Heads-You Die

Not much is known about pulp writer Ed Barcelo. He authored short stories in pulps like All-Story Detective, Black Mask, and Pocket Detective Magazine from the 1940s through the 1950s. My guess is that he lived in Cleveland, Ohio based on sensational “tabloid” articles he wrote for Exposed like “Cleveland's Shocking Sin Dens for Teenagers” and “Exposing Cleveland's Sin Circus”. My first experience with Barcelo was his story “Heads-You Die” featured in the April 1949 issue of All-Story Detective.

Ziggy is an ex-con fresh out of prison. After a row with his wife Mabel, Ziggy goes for a long walk in the crisp cold weather. Along a rural highway he's stopped by the piercing headlights of a lone car. The suspicious driver makes a strange proposition – he offers Ziggy ten-dollars to bury a soggy bloody sack that he claims is his dead dog. The driver's excuse is that he was hunting, accidentally shot his own dog, and now doesn't have the heart to dig a grave. Sheepishly, Ziggy takes the shovel and bag as the man drives away. Soon, a husky police officer comes by and together, with Ziggy, they open the contents of the bag and discover a headless hacked up corpse. Ziggy does the right thing by clonking the officer and making a run for it.

There's nothing remarkable about Barcelo's story. It is the standard man-on-the-run narrative that has been told countless times. However, there's a frantic pace as Ziggy's original ten-dollars drivels way while hopping from dive to dive hoping to elude the police. It's a type of page countdown as the currently crumbles away. As one might expect, Ziggy becomes his own advocate and hunts down clues to the whereabouts of this mysterious driver. The steady pace, likable character, and short page count provides just enough reason to enjoy this average pulp story.