than middle class in 1948.

   The caveat? It’s too late now, but I’ve have told the producers of the film to drop the opening scene altogether. It doesn’t fit, no way no how. They’d have been far better off starting with man getting off the bus, which is where the movie begins anyway. Watch the film for yourself and see if you don’t agree.

TONY KENRICK – The Chicago Girl. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, hardcover, 1976. Berkley, paperback.

   The first line sets the tone: “He’d always said that older hookers were better value; they knew more tricks.”

   The idea is to find a Vassar girl willing to impersonate a prostitute realistically enough to con a fence out of a $800,000 emerald necklace. It’s a dangerous business, with plenty of authentic New York City street life as backdrop. Of course it’s going to be movie. Some of the complications are seen coming, but once you’re hooked, Kendrick has you all the way. A wild finish.

Rating: A minus.

UPDATE. While a couple of Kenrick’s books were made into movies, The Chicago Girl was not one of them.

   I’ve been meaning to do this for quite a while. I don’t go to the comic pages in my daily newspaper first everyday, but they come close. The ratings below, on a scale from 0 to 100, are totally subjective, and if I were to do this again a few months from now, they’d probably change, but not by too much, I hope. I won’t describe any of them. If there are any you’re not familiar with, well, that’s what they invented Google for. Feel free to comment, however, and if you have any favorites that the Courant doesn’t carry, I’d like to know about them.

PEANUTS Charles Schulz. 98
CLASSIC DOONESBURY Garry Trudeau. Not read.
GARFIELD Jim Davis. 90
SHOE Gary Brookins & Susie MacNelly. 90
DUSTIN Steve Kelley & Jeff Parker 90
PEARLS BEFORE SWINE Stephan Pastis 94
MUTTS Patrick MacDonnell 92
ARCTIC CIRCLE Alex Hallett 40
JUMP START Robb Armstrong 30
GET FUZZY Darby Conley 10
BLONDIE Dean Young & John Marshall 95
DILBERT Scott Adams 98
GIL THORPE Neal Rubin & Frank McLaughlin Not read.
MARY WORTH Karen Moy & June Brigham Not read.
REX MORGAN, M. D. Terry Beatty Not read.
JUDGE PARKER Woody Wilson & Mike Manley Not read.
BALDO Canu & Castellanos 88
FUNKY WINKERBEAN Tom Batiuk 20
LIO Mark Tatulli 20
WIZARD OF ID Johnny Hart & Brant Parker 80
RHYMES WITH ORANGE Hillary Price 70
MONTY Jim Meddick 25
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE Lynn Johnston 80
B.C. Hart 85
BEETLE BAILEY Mort, Greg & Brian Walker 92
HI & LOIS Greg & Brian Walker and Chance Browne 92
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE Chris Browne 94
NON SEQUITUR Wiley Miller 10
CURTIS Ray Billingsley 85
PICKLES Brian Crane 99
ZITS Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman 92
ROSE IS ROSE Pat Brady & Don Wimmer 40
MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM Mike Peters 92
ZIPPY Bill Griffith Not read.

   Ha! Not as easy as I thought. I’ve changed some of these numbers several times already.

  RELIC HUNTER “Buddha’s Bowl” A Canadian-produced series. 20 September 1999 (Season 1, Episode 1. Tia Carrera (Sydney Fox), Christien Anholt (Nigel Bailey), Lindy Booth. Guest Cast: Tony Rosato.

   Any resemblance to the Indiana Jones movies is not only not incidental, but as far I can see, totally intentional. Sydney Fox is nominally a professor of archaeology and ancient history at Trinity College, but every week for three seasons on TV, she went off to yet another part of the world to track down a relic, if you will, of a large significance, importance, or (very often) of value. She’s also a master of martial arts, and if this first episode is any example, looks just fine in a simple black bra.

   Accompanying her on all these adventures is her teaching assistant, Nigel Bailey, a much more reserved young man from England whom both Sydney and we, the viewer meet for the first time in “Buddha’s Bowl.” On his very first day on the job he’s swept off to Nepal, where a map is said to point the way to the relic’s present location.

   Of course there is someone else looking for it as well, an old acquaintance and rival who knows Sydney well enough to call her “Sweet cheeks.” The scenery is great, the danger is real (stuck in a tomb filling with sand and no exit, for example), and Tia Carrera, in almost every scene, is a young woman whom every young male would most desperately like to trade places with Nigel to go on all 66 episodes with her.

   Even some of us older fellows.