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Reviews November 10, 2022

The Deadly Pay-Off by William H. Duhart

Bill Kelly’s introduction reveals that William H. Duhart wrote only two novels and a handful of short stories during his brief, impressive career as a crime fiction writer. This is a reprint of the first, originally published as Gold Medal 805 in 1958.

Although Duhart was Black, his protagonist, Tank Tabor, is White; it’s likely he had to be to sell the novel back in the late 1950s. Nevertheless, he include a sidekick of sorts, Jock Adams, a former black inmate, who Tabor met in stir. Jock is savvy, honest, and somewhat of an unsung hero without whose help Tabor probably wouldn’t have had as much success as he finally manages to squeeze out of the constricting circumstances he funnels himself into.

Tabor works for kingpin Arky Calahan who runs just about every criminal enterprise in Milwaukee. Calahan gives Tabor a few hours to dissuade his PI brother, Bill Tabor, to drop his investigation into the murder of a reporter who purportedly has damning evidence against Calahan. If Tank doesn’t get the job done quick, Bill is headed for the morgue.

Duhart weaves an intricate tale of tension, high-stakes gambles, and pounding action. His writing is crisp, delivered in a luscious, hardboiled rhythm that defines the time and place of the setting. Black Gat 41 is a prime opportunity to (re)discover a lost writer and a lost original crime classic. A perfect pay-off of the BG series charter.

Available for pre-order now. Due out in December 2022.

Reviews September 30, 2022

The Girl in 304 by Harold R. Daniels

This is the second novel by Harold R. Daniels, after his Edgar-nominated first novel, In His Blood (1955). The Black Gat reprint includes an introduction by George Kelley, slightly updated from its original appearance in The Mystery Fancier (Jul/Aug 1979). Kelley presents a succinct synopsis of each of Daniels’ crime books along with commentary on the writer’s growth.

The novel follows Georgia Sheriff Ed Masters’ investigation into the death of a Jane Doe discovered nearly naked in a remote area. The striking girl of the cover never appears alive in the story. Daniels delivers an engaging murder mystery, with tight plotting, believable characters, and solid writing. If there is any fault in the novel, it’s Daniels’ fastidious attention to detail. It’s all well done, but he could’ve left out some of the procedure and allowed the story to move at a slightly faster pace. Fortunately, the book overcomes this minor flaw with its numerous strengths and I hope Stark House/Black Gat will see fit to revisit the author’s other novels.

Sheriff Masters is the senior lawman you expect him to be—experienced, smart, and savvy, but what sets him apart from the pack is his ability to see the person he’s with. He adjusts his interviews/interactions based on the person he’s questioning. This nuance gives the character real depth.

Fans of classic crime fiction and paperback collectors will not want to miss Black Gat 40: The Girl in 304. Available for pre-order now.

Reviews April 1, 2022

A Sherlock Holmes Notebook

Stark House Press will release Gary Lovisi’s A Sherlock Holmes Notebook: A Cornucopia of Sherlockania in May 2022. This nearly 200 page trade paperback is packed full of essays, trivia, and collective treasures sure to please and enlighten fans and followers of the great detective’s adventures. Like many, I was introduced to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes and Watson while still in school. I read many of Doyle’s stories and watched quite a few of the movies and TV series produced over the years, but I had no idea of the extent to which the creation inspired first pastiches, and later new adventures, once the Canon fell into the public domain.

Lovisi shares the fruits of his lifelong pursuit of all kinds of Sherlockania with readers. Whether you’re a die-hard fanatic or a casual fan, there is plenty to delight in here through his series of over 20 articles and reviews, complemented with dozens of cover images of collectable first editions, paperbacks, translated volumes, card sets, plays, films, and even Doyle’s correspondence with Robert Louis Stevenson. Although Holmes is the center of all the attention, Lovisi does include a bit on Doyle’s other fan favorite, Professor Challenger, of The Lost World, The Poison Belt, and The Land of Mist.

A Sherlock Holmes Notebook by Gary Lovisi is a joy to read from first page to last. Whether you’re a serious collector of Sherlockania or a casual fan, you’ll find numerous leads to pursue in secondary markets out of curiosity or to satisfy a newly-stoked fervor.

Reviews December 11, 2018

Black Cat Mystery Magazine No. 1

An excerpt from my review of BCMM No. 1 from The Digest Enthusiast No. 7:

Editors John Gregory Betancourt and Carla Coupe welcome their readers to the first edition of BCMM from their “The Cat’s Perch” introduction. “We won’t shy away from intense, dark fiction that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. Just as we won’t turn down the next amateur detective in the finest Agatha Christie tradition. Storytelling matters most.”

Black Cat Mystery Magazine’s debut includes an impressive list of contributors, many that will be familiar to readers of those bimonthly digests from Penny Publications.

Reviews December 9, 2018

Telzey Amberdon

Excerpt from Joe Wehrle, Jr.’s article on “The Telzey Amberdon Stories of James H. Schmitz” in The Digest Enthusiast No. 7:

James H. Schmitz wrote a number of stories about a future world where many things are possible, and particularly, over a period of ten years wrote a series concerning one Telzey Amberdon, an emerging telepath, “fifteen years old, genius level, brown as a berry and not at all bad looking in her sunbriefs.”

Jim Schmitz was born October 15, 1911, and lived until April 18, 1981. You may not be too familiar with his work as he wasn’t as prolific as many of his contemporaries, but he wrote dozens of exceptional stories and a handful of memorable novels.

Reviews December 8, 2018

Introducing D&O: The Magazine

Excerpt from the review of Down & Out: The Magazine No. 1 in The Digest Enthusiast No. 7.

Editor Rick Ollerman introduces his new magazine with the assertion, “Digest magazines aren’t what they used to be.” There are few crime fiction magazines on newsstands today. Even the influx of new titles, since the advent of Print on Demand, are often infrequent or published erratically. The Magazine intends to shake things up. How? The backing of a publisher like Down & Out Books should help. But The Magazine’s big idea is to leverage a character from a novel series in a brand new short story. In the debut edition, that’s Reed Farrel Coleman’s ex-cop, ex-PI, ex-retiree, Moe Prager.

In fact, every story in issue No. 1 features a series character, making it an ideal venue to reach new readers or delight series’ fans with short, between-novels, adventures. There’s nonfiction too. J. Kingston Pierce, who manages The Rap Sheet website, provides crime fiction news and reviews, and Ollerman introduces the issue’s only reprint in a column called, “A Few Cents a Word.”

Reviews December 7, 2018

William Ledbetter’s In a Wide Sky, Hidden

Stories from Fantasy & Science Fiction Jul/Aug 2017:

In deep space exploration, the journey is most definitely not the destination. I’ve seen the countless hours crossing vast distances dealt with in stasis, but William Ledbetter has a better idea. “In a Wide Sky, Hidden” deep space exploration is assigned to robots. That is until a strong-willed young astronaut launches a missing persons search across the galaxy. Regina, the explorer’s older sister is an artist of cosmic scale, whose final statement to the universe: “I have found a world of my own. It will be my masterpiece.” Ledbetter adds several futuristic inventions to enliven this bittersweet internal/external rescue mission.

Reviews December 3, 2018

Brenda Carre’s Gret

Stories from Pulp Literature No. 15 Summer 2017:

“Gret” by Brenda Carre sets the issue’s opening bar high. It’s the first chapter of a forthcoming novel of the same name, so beautifully written it overshadows any hesitation of reading an excerpt, so don’t miss out. Gret’s world is harsh and dangerous, filled with magic and intrigue. Carre’s skill with dialect in narration and dialogue transports you to Gret’s world at once. “I grabbed Isk’s meat knife and a bannock or two for my tattered pockets and I was out that windee and into the shore mist faster than a clam can fart.” A three-page interview with Carre follows her novel’s chapter.

Reviews December 1, 2018

Renee Asher Pickup’s Salsa Verde

Stories from Switchblade issue two, edited by Scotch Rutherford:

“Salsa Verde” by Renee Asher Pickup gives a first person account of a robbery in-progress for the spoils of an earlier heist by the narrator and her partner. Good idea, good action, and good dialogue—that’s an anaphora, the repetition of a word or phrase that begins every clause. Unfortunately, there’s one in “Salsa” too. “It’s my job to do this,” “It’s his job to do that,” recurring often enough to call attention to itself; which for me, broke the story’s otherwise natural flow.

Reviews November 29, 2018

Nathalie Charles-Henneberg’s Ysolde

From International Science Fiction No. 2 (June 1968):

ISF closes its second issue on a high note with a story from France. “Ysolde,” by the series’ only female author, Nathalie Charles-Henneberg, is translated by Damon Knight. A bittersweet story rich with unexpected twists and bents as it unravels.

“Ah, Nyx! That’s something else again. Everything is real there, but time flows backward. Is it an effect of the planet’s rotation, or of its sun, Spica?”

Perhaps this mysterious world, long ago effaced from the astrogational maps, holds the key to freeing Iza, a blind, deaf child with white-golden hair, imprisoned in her own body.

Nathalie Henneberg (1910–1977) began her writing career collaborating with her husband Charles Henneberg on his novels. After his death in 1959, Nathalie continued writing, initially as Nathalie Charles-Henneberg, and later as simply Nathalie Henneberg. Her solo stories were more fantasy than science fiction.